New Audis starting to make their mark against the competition.

Audi will be a force to be reckoned with for the next few years, as they have a continuous stream of new product.

I believe Audi will come full-circle and have the true firepower with its line of cars when the following happens:

All the new current crop of upcoming cars are released (S6, S8, TT, R8, A5, A7, Q5)

The new A4 features the 40/60 rear-split Quattro for better handling. This would go for the S4 as well.

The A6 receives the same treatment as the upcoming A4.

The A8 is redesigned and features the same 40/60 Quattro split, even faster engines and a price tag that puts it out of reach of BMW's 760Li, along with a better interior.

The TT arrives with its new rave reviews and the upcoming RS6 is launched with a new 550 horsepower V10 engine, featuring twin turbos and also a 40/60 rear Quattro split to give it better handling like the current RS4.

I'm saying we have to wait 5-8 years from now, for Audi to be at full circle with its cars all featuring the new 40/60 rear biased Quattro split, all the new models will be out and the RS6 will have been released.

Is this news? Have you found any new facts to support your time wasting opinions??? How many more audi interior blogs??? wow audi making their mark, audi selling 387 a8's in august, 777 brand new Q7's, maybe audi could break the 85,000 sales mark in the U.S. maybe in a few years Audi can finally challenge Volvo and Acura in the U.S.

Larry haven't taken economics yet I see. Since when did sales and quality of product share a positive correlation.

News flash: They are not related.

If they were Lexus would outsell the rest of the German companies, but guess what Larry, they don't.

How many useless sales figures are you going to throw at me.

Larry I'm going to make myself into you for this one minute. The following would be a remark you would make based on your knowledge of sales being indicative of quality and the whole Volkswagen thing:

Gee Bentley what a crappy car company. They sell such a fewer number of cars when compared to BMW or Mercedes-Benz. Wow Bentley making their mark selling 5,000 cars a year world-wide and the highst one only goes for over $350K.

i think will is about to comment, lets see what hes going to say about it.

Germannuts we know you have a compulsive obsession about your expensive VW's and interiors. Give it a rest. Life goes on or find something else to obsess about.

I've heard Audi has the best interiors, can anybody here support that fact? *end sarcasm*

In all seriousness, I like Audi and think their products are generally pretty exciting, glad to see another German company focused on sport, unlike Mercedes.

hand made? the conti gt isn't hand made..
bigslick, one car. the toyota corolla, in no way better than the competition. yet, sold 30 million of them since 1967.

one thing, it is odd that bmw don't have a super car yet. m6 is good, no doubt, but still is "just" a 6 series.

okay its a cheap car thats dependable, therefor it is better than the competition in its price range for that class of car. and the numbers support that at about a mil sold/year.

oh yea and sorry a $350k bently is hand made

Larry, Bentley stomps all over BMW and Mercedes-Benz in quality of product, as well as heritage and not to mention - price.

Audi for that matter also surpasses BMW in price on the flagship A8L 6.0 W12.

The R8 will be in the realm of $125K again surpassing BMW for highest price of a mass-produced car.

Now I'm not saying any one car is better than another, I'm saying that in terms of price Audi is a match for BMW.

ssssooooooooo what was it again you were saying? i mean are you trying to support the idea that audis dont sell i nthe us because they are overpriced? or that audis are better than bmw's because of a bigger pricetag? and why does everyone say "not to mention" directly before they mention what was so non-mentinal

Audi has the best interiors in every class! Even God couldn't make a better one!

BMW530i, you said it yourself.

Forget Audi, they are worthless Volkswagens.

BMW has best interiors in class. Not.
BMW has best exteriors in class. Not.
BMW has best drivers in class. Not.

This is a pointless article.

I love Audi, but GermanNut, you're taking this obsession too far.

GermanNut,

How can you say the A8 has won the competition? I've seen so many mixed reviews between these car's there's no saying who's the real winner. Besides, Mercedes and BMW both sell more of their flagship models worldwide than Audi does.

Also the new X5 will outclass the competition in almost every way with better fuel consumption, lighter body weight, structural rigidy, performance, power, agility, standard options, & unique options (Adaptive drive, heads-up-display, run flats, & active steering) not offered by the competition.

BMW's x-drive system is also now reworked to out-perform Audi's Quattro. Let me explain:

1. Audi's Quattro will have a harder time with torque distribution than BMW's x-drive because Audi's electronic sensor system (ESP), isn't quite the equivalent to BMW's DSC. Meaning DSC know's the current elements surrounding the vehicle, while ESP does not.

2. While x-drive can transfer almost all the power between the front & rear axle, quattro's front/rear split only varies between 65/35 and 15/85.

The conclution...Better overall traction, faster response & better agility for the Bimmer.

MunichRob-

You're forgetting the next-generation of quattro, which all Audis will have. It is clearly a better system than xDrive, because it has RWD handling with legendary quattro traction.

In a kind of recent R & T article, here is how the contenders ended up, in order:

Audi A4 2.0T quattro S-Line
Subaru Legacy GT 2.5 spec_b
BMW 325xi Sport
Lexus IS250 AWD
etc, etc...

They said that the A4 was clearly the most fun of the bunch, and that Audi still had the best handle on AWD (and Subaru). Although the Legacy was faster (250hp), the Audi was a better executed package.

Having owned a beautiful '81 Audi coupe a while back, and more recently an M3 and an X5, I have a few opinions that may merely be my own:

Current Audis are certainly well-engineered awd cars that are comparable to BMWs and Merc in their performance and luxury. Give a little here...take a little there.

So ultimately, German car shopping decsions within a car class come mostly from historical and aesthetic taste.

I think post-5000 Audis look too much like the Jetta and Passat, and this detracts from their prestige and "presence" for me vs. BMW/Merc.

The RS models and the S8 are amazing enough that as "cognoscenti" vehicles they have a different kind of prestige...but they're so much more expensive than the brand can sustain (for me).

What about the S4? It has about twice as much style and 1/2 more power than the GT, and it's a bargain at $46K (you can get a loaded A4 3.2 for that much).

Audi does not have the best interior. BME e46/e39 are better, in my opinion. The 5 looks way more sporty than an A6, to me. I have my opinion you have yours.
I drive a BMW i like it, if i wanted an Audi i had bought one.
All people got different taste, i dont find Audis design is something for me. Either their interiors, they are no better than my e46.
Mercedes can only say, its an old manns car, or a cab.