Most people on these forums arent ready for Luxury price tags/taxes/maintenance.. You have to consider how frugal the majority of TDI owners are
Here in Colorado your paying taxes based off MSRP for like first 8 years, so if you buy a $100k car at half price, yer gonna **** when you see how much it costs to tag it.
I'm stepping up because of a very specific series of events:
* My big dog is having medical issues and its easier on everyone to bring him with us
* Ive got a 2nd kid on the way, and first is in School now and were needing a people hauler more and more for day trips.
* I got my self in tight situation towing with my Golf a few times deep in mountains in both good and bad weather.. The best camp sites are not in a park.
* Chain laws now apply to passenger 2WD vehicles and installing em sucks.
* I thought I'd never give up my 6MT but I'm getting too f'n old to get stuck in mountain traffic with a trailer; really ****ing my back up after a long driving stint, and my wife is struggling to drive her 6MT CC pregnant.. After a long day of sledding/hiking/skiing/etc that 6MT starts to really f'n suck when your in a parking lot of traffic.
* I have experience buying, owning and working on big Audi's, I know what I'm getting my self into and already have a strategy at mitigating the biggest maintenance costs so i can keep ontop of everything.
* With 2 Boys I'mna need a good toy hauler, Camper, AutoCross, Dirt Bikes, Snow Machines, Boats, whatever life throws at us.
Otherwise I'd just keep the Golf TDI because its such a great cross country millage machine and I love the hell out of it, I wanted my golf for nearly a decade before I went all in on my first new car and had absolutely no intentions of getting rid of it before 300k miles.
Ive got every intention on getting my Q7 out past a quarter million miles now, damned the cost.. Yeh only live once and I love both German cars and Diesel Power, lets drive until the roads end.