E92!Dreier
08-20-2008, 11:44 AM
Yesterday I went to Pocono Raceway for a free Audi promotion of the new A4.
I am going to summarize the afternoon's activities, and sum up my impression of the new 3-series fighter from Ingolstadt.
1PM -- Arrive Pocono Raceway, receive credentials.
1:30 -- ultra lame sales pitch, showcasing Audi's "Truth in Engineering." Lame presentation, lame presenter.
2:00 -- Pick up your full-face, silver, Audi Racing Helmet. Don head smock and helmet. Along with co-driver, enter one of the fleet of 2009 A4's.
2:05 -- sit in Audi with your friend and listen to pre-drive instructions from the instructors (who lead the laps in an S5) over the in-car audio.
2:10 -- Begin 10 minute wait for family of Asian descent who cannot figure out how to 1) put on helmets 2) enter a car 3) drive.
2:20 -- Drive recon lap around turn one of Pocono raceway, across the infield course, and back out into turn one.
2:21 -- Instructor says "cars 3 and 4 (guess who), pick it up." Begin laps at speed
2:23 -- end of second lap once again instructor says something about slow cars in the back slowing us all down.
2:28 -- Swap drivers in the pits...passenger gets the wheel. My friend was so pissed about these "people" and their "utter lack of driving skill" and such that when they seemed to be stopping on the road course in front of us for no reason he began honking at them, and saying things like, "My god....every stereotype is true! I hate Audi. I hate asia. I hate this place, this course, our 4 hour drive here...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
2:36 -- End of lap time...time to remove helmets. See all other participants giving "evil eyes" toward slow, incompetent drivers who ruined our experience thus far. One kid asks to be in a group with "people who have driven before."
2:40 -- Each duo of driver's selcts one of the following:
07 BMW 328xi
08 MB C300 4-matic
08 IS 250 (AWD)
09 Audi 3.2 FSI
2:45 -- arrive together at autocross in a procession of 10 total vehicles, 2 each of the above. Line up, and perfrom recon lap of infield autocross course.
2:46 -- Line up at start line. One at a time, beat vehicles through short course. Switch drivers. Beat car around course again. Switch vehicles.
2:48 -- Repeat above step until all vehicles are beaten.
3:10 -- verbal evaluation of vehicles, ridicule of person who slid off course and cut some grass in the IS 250.
3:20 -- fill out survey about A4 experience, receive cheap, lame baseball cap that says Audi Driving Expereience in orange sherbert colored writing on a cheap dove gray cap. (only bonus is the girl who is handing you the hat and supervising the surveys is a NY 9, and an LA 8).
3:21 -- push out of crowded tent to reach the front of signup lines for next phase.
3:25 -- Sign up for Audi Brand Drive, select your vehicle (all 09 --Q7, A4, A8L, A3, A5, or TT). Once again don head smock and helmet, enter your vehicle.
3:32 -- Fire up Audi A5 S-line. Wait for everyone to enter their vehicles ( I was lucky enough to drive solo, no passengers.) Follow instructor and others at high speed around the "south course" about 30 times. Speedo will touch 100 MPH if your group is not weak.
_________
Evaluation:
The A4 Experience is Free. It is awesome. Aside from any problems with horribly lame participants and lame powerpoint presentations in a sweaty tent, I had a great time.
I have driven on a track before -- but never in a vehicle I had zero responsibility for -- liberating ot say the least. The opening drive of the A4 was very weak for me, as the speeds and cornering were limited by my group's lameness. However, it was easily apparent that the car was poised, graceful, powerful and refined.
The first segment was largely a tease. But the second segment was AWESOME. My friend and I earned smiles an giggles from the instructors each time we pulled back to the start/finish line of the autocross course with the brakes literally smoking and the tires stinking. There was no one else on the course to limit you. Just you vs the course. I happen to drive a 3 series every day, and felt so comfortable in it that I nearly caught a C300 on the straight.
Rankings:
Performance: Audi, BMW, Lexus, MB
Interior: MB, Audi, BMW, Lexus
Everything else: too subjective -- go drive one yourself !!!
After about 30 minutes of sliding and guiding 4 high end vehicles around the track, I was grinning like a dummy. I still managed to ask three times - "why a 328xi, and not a 335xi?" But, the A4 EATS UP ALL OF ITS COMPETITION -- UNBELIEVABLE.
Audi Model Drive was similarly awesome, the A5 was great fun, and I think the RPM's stayed above 3.5K for 30 minutes straight, and the car was begging for more the whole time.
_________
The new Audi A4 --
This is me yesterday morning: I hate Audi. Their cars have never inspired anything other than an urge to buy a BMW. Even my father's 2006 S4 is a pig -- a big, over powered, slush box equipped, plodding, AWD, tease.
This is me now:
When can I get a new S4?
The AWD does nothing to minimize the car's prowess as a sports car. it seems to claw its way through aggressive turns. The rear end comes around like a RWD sprots car. The shifts (auto only) are crisp, aggressive, fast, and result in burbling of the exhaust at high revs. The computer rev matches and downshifts during hard braking. Audi's new Drive select is like an abbreviated M-button, with user interface to control driving dynamics. Very cool, and it actually works.
In a competition between similarly equipped vehicles in its class (once again the 335xi was missing, replaced by the 328xi. However, I have a 335xi on order, and it is not as aggressive in its AWD version as the Audi -- but it is faster and I think it looks better and after all, it has a roundel on it.
I am still not sold on the Audi's superiority. I would like to have one for a few days to really compare it's smoothness and refinement to the Bimmer's. The power in the Audi is not as big as the 335, but I must say, it handles like a friggin demon even on All-season tires -- I can't imagine exactly how sick the new S4 will be. However, in terms of pure performance, even Audi admits that the S4 is a competitor for the 335xi...not an M3. That territory belongs to the RS4.
Just my impressions from a great day with Audi. Their program allows the car to speak for itself -- and the A4 loudly proclaims "watch out Bimmer lovers...Audi is back."
Test drives available this September/October.
I am going to summarize the afternoon's activities, and sum up my impression of the new 3-series fighter from Ingolstadt.
1PM -- Arrive Pocono Raceway, receive credentials.
1:30 -- ultra lame sales pitch, showcasing Audi's "Truth in Engineering." Lame presentation, lame presenter.
2:00 -- Pick up your full-face, silver, Audi Racing Helmet. Don head smock and helmet. Along with co-driver, enter one of the fleet of 2009 A4's.
2:05 -- sit in Audi with your friend and listen to pre-drive instructions from the instructors (who lead the laps in an S5) over the in-car audio.
2:10 -- Begin 10 minute wait for family of Asian descent who cannot figure out how to 1) put on helmets 2) enter a car 3) drive.
2:20 -- Drive recon lap around turn one of Pocono raceway, across the infield course, and back out into turn one.
2:21 -- Instructor says "cars 3 and 4 (guess who), pick it up." Begin laps at speed
2:23 -- end of second lap once again instructor says something about slow cars in the back slowing us all down.
2:28 -- Swap drivers in the pits...passenger gets the wheel. My friend was so pissed about these "people" and their "utter lack of driving skill" and such that when they seemed to be stopping on the road course in front of us for no reason he began honking at them, and saying things like, "My god....every stereotype is true! I hate Audi. I hate asia. I hate this place, this course, our 4 hour drive here...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
2:36 -- End of lap time...time to remove helmets. See all other participants giving "evil eyes" toward slow, incompetent drivers who ruined our experience thus far. One kid asks to be in a group with "people who have driven before."
2:40 -- Each duo of driver's selcts one of the following:
07 BMW 328xi
08 MB C300 4-matic
08 IS 250 (AWD)
09 Audi 3.2 FSI
2:45 -- arrive together at autocross in a procession of 10 total vehicles, 2 each of the above. Line up, and perfrom recon lap of infield autocross course.
2:46 -- Line up at start line. One at a time, beat vehicles through short course. Switch drivers. Beat car around course again. Switch vehicles.
2:48 -- Repeat above step until all vehicles are beaten.
3:10 -- verbal evaluation of vehicles, ridicule of person who slid off course and cut some grass in the IS 250.
3:20 -- fill out survey about A4 experience, receive cheap, lame baseball cap that says Audi Driving Expereience in orange sherbert colored writing on a cheap dove gray cap. (only bonus is the girl who is handing you the hat and supervising the surveys is a NY 9, and an LA 8).
3:21 -- push out of crowded tent to reach the front of signup lines for next phase.
3:25 -- Sign up for Audi Brand Drive, select your vehicle (all 09 --Q7, A4, A8L, A3, A5, or TT). Once again don head smock and helmet, enter your vehicle.
3:32 -- Fire up Audi A5 S-line. Wait for everyone to enter their vehicles ( I was lucky enough to drive solo, no passengers.) Follow instructor and others at high speed around the "south course" about 30 times. Speedo will touch 100 MPH if your group is not weak.
_________
Evaluation:
The A4 Experience is Free. It is awesome. Aside from any problems with horribly lame participants and lame powerpoint presentations in a sweaty tent, I had a great time.
I have driven on a track before -- but never in a vehicle I had zero responsibility for -- liberating ot say the least. The opening drive of the A4 was very weak for me, as the speeds and cornering were limited by my group's lameness. However, it was easily apparent that the car was poised, graceful, powerful and refined.
The first segment was largely a tease. But the second segment was AWESOME. My friend and I earned smiles an giggles from the instructors each time we pulled back to the start/finish line of the autocross course with the brakes literally smoking and the tires stinking. There was no one else on the course to limit you. Just you vs the course. I happen to drive a 3 series every day, and felt so comfortable in it that I nearly caught a C300 on the straight.
Rankings:
Performance: Audi, BMW, Lexus, MB
Interior: MB, Audi, BMW, Lexus
Everything else: too subjective -- go drive one yourself !!!
After about 30 minutes of sliding and guiding 4 high end vehicles around the track, I was grinning like a dummy. I still managed to ask three times - "why a 328xi, and not a 335xi?" But, the A4 EATS UP ALL OF ITS COMPETITION -- UNBELIEVABLE.
Audi Model Drive was similarly awesome, the A5 was great fun, and I think the RPM's stayed above 3.5K for 30 minutes straight, and the car was begging for more the whole time.
_________
The new Audi A4 --
This is me yesterday morning: I hate Audi. Their cars have never inspired anything other than an urge to buy a BMW. Even my father's 2006 S4 is a pig -- a big, over powered, slush box equipped, plodding, AWD, tease.
This is me now:
When can I get a new S4?
The AWD does nothing to minimize the car's prowess as a sports car. it seems to claw its way through aggressive turns. The rear end comes around like a RWD sprots car. The shifts (auto only) are crisp, aggressive, fast, and result in burbling of the exhaust at high revs. The computer rev matches and downshifts during hard braking. Audi's new Drive select is like an abbreviated M-button, with user interface to control driving dynamics. Very cool, and it actually works.
In a competition between similarly equipped vehicles in its class (once again the 335xi was missing, replaced by the 328xi. However, I have a 335xi on order, and it is not as aggressive in its AWD version as the Audi -- but it is faster and I think it looks better and after all, it has a roundel on it.
I am still not sold on the Audi's superiority. I would like to have one for a few days to really compare it's smoothness and refinement to the Bimmer's. The power in the Audi is not as big as the 335, but I must say, it handles like a friggin demon even on All-season tires -- I can't imagine exactly how sick the new S4 will be. However, in terms of pure performance, even Audi admits that the S4 is a competitor for the 335xi...not an M3. That territory belongs to the RS4.
Just my impressions from a great day with Audi. Their program allows the car to speak for itself -- and the A4 loudly proclaims "watch out Bimmer lovers...Audi is back."
Test drives available this September/October.