I've got an A4 2.0T while my wife's Q7 is in the shop. Man, I've forgotten what a wonderful motor the 2.0T is. # wise, I know it's not as strong as the 3.0 V6 in my C300 but it always has tons of torque. Almost feels like a diesel ... sounds like one too though.

Oddly enough, I remembered the A4 interior being nicer than it presently is. It's actually right on par with the C. It was probably beautiful back in 03 when I owned one, but now it's looking long in the tooth. And the materials don't feel that much better than the C's ... a tiny bit, but not greatly.

Audi auto tranny was much quicker to downshift, and there were nice little 'boy racer' flappy paddles on the steering wheel. Neat touch for all of 30sec and then useless.

What amazes me most is how much Audi thinks you're willing to pay for this car. It feels like a stripped model, but it's close to 36 sticker. Although the reality is, if you're paying sticker for an Audi (besides an RS4/R8) then you're paying way too much.

I drove the C back to back against the Audi last night (I was bored) and the C was a ton smoother. I'd forgotten how rough small Audi's ride. But the Audi definitely felt faster even though it's down on power by a lot. I've got to think a chipped 2.0T must be a lot of fun.

-pointless post of the day.

 

But the B7 (is that right?) is an "older" model already. You're going to have to wait for the new A4 to come out and compare.

 

^+1

 

Sure. But I guess the point ... if I had any, which I commonly don't ... is that it's a bit sad that the redesigned C doesn't really blow away a car that was launched in 2002. (I still have never heard a really good accounting of why the B7 is so much different than the B6 to warrant it's own platform ... except from Audi fanboys that bought B7s ... I regard it just like the B5.5 refresh.)

And before anybody gets their hackles up, I still like it, it's still the car for me. It was just an obvservation.

 

i agree.

Boy does the B8 look sharp!

 

Spend $500 for a chip from APR/GIAC/REVO and you're putting out 250hp/293tq at the crank up from 200hp/207tq stock. Its certainly a fun ride when it's chipped. Kinda wish my 1.8T had this kind of increase from the chip but hey, I'm not complaining about my chip and the increase in power

 

They did go back to a little more plastic than the B6 models had but that was mostly due to the peeling issue and the "rubberized" material they used for a softer touch on some buttons. At least they recognized this issue and did something about it, though, I still like the softer touch in the B6 than the plastic switches in the B7. I still haven't sat in a w204 yet, only seen the interior from a short distance.

Agreed, they're fun for a bit but still rather have a 6-speed At least Audi has had rev-matched downshifts since 2001...I'm surprised that MB still has not implemented this. At times, the touch-shift can be jerky when downshifting, esp a few gears at once.

$36k sticker shouldn't be stripped in the least. $36k for the 2.0T gets you Sport package, Convenience package (bells and whistles), Bi-xenon, etc.

I think the thing I dislike most about the B7 is the roughness of the 2.0T. It's been attributed to the FSI part of it...my 1.8T is smoother than the 2.0T but I love the power delivery of the 2.0T. From a small engine, it definitely has the pull and chip it...

-pointless post of the day.[/QUOTE]

 

My A4 story:

So I was looking for a new car this summer and knew the new C would be coming out shortly but was hesitant on buying a new model because they are usually full of all sorts of gremlins that leave you at the shop over and over. I did some research and the A4 was at the top of most of the quality lists and satisfaction surveys, so this is what I went to look at.

The dealership had pretty much the best example you can get minus the nav. A 2.0t auto, quattro, premium pack, convience pack including xenons, wood trim, and heated seats. M.S.R.P. came in just shy of 38k, but Audi was offering 1k off without any haggling. I looked the car over, it has nice body lines, even for a car thats really going on 8 years old (got new bumpers in 04 but its still pretty much the same as the 2000-2004 b6). The interior didn't blow me away like I was expecting, from reading reviews and magazines Audi is on top of the interior game, but not from what I seen. The inside was almost an exact copy of my 04 BMW 3 series, except the Audi used some weird scrolling buttons on the steering wheel and for the heated seats. Speaking of buttons, all the buttons for the climate control and for the radio felt real flimsy as well, felt like they wouldn't hold up too well. The engine and trans were great, real smooth ride, plenty of power for a 200hp 4 banger so I decided to do some dealing.

For a car that stickered at 37k and some change, I got the Audi discount of 1k, did very little talking and had 5k more off of it. The salesman was really working that day, to make this long story a bit shorter, as I started walking to the door I had a total of 30k. A full 7k off and I wasn't really in the buying mood that day, more of a recon mission.

Only reason I'm not driving it today was I ended up doing some deep research on the A4. I hit up the Audi forums and found that the 2.0t engine seems to have two reoccuring problems. One being blow DV valves and the other blown PCV valves. I thought maybe this was because the people on the forums are all "chipping" their cars and making more turbo than the factory settings, but I was informed on the forum that even the factory spec cars are having the problems. Both are easy fixes if you just up grade both valves, but I'm not entirely sure that wouldn't void the factory warranty.

So I thought to myself, if I'm going to buy and Audi that is going to require me to bring it back to get serviced for blown parts, I might as well take my chances on the Benz. I have an 06 ML one of the first few produced of the new body change over and I've only had a few minor problems, so I figured it shouldn't be too bad, crosses fingers.

 

I also was shopping the audi, as well as other awd sedans. And seriously considered the audi. But, they load the dealers with cars with options or colors I didn't want and coudln't find the right one without ordering (given the option of a manual tranny, will also choose, but fewer to find and usually with less options). And, if you've ever been in one, a chipped a4 with a real exhaust (e.g., testpipe or hi-flo cat with full cat back) is a screamer. Add to that some other tweaks and its more than a screamer. Anway, in the end, I chose the g35x and merc over the a4, almost entirely because the a4 was long in the tooth and I hated to get the outgoing model sytle when the w204 was sitting there, staring at me (plus the likelihood of having to order to get my options/colors). Think I made the right choice by eventually nixing the a4 as I probably wouldn't have modded the a4 nowadays (one toddler, another on the way) and don't have time to crawl under the car anymore, plus the ride may have been too much for two babies in the back.

As far as the g35x, didn't get it because, well, it was an infiniti when I could get the Merc. No points for driving an infiniti. Otherwise, liked everything about the g35x better except the style (not bad, but no w204) and felt the w204 more solid all around. However, I'm beginning to question my decision as the novelty of a merc wears off.

 

I've also spent some time in A4s. Both 3.2 with a manual trans and 2.0 with an automatic. I couldn't STAND the 2.0 with the automatic. In normal around-town driving, the trans is programmed to lock the torque converter and/or shift into the higher gears almost immediately. Unless you stomp on the gas to force a downshift, the engine just drones at you while the turbo spools up. Too much unpleasant engine noise and despite the engine's counter-balancer, it feels like a four cylinder. I can't justify only four cylinders at that price point.

The 3.2 6 speed was a different story altogether. Torquey, responsive, amazing grip. A blast to drive. Didn't like the choppy, short-wheelbase-felling ride though and the interior felt small. While the new Audi horse-collar grille is growing on me, I just don't like it on the A4. So I ordered a C350.

 

Living in Colorado, where just about everyone seems to have an A4 Quattro, I have heard way too many reliability horror stories to even think about having an Audi in our garage.

A good friend had an 02 A4 3.0 Quattro. It had about 38,000 miles on it when he was driving from Denver to St. Louis, MO. The warranty had expired two days earlier - 4 years from the original in-service date. His Audi died on I-70 in the middle of nowhere. He called Audi's roadside assistance, thinking that they would surely tow the car under a "good faith" warranty extension. They told him to find a local tow truck and that he was on his own.

His previous car, an older 3-series, had significant engine problems months after its warranty had expired. And BMW covered the whole thing despite the car being out of warranty. Neither Audi's roadside assistance people, nor the nearest dealership (in Kansas City, MO) would even entertain repairing the car under warranty, even though it had died only TWO days out of warranty and had low mileage. He was not as upset about the warranty denial (they have to cut it off at some point) as he was with how he was treated by Audi at both a national and local level.

For me, I have just heard too many horror stories about Audi reliability and customer service.

And as for all those car magazines talking about these class-leading interiors, I just don't get it. The A8 is the only one I have seen that has made any kind of impression on me.

 

I've heard more horror stories about Merc and how they completely shun and disregard their customers at the dealer level than I have Audi. But I'm sure it's all regional. The Audi dealers in our area have always been great to us. The times I've had to contact either BMWNA or AudiUSA to see about getting an issue resolved that the dealer wasn't handling well, I was treated with equally crappitude. Just a call center staffed with minimum wage workers, and they're not interested or motivated in helping, just running the script and getting the call metrics.

But for me I guess, it's all how you define reliability. If the car starts, moves and drives that's reliable to me. Now if the radio cuts in and out, that's annoying but it doesn't have any impact on reliability.

In that area we're having lots of fun with niggly little problems in our Q. More so than any other Audi we've owned; they've been rock solid except for each breaking down once in their lifetime. Actually, now that I think about it, except for the e90 I just got rid of, all my german cars have died exactly once during the ownership period.

I have to give a big to the interior gushing too. They're good. But I don't think they deserve the praise half the time. I will say our Q's interior was 2 fold better than the ML or the GL that we looked at.