They’ve never had a good diesel engine. The one they did have would split crankshafts IIRC.
Their petrol engines are pretty boring unless turbocharged… And in Europe they don’t do a lot of turbos outside of the WRX and STI models
Oh and CVT longevity kinda sucks too
But on the other hand, the AWD is excellent, Outback as a taller but not too tall wagon was very comfy (now it’s a crossover sadly), especially in the slightly tallet USDM version. Etc.
My ex got our Outback and I replaced it with the cheapest available A6 Allroad. Much better vehicle in all but reliability though in its defense it has twice the kilometers and is 6 years older (2007 vs 2013). Better driving dynamics, fuel economy, comfort, and ride height can be low or high. Also has a traditional autobox.
I hated my A6 Allroad, despite its great 230hp diesel engine. My Subaru Levorg while smaller is better in everything except for raw power and fuel economy.
And on the snow it’s in another league completely.
Tbf the 230hp diesel isn’t great. If I hadn’t bought this thing for under 2000 EUR in a pinch, I would’ve preferred the 239 hp (176 kW) version. Better fuel economy, more torque, little bit more reliable chain tensioner. Or quite honestly, I would’ve preferred BMW or MB’s inline 6 diesel engines.
But mine’s still going strong at 400k km, original chains AFAIK. Transmission stopped working altogether 2 weeks ago. Opened it up and saw a 2007 date on the filter. NEVER changed before, fluid was probably original too. Changed the mechatronic seals (14€), transmission fluid and filter (~180€) and it behaves like new. I was very sure I’d have to rebuild the transmission. I’ve done about 20k km on it myself so far.
My only gripes: Would prefer the newer engine variant from the facelift; Would prefer a manual transmission.
As for snow - I don’t know, I haven’t been able to get it stuck. We’ve got a whole bunch of snow here in Estonia this winter, but the plows are working fine and the ability to raise it has been nice. I have exceptionally good studded winter tires fitted too.
I’ve also had a 4matic car which performed pretty decently in snow, but not as good as Quattro. But then I’ve done mild off roading in snow with FWD cars too lol, key is great winter tires, skill and (this is important) patience.
If I could have a Levorg with the turbo engine AND a manual transmission, I’d prefer it over the Audi any day of the week, fuel economy be damned. Unfortunately I don’t see any turbo models on sale here and apparently they were never made with manual transmission :(
I guess for anyone buying the car new, the CVT likely wouldn’t be an issue. I just don’t have faith in them lasting long term. And I like to buy my cars used and depreciated.
230hp diesel isn’t great. If I hadn’t bought this thing for under 2000 EUR in a pinch, I would’ve preferred the 239 hp
I don’t exactly remember which one it was, the restyling of the “round front” one. Had an A6 quattro sedan from the same model, pre-restyling too, same car really. It was many years ago. The tiptronic gearbox sucked, it was awfully slow even when changing gears manually. I remember spending about 1k€ to replace a headlight, then at around 250k km the gearbox started acting up, lots of stupid costs I luckily didn’t have to pay for personally. Now I don’t use the car as much, actually I barely use it at all, so the bad fuel economy of the Subaru doesn’t matter much to me.
On the snow I didn’t like the Audi, I’ve never skimped on tires and I used to be a 4x4 offroader myself, so honestly I don’t know how to justify it sucking so bad.
As for the Levorg yeah, I don’t think they sold a manual turbo in Europe, the best you can get is my same 1.6L turbo 170hp with CVT. CVT really sucks the power out of this engine, the feeling is not very sporty, but some things don’t matter as much to me as when I was younger. For everything else the car is perfect, and the CVT does have its perks. Fuel economy is REALLY bad, like normally I can get 10km/l, but there are times where I drive a bit less carefully and then I get 8km/l.
If you had the facelift with the LED DRLs, that would’ve been the superior 239 hp one and if you had a pre-facelift 3.0 tdi, that would’ve been either 230 or 224 (ish) hp.
I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the Tiptronic either, but I do like its longevity and relative simplicity if I need to rebuild it. In a BMW it would be possible to flash it for higher line pressure and faster shifts, but unfortunately not the case for Audi.
For my next car I’m looking to ideally get something with an 8HP or 9G-Tronic box. Aisin 8 speed as a backup option. Haven’t actually driven either of those 8-speeds somehow, but I had a W205 C-class with 9G for over 2 years and it was sublime. Kicking down even 4 gears at once was quick as hell and outside of sport+ you couldn’t ever feel any of the shifts, even though they were always quick
I love/hate Subaru
They’ve never had a good diesel engine. The one they did have would split crankshafts IIRC.
Their petrol engines are pretty boring unless turbocharged… And in Europe they don’t do a lot of turbos outside of the WRX and STI models
Oh and CVT longevity kinda sucks too
But on the other hand, the AWD is excellent, Outback as a taller but not too tall wagon was very comfy (now it’s a crossover sadly), especially in the slightly tallet USDM version. Etc.
My ex got our Outback and I replaced it with the cheapest available A6 Allroad. Much better vehicle in all but reliability though in its defense it has twice the kilometers and is 6 years older (2007 vs 2013). Better driving dynamics, fuel economy, comfort, and ride height can be low or high. Also has a traditional autobox.
I hated my A6 Allroad, despite its great 230hp diesel engine. My Subaru Levorg while smaller is better in everything except for raw power and fuel economy.
And on the snow it’s in another league completely.
Tbf the 230hp diesel isn’t great. If I hadn’t bought this thing for under 2000 EUR in a pinch, I would’ve preferred the 239 hp (176 kW) version. Better fuel economy, more torque, little bit more reliable chain tensioner. Or quite honestly, I would’ve preferred BMW or MB’s inline 6 diesel engines.
But mine’s still going strong at 400k km, original chains AFAIK. Transmission stopped working altogether 2 weeks ago. Opened it up and saw a 2007 date on the filter. NEVER changed before, fluid was probably original too. Changed the mechatronic seals (14€), transmission fluid and filter (~180€) and it behaves like new. I was very sure I’d have to rebuild the transmission. I’ve done about 20k km on it myself so far.
My only gripes: Would prefer the newer engine variant from the facelift; Would prefer a manual transmission.
As for snow - I don’t know, I haven’t been able to get it stuck. We’ve got a whole bunch of snow here in Estonia this winter, but the plows are working fine and the ability to raise it has been nice. I have exceptionally good studded winter tires fitted too.
I’ve also had a 4matic car which performed pretty decently in snow, but not as good as Quattro. But then I’ve done mild off roading in snow with FWD cars too lol, key is great winter tires, skill and (this is important) patience.
If I could have a Levorg with the turbo engine AND a manual transmission, I’d prefer it over the Audi any day of the week, fuel economy be damned. Unfortunately I don’t see any turbo models on sale here and apparently they were never made with manual transmission :(
I guess for anyone buying the car new, the CVT likely wouldn’t be an issue. I just don’t have faith in them lasting long term. And I like to buy my cars used and depreciated.
I don’t exactly remember which one it was, the restyling of the “round front” one. Had an A6 quattro sedan from the same model, pre-restyling too, same car really. It was many years ago. The tiptronic gearbox sucked, it was awfully slow even when changing gears manually. I remember spending about 1k€ to replace a headlight, then at around 250k km the gearbox started acting up, lots of stupid costs I luckily didn’t have to pay for personally. Now I don’t use the car as much, actually I barely use it at all, so the bad fuel economy of the Subaru doesn’t matter much to me.
On the snow I didn’t like the Audi, I’ve never skimped on tires and I used to be a 4x4 offroader myself, so honestly I don’t know how to justify it sucking so bad.
As for the Levorg yeah, I don’t think they sold a manual turbo in Europe, the best you can get is my same 1.6L turbo 170hp with CVT. CVT really sucks the power out of this engine, the feeling is not very sporty, but some things don’t matter as much to me as when I was younger. For everything else the car is perfect, and the CVT does have its perks. Fuel economy is REALLY bad, like normally I can get 10km/l, but there are times where I drive a bit less carefully and then I get 8km/l.
If you had the facelift with the LED DRLs, that would’ve been the superior 239 hp one and if you had a pre-facelift 3.0 tdi, that would’ve been either 230 or 224 (ish) hp.
I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the Tiptronic either, but I do like its longevity and relative simplicity if I need to rebuild it. In a BMW it would be possible to flash it for higher line pressure and faster shifts, but unfortunately not the case for Audi.
For my next car I’m looking to ideally get something with an 8HP or 9G-Tronic box. Aisin 8 speed as a backup option. Haven’t actually driven either of those 8-speeds somehow, but I had a W205 C-class with 9G for over 2 years and it was sublime. Kicking down even 4 gears at once was quick as hell and outside of sport+ you couldn’t ever feel any of the shifts, even though they were always quick