Mr.E.G.

I have been driving an ATS-V for a few years now. I love that car. Well, I was working late on a motion, walked down to the underground garage, and the car was gone.

I had an AirTag on the car and one on a rifle in the trunk (that was secured in a safe, mind you). They found the AirTag on the car almost immediately. It took them a few hours to find the one on the rifle. The cops were basically incompetent. Between that and the latency of the AirTag, despite some attempts to catch up to the thieves, no joy.

Two topics of discussion:

1. What car should I buy?
2. How should I equip the next car so that I can mitigate the risk of theft/have the best chance at tracking the thieves.

Mr.E.G.

What I liked about the ATS-V and why I have been driving it so long.

It's not a perfect car, but there's not a lot that is better for my needs. I don't like big cars, really. And I need something "fancy" enough that I don't look like a scrub when meeting with clients, but not ostentatious, either. I litigate cases all over the state and I have a bunch of kids, so I can't realistically daily drive or Corvette or anything like that. My wife has a big Mercedes 12 passenger van to haul the kids around, and I only occasionally take the oldest three with me anywhere, so a normal 5 passenger configuration is fine. The ATS-V was very fun to drive. Every time I thought about replacing it, I was left feeling kind of cold. I thought I liked the V8 Lexus IS, but it's slower than the ATS-V. That same thought process played out with several other cars. They were either quite a bit more expensive for a marginal increase in performance or they slower.

Mr.E.G.

Well, I have very little interest in finding a replacement ATS-V. They're long in the tooth, and mine was in better condition than most that I see. I am willing to bet that I'd be hard pressed to find one in good shape and with relatively low miles.

I'm marginally interested in a CTS-V/CT5 Blackwing, but it's really bigger than I would prefer and they're pretty expensive. I just bought a tacky McMansion and would rather not buy a $100k car. :-)

The only car that comes to mind is the Audi RS3. It's relatively light, fast, looks "upscale" without being too nutty, and I like the noises it makes. I have done only a little bit of searching and I don't have a good sense for how easy it is to get one. Is it a car I can just order and pay MSRP for, or will there be dealer markup and all that jazz?

rbackhouse

I have a 2024 RS3 that I got last November after waiting over a year from the order. They are fairly limited in availability but you should still be able to get one for MSRP if you are willing to travel.

They just announced the 2025 details but they probably wont be available til next year sometime if you want a custom build. Prebuilt 2024s are still around but probably for not much longer.

Mr.E.G.

Good info. Thank you.

I hadn't considered that they would be that rare. I definitely don't want to wait for months to get one. The Audi website shows there are only four in the U.S. sitting on dealer lots. So, yikes.

Mr.E.G.

Are the newer RS3s as easily tunable as the last gen?

rbackhouse

No not currently.

Here's a very long thread discussing
https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...er-be-tuneable

QUIKAG

Sorry your V was stolen! Besides the RS3 (if you can find one!), have you considered a 4 Blackwing? Slightly used CPO can be had for very good pricing. All the cool things on your ATS-V are even better on the 4BW. 5BW is awesome (love mine), but they are bigger and more expensive with worse fuel consumption for the long drives you do.

Saki GT

There's a security product called IGLA that keeps your car from starting or driving unless you do a specific set of actions, like open a menu, tap a button sequence, etc. If you don't do that first, the car will not move out of park, and just return to it if you try.

Another good option is a hidden kill switch to the fuel pump power. Just need to place it somewhere that's both hidden and easy to reach.

As for cars, maybe a Lexus RC F or IS F Sport?

TsukubaCody

Is an Integra Type S an option