Holy s***, $419.99 for that whole setup!?? Run away!!!! Far away!!!!


I know people will hate me for saying this, but I agree w/ the idea of selling the 420a for a GSX or GS-T. I've been down that road. I used to be in the Audi world. I had a '98 A4 V6 Quattro w/ a tiptronic auto trans. It looked damn nice and drove REALLY smooth, but it just wasn't fast. It was fastER than the 1.8 turbo stock, but the turbo guys could easily upgrade to get much more power. And all of this was overshadowed by the S4 crowd, which was sporting twin turbo V6's. With a V6 and automatic, I had nowhere to go. My only choice was $5,000 for a non-intercooled supercharger that would net 290 crank horse. That's it. I upgraded the suspension and found my happiness in knowing that it was a relatively "quick" car that handled really well and was a damn nice ride. In the end, I looked back and realized that I had the slow model, and reaching for the sky with it was pointless. But...when you're attached to a car it's hard to get rid of it. In my case, an illegal immigrant driver w/ no license T-boned my A4 *sniff* and I was forced into getting a different car. Since I was at a point in my life where I wanted a car that I could work on and fix up, I opted for a DSM, but I wouldn't settle for ANYTHING less than turbo+AWD so that it was a good platform to start with.

And even with all that in mind, while you can make a turbo DSM fast, I *still* have to come to terms w/ the fact that I have an old, outdated, heavy, obsolete car that is inferior to some of the newer platforms. Sure, you can make a DSM go faster than a SRT-4, WRX, STi, or EVO, but as soon as someone starts modding one of those newer cars, it's leaps and bounds ahead of your modified DSM.

I guess it all comes down to how much money you want to spend, HOW you want to spend that money (i.e. buy a slow car and spend money to make it fast or just buy a fast car), and finally, what car you feel you have an attachment to.

I'm not saying everyone should get rid of their NT DSMs, but unless you have a really strong attachment to that particular car (which a lot of people do), it is in my opinion a complete waste of money to try and make it perform. The reason I say this is b/c of how damn cheap it is to get a GSX or GS-T. In the Audi world it would cost a LOT to get an S4, so one could justify fixing up an A4.


Sorry for another long rant, but aside from all that, heed Sam's words. CHEAP, FAST, RELIABLE...pick two.