The year is 2002: >Audi A4 3.0 Quattro sold with 220hp v6 engine, CVT transmission for $39k >VW Passat available with a 280hp W8, shares Torsen-based Quattro AWD and chassis with the Audi A4 and 6spd stick or TipTronic no-cost option. $38,500 ($51k adjusted for inflation if you care). >Audi sells millions of A4s, W8 Passat lives alone in basement with no friends.
Why are Amerifats such brandwhores and completely incapable of appreciating true Teutonic godmachines?
P.S. Don't even bring up the Phaeton.
Ryder Nguyen
Nobody, anywhere, wants to pay that much for a Passat, especially in the early 2000s when VW was only just starting to move itself upmarket. That, and the W8 is hideously unreliable if you don't keep up on maintenance, and hideously expensive when you do.
Matthew Cooper
You have to think of the markets for those cars and the price. If they put a Coyote in a Ford Focus and priced it at $60k, do you think they would sell? I mean it would be a dank car but they wouldn't sell for shit.
It's also the same reason there isn't a 300HP+ FRS/BRZ or a new Supra. We would all love to see those cars so we could buy them used in 10yrs for $8k with a rebuilt title. But the people with $40k+ to spend on a car don't want that.
Asher Peterson
280hp from 8 cylinders seems like shit efficiency in the 21st century t b h
Eli Martin
It's only a 4 L and not built for performance so it's understandable
Jason Watson
Audi's own conventional 4.2l V8 made anywhere from 300 to 360 at the time.
Bentley Lee
that's true. But still, BMW managed to get 272hp from a 3.6 liter V8 and 333 hp from a 4.4l V8 in 2001, both non-performance oriented NA engines But again you cant compare VAG to BMW anyway so thats ok
Liam Edwards
W8's main purpose was compact packaging - maybe that bred some design compromises. This engine is the father to the W12 and W16's still in use by VW group.
That's not even remotely the same thing - that's a great engine in a shit econo-car chassis not designed to hold it. This is a great engine, made to fit the chassis AND ITS THE SAME FUCKING CHASSIS AS THE AUDI. It's basically the same car, but you could get better kit if you were willing to trade off the value of an Audi badge. Apparently literally no one though it was worth it.
Connor Robinson
With forced induction though
Brandon Long
Only in the RS6 (where it made 250hp), all other variants were NA. The 360hp is for the D2 S8.
