audi's vs bmw's (and car magazines)

[Dave Eaton <dave.eaton@minedu.govt.nz>]

if you guys believe the latest test about the relaive merits of cars then you'd
be changing your mind every 2 weeks.

car rates the a8 (5 stars) better than the 7 and the s, but rates the s8 worse
than the (jag) xr8.  it rates the s4 better than the c43 and the m3 (last), and
rates the a6 better than the new 5-series.  it rates the a4 about the same as
the 3 (4 stars), and the a3 (4 stars) better than the compact.

'performance car' rates the 20v quattro (7 y.o.) better than the escort
cosworth, the skyline gtr, and only slightly worse than the (new) wrx and the
(old) integrale.  and it rates the rs2 (yesterdays heros) with 4 stars. 
however it only rates the a4 with 3 stars while the 3 series gets 3-4 stars. 
the a6 gets 4 stars against the 5-series 4-5 stars, and the a8 and the 7 series
both get 4 stars.  it rated the a3 4th or 5th out of 20 cars in the gti sector.
the bmw compact was last (or there abouts).

so who do you believe?  no-one until you drive them for yourself.

to illustrate this point, i will ask the question which has been on my mind
since my recent re-acquaintance with christine (black ur-quattro 20v) "the
legendary ur-quattro, that darling of car magazines - how good is it?"
absolutely bloody fantastic imho.  as a drivers car, unequalled in the audi
stable.  as a day to day car; pretty ordinary, truth be told.  noisy, lumpy,
hot.  not a patch on an s2, or an rs2 for that matter (i've had an s2 for 3
years, and have the rs2 today).  how many magazine tests rate their cars on the
2 hour comute, or on the ability to hear the cd player?  i have read a number
of comparitive tests of the s2 and 20v ur-quattro, and only one got it right. 
derek bell in car magazine.  he said that the quattro was "still without
obvious peer as a drivers car", and the s2 is the preferred daily performance
transport.

anyway, car magazines, gotta love 'em, have to, because we buy so many of the
suckers (although i confess that i rarely fork out for the c&d and r&t usa mags
as i find them inferior to the british mags).

clearly audi have some holes in the line.  they need a 540i competitor, and an
m5 competitior.  which they have, as we know, coming down the line.  early
information on the s6, and it sounds impressive.  v8 (and v8 tt), clutch
controlled awd.  impressive spec.  in practice, we'll have to wait and see. the
s4 has been sorely required to provide a 'halo' effect which the m3 has been
doing for bmw for ages.  clearly the s4 is more than a match for the m3, and
with the replacement m3 2 years away, the s4 will have the advantage. in
reality has the a4 needed the halo effect?  no, as it's outsold the 3-series
without the s4 being available.

in the usa, audi has a less impressive product line.  simply due to the u/a
debacle, and the virtual extinction of the marque. {extinction of lawyers is a
tempting thought ;-)  }.  audi has been selling well, and improving the marque
in the sales and service area.  not before time, but, you'll agree, a capital
and people intensive endeavour which *has* to be profit centered for it's
long-term viability.  the s4 availability to the usa is the 1st sign that audi
is listening to the enthusiast driver, and their demand for audi product with
the "fun to drive" factor which, for many of us, has not been a strength since
the lengendary quattro.

so, the sales figures are good, the a4 is comfortably outselling the 3-series,
the s6 is coming down-stream, the a8 is selling better than ever, and the new
hot s3, the hotted up tt and tts (with ttv6 to all accounts), are coming down
stream with in the year.  i'd give audi pretty good marks so far.  while most
of us would rather see the performance models first, this makes no business
sense.

from a personal perspective, i have 2 audi products.  the rs2 which is
sellingin the uk for about the new price (40k gbp) 3 years after it's release,
and the 20v ur-quattro which is now worth considerably more than i paid for it.
 so, from my perspective, the renaissance of audi is a good thing.

dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q