[s-cars] Truth vs. Joy

[Taka Mizutani]

Scott-
What kind of mind-altering drugs are you taking? Are you serious?

These BMWs you mention- they're all fugly, with a capital "F."

The X6- ugly, impractical, totally stupid. Whoever thought of this one and
the "me-too" Accord Crosstour and Acura ZDX should be shot. Sold out just
means that there are a bunch of lemmings that will buy whatever is the
latest and greatest from BMW.

All the other cars you're talking about are RWD besides the X5, besides the
335.

The regular BMWs are terrible- ugly exterior styling, cheap-looking
materials inside, horrible iDrive system. What's really there to love? For
cars that advertise as the ultimate driving machine, they're moving further
and further away from that motto and becoming overweight caricatures of
themselves.

Meanwhile, Audi is improving with every successive generation except on the
manual transmission front- the driving dynamics are damn near right on BMW
with the latest generation of cars. At least this is an improvement,
although the weight gain is similar to BMW, which is bad.

Have you driven any of the AWD iterations in the snow? I'd like to hear your
thoughts- I hate open diff'ed, "lets let the ABS system brake the wheels to
help traction" stupid AWD systems. I've yet to drive any AWD iteration that
feels as seamless as Gen I/Gen II quattro.

Subaru STi DCCD is damn close, but you need to lock the center in 50/50 to
have it feel stable when you just want to get somewhere without hanging the
tail out every corner. Audi/VW Haldex AWD is terrible, Volvo's Haldex is
terrible, not too impressed with how easy it is to burn up the brakes with
the BMW and MBZ systems in snow. The same with the "EDL" quattro cars where
you merely burn up the rear brakes. It's not fun when you have a long drive
and just want to get there safely and the car feels like it's schizophrenic
the whole time.

BTW, the real target should be the GT-R in terms of AWD for a performance
application- the X6 is most definitely a joke if you're talking about a
performance application- no one is seriously going to run an X6 really hard-
an SUV? Really? Look at how good ATTESA-ETS makes the GT-R perform compared
to cars that should destroy it.

The Germans better watch out or Hyundai will eclipse them all anyway-
cheaper, more reliable, better performance, better warranty.

Taka




On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 10:40 AM, <qshipq at aol.com> wrote:

>
>
>
>  I don't think I just disagree with the De Lorezo's rant, I think he has it
> exactly backwards!  BMW gets a bum rap for the X6, yet it's worldwide
> production is sold out.  Every single vehicle in their line-up = 50/50
> weight distribution.  In the world of heavier miss piggy's, that ultimately,
> will rule the driving world, and is not a new philosophy from our friends in
> Bavaria.  Adding weight happens, but if you are conscious of how you wear
> it, it can still look good on you, and the romp in the Deals Gap paved beds,
> will still make you smile.  Problem for Audi, bad weight distribution needs
> really good quattro to make it 'better'.  Problem, BMW has figured out the
> AWD game, and still has job 1 as their goal.  AWD that has good weight
> distribution?  Good luck to Audi.  I wrote 10 years ago on these lists, god
> help audi if BMW figures out the AWD game.  That time is here gents.
>
> After a heavenly romp with the new E92 M3 a few weeks ago, I wonder which
> car the Author drove.  Add the 335, the 330, the M5, the X5 the X6/M, the
> M6, the 135, damn BMW has audi beat in just about every line - certainly
> they have a star in every line.  And Audi late on the GKN center diff for
> the S5, that's in the X6 production cars already (side note:  correction to
> Torsen boys earlier Haldex suspicions, the new S5 is GKN - report to follow
> some incoming documents).
>
> Ulitmately, if we take out the 'quattro' advantage by competition offering
> same, what does Audi bring to the table?  Occasional hits, usually late to
> the game, and the 'hits' are not designed, they are incidental creations in
> demand only by the buyers of them.
>
> I spent a fair amount of time down in Greenville several weeks ago, then
> hopped in an M3 DSG for a serious romp in the sack, and never once thought
> about how heavy that machine was.  I heard sounds from it that stirred the
> soul to the very core, and it danced with a sense of attention to motoring
> detail I just don't get from the Audis anymore.  No Mr De Lorenzo, I've been
> an Audi guy for many years, but I think you have the rant exactly 180 out of
> time.
>
> my .02 arbitraged thru the peso
>
> Scott J