Re: 328i vs. A4 2.8q ?

[Chris Newbold <cnewbold@transarc.com>]

Stilian Elenkov wrote:

> I saw now that they used the 205/55/R 16 performance tires, (sorry my
> bad) but that does not change the discrepancy 205/55/16 vs 225/45/17
> does it? You mean to tell me that comparing these two is fair. Give the

Yes, IMHO is is fair. Why? Because both cars were in factory-equiped sport
configuration. Audi's factory sport set up is softer than BMW's; they chose
smaller rubber; it's a different compromise, and the test results reflect
this.

> Audi is tuned for comfort. The Audi's suspension is really easy and
> cheap ~ $1000 to tune to outperform the BMW's one, simply because of its

Remember, though, that you could also sink $1000 into the BMW and improve
it's suspension too...

> fan too, but for my $37k they better have something better than
> McStruts, or trailing arms in their cars.

The M3 uses struts and it is one of the best-handling cars on the market,
regardless of market segment. Remember also that the A4 was the first Audi
which didn't have a strut front suspension. Are you saying that all Audi's
before the A4 aren't "worthy" because they don't have multi-link suspensions?

The Europeans have been running rings (no pun intended) around the Japanese,
with their "sophisticated" multi-link setups, using struts for ages. Just
because the technology isn't the latest fad doesn't mean it's no good.

I'm not going to be sucked into the latest "Audi rules" war here. These are
my opinions and this is the last time I'm going to air them.

-Chris
1993 90CS 70k miles