I'm another long-time Saab owner, and if they still made the old-style "boattail" 900, I'd still be driving one.

I bought a '98 V70T5M in '97, but would not have if Volvo Turbos had not become available with manual transmissions. (850 Turbos and AWDs can only be had with automatics in the US.)

The '98 AWDs did make the Consumer Reports "Used Cars to Avoid" list.

My T5 is a lot of fun to drive. It's only left me stranded once, with a dead battery (Volvo supplies crappy batteries) but there have been a long list of minor, annoying problems. (Real problems, like door locks failing, or oil leaks, not imaginary problems.) I'd estimate the Volvo's reliability as midway between my first Saab, which was as reliable as a Toyota, and my last Saab, which was awful.

There seem to be a number of problems peculiar to the AWD system. You might want to do a search of the Brickboard archives.

I don't think that a 6-year old S6 is going to be much more reliable than a Volvo, I'd also guess that repairs on the Audi will cost at least as much.

Good Luck!

-Uncle Olaf