I think it is a good idea. The problem is that many of the A4 guys do not know the
Passat and the A4 are near twins mechanically.

 

Personaly I would like to hear their experience especially since we ARE B5 club (sharing platform) and VAG group and me as well keep one eye on buying A4.
In short you have my vote for YES :thumbup:

 

I say go for it! A4 is of course an awesome car, but it is also a B5 (excluding the new B6 heh). And to me the two cars have always kind of gone together anyway. The Passat will always be our main car, but the A4 gets enough posts already anyway, and we will undoubtedly attract more members which is good!

I think as a large VAG site it could even help advertise/create awareness. I think many more people might buy the Passat if they knew it was based on the A4 and sometimes vice versa. People searching for a Passat or A4 online would most likely see this site in their top search results and that would be good.

In short, I vote Yea! (as opposed to nay)

 

yeah, bring on the oldschool B5 A4s, and while we at it kick all the b5.5 passat newbies out. Hahaha, I kid, I kid...

 

Absolutely! I wondered why the "B5" club had no original B5s? Welcome those Audi B*stards with open arms! :thumbup:

Correct me if I'm dumb but isn't the A4 THE original B5 platform and the A6 and Passat just modified versions of the platform? :???:

 

No...you're right.

 

Yep I think you should welcome the B5 A4's...

As a former owner myself of a B5 A4 2000 1.8TQM, and now a B5.5 PD TDI Passat...

A lot of the older crew on audiworld.com are very cool guys, and their knowledge would provide good input here :thumbup: ...some of the newer members though need to learn a lot

most of the guys I know are fully aware that the Passat and A4 share the same DNA...

Go :b5: :thumbup:

 

Pro A4 here. I think a lot of people move from the VW to Audis.

 

Set it up and get the word out! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

I think it's a great idea. :thumbup:

 

Sorry... not in favor.

The current A4 has nothing to do with the Passat save the 1.8T engine and there are already plenty of quality outlets for that information. Even the B5 A4 only lasted two years. I don't see members jumping ship from the Passat to those older A4's that have more mechanical similarities. No special "A4" membership is needed.

My experience with Audiworld has been pleasant from the passive, technical side. They have a usable tech section that any Passat reader should take with a grain of salt but is generally very informative (I found my Omori wiring there, which worked but needs tweaking). However, their forums are just plain awful. Not only are they counterintuitive to actually read, but they're filled with the content of members who sooner bash the Passat than paste gigantic signature pictures. You'd think a little humility would have come with the higher price tag, but the four blings, er, rings must blind more than the eyes. I'm being unscientific, but I'd wager, like a large part of vwvortex, the population there is more interested in how low they can get their ridez on their rimz... and we have enough of that here already. I lurk on Audiworld very rarely any more and that's only after the technical resources on ClubB5 have come up short. It happens less and less these days.

Keep ClubB5 a "Passat" community focused on the Passat and all it's quirks and charm. It's much better that way.

 

I don't think it's necessary. If an A4 owner wants to use these forums for mechanical or tuning info, they're more than welcome. Just like I search over on AW for topics that aren't covered well enough here. Otherwise, it would just add another forum that I'd have to search through to make sure I wasn't missing anything good!

You have to draw the line somewhere. Same reason there aren't VW forums over on AW. What about the Passat owners who have switched to a B6, or an S4, or a WRX? Or even are brothers with transverse 1.8T's?

 

Well, Scotaku's comments aside :nervous: , as an A4 owner as well as a Passat, I'd lean toward no.

I agree that there are many A4 posts and references to it here at CB5, almost too many. I don't see a need to diversify the membership any more than it already is. The OT should be evidence enough of that

As a member for only two years, I've seen CB5 triple in size and lose a sense of community. There is more infighting and flaming going on now, that I used to rarely see.

From a marketing stand point I guess it would be a good idea, but I personally would like to see us remain a Passat only site.

D.

 

I would have to lean towards agreeing with Scataku and Dapperdill. When I've been over in the Audi Forums, there tends to be a lot of flaming and un-friendliness. I'm not saying it's everyone on that board, just the select few make it bad for everyone. I'm sure that 90% of the people there ROCK! and could help us out or vice-versa.

If our Mods could maintain a positive community and immediately ban out of line members, then by all means, as I am sure they could provide positive bearing in the forum.

Either way, VW's and Audi are cool, but hell no it's not a Jetta or an Audi!

 

Sure, it'd be good to get more POVs on things!

 

Sure, why not, it's like a party ... the more the merrier
It makes sense -- but I think the trick will be keeping the simliarities around.
What I mean is that we need Passat/A4 general discussions, but since a lot of things ARE similar, we might need a joined discussion room?

 

after reading more posts i take my oppion back and say i like the atmosphere here and dont wont elitist audi people here. sorry for my confusion

 

I'm more concerned about whether and when to integrate the PQ46ers and B1-B4ers.

We already cover the old A4s well - posts are accepted (not deleted or moved) based on B5 content which many A4 posts meet.

The B6 A4s are going to share only the longitudinal engine layout, no?

Passat enthusiasts are a peculiar breed - unlike the Audi types, we are not balls-to-the-wall performance hounds, like them, we share the love of German cars. I think there is a bit more family influence here, and that is what separates us from the rest of the car enthusiasts out there: we are not afraid to admit we bought family cars for our families.

So I think a better question is whether we will grow based on the Passat, or grow based on the B platform.

 

I am partially opposed to the idea for the simple fact that the current generation A4 has less in common with the B5. If ClubB5 were to broaden to include the A4 the forums should specifically break the A4 into B5 and B6 platforms. However, this also leaves the future of ClubB5 blurry in my mind once the A5 platform Passat replaces the B5 platform. Then we will have more in common with the MKV Jetta/Golf owners and even less in common with the Audi.

This concept should have been considered back in 2000/2001 and it would have made more sense to me. Maybe start http://www.clubb6.com for the new Audi A4 and leave Club :b5: for the current Passat and previous generation A4. Then link shared forums like classifieds, off topic, anything auto, etc with the two sites and merge the user databases. (Similar to the Vortex Media Group sites) This would allow for content specific entrances and Rides of the Month.

 

Well, here's my two cents. As long as the forums are separate I'm OK with it. :thumbup: I know I haven't been a member that long, but since I purchased my B5.5 two weeks ago, I have spent a lot of time reading these forums. They are very informative, polite and have a certain maturity to them (for the most part.) :lol: I just spent time over on the AW B5 forum and it seemed quite juvenille in its approach. No one really wanting to help each other, or complimenting people on what they had done to their cars. All of the threads seemed to say "OK, but look at me." I have a feeling that any of that immaturity would not last long over here, and they would just go running back to AW, where they would get more attention. So I say, bring 'em on and we'll eventually weed out the brats.

 

i say yes this is a good idea and they should be welcome besides they are going to stay on the site even if we do not ad an A4 forum :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

Honestly I don't see it as an issue. If there was an additional A4 forum that would be cool but the bulk of the discussion could remain in the General Forum regardless.
The good things about having diversified membership is that our classified forum would be better and we'd get better response on group buys. There is however little discussion about the B5 passats and A4's that isn't cross platform compatible, unless it is a discussion of extrior styling.

Regarding attitude... We more self regulate our attitudes. The overall demeanor of the members here is indicative of what is tolerated. Be them Audi or VW owners certain types of comments and attitudes simply aren't tolerated.

So in short I'm for it. I don't think it requires any really sweeping changes. Perhaps 2 additional forums. One for Audi Body Styling and one for Passat Body Styling and leave the general B5 discussion open to all. :thumbup:

 

I am with Kathy on expanding to cover more Passat generations first. Divide the forums to handle the various Passat generations and engines first. Then incorporate our Audi cousins. That seems to follow the most logical progression to me.

 

I am with Kathy on expanding to cover more Passat generations first. Divide the forums to handle the various Passat generations and engines first. Then incorporate our Audi cousins. That seems to follow the most logical progression to me.

but this is a b5 platform wich also cover the A4 not just a passat forum we would need to change the name of the site to cover all passats. i do not want to step on toes but i came hear because it was platforme spusific. if we start to expand into all passats then the next thing you know we have jettas ,gtis and then we are the vortex do not get me wrong i love all vws but when you get that much bigger it becomes harder to track down info.i say stay with the B5 platform . but
that is just me. thanks and sorry if i made anyone mad

 

While I love Audi's, I appreciate this site because it focuses on Passats. I agree with everything AA said, and like her, I think we would be more in keeping with the tone of the community if we need to expand, then open to B3 & B4 Passat enthusiasts rather than A4's. There seems to be an inherent elitism when A4 folks get around the VW crowd and I can envision things degrading to the kind silly flame war crap seen on other sites. I don't want that here.