My wife is looking for a new car, SUV. She's coming from an 02 Audi A4 1.6 4 cylinder AWD Quattro Turbo, 125K miles, bought new. I drive a 4.6L V8 06 Mustang GT.

I appreciate the the AWD drive of her car and was thinking of one for the XC90 but wondering if it's really needed, I mean, it's an SUV after all.

I wouldn't hesitate to get the V8 for me, but she drives slow, so I'm thinking the V8 isn't worth the added cost as it would be her vehicle, however, used car values aren't that far in price.

I wrench on her A4 and have come to realize the high cost of maintaining EU vehicles. The Audi is great, but it cost alot if you don't do it yourself, and seems to have several issues not common with American/Jap cars.

I'm looking at an 07 - 08 < 35K miles, under $30K.

What can I expect from this car? as far as reliability, cost to maintain, driving comfort (going tomorrow to drive for a 2nd time), how hard to work on yourself, etc?

Pros/Cons vs other vehicles?

What would you not do without, what could you do without?

Any other recs I should consider

 

those years you will be getting the 3.2l inline 6, this motor is complicated. I really have not seen much problems with the motor, but it is way over-engineered . I guess it is not that much to maintain if you do it yourself, it holds 8 qts of oil, you need a 36mm socket to get the oil filter off. awd little more complicated, V8 is better motor, designed by Yamaha.