A4 Test Drive

[William Murin <murinw@cs.uwp.edu>]

Was in Minneapolis/St. Paul for a couple of days and took some time to 
cruise out to Carousel Porsche-Audi.  they have 15 A4s in stock, in 
virtually all configurations and colors.  they had front drive/auto, 
front drive/stick, and quattro/stick.  No quattro/auto yet.  In terms of 
colors, they did not have laser red or pearlescent white.  They had 
several of most colrs: silver (only one and sold), white, blue metallic, 
black, emerald green, and the new, soone to be the least favorite 
flavor--autumn red metallic (reminds of of BMWs bronzit).

Aesthetically the car is quite pleasing to the eye.  No breakthrough 
styling, but notuninspired either.  Might be mistaken for a BMW, or new 
Accord, but the very aggressive looking 5 spoke 16" wheels will 
definitely set it apart.  Nice front end treatment.

Dimensionally it is slightly larger than my 4KQ.  Less than 1" longer 
overall, 3.2" longer on wheelbase, 2" higher, 3.7" wider front track, 3" 
wider rear track.  Cabin seems to be more spacious, especially the front 
seats.  Rear seat is better than in my 4KQ, but since I never ride back 
there and the kids prefer the seat with the steering wheel, back seat 
room is not all that important to me.  Big news might be that it has a 
real trunk, 13+ cubin fett vs. 10 something in my Q.  The back seats are 
the 60-40 fold down arrangement, making for serious carrying capacity.

Some other nice touches as well, some might simply lead to more 
maintenance problems and/or higher cost.  Pop the inaside hood latch, and 
instead og having to reach inside the engine compatment to find the 
secondary latch, there is a little lever that pops out of one of the 
grille rings.  Plastic/polycarboate headlight covers--nice touch--ever 
replace a headlight lens on a 4K?  Of the cute but doubtful utility is a 
feature that if you leave the roof and windows open and insert the key 
into the lock and turn it some particular way the roof and windows will 
close.

Driving impressions:  Salesman tossed me the keys and said to go have 
fun--unescorted.  I drove two, the first had about 3200 miles on it and 
was loosened up a bit, the other had 22 miles on it.  First impression on 
firing up the V6 was--this puppy is sure quiet.  Virtually no noise.  In 
fact before I got an engine souns I had to push it in excess of 5000RPM.  
what I got was engine noise not exhaust.  Very quiet, very civilized.  
Nice gearbox, very smooth and positive.  Steering is supposed to be 
variable ratio.  I found it to be a bit light to the touch--wonderful in 
tight parking lots--but a bit lacking in feel at high speeds.  Not a real 
problem but not ideal either.

The problem with the car--aside from the $$$- is the clutch.  Very light 
and it comes in almost at the very top end of its travel.  Very abrupt 
bite when it does engage. Going to be ahrd to feather it.  Really do not 
like the clutch.

Very torquey engine.  Audi claims a 0-60 in 7.8 seconds.  Cannot confirm 
but it sure seems quicker than my 4K--quieter to.  @nd and 3rd are great 
and pull the thing up to higher than you ought to be driving on an urban 
expressways speeds very nicely.  In some S curves I was able to generate 
some body roll--not bad, but it really did not sit as flat as I thought 
it should.

Now the money part:

Salesman was kind enough to give me a copy of the price list dated August 14:
		Base price w/5 speed		26,500
		5 speed automatic trans		   930
		Quattro				 1,550
		Leather				 1,280
		Pearlescent paint		   550
		Glass sunroof			   990
		Remote locking system		   190
		All weather packag
		  heated front seats, heated
		windshield washer nozzles, & 
		driver door lock		   450

		Audi/Bose stereo w/8 speakers      640
		Sport steering wheel (S6 type)	   150
		Expandable ski-storage sack	   160


Add $475 frieght and $260 for dealer prep plus slaes taxes, license fees, 
etc.  

Set up the way I would like it is about $31,600--ouch!!

It is very impressive, certainly a match for a 325 at about the same 
price.  Am I going to get one--dont know--very doubtful.  I can get a '93 
S4 for about $30k.

Also, salesman said that they got the first lease prices in and Audi is 
going to let the car stand on its own and not subsidize any leases for 
awhile.  Their thinking is that the European motoring press has uniformly 
praised the car and Audi claims to have sold 150,000 units in Europe.  
Manybe if the var is greeted with market indifference the factory might 
get into some lease subsidy.  for now, we are on our own.  

Generally I was impressed with the car.  I'd increaing the steering 
pressure/feedbak a bit, a tad stiffer supension to flatten it out even 
more in medium-hard cornering, and change the clutch.  Not sure audi can 
do much about the pricing, but 30 plus for a well equipped car seems a 
little stiff.

Bill Murin
87 4KCSQ