Final results of our Lexus IS vs. BMW 3-series poll

dont forget 001Buster too, he can frame a convo with skill and make u move over to his side of audifanatics.

just wait for the 335i and any acceleraion comparisons will be answered hopefully as early as the end of this ear

what he said.

The BMW clearly wins this poll.

The IS has tried to beat the 330i now multiple times and has failed.

But that photo of the new A4 looks beautiful.

I really hope the car looks like that.

Audi will have a major homerun on its hands.

For some reason, looking at the back of this photoshopped A4 , I see hints of the new Porsche Panamera sedan.

Anyone Else?

I've tracked both....

I've taken a rear-wheel drive M3 and a rear-biased S4 to the track her in CA.

Up until a couple of years ago, the M3 was my favorite track car (although it wasn't mine, I swapped the S4 for a day), slightly edging out a 2004 S4.

Although the torque-abundant V8 S4 was overall a far better car, I didn't like the slight understeer. In comparison, the M3's slight oversteer was more fun on the track. Even the overstressed 3.2, barely wheezing out its peak HP, was a blast on the track.

But that changed with the new quattro.

I recently tracked a 2005.5 S4 (again, not mine). It has a rear torque bias of 60%.

It was incredible. There was no understeer OR oversteer. I never had so much fun. It was so easy to modulate the throttle to get the exact tail behaviour i wanted. And power-sliding became a cynch too.

Remember, Torsen quattro is a permanent AWD, system, unlike BMW and Merc's clutch-based system that activates after detecting slip. BMW and Merc are very, very far away from creating an AWD system that can be tracked. That is why they don't compete with their AWD systems, unlike Audi.

Audi, on the oither hand, has an AWD system that has been race-proven for 25 years.

I think Audi's rear-biased AWD is superior to rear-drive-only setup.

Audi now has the advantage IMHO. And yes, Lexus can't touch either car.

Facts:

- An unprecedented 3 Audi models were part the top 10 most reliable European cars of 2005 (BMW and especially Merc had none).

- Reliability for Audi has skyrocketed since their billion dollar QC campaign went into effect 2 years ago. Long term JD Powers results will not be in for another 2 years. They are expected to match European acclaim.

- Current American A4/A6/A8 residuals are roughly the same as BMW and far better than Merc. The A3 lease rates are terrible due to the model having not enough market competition. Check your lease calculator.

- America is not the world. Audi is in fact equal or more successful than BMW and Merc on a per-model basis internationally. Audi has done very poorly in the US since a fraudulent '60 Minutes' aticle about 'unexpected acceleration'. Thousands of people were laid off. The report was never proven. It was a disaster for Audi of America. Audi has spent the last 10 years slowly building up its brand in America to match Europe's exceptional success. It will take another 5 to 7 years before Audi bumps off Merc and equals BMW in American sales.

Again, Audi is an international sensation. It routinely beats BMW and Merc in terms of:

- Reliability (A3, A4, A6 2005 top 10 placement in Europe)

Performance (both the S4 and RS4 were considered superior to the M3 in two different episodes of Top Gear).

- All-wheel dominance (Road & Track gave the A4 quattro 1st place, and the BMW 3rd place in a recent AWD comparo).

- International sales (Audi posted higher European sales in Q1 of 2005 than either BMW or Merc, and this with a much smaller lineup).

Posters that trivialize Audi's obvious recent successes sound like out-of-touch rejects from the 90's.

Welcome to the 21st Century boys, its Audi's turn to kick some serious a$$!

Just wait to see what Audi is coming up just in the next 10 months. (Hint: a 600hp Supercar, and a platform architecture that has BMW terrified)