my first audi was an 01 biturbo s4 avant 6mt
second was an 05 s4 6mt
third was an 08 s5 6mt. I sold it last month with 60k miles for more than I ever thought I'd get.

I am a retired audi mechanic, so there's still an s6 and an s8 in the garage.

I just got a 2017 cayenne e-hybrid, with 29k miles on the clock.

with a, a.. automatic. besides an 04 lightning I had for about six months back in the day, this is the only automatic I've ever bought. I've driven manuals my whole life

change in living situation, I needed space to be able to deal with three big dogs. I think I can now in an emergency, whereas before, ehh. no. I had the back seats out of the s5 for a while, but otherwise it was in perfect condition and garaged it's whole life. how am I holding up???

sport / sport plus = wheeee! this thing handles like 5300 lbs never wished it could. 49/51% weight distribution?? aside from the horrendous noises the all seasons make being a hooligan on an on ramp with traction control off, the 8 speed is definitely a slushbox but for a slushbox I just have no room to complain. it holds revs when I would have frowned at the upshift after lifting, and holy hell this thing is fast.

my s5 was the newest thing I had, it was my go to for just about any driving situation. the s6 and s8 are an 02 and 01, and, well. they spend a lot of time on jack stands. the s5 had an awe non-res full kit from the headers back, that thing really hauled ***. but I live at 5000 feet these days and when I made the move, I really felt the power loss. n/a just wasn't doing well at this altitude. I was putting 91 ethanol free in it, to try to offset that as much as possible. I'm sure it's going to someone who appreciates it, my days with it were done. Shifting gears, I'm cool, I'm tired, I'm done. I'll be 50 in just a few years, I just wanna hit the pedal on the right when I want to go, not heel toe rev match double clutch downshift. the pedal work became an art, but in the end, just not what I wanted to deal with any more.

this cayenne has got the high end ventilated seats, led headlights, adaptive cruise, premium plus. this is easily the most amazing vehicle I've ever owned. I've been digging through it marvelling at the engineering, it's like an audi with the stops removed, it also cost almost twice the price of my s5 when new. carvana put me behind the wheels at what was a complete steal, a fluke if I had to guess. this is a HORRIBLE time to buy a car, but I found a needle in a haystack and jumped on it first sight. I'd been looking at volvo plug in hybrids and a few other suvs. one was sold right out from under me when I was in the middle of buying it, (&*#$(*#(*$. can't tell you how infuriating that was.

So this may be late saying, but hello world of porsches. they never let me work on these at the dealer, but under the hood, what's that I spot? an audi supercharged 3.0 from the s5 that came after mine, well helllllooo. I already got my PIWIS 2 knock off, no way am I paying $400 for an oil change. I also got an extended warranty through a reputable company, if people wanna know I'll divulge but uh, posting their name on my first post here is just a tad bit sus. the warranty is because I am not suicidal, it just fell out of factory warranty a few months ago.

 

Great thread! Good story and pictures. Good to see someone do what’s necessary to take care of their four legged friends. The quilted covers for the dogs are great.

The quality and function of automatic transmissions really came into their own once they started controlling them electronically. They have never come up short in that area. My problem is that I thoroughly enjoy rowing a manual gearbox. I’ve been doing it for about sixty years. The problem is that my vehicle choice has gotten drastically limited. I was so pleased to find my 6MT Cayenne.

It would be great to see a picture of the dogs.