Audi B7 TDi 140 S-Line: Review...

[wassap]

Yep, I found pretty much the same with them, just couldnt get on with the ride and the steering.Oh and that sodding annoying electronic brake. The thing is, the current model doesnt even have that aire inside that previous models have, it could be that other marques have caught up though.

For my money i think the 3er and C class are miles better,and the A4 is mixing it with the ordinary marques, infact I think the current Accord is a much better car (personal bias aside).

 

[v0n]

Your thoughts echo what I found with every Audi I have ever driven. They seem to be cars for people who just want a posh car, hence lots of effort into looking classy and little into anywhere else.

Let's not be silly. People don't buy because they want just any posh car. They buy it because it's a good car. It's better than most cars they could buy for that money. Sure, it might not be the best car to a few young connoisseurs out there, but they are still good cars. And I'm sure your average dentist or CTO will somehow survive the "numb steering" and breaks that work "on and off". They will close the door and go from Harley Street all the way to Chelsea, or from Maidenhead to Richmond and won't even notice the tail doesn't handle like M3 while passing all those road signs with 20 in red circle and picture of a snail underneath.

This is also why I dislilke VW. The cars are as bad but you dont even get the Audi badge so... Why bother?

There are many reason to get bottom feeders in VW group. Take that notorious H tax band Octavia with punny 1.8 litre 4 pot as example - has all mod cons, loads of practical appeal, you can actually fold seats, take it to IKEA and beat any given E39 530i in sprint to the parking space by few milliseconds, and yet a new one costs less than typical 5 year old Leicesta Blasta. Yes, no Audi badge. And yet. It is very attractive package. Unless badge is what you want.

 

[jamoor]

Let's not be silly. People don't buy because they want just any posh car. They buy it because it's a good car. It's better than most cars they could buy for that money. Sure, it might not be the best car to a few young connoisseurs out there, but they are still good cars. And I'm sure your average dentist or CTO will somehow survive the "numb steering" and breaks that work "on and off". They will close the door and go from Harley Street all the way to Chelsea, or from Maidenhead to Richmond and won't even notice the tail doesn't handle like M3 while passing all those road signs with 20 in red circle and picture of a snail underneath.


There are many reason to get bottom feeders in VW group. Take that notorious H tax band Octavia with punny 1.8 litre 4 pot as example - has all mod cons, loads of practical appeal, you can actually fold seats, take it to IKEA and beat any given E39 530i in sprint to the parking space by few milliseconds, and yet a new one costs less than typical 5 year old Leicesta Blasta. Yes, no Audi badge. And yet. It is very attractive package. Unless badge is what you want.

The audi is the worst of a good bunch IMO.
It's just "a generic car" with nothing significantly in it's favour (is it cheaper than its competitors?) hence my confusion of its popularity, maybe the marketing goons at Audi have gotten it, or maybe it looks significantly better than it rivals in the eyes of lots of people.

 

[wez130]

Here's the thing, i like my audi, from the inside especially, but i'm like a snob for interiors and to be fair, it's probably the interior that sold my car to me, don't get me wrong, i do really like my car still, it doesn't handle badly, it's quick and it looks nice, but then again, it's only my 3rd car (seat Ibiza 1.2SX -> Mondeo TDCI - > A3 sportback 2.0TFSi).

However, i'm finding myself visiting the local BMW garage more and more often now, last week there was a 2006 M5 in for £32k, now that is way out of my budget but i'm focussing on something like a 325i or 330i, or even on extreme side of things, i 7 series purely because i like big luxury cars, I've not had the chance to test drive one yet though as i've always had my 2 year old in tow and tbh, i wouldn't want to test one with him in the back.

Moral of then story, although i like my car - quite a lot as it happens, the only Audis i'd be looking at in the future are an S4 convertible (because imo they are the best looking convertibles in this price range - i must stress again, IMO, also because they don't do and RS4 convertible), or and RS4 / RS6 R8, all of which again are out of my price range, so i think my next car - at the moment - is likely to be Bavarian

 

[v0n]

The audi is the worst of a good bunch IMO.
It's just "a generic car" with nothing significantly in it's favour (is it cheaper than its competitors?) hence my confusion of its popularity.

I get that, the generic, almost unchanged for two decades shape, way too familiar interior and switchgear, etc etc. But let's look closer - out of the "good bunch"... - so let's say we have Jaguar, Merc, Audi and BMW, right? Jaguar is one foot in the grave for many years, British made, odd trim choices, handful of dealers in network, not really a competition. Merc. Had really bad decade, reliability issues, off the wall service pricing (B service costs to the tune of £500, and it's just a glorified filter and oil swap, some dealers charge £150 per hour and diagnostics fee just to look at your car etc etc). So that leaves you with beemer and audi. Suddenly choosing Audi out of good bunch is simply choosing "second contender", "the other best choice". It's choosing AEG over Miele. Panasonic over Sony. PRS over Gibson.

Additionally for many people Audi is natural progression within brand. Anecdotal brickies mate will have a Polo, promoted to brickie he will upgrade to Golf, as a foreman he would have Tuareg, once proprietor, he will probably reach for Audi. He knows his architect had RS and was very happy with it. The mundane familiarity of "it's just like Seat/Skoda with Audi badge" actually works for it, rather than against it.

And then, uncomfortably, let's not forget that premium brands attract also posers. And without dancing around subject, for your typical yuppie, canary wharf underground parking junior poser, Audi is the least ethnically tinted choice.

 

[jamoor]

I get that, the generic, almost unchanged for two decades shape, way too familiar interior and switchgear, etc etc. But let's look closer - out of the "good bunch"... - so let's say we have Jaguar, Merc, Audi and BMW, right? Jaguar is one foot in the grave for many years, British made, odd trim choices, handful of dealers in network, not really a competition. Merc. Had really bad decade, reliability issues, off the wall service pricing (B service costs to the tune of £500, and it's just a glorified filter and oil swap, some dealers charge £150 per hour and diagnostics fee just to look at your car etc etc). So that leaves you with beemer and audi. Suddenly choosing Audi out of good bunch is simply choosing "second contender", "the other best choice". It's choosing AEG over Miele. Panasonic over Sony. PRS over Gibson.

Additionally for many people Audi is natural progression within brand. Anecdotal brickies mate will have a Polo, promoted to brickie he will upgrade to Golf, as a foreman he would have Tuareg, once proprietor, he will probably reach for Audi. He knows his architect had RS and was very happy with it. The mundane familiarity of "it's just like Seat/Skoda with Audi badge" actually works for it, rather than against it.

And then, uncomfortably, let's not forget that premium brands attract also posers. And without dancing around subject, for your typical yuppie, canary wharf underground parking junior poser, Audi is the least ethnically tinted choice.

Audi doesn't excel at anything, it's just meh at everything.

Anyway, that aside I guess car makers sell the lifestyle attached to the car and what you will achieve by buying that car rather than the car itself, I am not sure what that is with the A4, but I suspect that's why it's popular.

 

[Tinders]

Audi excel at Marketing tbh

 

[v0n]

Audi doesn't excel at anything, it's just meh at everything.

Percentage wise practically no one buys cars because they "excel at everything". Best selling cars, are almost by default meh. Mondeo is good handling meh. Focus is relatively good handling meh. Corsa, Astra, Vectra - the quintesence of meh and then some. In terms of excelling - there is a cheap family car, with big boot, solid ground clearance, loads of space, comfy - leathers, armrests, climate, sunroof, another sunroof, the full works. Due to nature of its design and drivetrain it's glued to the road, safe and literally indestructable in terms of reliablity. To top it up it springs to 60 in 5.8 seconds, leaving to**ers in Porsche's behind with jaws to the floor. Out of relatively small 4 pot engine that's cheap to service, cheap to insure. The car that excels in so many areas... right? no one wants them. They are called....

Forester



Excelling. So overrated.

 

[Housey]

Audi competes with BMW and BMW gets more right than Audi yet of late many people seem to think Audi have made some move past BMW all of a sudden by the fact they are selling more not by the fact they have improved greatly. THIS was my point for Audi have not moved their game on much at all where I believe, styling asside, BMW has. It was never suggesting Audi was bad or worse than many other cars for it isn't, just that it really isnt very good when compared to its percieved prime competition.

 

[wez130]

i reckon the RS series and moreso the R8 has something to do with that Housey, they see the R8, which is a very good car and think wow, i want an Audi. Blinkered view i know.

 

[Housey]

i reckon the RS series and moreso the R8 has something to do with that Housey, they see the R8, which is a very good car and think wow, i want an Audi. Blinkered view i know.

It's good, but it ain't no GT3

 

[jamoor]

Percentage wise practically no one buys cars because they "excel at everything". Best selling cars, are almost by default meh. Mondeo is good handling meh. Focus is relatively good handling meh. Corsa, Astra, Vectra - the quintesence of meh and then some. In terms of excelling - there is a cheap family car, with big boot, solid ground clearance, loads of space, comfy - leathers, armrests, climate, sunroof, another sunroof, the full works. Due to nature of its design and drivetrain it's glued to the road, safe and literally indestructable in terms of reliablity. To top it up it springs to 60 in 5.8 seconds, leaving to**ers in Porsche's behind with jaws to the floor. Out of relatively small 4 pot engine that's cheap to service, cheap to insure. The car that excels in so many areas... right? no one wants them. They are called....

Forester



Excelling. So overrated.

Subarus are notoriously expensive to keep on the road.
£4-600 service bills aren't uncommon. Parts are ridiculously expensive too with them being extremely slow selling. Fantastic cars though.

Mondeo - excels at handling
Avensis - excels at reliabliity
Kia Magento - excels at being cheap

 

[jamoor]

i reckon the RS series and moreso the R8 has something to do with that Housey, they see the R8, which is a very good car and think wow, i want an Audi. Blinkered view i know.

My sister got a company car A3 because "it's cool, and it has those cool lights".

She could have had a 123d coupe...

 

[LSPIII]

Personally, I like my Audi. Many reasons for it. Sure there were lame bits to it when it was standard, but I feel every car has compromise in some departments. I've fixed most of the bad points of mine now anyway. Half the fun of being an enthusiastic car owner is working how to make your car better.

I'm the first to agree that sometimes buying a better car is the option...

Back on topic. I wouldn't buy a standard Audi for sure. I count s-line as standard. BMW has them licked in most areas. But as has been echoed, it's not like Audi can't build a decent car. They clearly can, they just choose not to most of the time, which is a shame!

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Personally, I like my Audi. Many reasons for it. Sure there were lame bits to it when it was standard, but I feel every car has compromise in some departments. I've fixed most of the bad points of mine now anyway. ...

That's interesting. What did you do to the suspension and steering to sort them out?

 

[lambda]

Its not some great mystery why Audi is overtaking BMW in sales. Its purely because Audi's look better, and have the cool LED strip on the front.
BMW lost it years ago with the silly bangle designs, and are paying for it now. Just compare the new 3 series with the A4. The 3 series looks like utter gash next to the A4.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Its not some great mystery why Audi is overtaking BMW in sales. Its purely because Audi's look better, and have the cool LED strip on the front.

That sums up the entire appeal of Audi in one sentance. Posh looking blandmobiles for the average joe. Meanwhile for people who care about driving, there are other options.

Although the facelift E90 and the E92 are far from gash looks wise.

 

[LSPIII]

That's interesting. What did you do to the suspension and steering to sort them out?

Well the S3 didn't have bad steering to begin with, it's very different to the A3 and has plenty of feel already. That's not to say it's in BMW territory, as I doubt it is, but it is good. The feel was improved with a poly steering bush. Subtle difference only but a difference nonetheless.

As for the suspension, I poly bushed everything I could find a poly bush for and have had H&R anti-roll bars fitted (due to the OE front one being screwed). It's the roll bars that have completely changed the feel. The understeer is all but gone really. In fact before I had a laser alignment it was more prone to oversteer, but then again it had silly toe out at the front before the alignment was done.

That's all so far but it has made a significant difference. I do have the intention of upgrading the shocks and springs some time next year when finances allow but it's working OK on the OE at the moment. Remap comes first

 

[Housey]

I'd agree that the S3 is somewhat better than a diesel A4, I thought it was a good little car actually.

 

[Jez]

Always felt this way about audi's, even the R8 does little to stir any emotion whatsoever with me, they are all cars i will walk past without so much as a second glance or thought.

Sold mainly on the fact that BMW have earnt themselves a reputation and therefore fewer people want the badge. Audi is a good place for these customers to go.

I guess i see them in the same regard as a miele washing machine. Nicely made but ultimately nothing you can in any way care about, and aimed purely at very square "apple" people.