[s-cars] Truth vs. Joy

Fri Mar 19 06:27:52 PDT 2010

Not to turn this into a love-fest but well agreed back.  I like driving the
A3 but the design was cute and interesting 10 years ago when they got it in
Europe and we didn't. The facelift is yes fine and better but not more.  And
were's my damn S3?  <insert AoA VWoA S3 / GTI / Scirroco rant here>  BTW NAC
- saw a fair number of Abarth Cinqo Cento's in Europe last summer - they are
very cool, as long as your values are more about retro style classic
historical cool vs. macho supersportricerace cool. 

Totally agree with the A4 remarks too. 

Too bad we're in a world where the classic "club-sport" concept has become
completely unthinkable. I'm thinking on an A4 platform more true to the
original format (smaller lighter), you'd have a "Budget-S" model - a great
slightly tweaked motor, manual, sport suspension, bare bones interior
outfitting aside from high quality bolstered sport seats in front... Add
lightness, Audi. 

  _____  

From: Taka Mizutani [mailto:t44tqtro at gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2010 8:26 AM
To: JC
Cc: W. Bean; s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Truth vs. Joy

A big +1, JC.

Audi has already lost their way as you've said. We need a more basic AWD
sportscar/GT in the spirit of the UrQ- the TT doesn't cut it in that regard
and the S5 is simply too heavy- if the RS5 was built with aluminum unibody
and outer skin, then maybe.

Also, a more basic A4 which is the bread-and-butter car for the company-
lose the millions of gadgets and offer a decently equipped one that doesn't
have to have everything. Same with the A5. Kind of in the spirit of the 1
series BMW, but with better execution.

IMO, the A3 doesn't really look right alongside the other Audi cars- it
definitely needs a restyle. The only "premium" hatchbacks that I thought
were styling successes are the Mini, the Fiat 500 and the original Volvo C30
(not the 2010 restyle which looks terrible).

Taka

On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 7:47 AM, JC <jc at j2c3.com> wrote:

Wylie thanks much for this interesting read.

I agree with a lot of it but disagree with the authors final conclusion in
that I fear Audi following the BMW track as we speak.

it's the curse of success - when you find yourself crushingly dominating in
one segment after a while, hubris sets in, you think you can do anything and
everything for everybody.  the only place to go is up and out and they turn
to the 'seductive' (what Auto execs get seduced by I guess) idea of ruling
in the mass market.

then the next multiplying error is that apparently in the auto industry this
means you require focus-group designed products. welcome to the ocean of
mediocrity. while listening to the customer is critical, focus group product
design has lots of problems and is usually done the WRONG way in the auto
industry and that's what leads these companies down the path.  the best
analogy is "would you ever ask Joe off the street what ingredients to put in
a 5-star gourmet entrée?"  well if you did you'd never get the brilliant and
mind-blowing creations of the worlds best chefs, you'd get the same crap
that Joe has had before... he's not a freakin chef and car owners are not
designers or stylists.   iconic and compelling design needs to stretch
people's ideas - we are impressed by things that surprise us, not things
that fall into our dumb comfor zone.

back to AoA - while a lot of the current cars are still pretty great (love
my wife's new A3 yes I know it's a golf platform) and it's nice that we
continue get some S cars (surprised we were allowed the S5 for instance)...
it's things like the disappearance of manual transmissions, and restriction
of quattro availability and the bloat of curb weight and size across the
range (an A4 now is massive compared to the little nimble car it started out
as) that looks EXACTLY to me like AoA going down the BMW path...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com

> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of W. Bean
> Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 10:29 PM
> To: s-car-list at audifans.com; quattro at audifans.com;
> urq at audifans.com; 20v at lists.20v.org
> Subject: [s-cars] Truth vs. Joy
>
>
> http://www.autoextremist.com/current/2010/3/16/the-autoextremist.html
>
>
> --
> Wylie Bean
> TheRingmeister at triad.rr.com
> 90 cq
> 91 90q20v sport
> 92 UrS4
> 08 Q7 3.6
>
>
>
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