not boxy, and very bad

[Scott Fisher]

--- Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net> wrote:
> At 4:34 PM -0700 4/7/03, Joseph Pizzimenti wrote:
> >Brett,
> >Last I checked, there IS a 6 speed for the S4
>
> The V8 S4 is coming with a 6-speed manual?  I could
> have sworn it was
> not to be.  Why, you're right, according to a quick
> google search.
> Amazing.  Alright- I take one of the points back.
>
> >As for the other points, looks like you're
> convinced,
> >so when are you going to sack up and put a down
> >payment in?
>
> When I have $40k+tax/title/registration burning a
> hole in my pocket,
> which is not likely to happen in the foreseeable
> future.
>
> Oh- there was one thing I didn't like at ALL about
> the Volvo R's-
> that shifter is downright -fugly-.  5-1 then :-)

The thing for me that makes it game-set-match for Audi
is:

Have you driven a Ford lately?

The last high-powered Volvo I drove (I don't remember
the model, it had letter and numbers in the name, but
it had the transversely-mounted  inline six with
turbocharger making 258bhp and 85% of its torque curve
from 1700 rpm to redline -- gee, I wish my memory for
names was better :-) had all the steering feedback of
an Atari video game, and enough torque steer to punt
you into the next lane on a downshift.

Even LOOKED like a Crown Vic.

What it keeps coming down to for me is that Audis just
FEEL good, from the weight of the steering to the way
the chassis takes a set when you exit a corner to,
well, anything you name.  I haven't yet driven a
brand-new car that made me think anything other than
"damn, I REALLY need to get Bilsteins in the Coupe --
it drives better than this with 20-year-old OEM
shocks."

Something I realized long ago, about a month into my
generally unsatisfactory tenure with an SVO Mustang,
was that you don't drive magazine comparisons and data
sheets.  You drive CARS.  And if the car isn't the way
you like it, the data sheet can only go so far before
you're sick of spending all your time and money on a
car you don't like.

Which reminds me -- my tax refund arrived, it's time
to order some Bilsteins for the Coupe.

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon



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