A4 Avant Prestige vs A3 Titanium

[asal]

OK,

My predicament as my family grows is the A3 now has two car seats, which equals the front passenger sitting on the dashboard when loaded up w/both kids. I have stumbled upon these two vehicles at the same dealership within $100 of each other, which brought an interesting question. What would you do?

2012 A3 Titanium TDI with @ 7500 miles, CPO (warranty through 2017) no NAV, yes to OSR.

2009 A4 Avant Prestige with @ 30k miles, CPO (warranty through 2015) has backup camera, mem seats, MMI, some other stuff i like.

Love my TDI mileage @42mpg, and would only look to swap it to get into a Ti package. The A4 is no slouch @30mpg. I can't fit things like golf clubs, etc in my A3 w/o folding a seat down, so the A4 fits my lifestyle a bit better right now. Sorry about all the info; I think about this s**t too much BTW I don't want a JSW (just don't favor the looks), only other vehicles that are in my peripheral are a 335d @36mpg and CTS Wagon @its backseat and low used prices.

[krazyboi]

Swap car parts before trade? Good luck w/ the decision. That's why I don't have kids yet

[sfdxsm]

I'd take the A4 Avant purely for the space.

From a looks perspective I like the A3 better but the Avant is a nice looking car and will suit a family life nicely.

I personally wanted an A4 Avant before I landed on the A3. I was actually looking at some older S4 Avants that kept popping up from time to time but never pulled the trigger.

[krazyboi]

But on the serious note, if size/space is what you're looking for, then the A4 does make sense. Get an avant

[TBomb]

If you're not in a huge rush, I would wait until we find out for sure what AoA plans to do regarding the new A3 sportback over here. It will be bigger than our cars, have plenty of tech, and they might even bring it in a TDI. Who knows

[asal]

If you're not in a huge rush, I would wait until we find out for sure what AoA plans to do regarding the new A3 sportback over here. It will be bigger than our cars, have plenty of tech, and they might even bring it in a TDI. Who knows

Ya thats true. I'm not in a rush, but the longer I wait the less important the extra space becomes (got about 12-18months in a rear facing seat then it gets better for the front passenger)

[asal]

Swap car parts before trade? Good luck w/ the decision. That's why I don't have kids yet

ha thought about it. i did think about buying the Ti, switching out the wheels so I was rolling on the Ti ones and selling the Ti outright for a profit. again, i think about this s**t too much.

[SLC_Punker]

How about a B7 S4 Avant? You won't mind the 13 mpg once you hear the V8!

[everfresh59]

If you could get it to look like this.... then A4 Avant ftw...

[Subaruski1]

Rear seat leg room on A3 = 34.8"
Rear seat leg room on A4 = 35.2"

We are looking at a 1/3" gain...

Obviously there are the benefits of the much larger trunk/hatch area on the A4 avant but the A4 is not going to give you more room in the back seat. In fact in my opinion as a taller guy the back seat of an A4 avant always felt smaller for me then the A3.

[Rogerthat]

Not an upgrade in back seat space in the A4 but you could convince yourself there is.

Keep the TDI and get a real bigger car.

Kids are black holes, they eat up time and space.

[TBomb]

Not an upgrade in back seat space in the A4 but you could convince yourself there is.

Keep the TDI and get a real bigger car.

Kids are black holes, they eat up time and space.

You forgot money

[Rogerthat]

I forgot the matter.

[ceese]

OK,

My predicament as my family grows is the A3 now has two car seats, which equals the front passenger sitting on the dashboard when loaded up w/both kids. I have stumbled upon these two vehicles at the same dealership within $100 of each other, which brought an interesting question. What would you do?

2012 A3 Titanium TDI with @ 7500 miles, CPO (warranty through 2017) no NAV, yes to OSR.

2009 A4 Avant Prestige with @ 30k miles, CPO (warranty through 2015) has backup camera, mem seats, MMI, some other stuff i like.

Love my TDI mileage @42mpg, and would only look to swap it to get into a Ti package. The A4 is no slouch @30mpg. I can't fit things like golf clubs, etc in my A3 w/o folding a seat down, so the A4 fits my lifestyle a bit better right now. Sorry about all the info; I think about this s**t too much BTW I don't want a JSW (just don't favor the looks), only other vehicles that are in my peripheral are a 335d @36mpg and CTS Wagon @its backseat and low used prices.

The A4 is a good car but for a family I'd also consider a Q5 or Tiquan as well - there's also a TDI touareg.

[asal]

Rear seat leg room on A3 = 34.8"
Rear seat leg room on A4 = 35.2"

We are looking at a 1/3" gain...

Obviously there are the benefits of the much larger trunk/hatch area on the A4 avant but the A4 is not going to give you more room in the back seat. In fact in my opinion as a taller guy the back seat of an A4 avant always felt smaller for me then the A3.

You forgot the front seat room difference! It's a whole 0.1 difference (41.3 to 41.2), lol. I hadn't gotten a chance to measure the B8 seat differences to the A3 in person, but I did go an measure a b7 A4 sedan that I measured at about 2" more space between the back seat backrest to the front seat dash. I assumed the B8 was going to be even bigger.

I had to go back and check my Edmunds rear seat legroom. You are right though-- I had thought it was more like 1.5"

[asal]

The A4 is a good car but for a family I'd also consider a Q5 or Tiquan as well - there's also a TDI touareg.

Ya I like both of those but we already have a 2008 MDX sport package that we like and I was looking for more fun to drive commuter car, so I was leaning toward 335d, A6 sedan w/the 3.0, or A4 Avant. What I really need is an A4 Avant TDI! So I best be moving to europe I guess.

[TBomb]

Completely irrelevant, but every time I read your username I read it as A/S/L.

[ceese]

Ya I like both of those but we already have a 2008 MDX sport package that we like and I was looking for more fun to drive commuter car, so I was leaning toward 335d, A6 sedan w/the 3.0, or A4 Avant. What I really need is an A4 Avant TDI! So I best be moving to europe I guess.

Or wait two years. Audi has already announced that the US will get most of their car lineup in TDI variants that include the A4, A6 and A8.

I'm a huge TDI fan. My last car was a B5 Passat TDI wagon and I miss it. Before buying my A3 I test drove the A4 2.0T a couple times and really liked it. I'll throw this out there though as it seems the best balance of what you are looking for - A Jetta TDI wagon. It's a little roomier than the A3 but not quite the A4, it's a TDI and you'll have a little money left over for coilovers, new wheels and a vortex kit. I also know a few guys who are tracking them and love them. I'd deffinitely get the DSG over the manual though as the faster shifting is going to make it feel like has a few more horsepower than the manual. I had a friend who was having serious problems with her R32 and on my recommendation to test drive the Jetta, traded it on a 2010 Jetta TDI wagon and she loves it. Granted the trim is no where near as nice as the A4 it's still a nice car.

[asal]

Or wait two years. Audi has already announced that the US will get most of their car lineup in TDI variants that include the A4, A6 and A8.

I'm a huge TDI fan. My last car was a B5 Passat TDI wagon and I miss it. Before buying my A3 I test drove the A4 2.0T a couple times and really liked it. I'll throw this out there though as it seems the best balance of what you are looking for - A Jetta TDI wagon. It's a little roomier than the A3 but not quite the A4, it's a TDI and you'll have a little money left over for coilovers, new wheels and a vortex kit. I also know a few guys who are tracking them and love them. I'd deffinitely get the DSG over the manual though as the faster shifting is going to make it feel like has a few more horsepower than the manual. I had a friend who was having serious problems with her R32 and on my recommendation to test drive the Jetta, traded it on a 2010 Jetta TDI wagon and she loves it. Granted the trim is no where near as nice as the A4 it's still a nice car.

I do think that the JSW is a great car, pretty much nobody offers that combination of utility and mileage. I would entertain the jetta wagon once it goes through an aesthetic refresh. If it looked like that one Jetta R Wagon on the forums I'd be all over it. I know that guy in SoCal was selling his "R wagon", but I figured with al the Euro parts and one-offs he put on it, it wouldn't be the best long term ownership (and it wasn't TDI).

Good news today though, If I take my driver out and put it in my back seat I'm able to fit my clubs in my trunk w/o folding down the seats

[everso]

I do think that the A3 titanium is the more enjoyable and nicer package of these two......as I find the A4 to be more numb to drive.....let down by tiptronic gearboxes as well. If I were you, I'd go for an A3 quattro titanium though......maybe because I'm biased! It is the best A3 sold in the US at the moment.....and a lot more fun than any A4 avant IMO