15k: Avant Garde: 2005 Audi S4 B7 Avant
The term Avant Garde means a work of art that is innovative or experimental and in French means “advanced guard.” In the art work this means total garbage passed off as art that pointy headed intellectuals rave about the meaning and expressiveness. It is the kind of art that you wouldn’t piss on if it were on fire, but you may actually piss on Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain because it is actually a urinal. The biggest problem facing most modern art museums around the world is turn over in the janitorial staff because they are always getting sacked for cleaning up messes, graffiti, or piles of barf that later turn out to be part of some exhibit. What does this have to do with Audi’s S4 Avant? Absolutely nothing, because the Avant is a magnificent piece of art that is worth more than anything found in any post-impression era art wing (actually, now that you mention it, impressionism is mostly garbage too…to quote Ignatius Reilly from John Kennedy Toole’s masterpiece A Confederacy of Dunces “I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century.
When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an
occasional cheese dip.”
…but I digress). Find this 2005 Audi S4 Avant offered for $14,500 in the village of Nyack, NY (who knew there were villages in the states…?) via cars.com.
Cars.com has paid for the carfax report to be available for anyone to
view and it confirms this is a one-owner car that has been meticulously
maintained at an Audi dealer well after the warranty expired. Not everyone who does his own oil changes keeps meticulous records and will sometimes cut corners to save a few bucks. Conversely, for the most part, people who take their car to dealers for routine maintenance will keep everything running tip-top for the next owner.
The B7 generation Audi S4 is powered by the carryover 4.2 liter dual-overhead-cam alloy V8 that puts out 340 horsepower and 302 ft-lbs of torque. Power is directly to all four wheels via a 6-speed gearbox and Audi’s Quattro Torsen center-diff equipped all-wheel-drive system. The system advertises a 40:60 front-rear power split before wheel slip occurs and then all sorts of electromechanical gizmos start pushing power this way and that.
The S4 is equipped with heavily bolstered Recaro seats and a thick rimmed sport style steering wheel. The S4 doesn’t communicate grip to drivers fingers like an M3 but it also doesn’t communicate every cigarette butt when you are just trying to get groceries.
See a better way to haul around three kids and a dog? tips@dailyturismo.com
I love your commentary on avant-garde art. Once, at the National Gallery in Ottawa Canada, I was looking at an installation that consisted of white cubes, each topped with a bare florescent light fixture. I engaged the guardian in conversation, and then with a straight faced, I asked him: "So, if one of the tubes burns out, do you have to get the artist to repair it, or do you just nip over to Wal-Mart?". He just smiled and said that luckily they had not yet faced that dilemma.
Anyway, nice Audi, but I wonder if the ongoing upkeep would make the purchase price seem trivial, after a few years.
According to CarFax this one spent its entire life being serviced at Audi of Manhattan, with a quick trip to Maine for a service at the Audi dealership I used to service my A4 at. Small world. Likely a commuter but I can't argue with the comprehensive service history of this one. Great price, awesome car.