Now- I've owned both, and loved both, but by heart I am a VAG lover.

The 325 is good, the in-line 6 is an amazing engine that has great mechanical reliability. The thing with BMW is that when they get older, the electronics start to fail more than the Audi systems tend to do.

The A4, assuming it has the 2.0t 4-cylinder and not the junk 3.2 would be the way to go. The 2.0t is not without it's faults though, as there were some different modules and what-not that could go wrong preventing the car from running/driving.

From a tuner-side of things, the 2.0t is more versatile, seeing as it already has a turbo, it is easy to squeeze power out of for relatively cheap compared to the 325.

Also- from the standpoint of being 17 with a "sports car", the Audi will be cheaper to insure as they do better on safety ratings, and most are equipped with AWD which reduces insurance on places with weather that gets icy or snowy.

-James

Canyon wrote Now- I've owned both, and loved both, but by heart I am a VAG lover.

The 325 is good, the in-line 6 is an amazing engine that has great mechanical reliability. The thing with BMW is that when they get older, the electronics start to fail more than the Audi systems tend to do.

The A4, assuming it has the 2.0t 4-cylinder and not the junk 3.2 would be the way to go. The 2.0t is not without it's faults though, as there were some different modules and what-not that could go wrong preventing the car from running/driving.

From a tuner-side of things, the 2.0t is more versatile, seeing as it already has a turbo, it is easy to squeeze power out of for relatively cheap compared to the 325.

Also- from the standpoint of being 17 with a "sports car", the Audi will be cheaper to insure as they do better on safety ratings, and most are equipped with AWD which reduces insurance on places with weather that gets icy or snowy.

-James

Newer BMW's (Post ~2007) are the ones known for electronic instability, Pre 2006 they're pretty solid. I own a 03 325i, so I'm probably a little biased. They are also all around mechanically bulletproof for the most part, but the coolant system will basically turn to glass past 100,000 miles .

@OP:
Audi post 2002 is fairly reliable as well, sure routine maintenance costs ($100 oil changes) will be more expensive, you're buying a "Luxury Sedan" after all, and they're getting older. As long as you are willing to do the work yourself you won't get killed (Timing belt and water pump on the A4 might do you in though lol). What's the mileage on the cars? That will tell you a lot about what might need done on them as people tend to offload them right before their maintenance intervals, i.e shit will go wrong quick.