S4 Comes Home
If you tuned in last week to Part I, you'll know that perhaps the S4
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| The Audi S4 is the official car of Boulder, Colorado. (Photo: Jonathan Yarkony, Canadian Auto Press) |
wasn't the perfect vehicle for the journey to my destination, although it definitely covered the miles efficiently. I quickly discovered, mind you, upon exploring my destination that the S4 had come home. Everywhere I turned in Boulder, Colorado, Audis were the car of choice. Amid the gentrified boulevards of this town, if it wasn't an A6 behind you there was an allroad parked at the side of the street or an older S8 or 200 pulling into a parking lot ahead. I saw more S4s in four days there than I have seen in the past year in Toronto, and I even saw one get into a parking lot tangle with a 330Xi as I was enjoying my coffee from Vic's and bagel from Moe's. After those four days, I developed a fair understanding of why Audis seemed to be the most popular make on the road in Boulder.
It's
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| The Rockies posed little challenge to the S4, but provided plenty of entertainment for Jon. (Photo: Jonathan Yarkony, Canadian Auto Press) |
not as straightforward as "well, Audi's are zee best cars east of zee Rockies," but rather a combination of social and geographical conditions that led to the rise of Audi in Boulder. One of the biggest contributing factors is the Rockies--yeah they're pretty big--but Boulder's proximity to the strip of ski resort after ski resort branching off of the I-70 has attracted retirees and ski bums for several decades, and Boulder's artsy and liberal crowd has attracted a certain set of intelligentsia and nouveau riche. Of course, some of the money is home grown with several internet ventures springing up from this town, but no doubt the influx is greater than anything some of the hippies who settled in Boulder 30 to 40 years ago expected. So why Audi, above all others?
quattro. The world's best known all-wheel drive system recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and when other
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| Fresh, clean S4 tramples fresh, clean snow. (Photo: Jonathan Yarkony, Canadian Auto Press) |
car companies were still making the switch to front-wheel drive, Audi was proving quattro's merit on the World Rally Championship circuit and with the Audi 80 in production form. I'm guessing anyone who could afford one in Boulder at the time, at the very least investigated the German brand because it made the first large-scale production four-wheel drive car, and for those who didn't want to live day in and day out with pickups and still-primitive SUVs of the day, had few options. Over many years with that kind of limited choice (Subaru is probably second to Audi in visibility on Boulder's streets), habit is likely to engender loyalty, and now that many of those aging hipsters have come into their own, or moved into town--which is a very expensive move because real estate prices are astronomical--have upgraded their Audis as befits their station and lifestyle.
