I absolutely fell in love with the A6 when I saw it at the NYC auto show two weeks ago. Prior to that it was pretty much a dead heat between the three German offerings. The E-class just won't do it for me because of a few things. It's underpowered and it has absolutely no room in the passenger side foot well because of the x-drive. For such a large car it doesn't feel roomy inside. And the steering is just plain truck-like. The new sheet metal is a real miss for me too. It's very dramatic and is clearly an attempt to take the car in a more dramatic, sporty direction. Too bad they didn't do anything else to the car to actually make it more sporty.

Coming to the BMW, they went with a very conservative design, perhaps too much so. Say what you will about the Bangle-ized BMW's but they were at least distinctive. This just looks like an overfed 3 series. And the interior is still quite stark and uninviting to my eyes. I haven't driven one yet but I fully expect it to dive superbly, pretty much like every other BMW I have driven over the years. I will be interested in seeing what I think of the steering as this has come in for particular criticism from the mainstream auto press. The A6 is just gorgeous in person. The 18" wheels in, in particular, deserve mention as perhaps the most gorgeous stock wheels I have ever seen on a vehicle. The interior is (in typical Audi fashion) class leading. I'm happy to hear that the "problem" with the 3.0T engine is almost entirely related to a faulty water pump design which has since been rectified. It's far more spacious inside than either of the other German mid sized cars regardless of what interior volume specs may suggest.

Wife just went from an A6 to an E350. By x drive I'm assuming you're referring to Mercedes' 4-Matic system. Not an issue in NC, so no issue in the RWD version. Drive-wise the BMW and A6 are sportier where-as the Mercedes is more of a cruiser. Since that works for my wife and she drives a lot, it was the deciding factor. It's sporty enough while also being comfortable. If we wanted sportier, we would have gone AMG.

The A6 was also awesome, however, she had back to back Audi's, so that is why we switched to Mercedes. For some reason we're not huge fans of the BMW, so we never really gave it a serious look.

FWIW, both of the Audi's and the current E350 have been as good or better then the Acura's and Toyota's we've owned in the past reliability-wise...

Whichever you go with, should you go German, will make you happy. German ownership blows Acura ownership away IMO...

^ You know you starting to sound like those people who used to own german cars in the 80s and swear them off even today by remembering their experiences.

Your ownership with Acura was almost 10 years ago.

haha. Well, not quite. I sold it in 2006... so only ~5 years ago, not in the 80's . Plus, we had the A4 and TL-S at the same time (and I think the A6 may have had a small overlap as well), so of course we compared them. So, only talking about our old cars and our experiences with them at the time which is relevant.

I'll admit the E350 is speculation since it's only been 4 months ...

Oh and for the record... I don't think I've ever stated that I've sworn off Acura b/c of old tranny issues or other reliability items. So another reason why I'm not like your example

I've sworn off Acura (for now) b/c nothing currently appeals to me and the only car that might, the TL, is ugly as sin. I'd never be worried about reliability with Honda/Acura...

Just bustin balls sir.

haha. Sometimes I do sound like that though. I thought I was innocent this time till your post

Promising.

omg looks great!

You're a tool.

:ibtl:

meh, if something does break it will be expensive to fix, only reason why I stay away from german cars, maintenance is too much of a "premium" for me.

I went to my old work place (audi) to check out A6, but it was out yet.. My ex co-workers did it see, and they said there has been huge improvement from previous gen.

Their navi system improved SOOOO much. Now, they offer freaking google map.

Off topic, but I spotted the new A7 rolling on the street yesterday....... holy god it was HAWT

^^go to exotic car thread...

I test drove that car and it is pure sex.

ahhhhhhhh NICE!

boy do I love the new 5 series more and more each day....

^ with sport/m package, it looks so HAWT I love it.