Three Audis, A Pair Of Porsches, And The Ultimate Rally Car: Members’ Rides

Alright friends, we spent several weeks examining some fantastic GM cars from the eighties through the early aughts, and while I thoroughly enjoyed that, and it seems like you did as well, it’s time to shift gears and go for something different. Today is a fun one as we walk with this week’s featured Member, Mithun, as he goes through his cars. I have these listed in order of when he procured them, and it’s fun to watch as he goes from a single nice car right out of college to the more recent and more unique additions.

Welcome to Members’ Rides! This is where we share the cars and stories of Autopian Members. The potential to be featured here is a perk for Autopian Members of every level, from the ultra-affordable “Cloth” tier all the way up to “Rich Corinthian Leather.” Click that link and join today!

Mithun is an engineer and product manager in the semiconductor industry living in the Bay Area of California. He’s got an awesome collection that he has expanded over the years, culminating in a stunning example of the production car that spawned one of the greatest rally racers of all time. Full disclosure, there are more that I would have loved to feature, but there’s just only so much awesomeness I can include before we break the internet, so I had to leave out Mithun’s Ioniq 5 and Triumph Tiger. Maybe another time!

How did you get into cars?

I’ve been into cars since my early years when my parents bought me one of those pedal-powered ride-along cars. I had the usual assortment of Hot Wheels, Matchbox and other scale model cars which, apparently, I used to try and disassemble as a kid? My parents soon realized Legos were a more appropriate fit for me!

It was my dad’s treasure trove of old car magazines and photos that really got me hooked on cars. Especially the European brands. Through my teenage years, I started drawing cars and now here we are.

What’s currently in the garage?

• 2012 Audi S4
• 2018 Audi RS3
• 2023 Audi RS6
• 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo
• 1988 Porsche 911 3.2
• 1992 Lancia Delta Integrale Evo I

You said the S4 was your first new car, how do you like it?

Clearly there is bias, but I absolutely adore my B8 S4. I custom ordered it in 2011 because there were no 6MT’s in inventory anywhere in CA at the time, and because I couldn’t afford most on-lot cars because they were loaded with options. I had set a very strict budget for myself and the only options I wanted were the Magma red/Black leather interior, and the B&O sound system. That’s it…the car is as close to a “base” B8 S4 you can get and I adore that more today because it doesn’t feel dated with the outdated nav, camera etc. It’s now in our place in OR and we use it as our daily/winter car whenever we go up there.

What is the best thing about it?

It is an incredibly capable and practical ‘all in one’ car. Just the right amount of power, space, and features in an incredibly clean design. Plus, if I remove the badge, the car 99% looks like a base A4. Only the factory quad-tailpipes give it away. I absolutely love the sleeper vibe of this car. Also, people should drive a supercharged car at least once in their life; the power delivery and linear response along with that whine is absolutely amazing. It’s also pre-facelift and has the hydraulic power steering and the first gen Audi ‘eyebrow’ style LED DRLs. I know it’s divisive, but I adore how relevant this car still looks today. Plus, Quattro means we have actually used this car up and down the entire West Coast, driving it all the way up to Vancouver BC, through crazy rain, snow etc.

How did you decide to get this over anything else that was on the market back then?

Back in 2011 when I got my first real job and wanted to buy a ‘nice’ car, I actually wanted to buy a CPO E90 M3 or a CPO W204 C63. On the former, living in the Bay Area, I just started noticing a lot of startup bros/those who wanted to show off, buying and driving these M3s. That put me off a little bit. I then went and drove a pre-facelift W204 C63 (the only ones available CPO) even though they were auto-only. But the interior quality and design were so off-putting and the gas mileage so bad, I was not able to reconcile that with the godlike V8 and exhaust note.

I had just decided to go back to the used M3 when one day I saw a Sepang Blue B8 S4 in the parking lot at my work as I pulled up. I still remember getting out of my car and circling this thing about 3 times before heading in to work. All morning, I just could not get the car out of my head.

During lunch, I decided to walk back to the car and put a sticky note on the driver’s window with my name and email so that the owner would get in touch with me and I could ask him questions. I knew of the S4 but never really paid serious attention to it until I saw that car. He was gracious enough to let me drive it a bit and I loved it. It also helped that I could buy a new S4 for the price of a CPO M3/C63.

Anything you don’t like?

I purchased it for a performant but entirely practical daily driver, and I think it’s perfect and checks all the boxes for that. I also deeply appreciate how much of a sleeper this car is. Having said that, the factory exhaust is inaudible and belies the potential of this car. I was tempted very early on to do an aftermarket exhaust, but as an engineer myself, I appreciate the amount of time and effort the engineers spent to design and build the car the way they did, so decided to keep it as is.

These aren’t known for reliability, how has it been?

Remarkably reliable! I have been absolutely on top of any and all maintenance on this. I did have the thermostat replaced preemptively while the Supercharger was out for a recall back in 2017 since it was a known issue. In 2021 there was a mild oil leak from the oil cooler, which was then replaced. But looking at all my service records, apart from maintenance items, that’s it. I do know that the mechatronics unit on the DSG variant is a known weak point on this generation, as is the fact that a lot of people tune these cars making it remarkably easy to make more power but also potentially stress components.

What do you think Audi does better than other brands?

I cannot tell you the number of people who told me not to buy a new expensive German car, but I had done my research and was confident in my decision. Audi always seemed an underdog compared to BMW/Mercedes/Porsche and they seemed to embrace it back then. I have perennially chosen the underdog when I can (AMD vs. Intel, Zune vs. iPod etc.). I enjoy Audi’s classy and understated designs, excellent choice of materials, potent and powerful enough but never trying to appeal or chase after the track performance crowd. It’s like they knew they were building high-performance, high-quality cars for the normal person and were quietly confident about it. But more recently they seem to have lost their way.

What does this do better than the RS3?

It is a better car to live with on a daily basis than the RS3. Actually, I would never cross-shop the S4 with the RS3, very different personalities and use cases. The S4 is a jack-of-all-trades kinda car.

Apart from both being 4 door sedans with 4 rings on the grille, they’re like chalk and cheese. The S4 is a very restrained, comfortable, practical daily driver with room for family. The RS3 is its rowdy, extroverted, less practical younger sibling.

The S4 obeys your inputs and very linearly gives you what you want when you drive, the RS3 just keeps egging you on to push it. While it does have rear seats and a boot, neither is practical for actual family use. Plus, the RS3 is stiffer and too high-strung to be a true daily driver. You can absolutely daily drive it, it’s just that the S4 does that specific job better. We did a Bay to LA and back road trip in the RS3. Yeah, we didn’t do any more road trips in it after that experience.

What made you pick up the RS3?

The 5-cylinder engine and the exhaust note! I mean really, the rest of the car is barely different from an A3/S3 but that engine and exhaust will one day be in a museum as an automotive great.

The original plan was for me to trade in my 6-year-old S4 for a TT-RS. I even placed an order for a TT-RS originally. But in the following weeks, I kept thinking about it and realized something like a TT-RS would have very limited use for us in the coming years with 2x dogs and maybe a kid someday. VW had bought back our TDI wagon a few months prior, and we purchased an A4 Allroad to replace it so we had a family car already, but somehow I couldn’t mentally justify a 2 seater. But I wanted that 5cyl. So, I swapped the TT-RS order for the RS3! I also realized that I was way too sentimentally attached to the S4 to let it go. I guess this was the beginning of the end.

What do you like better about this one vs the S4?

This car is a true modern-day gem. I’m absolutely astounded Audi still makes/sells this car. A compact, 5-cylinder, rambunctious sedan?? It has so much personality and I enjoy driving the RS3 the most out of all my cars. If for whatever reason I have to downsize my collection to one car, this would be it. The engine, the exhaust, the reverse-staggered tires. I LOVE IT! And this side of a sonorous V10, the exhaust note is very hard to beat. While I do use it to commute every now and then, and also pick up my son from daycare, I mostly use this to go up and down Mount Umunhum or when I just want to go out on a drive for the sake of driving these days.

Anything you wish you could change about this?

Nope! This car captures peak Audi IMHO. Stubbornly based on a FWD chassis, Audi engineers trying their best to ‘make it work’ with the 5 pot, tuned Haldex, and reverse-staggered setup. I know some people think of it as a tarted-up Golf … they’re not wrong. But I think that just speaks to how scalable the Golf chassis is to be able to rein in and support such a crazy car!

Now how did the 911 Turbo come along?

I wanted a Porsche, and had decided I wanted a 997 specifically because, IMHO, it is the last of an era of 911s. It fixes a lot of 996’s issues but it’s still sized like a traditional 911. Until you sit in and drive one, you don’t realize how compact and direct these cars are. I know everyone says this about every other 911 generation, but having driven a few 911s I genuinely feel if someone wants to experience the best of 911s (from an actual driving experience, not for nostalgia/investment etc. sake) they should try the classic, and the 997.

Having read up about Porsche’s racing history, being able to drive a Mezger-engined 911 became the next requirement. This meant it would either be a 997 Turbo, a 997 GT3, or a 991 GT3. GT3 prices were already loopy even before COVID, and my wife already found the RS3 too rough, so I zeroed in on the Turbo with a stick.

There’s all that, but at the heart of it, my parents gifted me a silver 997 911 scale model when I graduated from grad school in 2010 with a note at the bottom congratulating me and telling me to work hard to buy a real Porsche someday.

What do you love about it?

Until I bought this car, I didn’t really get all the hoopla around Porsches. Yes, I liked the cars and knew the brand was storied etc. but a lot of it felt like the internet echo chamber at work. Then, I drove a 997 Turbo coupe My God, I just got floored by how it felt like the car was an extension of me. And the build quality! This car had seen 45K miles and had been tracked a chunk. But it still felt like a bank vault.

The deal didn’t go through on that particular Turbo but I was on the lookout since. I came upon a well maintained, non-garage queen Turbo convertible and ended up buying it. The 911 Turbo is the best embodiment of an Autobahn/interstate missile. I am completely sold on Porsche build quality and engineering. A 16-year-old high-performance convertible that doesn’t rattle and creak and ‘just works’ every single time? Amazing!

That’s high praise! Anything you don’t like?

It’s a little too clinical? I know it sounds weird and maybe this is specific to the Turbo but it just feels too competent and sorted. It does everything you ask of it, but almost as if with a shrug of the shoulder. Additionally, the stock exhaust is laughably quiet for a 500HP performance car. Also, my god the standard stick travel is hilarious for a high-performance sports car.

More than anything, the sound the famed Mezger makes on a cold start. I am not exaggerating, I called up the seller asking WTF was wrong with the engine the first time I started the car! Unconvinced of his response, called up a well-known local Porsche shop to ask the same. Yes, it really sounds like it’s about to fall apart every time you start it.

Are there any real similarities between this and the 88 aside from the badge?

The key goes in on the left of the wheel? You can sense the general DNA still shared between the two cars. Things like the general driving posture, overall tank-like build, being able to see the headlight ‘tunnels’ while driving, but they’re cars from very different eras and the actual driving is wildly different.

What do you like better about this one over the 88?

It’s a much newer car and so from a usability POV, this is definitely much more drivable and livable. The ‘88, it rewards your eyes, ears, nose, and fingers with all sorts of feedback even though it isn’t particularly quick in stock form. The Turbo is a weapon. Made to seek and destroy roads and turns.

Now what led to the addition of the 88?

This was a bit of a panic buy because I originally wanted (and still want) a 993 because IMHO it’s the best 911, period. But I started seeing the prices for those things skyrocket and have seen other cars I like follow this trend and start trading for absurd values. I saw this really well-maintained ‘88 which had a bunch of work done to it over the last 10 years or so. It wasn’t tracked/abused but I didn’t want a garage queen either, so I jumped at it.

What is your favorite thing about it?

I wish I could be teleported back to the 80’s and 90’s as an adult because driving this car is amazing and I feel bad that I missed out on that era of cars. There is no power anything – well, apart from windows maybe. You’ve got to work hard for everything! But man, even though you’re not going anywhere particularly quickly, with the sound, the steering feedback, and the smell, you sure feel like you are.

Is there anything you don’t like?

The HVAC controls. I don’t need to use anything beyond the basic fan/blower because the summer/fall weather here is not bad but it’s insane that there’s random controls related to the heater/AC/fan speed/fan direction etc. strewn across the car. But that’s really just me finding a fault for the sake of answering this question. This car is truly amazing!

Have you had any issues with it?

Exactly one; the fuel pump relay crapped out a few months ago. I wasn’t sure what the issue was because one day, suddenly, the car would crank but not start. Reading forums I realized it either was the fuel pump relay (a known failure point) or the crank sensor. Both DIYable, but the latter is more of a pain. I started with the easy bit and luckily, it turned out to be the relay. I checked the manufacturing code on the failed relay, it was the factory part from the 80s. Crazy!

What made you want the classic 911?

As mentioned above, I wanted to experience at least one air-cooled 911 and the COVID frenzy was gaining steam. I didn’t want this to reach a point where I could not, in good conscience, pay the asking price to buy one. So when everything looked good with this, and it was stock and came with reasonable service history AND it was Guards Red. Sold!

What do you like better about the classic over the 08?

Both are an absolute testament to Porsche quality. I seriously cannot believe this 3.2 is almost as old as me, but is in so much better shape than I am! Everything is so tactile, analog, mechanical. Every time I turn the key, let the fuel pump fire up, start the car, watch the oil pressure gauge act funky for the next few minutes, and hear the flat 6 settle down, it’s like the car is having a conversation with me, a conversation with an old buddy. I know it sounds corny, but I feel like I owe this car care, love, and attention for the 75K miles of rock steady reliable fun it has provided over the decades.

Now what’s the story behind the RS6?

We’ve always had a wagon as our family car. Our ‘17 A4 Allroad was doing great but we were expecting our first baby and with the two Golden Retrievers. It wasn’t going to work out well. At first, I wanted to replace the A4 Allroad with the A6 Allroad that had just been released. But now, having experienced two Porsches, I was completely sold on the Panamera Sport Turismo. I wanted to look at a CPO 4S or GTS. I dropped by the local Porsche dealer to look at the car in person, and two things struck me. One, the Panamera is shockingly tight in the rear and cargo! My A4 Allroad had more room! And second, COVID dealer antics were at their absolute height. This meant that CPO prices for reasonably specced lower mileage cars were the same as new cars that had a 1-2 year wait time.

The Panamera wouldn’t meet our family’s needs. I looked at the E63 but they had stopped making them new and as a result, used prices were batshit. Beyond that, the interior just seemed like an old man’s country club. One thing led to another and I ended up placing an order for an RS6 in December of ‘21.

What does this do better than the other Audis?

This car is a feat of modern engineering; I find it absolutely hilarious that even with 2-3 adults, a baby, two dogs, and a roof box filled with crap, there is so little on the road that can keep up with this thing. We’ve put 16K miles on it in the 2 years we’ve had it, almost exclusively on road trips, and this thing is an absolute unit. Rain, shine, snow, 5-lane Interstates, twisty inclined two-lane roads, all this car’s capabilities are available to you all the time. And you can choose to be as little or as much involved through all of it! I struggle to think of a better car available today.

I would not call it a sports car, because it is a big/heavy vehicle and there is only so much you can do to effectively mask the weight and inertia, but it comes damn close and certainly does a measurably better job than any hi-po SUV you can find today.

How was the ordering process?

It’s time-consuming, a little annoying (very variable timeline) and the reasons were different for each, but the S4, RS3, A4 Allroad, and this RS6 were all built to order. For the RS6, I was adamant about getting the brown/cognac interior and keeping the stock 21-inch wheels and brushed metal accents.

From that, I tried to fit various stock colors and none of them felt perfect. I asked my dealer if a custom color was an option, luckily at that time, it still was. I went through the Audi Exclusive paint options and Goodwood Green seemed like the perfect fit.

Anything you miss from the RS3 or S4 when you’re driving this?

Yes. The size. Especially when I drive the RS3 and then the RS6, it’s immediately obvious how much larger and heavier this vehicle is. That, and with the interior simplicity of the S4 and RS3, the features I use every time are all muscle memory mapped. Whereas with the RS6, every time I get in, I need to take a 10-15 sec pause to get myself situated first.

Is there anything this does not do well?

It’s hard to say this, and I hope it doesn’t come true, but I don’t think I will be able to keep this car forever. The C8 RS6, like all current-day high-performance German cars, is needlessly complex. It has an entirely useless and unnecessary hybrid system that’s only really used between 13MPH and coming to a stop at a signal/sign. Yet, it is so deeply tied into the powertrain that if it fails, the car is dead. There is a well-known TSB on this issue after multiple hybrid-V8 Audis failed.

I am scared of the fact that cars like this need to have a permanent umbilical cord attached to the dealership and that means once dealers have moved on, even rare, storied, sought-after vehicles like this won’t be able to stay roadworthy for too long. I also don’t like how much the design stands out compared to previous generations.

Ok now where did you find the Lancia?

On Bring A Trailer! I have since kept in touch with the seller and the guy is one of the coolest car enthusiasts and persons in general I have ever had the pleasure of knowing!

Were you looking for an Integrale?

I was looking to pick up a car from my list for some time and the Delta Evo 1 was on that list. After the ‘88 911 experience and how much I loved it, the ‘23 RS6 experience and how I felt “forever” cars are likely not going to be a thing in the future, and the birth of my son with whom I’ve been sharing my love of cars, I realized I need to start acting on my list before it gets late. In a way, I feel like I’m building a library of hits of sorts for him that I hope he is willing to appreciate, enjoy, and take care of someday. I saw this thing and it felt right.

Were there specific specs you wanted for this?

Yes, it had to be an Evo 1. I didn’t want the standard Integrale, and I also didn’t want the Evo 2. The Evo 1 was the last of the Deltas that were officially homologated for and raced in the WRC. It was the last of the purpose-built Deltas. Evo 2s existed because there was still a lot of interest in the Delta after the WRC momentum, but global emissions regulations made it impossible to continue selling the Evo 1 as is. This car had spent the majority of its time in Spain and the seller had also done a bunch of solid OEM+ upgrades to the car. It was a well-sorted Evo 1 that I couldn’t look past.

Have you been able to drive it much yet?

No! The damn thing crapped out literally as I drove it away from the seller, maybe 15 minutes out. It started misfiring and eventually died bang in the middle of a roundabout. Man, I was shitting bricks but a guy walked over from across the road, pushed me to the side, and said he couldn’t believe his eyes that he was seeing a real Lancia Delta Evo!

I called AAA and the lady on the phone was just flummoxed because the VIN didn’t pull up anything in their systems, and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out or understand what a Lancia was.

That was my introduction to classic Italian car ownership! But I knew full well it was going to be a bumpy road and settled in. The AAA guy dropped by an hour later and jumped the car; it sprang back to life and I got going thinking it was either the battery or the alternator. Maybe about 2 miles later, the car died again and now it refused to crank.

Fortunately, the AAA dude was right behind me, and he pulled over to call a tow truck. An hour and a half later, the tow truck dude showed up and eventually, we got home. Unfortunately, as the car was being backed off from the flatbed, the lower valence on the front bumper caught on a cable and snapped a piece off. To say that was a bad day would be an understatement! But again, I knew full well before buying that this would be very different from my German car experience. That has certainly been the case!

That’s rough. What’s wrong with it?

Two different things, but they both played a role in the car breaking down that day. The first was that the battery was toast. Second, and this has taken the better part of three weeks to figure out, after a lot of trial and error and a bunch of parts flown in from the UK, the coolant temperature sensor is no good. Before getting to that, we tried changing the air temperature sensor and the crank position sensor, but the same thing would happen. About 10-15 minutes in, the car would start misfiring and then die and not start back up again until the engine had cooled.

The seller, by the way, has been absolutely epic through all this. He dropped by the shop with a service manual that he had for the Delta. This helped them discover that the coolant temperature sensor resistance was off. The replacement part is still en route from UK, so fingers crossed! But in reality, Delta’s are very hardy/reliable cars and the Lampredi 2.0L is actually pretty solid. Issues generally revolve around bodywork and trim and both of those are good on this car.

How is the parts availability situation for a Lancia Delta Integrale?

There is growing interest in this car, and in Europe there is a reasonable pool of refurb/old new stock/remanufactured parts and specialists who know these cars in and out and do an amazing job with them. The parts are also not that expensive, at least relative to Porsche, Audi, VW etc. Tanc Barratt in UK is one of the most popular shops that specializes in Deltas and they’re a damn fine bunch of folks.

There are also enthusiasts, like the ones on the Evocorner forums, who are very knowledgeable and passionate about these cars and have even built a diags SW to help diagnose anything. Now that being said, yes, almost every single part needs to be shipped over from Europe and paired with the trial/error approach to triaging and the shipping costs, you can imagine this taking much longer and costing more than it really should.

What is the intent for this one?

Like all my other cars, I intend to use this as another car, just not in the winter months. The original Spanish owner made some cosmetic mods to it that the OCD-ness in me is itching to undo. The original factory paint on this is code 632 Mica Black, which is actually quite a rare color. I might eventually get this thing stripped down, repainted, and built back fully but my toddler’s eyes blow up like a Manga character when he sees this thing every time so I might just bring everything else up to spec and wait on the repaint. The car is based in Oregon because I can’t register it in CA, but that’s great because Oregon has some absolutely beautiful roads that lend themselves really well to a WRC-derived car. I even ordered custom “WRC FTW” Oregon plates.

You said your son likes this one, any idea why he likes this over the others?

I tried doing my best to get him into cars as early as was reasonable (he’s 18 months old now), but he didn’t really seem to care much initially, and I obviously didn’t want to force him. Then, about four or so months ago, something flipped and his most used word now is “caa.” Anything with a wheel is a “caa”, he has to have a “caa” in his hands. At the daycare, it’s always a “caa” he’s playing with, and he has to see the “caa” in the garage every time he’s eating. The dude’s nuts!

With the red Porsche and the yellow Lancia, I think it’s mostly just the colors that pop at him, at least for now. But in the RS3, I fold down part of the rear seat so that more of the (already loud) exhaust is audible inside, he goes nuts, he keeps saying “vroom vroom” when he hears the exhaust on full chat and gives a big smile every time I look at him. Right now, he’s obsessed with his red Pajero Evolution Hot Wheels … and that car is pretty high on my list.

Thanks Mithun!

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