Fast Cars, Cheap Thrills: 2000 Audi S4 vs 2001 Audi TT

Welcome back! Or should I say: Audi, partner! Today we’re looking at two cheap fast rides from Volkswagen’s fancy-pants brand. They’ve got twelve gears, three turbochargers, and eight driven wheels between them – enough complicated German engineering to make your mechanic lose his sense, his control, and his mind. But they could also be a lot of fun.

Yesterday’s problem children had quite a few of you reaching for the “Neither” button, but that’s not how this game is played. Among those of you who were good sports about it and voted, the Toyota was the favorite, but it was a narrow win. I do apologize for featuring a car that was already sold; I try not to do that, but sometimes it can’t be helped. I’m not at all surprised that van sold so quickly in Seattle; off-road vans are a huge thing in the Pacific Northwest.

For me, it would have to be the Isuzu. Yeah, the interior is a little scary, but I think once you cleaned off all the grime it wouldn’t be as bad as it seems, and I’ve always loved the styling of the Impulse. Hopefully it finds a home soon as well. That car definitely deserves to be back on the road.

I’ve long been a fan of turbocharged Audis. My dad had a couple of them once upon a time, and a poster of the original Group B Quattro adorned one wall of my bedroom for years. I hadn’t experienced a modern Audi turbo until this weekend, though, when my neighbor took me for a ride in his heavily modified S5. It’s terrifyingly fast, and yet utterly composed, even at some truly ill-advised speeds on twisty forest roads. German high-performance cars get a lot of bad press for being overcomplicated and unreliable, but those who love them keep coming back because they’re also really damn good at going fast.

In that spirit, I decided to show you a couple of fast Audis that fit within our meager budget, but can still deliver the goods. Let’s check them out.

2000 Audi S4 Quattro – $3,900

Engine/drivetrain: Twin-turbocharged, 2.7-liter dual overhead cam V6, six-speed manual, AWD

Location: Reseda, CA

Odometer reading: 164,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives great

Audi as we know it now, as a purveyor of fun-to-drive luxury sedans, has really only existed since the 1970s. And it wasn’t until its signature five-cylinder engine gained a turbocharger that you could really call them performance cars. In 1980, that turbo five found its way into the nose of Audi’s Coupe, powering its new Quattro all-wheel-drive system, and from that point it was game on. Audi turbo Quattros just got faster and faster. In 2000, the king of the hill was the S4, a version of the A4 sedan with a wild twin-turbo V6 and a six-speed stick.

This engine is a fire-breather – 260 horsepower, in a car that typically has a hundred less than that – but it has a reputation for trouble that makes most enthusiasts speak of it only in hushed tones. Most of the reputation comes from the difficulties involved in servicing it. You’ve heard of the VW/Audi “service position,” with the entire front end of the car removed? That’s how you change the timing belt on this engine. Need to replace the turbos, which commonly self-destruct after a while? You’ll have to remove the engine entirely. This particular one is just about due for the turbos, unless they’ve already been replaced, but it sounds like it runs and drives just fine at the moment.

It looks pretty good inside; Volkswagens of this era seem to look old before their time, but the Audis must use higher-quality materials. It has that good-driver-focused feel that German cars tend to have, and as the top of the line, it has all the bells and whistles you could have asked for twenty-four years ago. I’m sure something is broken somewhere, but the seller doesn’t mention anything, and they do say the air conditioning works fine.

Now for the bad news: It has a salvage title. I’m not surprised a high-performance car like this found itself on the wrong end of a tow truck, but I’d like to know why, and how long ago it happened. It looks all right, but a careful inspection is in order.

2001 Audi TT Quattro – $3,000

Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 1.8-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, six-speed manual, AWD

Location: Fort Worth, TX

Odometer reading: 149,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives great

Audi’s small sporty TT doesn’t have much in common with the rest of the line; it’s more closely related to the VW Golf. Introduced around the same time as the VW New Beetle, you could sort of see the TT as a “New Karmann Ghia.” Of course, since it is an Audi, a Quattro all-wheel-drive version was available, as well as a turbocharged engine.

Two flavors of the VW-Audi Group’s 1.8-liter turbo four were available. This car, as far as I can tell, has the spicy version, with 222 horsepower and a six-speed manual. I’ve never had the pleasure of driving a TT so equipped, but I bet it’s a hoot. These engines aren’t without their problems either; the oil will sludge up if you don’t change it often enough, and timing belt failures were a problem early on, but this one is closing in on 150,000 miles, and the seller says it runs and drives great, which would seem to indicate it has been well-maintained.

We don’t get a great look at the interior, but it looks pretty good from what I can see. The seats are in decent condition, and nothing looks abused.

The outside, well… you either like it or you don’t. I don’t know if it’s paint or a wrap, but it definitely makes a statement. I don’t hate it, personally, but I’m not sure how I’d feel about seeing it in the driveway every morning. I’m less fond of the front end, with its giant mesh grille and tacky aftermarket headlights. All the cosmetic stuff can be undone, of course, but at a price. Luckily the car is cheap.

I know, I know: They’re unreliable, they’re too expensive to maintain, blah blah blah. They’re also quick, fun, finely engineered machines with a pedigree stretching all the way back to the heady days of Group B. And they’re cheap, on the dollar-per-horsepower scale. So which one will it be: the junior-executive sedan, or the zippy sports coupe?

(Image credits: sellers)