Re: Fwd: Audi hater....(dont get too mad)

[quk@sievers.com (Phil Payne)]

In message <199704190749.AAA27744@rho.ben2.ucla.edu> Michael Williams writes:

> >Yeah, they
> >are good for driving in the snow, but as far as true high speed driving
> >and racing...well they just aren't there.  How many Audi's do you see on
> >the Autobahns?  Not as many as one like Mike would expect.  A vast
> >majority of Audi's cannot handle the high speed driving encountered on the
> >Autobahn.  No Audi engine can stand LeMans, or Sebring.  That is proven by
> >fact, not opinion.

When was the last time an Audi engine blew up at either?

Audi recognise their strengths - extreme engine performance is not one of 
them.  That's why they don't take part in Formula One, either.
 
But in the only racing series that's anything like related to the cars you and 
I can buy, the touring car series, Audi's main strength is its transmission.
 
The others recognise this and have made Audi carry a mandatory 95kg weight 
penalty - because without it, as Joachim Winklehock (the BMW driver) said: 
"Biela would win every race even if he was towing a trailer."
 
The comments about not seeing many Audis on the Autobahns and them not being 
fit for high-speed driving are just ignorance.   From 1980 to 1983 I was a 
company car pool manager in Germany, with 50+ Audi 80s maintained by Autohaus 
Gotta in Dietzenbach.  They were thrashed mercilessly by engineers rushing to 
major computer outages - none ever failed.  I had 4 BMWs - a 323i, two 
520s and the boss's 720 - all were crap.  The 323i had five gearboxes 
under warranty, both 520s had half-shaft failures and the 720's paint 
actually _PEELED_.

Similar comments apply to general Autobahn populations - your friend has 
obviously never been to Germany. The Autobahn police near Strasbourg stopped my 
boss for speeding not long ago and they were using a tuned A4 as a "pursuit 
car".  He got into a conversation with them and they said the 911s they used to 
use were "too expensive, uncomfortable and unreliable".  

--
 Phil Payne
 phil@sievers.com
 Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club