Japanese vs. Audi (was: coilpacks)

[Steve Marinello]

Taka:

I'd have to agree with you on virtually everything.  I find the G35 to be
the best thing out there in that range right now and it is much more of an
involving drive than the A4...just wish it had the Audi interior.
Unfortunately, here in New Orleans the Infiniti dealer is owned by...the guy
who owns the Audi dealership.  It has got to be at the bottom of the
Infiniti dealers I've been to.  My parents have two Infiniti's in L.A. and
their dealership is very good to work with.  Also, the BMW dealership here
in New Orleans has a good rep and a very good operation, although it's a bit
much sometimes.

As I've said before, if John wasn't in Parts and my friend, Keith, wasn't my
tech, I would not have three Audi's.

Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: "TM" <t44tq at mindspring.com>
To: "'Wylie Bean'" <TheRingmeister at triad.rr.com>; <quattro at audifans.com>;
<willng at netzero.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 11:10 AM
Subject: RE: Japanese vs. Audi (was: coilpacks)


> That's where I disagree about build quality. Taking new cars as
> a discussion point, I think that, dollar for dollar, the cars currently
> produced by Nissan, Mazda and Subaru, for example, are quite good.
>
> We can pretty much forget about the sub-$30k market if you're comparing
> against Audi, so you're into the Infiniti G35, I35, Lexus ES300
> territory.
>
> As much as I really dislike Lexus cars for their extreme isolation from
> driving feel, they are excellent cars- very high build quality,
> excellent
> safety ratings, reliability unparalleled by Audi. If I was only
> interested
> in a car for transporation and not for the driving experience, I'd
> seriously
> look at a Lexus ES300 or IS300. However, they are very bland cars and
> don't
> drive like an Audi or BMW, so I have little interest in them.
>
> I think the Infiniti G35 is a superior driver's car to the Audi A4 or
> the
> BMW 3 series if you take into account price. Excellent brakes, excellent
> road
> feel, lots of power, nice seats. The biggest downside is the interior-
> I'm not
> crazy about the aluminum-look execution as well as the amber
> instrumentation
> and some will call the styling downright ugly.
>
> The A4, in comparison, is downright slow, has significantly less road
> feel
> and the brakes are no anywhere near the same class of performance and
> still
> costs quite a bit more, weighs a lot more and has a really crappy dealer
> network.
>
> The BMW 330i/xi is similar in performance but the costs are so much
> higher that
> they're not really in the same price class, big downside to the BMW. At
> least
> in the Philly area, there are some truly excellent BMW dealers, so I'd
> lean to
> BMW over Audi in that regard.
>
> Taka
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wylie Bean [mailto:TheRingmeister at triad.rr.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 7:38 AM
> To: TM; quattro at audifans.com; willng at netzero.net
> Subject: Re: coilpacks
>
>
> Taka,
> It doesn't take an engineer (i'm not one) to look over an Audi next to a
> Nissan and see the differences in design, construction, and build
> quality. I didn't say they built a truly substandard product as such, I
> stated that by comparison, I believe that by no means is the level of
> any of the above elements comparable to an Audi (or a BMW or Mercedes
> for that matter.) Quite simply, you get what you pay for.  By "paper
> mache" I was referring to
> the chassis and gauge of sheetmetal used to build it.   Otherwise,
> here's
> maybe the short list.  Four link suspension, quattro, seatbelt
> pre-tensioners and force limiters, bumper (not the plastic cover)
> construction/engineering, crumple zones and a 12 year warranty against
> corrosion that keeps them functioning much longer than any Nissan or
> Infinity's, the chassis itself (torsional rigidity, full double sided
> galvanized sheetmetal and a parafin wax dip to extricate water from the
> body cavity), aluminum hoods, eletronic brake force distribution and
> hydraulic brake assist, 5 valve technology, FSI, ASF, 6 standard airbags
> including full side curtains (except TTs of course), interior materials
> such as headliner, switches, covers, carpet, knobs, you name it.  I'd
> rather have a used Audi anyday than a new Nissan or Infinity (or Toyota
> or Mazda or Lexus) for the same $.  Period.  It's just a safer, better
> designed, better executed vehicle.
>
> Obviously, this is my opinion, and I appreciate you asking.
>
> Wylie
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "TM" <t44tq at mindspring.com>
> To: "'Wylie Bean'" <TheRingmeister at triad.rr.com>;
> <quattro at audifans.com>; <willng at netzero.net>
> Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 9:03 PM
> Subject: RE: coilpacks
>
>
> > Wylie-
> > Since you've said what you've said, please give some examples of where
>
> > Nissan has made some truly substandard construction.
> >
> > Taka
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: quattro-admin at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-admin at audifans.com]
> > On Behalf Of Wylie Bean
> > Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 1:52 AM
> > To: quattro at audifans.com; willng at netzero.net
> > Subject: Re: coilpacks
> >
> >
> > Wait a minute, you're comparing something that was a poor design to
> > begin with (passive safety belts) with something that is a design
> > superior to anything as such but has a definite useful life expectancy
>
> > (which Audi has extended to 15 years by the way, and not because
> > they're responsible for paying for fixing it, either).  Give me a
> > (expletive
> > deleted) break.  By the way, I'd rather "say a little prayer" (which
> > I've never really thought about even having to do) when I start my
> Audi
> > than having to be in constant connection with the man upstairs any
> > second I was riding in a paper-mache' constructed Nissan variant.
> It's
> > a good thing they've actually got Audi out there to attempt to copy.
> > Who knows what they might be marketing otherwise. You've obviously
> never
> > had a seriously close look at the way the cars are constructed,
> > wrenching on them or not.
> >
> > A. Wylie Bean
> > Audi Brand Specialist
> > Flow Motors, LLC
> > 425 Silas Creek Parkway
> > Winston-Salem NC 27127
> > 1-800-489-3534
> > TheRingmeister at triad.rr.com
> > abean at flowauto.com
> >
>
>
>