eclipse23

Yesterday after harassing the Infiniti boys I drove over to Audi to look at a A4 1.8t and an A4 3.0. The dealer was really cool and let me have my pick of manual or triptronic on both vehicles. Obviously I chose stick.

1.8T:
Very nice car, beautiful interior and everything felt rock solid. This car was nowhere near fast and the 1.8 surely felt like it was struggling to carry the weight of the car. (Either that or I need to get on a diet ). What was really neat about the car was we were doing 50MPH on wet leafs and taking wet corners in the rain. I COULD NOT SPIN THIS CAR OR BREAK IT FROM IT'S PATH and I was trying. The salesguy was a HUGE Audi fan and he drove it for a little bit and he was ALOT more aggressive than me and the car was strait on. What's very appealing about this car is the $385 a month lease fully loaded and a TON of aftermarket support. A good chip speeds it up and with some other work you can make it pretty fast. Overall, nice car.


3.0:
Almost identical to the 1.8t but it has fugly wood trim interior and a bigger engine. The naturally aspirated engine definitely carried the car better and it had pretty good pickup throughout the whole range IMO but no Type-S type acceleration. I would not buy this car cuz it really can't be modded unless you spend 6K on a supercharger.

Nashua_Night_Hawk

I found out that the A4 1.8T is bit small... slaping the doors sounds like those VW.... WTF?.... I thought it should sound like BMWs.....

Zoot

Porsche's sound the same...The better way to think about it is, a VW sounds like an Audi and a Porsche. Oh Eclipse, are u changing your mind again???????? lol just pick a car! And for the A4, I prefer the wood trim, especially if you get the lighter interior (they give u a blonde colored wood with lighter leather). Did the 1.8T u test drove have power seats??? I have heard they were adding that to the 1.8t, but I haven't seen any yet. Also, it's a shame the 1.8 doesn't have radio controls on the steering wheel.

devnull

1.8t = way too much turbo lag...

soopa

the A4 is an awesome car.

its only fault is its heavy and slow unless your willing to spend some beanz on it.


too say its small and has low build quality / feel is just insane.

sure... it sounds like your closing the doors on a VW... BUT IT SOUNDS GREAT. That car is rock solid... just like a VW.

the audi DOES feel smaller in the drivers seat for a big person then the CL... but thats just cuz the CL has a fucked up sitting position that gives you TOO much room.

The audi has the best seating position of any car and still has plenty of room to spare in the back.

CL definately cant compare in build & haptics.


I LOVE the A4 but I simply cant afford to make one AS fast as my current car. When I can. I will buy one.

soopa

and i dont think it has excessive turbo lag either. the power band is pretty stable.

and chipped all the power is there when you step on the pedal.

cusdaddy

Soopa.. I have to disagree. I don't think the A4 build quality is THAT much better than the CL. More solid, yes.. But not a huge difference. And the CL definitely has an advantage over the Audi in reliability.

Also, the lag is pretty bad on the 1.8T. My friend's family are HUGE Audi fans. They have an A4 1.8T (older generation) and an A6 2.7T. Try from a roll letting off the gas and then stomping on it again. It seems like forever before it spools again. The interior of the A6 is light years better than the A4 IMO.. I would rather go with a A6 anyday. (the lease prices for those are not TOO bad anymore)

I prefer Audi's to BMW's most of the time (except the //M cars), but I don't think they are THAT much more impressive.

Also, chipping the car is fine, but the dealers would be none too happy. They are getting stricter (and smarter), and I already have a friend who has some major engine problems after chipping his 1.8T Jetta for a year.