Last week I spent the better part of the afternoon at my local Audi dealership (BMW/Porsche/Audi dealer) where I've purchased quite a few vehicles. This time however, I wasn't shopping for me, but my girlfriend. We decided to get rid of her Z4 2.5 after the soft top had been cut 3 times in attempted theft (in 3 years! damn thieves). The car was never stolen however. The Z4 was a fantastic car. Acceleration wasn't the greatest, but suspension and handling felt great, with a solid chassis. All despite run-flat tires. Seating position was fantastic, nearly over the rear-axle in true roadster fashion, much unlike modern roadsters of today. Front placement of the car was excellent despite a long front end, and the rear is short, so short you feel sometimes you will be rear-ended while you look in the rear view mirror. While many hate the Z4 styling, I happen to love it.
For a few weeks my girl has been driving my new X5, but it is too big for her, so we started shopping for something smaller. First at the BMW dealer, the 6-series was a little big, and pricey for what I was looking for (650 hardtop, 80k). She certainly doesn't need power like that, and the car is large. X3 is dinky in my opinion so we didn't even look. 3-series was the next logical choice, although they didn't have any 335s or hardtop convertibles to look at, so we didn't look too seriously.
Mercedes
Unfortunately, she is a Mercedes fan, although I'm getting it out of her system. We went to the Mercedes dealer and took a look at some cars. First, Mercedes sales guys are terrible, snooty, and stuck-up. I'm younger then a typical Mercedes buyer. Like many places, in Los Angeles age to income correlation is less then normal.. some salesguys need to learn that. I was actually ignored by several salesguys who were doing nothing, and had to eventually get help. Wouldn't bother me that much normally, but I already don't quite like Mercedes that much (even though I have one in Asia).
First, we took a look at the new C-class. Actually quite a nice vehicle. Looks much better then the outgoing model, much larger, and the interior is much improved. Didn't care to drive it. We took a look at the SLK, but I felt the price was an absolute rip off. The trunk space is absurd, top up or down (credit the hard top convertible). Front-end wasn't well liked by either of us.
I'm no CLK fan, but my girlfriend liked it, so we decided to test drive a nice black CLK350 convertible. The best part (comparatively) of the car would certainly be the exterior. Subdued. Simple lines. Nothing ugly, nothing great, something good to stay D/L in Los Angeles. The interior however, was a different story. I really could not believe how low-quality the interior was. Interior panels had differing gaps, the different materials did not contrast well with eachother, and the interior plastics had a very low-quality feel to it. Window switches, gear shift, control stalks, and some other parts were straight out of a C-class. While this might not be a problem for some cars to have shared interior parts with an entry-level model, for this 60k CLK it is. The C-class has a terrible interior.
Driving the car was certainly no fun either. The engine power was okay, atleast for daily driving. On WOT the pickup was slow, and the gear ratios of the 7-speed surprisingly far apart. Highway cruising revealed 6 and 7th are huge overdrive ratios, like an American car. Gear shifts were not smooth. Most disappointing was the steering, which was feather light with absolutely no feeling. I didn't get a chance to feel out the handling or brakes (hard braking), but that wasn't a problem, I could already tell how that would turn out. For 60k, I was sorely disappointed. Terrible car, terrible service. Enough said.
Audi TT
We hopped back to the other dealer we came from before, to look at the new Audi TT. I had actually seen one before, and liked the styling quite a bit and knew the price was reasonable for a fun, small car.
Sitting in the car, the first thing that impressed me the most was the interior quality. On par, if not better then BMW. Simple lines, very high quality leather (better then BMW), good workmanship, and a general solid feeling to the fitment. Nicely styled A/C vents, great seats, and overall a very impressive feel. If the Z06 had the TT interior, I'd probably have one today. My salesguy mentioned several shared parts with the TT and R8, including outside mirrors, seats, A/C controls, and some other parts. Good for TT, bad for R8.
The exterior shape is much improved over the last TT, with more edged styling. The model we looked at and drove had the S-line package with different bumpers, side skirts, exhaust tips, and 19" wheels with slightly lower suspension (maybe 1 cm at most).
The rear seats actually fold down to make a great amount of room in the back, especially for a small car. The rear seats are useless, more so then my 911s. At an average 5'9" height, I could not sit in the rear without significantly tilting to the side; even so my head was against the rear window.. not very safe.
We took the TT out for an extended drive, through the town, some windy roads, and the highway. At first I thought the TT was an automatic, given the automatic-esque gearshift. I figured the paddles were for manual control, similar to what most torque converter cars have today. However, driving for 2 minutes with paddle control made it quickly clear this was no automatic. For my DSG review, and SMG vs DSG opinion, look at the bottom of the thread.
The 2.0T had good pickup for a 4-cylinder (although Lancer Evo's and Sti's are no slouches). It wasn't fast, or quick, but spirited. Good torque off the line, although power really falls off in high RPMs. The suspension felt good. Was stiff, but not harsh. I could stand it to be a little stiffer, but I'm a stiff suspension kind of guy. Through turns, there was only a small amount of body roll. The chassis felt fantastic, rock solid. The steering was eerily light at low speeds, almost Japanese car light with no feeling. However, it weighted up nicely at speed, and felt decent at higher speeds.
Forgetting the car was FWD, I tried powering out of a corner only to get the traction control, and understeer. However, no torque steer, which was a surprise. Brakes felt good (did hard braking several times). Not overly powerful, not underpowered, but overall decently good. I'm sure I could fade them on the track. Visibility out of the car was overall good, with a low seating position (lower then my 911) which I like.
Overall I was impressed with the quality of the car. It was fun enough, not a track-car kind of fun, but still a fun car for the price (35k base). The deal-breaker was the near 50k price for the S-line with added goodies (Nappa leather, Navi, Bose, S-line, Premium pkg). At 2 1/2 times the cost of a Cooper S, it wasn't that much more fun, if even more fun at all. However, we are still thinking about it.
Audi RS4
The highlight of the day was driving a B7 RS4. A dealer worker went to get a white TT from the overflow lot for us to compare to the black TT. While waiting my salesguy was convinced the RS4 was similar to the M5 in driving pleasure. They had a nicely broken in used model, 2007 Yellow RS4, 8k miles (selling for 75k! yikes).. I asked for a drive while we were waiting. And we were soon on our way.
I have read good things of the RS4. Even heard of some guys selling 911s for a more practical RS4. Nevertheless I was expecting a fantastic car, one better then the M5. Well, I was disappointed.. big time.
The high points of the car.. best attribute is the engine. Great linear feel, good torque from low RPMs, great top end, beautiful deep engine note. Willing to rev from any speed. Doesn't surprise me it is in the R8.
Also, the styling is nice in my opinion. The typical A4 is okay imo, with the S4 barely discernable. The RS4 adds some nice touches, although the yellow car we were in was a bit much (yellow sedan? come on..)
The transmission was a big disappointment. It worked well enough, but the feel was terrible. The clutch was feather light. Not quite as light as a 997 Turbo clutch (which I BTW despise as well). It had absolutely no feel to it. I like my clutches to have feeling to them, like a GT3 or even normal 911. Even an E46 M3 or the M coupe which I recently drove felt much better. The shifter was not any better either. Long throws, soft/sloppy engagement with an indirect, unsatisfying engagement. For 80k I want something that feels better then a 911, or an S2000 (which pretty much nothing feels better then). Regardless, it was really easy to pop off extremely quick shifts with the light clutch. Car didn't protest at all, just felt like I was shifting a civic.
The steering was the next let down. Like the TT, feather light at low speeds, with a slightly better feel at speed. I suppose I'm not used to these variable power assist steerings, but they are certainly overboosted at low speeds. I could do 3-point turns with my pinky (pushing, not pulling). The suspension felt decent. I understand it is a 4-door, but the suspension could have been stiffer. It was decently stiff, more so then the softy E46 M3, but much less so then the M5 (with EDC on stiffest). All things considered though, this is coming from a guy who loves 10k+ spring rates and thought a 996 GT3 Mk2 was too soft.
The brakes were interesting. They have a huge initial bite to them. Braking force is excellent. However, the initial bite is so hard that smooth braking is a chore. I'm sure more seat time would get me used to the system.
The car pulled very willingly in all gears, up to the 130 or so I took it up to. Certainly not M5 like acceleration, but the car would definitely devastate my 996 911, and an E46 M3. The bottom end of the powerband feels a bit better then the M5/6.
The handling through twisty roads was a huge disappointment. On some 60-70 mph switch backs with little curvature and assistance of cambered turns, the handling was very uninspiring. The car had huge understeer, and strayed off intended path of travel. Body roll was large, and turn-in very uninspiring. This was on constant throttle.. on increased throttle the problem got even worse. The car would nearly instantly understeer off path right at the implementation of more throttle. I could really feel the front end load up right away. On the other hand, on corner exit, the car really was planted. I took a tight 30mph turn in second gear and stabbed the throttle. No wheelspin, just power down to the ground and away we went, albeit understeering about 1/2 lane out of my original intended line. While an FR car gradually adds understeer while giving the car too much throttle, this RS4 simply understeered right off line when any judicious amount of throttle was added- quite a disappointment.
Overall, the car was pretty good. Not M5 good, but I would certainly consider the car as alternative to an E46 M3- however, an E46 M3 costs 50k. The RS4 at 75k is simply a joke, especially with a base A4 costing 30k. The RS4 seems like a 50-60k car at most, not an 75k+ car. For that money, I'll pay 10k more for a much better M5.
SMG vs DSG
The DSG certainly had me fooled at first. The window sticker said nothing about a DSG, and later on I remembered DSG had been renamed. The gear shift is just like an automatic, and in "D" mode it drives- you guessed it, just like an automatic. No fuss, no jerkiness, smooth smooth smooth. In manual mode, activated with the paddles, you have control over the shifts, although the car automatically upshifts at redline. Downshifts are noticably quicker then SMG, with a 5-4-3-2 downshift happening in the blink of an eye.
Upshifts are a slight bit faster then an SMG S6 upshift, however much smoother. I'm sure the TT's 200hp has a bit to do with it, but not that much. My main quip is that DSG truly feels like an automatic, which for me is a negative. SMG feels direct, and although its quirks are sometimes annoying (particularly in traffic), it is not bad at all if the car is driven with throttle usage as you would in a manual (vs an automatic car). Many people complain that SMG is like an automatic. With DSG, that argument is pretty much 90% valid, with SMG- less so.
SMG vs DSG? Give me the SMG.. I'm not that old yet.
) then Id at least have a look.
Linear Mode
