Impossible question: predicting the future value

[ottawa coupe]

So, as i watch as my investments circle the drain, i am reminded of my frame of mind back in 2008 "if i am gonna lose this $, i should piss it away on a fast car and at least have fun while going poor!"

I then did the worst thi g possible and started looking on european car classified sites. 2 things bubbled up immediately and a fun way to lose money SLOWER than in the stock market right now.

C4 s6 plus avant and b5 rs4 avant.

I would think the b5 is more highly regarded so has more potential for upside, especially in canada where it was never offered. And well, i just love C4s and i have never owned a v8 soooooo hence the s6 plus

Speculative as all hell and probably fiendishly expensive to get here but possibly based in rational theory?

[K Simmonds]

Me and a mate have discussed this at length and said if we knew what they'd be worth now then we'd both have a shed full of MK2 Golfs/Scirocco's, Porsche 924/944's, Audi quattro Coupe and Saloons ETC.

C4 quattro's are going through the roof in value over here as are any of the cars I mention above so perhaps get an S6 Plus now as that should actually be a real investment.

The B5 RS4's are slowly starting to increase in value but are a nightmare to work on and normally break a lot as they've either not been looked after or modified badly and thrashed, plus they made loads of them so they're not rare. I'd consider a V8 B5 S4 instead.

What you need is a car that's rare and still cheap

Edit, get another really nice C4 S4/6 or even the 2.8 30V or 12V V6 Avant quattro Avant from one of the southern states, so clean underneath and no rust. I'd apply that to any purchase over there unless there's some stupid law against buying cars from the USA.

I worked as a mechanic for nearly 20 years and the C4 is the best platform Audi have ever produced in my humble opinion.

The C3 Avants are also excellent machines though considerably more rust prone but you can get a 3B quattro over there or from the continent... Thinking about it that would top of my list or on a par the V8 C4 S6 plus. Even if you have to import one from Europe, very rare so already appreciating in value, potentially very fast, super retro, very comfortable and seriously cool. Really, what's not to like.

The C4 is just a heavily face lifted C3 anyway.

There's also the unique V8, which is basically a C3 with a 4" longer chassis.

I'd be inclined to avoid B5's, They're great cars however the multi link front suspension is a complete ball ache to fix both mechanically and financially. It's cost's £1000 in parts alone at trade price to change all the link rods, the rear tie rod's,and ARB link's using genuine components,,. We did one at work a couple of years ago.

[ottawa coupe]

Hmmm, i am surprised about the rs4. I thought those were considered the superior rs model??? (Well, second to the rs2 i guess) That said, they certainly aren't exactly cheap. Did they ever really drop? A pain to work on is subjective....and dependant upon just dropping the engine for anything more than an oil change lol?

Interesting about the c4, i wouldn't say they are skyrocketing here. Most are rusty northeastern US cars with intergalactic mileage that i wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. Hence why it took a decade of off an on searching to find my s6. It's a variant of the abz from a d2 a8 in them right?

What burns me is that for a while rs2s were "cheap" and were importable to canada 5 (or 10?) Years sooner than the states. There was a local guy bringing them in for 30k. But of course i was unemployed at the time just getting started in life and couldn't take the leap.

[K Simmonds]

That's the thing with the RS4, they're excellent car's but hardly bargains and almost all have been remapped and seriously abused. Also, we had the terrible VAG Longlife Serive Plan over here and in Europe when they were new. So oil changes every 20K miles or two years whichever comes first, which with a high performance twin turbocharged car is asking for trouble. You have to remove the engine to change a turbo and if one fails you may as well do both as odd's are it's day's are numbered as well so that's a really expensive not at all fun job. Then there's the suspension I mention above.

I'm really kicking myself not for buying a cheap, and they really were cheap at one point, 2.7 twin turbo Allroad. Just for it's engine to go into my C4 as the blocks are identical as are the 30V head's on 2.8 C4's apart from the cam profiles. At one point rough as hell ones with an MOT were sub £1K, I even saw them as low as £400 and still driving.

I was very lucky and got my RS2 in 2015 just before prices went mental so you have my sympathy there. I don't really keep my eye on the market too much in Europe but could you perhaps just about afford a 'cheap' RS2 from an Eastern European country with a load of issues then import it and fix it at your leisure as your obviously mechanically competent.... Just an idea and it would again eventually be a genuine investment and they're fantastic cars, some parts are a nightmare though which pretty much ruins that idea.

Yes I'm 99% sure it's basically an ABZ engine in the S6 plus. We never got those in the UK but I've had a really good look at one a mate has imported and they're pretty special car's.

I'd be looking for a C3 20V quattro from the Southern USA or Spain/Italy/Portugal etc so not rusty I think if I was you but such thing maybe nearly impossible to find at a reasonable price. I've not been keeping track of the price of them as it's a load of hassle and extra expense importing one from the other side of the channel, especially now after Brexit, which I still stand in favor of. If I could find a good one in the UK I'd mortgage my house to buy it if I had to even though they're all LHD as I don't mind which seat I'm in to drive.

There was one floating about around 15 years ago that was RHD which the owner was adamant was a genuine UK car done specially for some head bod at VAG UK, but never provided anything to prove it so almost certainly an exceptionally tidy conversion. I wonder where that is now, again if it appeared on the market and wasn't rotten I'd sell a kidney to get my hands on it. Thinking about It's possible it was done by VAG UK for a director of some sort as it did look factory and VAG were known to do thing's like that before everything had to standardised.

The B5 V8 S4's are lovely to drive and less likely to have been abused but I know they're now going up in value quite a bit, and I expect values to plateau sooner than the RS4 as they made loads of them.

An 07K engine RS3 is certainly worth a look IMO, they're awesome cars to drive and very easy to tune.

[ottawa coupe]

Thanks for the insight. Well noted about the b5, a regular b5 in these parts is worth at most 5k if in pristine order. Maybe 10 if it's a good s4. 35k+ euro is big pill to swallow and it'd be very hard to assess condition from over here.

the c4 is strange. They seem to have crept up in $ but the mileage (as you'd expect from a car that just doesn't break) is definitely up there. I am not gonna pay 20k euro for a car with 300,000 kms on it.....i don't care how solid it is, that is USED lol.

C3s from the south.... well i bet the good ones have all been found and tucked away now and, apologies for approaching political, i don't think that market is really available to me anymore thanks to billionaire man children.

besides, i would think the goal would be getti g things that were never offered in north america?

rs3: i would suggest the argument againstvthem you put forth for the rs4. Anything you find here will have lived a quarter mile at a time. Plus i have heard of some absolute nightmare parts costs for things that should NOT be expensive at all. $1000 wheel bearings that crack in potholes..... stupid things like that. Modern audis i generally want to avoid. Really anything from b6 onwards got pretty crap.

allroads are still the red headed stepchild here. That MacGyver meme really screwed those values lol. If i decide to go 2.7t in the coupe, that's gonna be the donor in all likelihood.

[anthonys2]

I would maybe throw in the b8.5 RS5 last of the v8s and being a Coupe slightly rarer than the rs3 rs4 and rs6. Just my opinion and possibly hope as I own one now for 18 months and love the car even though bills are frightening as it broke down last October and required an engine rebuild just shy of 10k apart from that all good lol

[ottawa coupe]

Well, i don't know much in life but i do know to avoid most vag products after say 2005! Certainly anything with an aluminum block..... i feel they have forgotten how to build engines and cars that last without a 10k annual budget.... timing systems that fail and require engine removal to replace was the final straw. My first car was a mk3 golf with a 1.8 8v. Timing belt kit was $50 and took an hour to do. Why did they decide that wasn't acceptable?

stepping off my soap box

There have been some random developments in the last 12 hours that suddenly make the s6+ idea seem almost downright sensible lol.

one issue is logistics. While i would love to take a few day roadtrip in europe in a wonderful v8 manual estate in the spring, to do so costs a hell of alot from here and would probably also cost me a divorce lol.

i would assume there are logistics companies that would bring cars from say, southern germany to i assume rotterdam for loading onto a boat or into a container? Anyone ever done that before?

[John.]

one issue is logistics.

There'll be plenty transport companies able to move a car to a port....then.....

Canada Shipping Routes | Maersk

[david1980]

Yeah, unless you are lucky enough to pick something up super cheap I would not expect any audi to be a good future investment.

A sport quattro if at the right buy in point yes, a 5-10k ur quattro that is complete needing minor work maybe, a cheap s2 (5k or less) at worst it would make money in parts. Most audis are broken because the sum of parts is worth more than the whole car.

Shipping depends who you are, OPI in america is 5.5k last I enquired - uk to usa - there is cheaper if you look around.

Other brands are better investments, certain bmws (e30, e36 m3, etc) Porsches.

[le mans]

No such thing as B5 V8. Must be thinking of B6? The B6 has issues with timing chain - engine out job. Nice car but don't think they will ever be worth much.