But, pachow that’s a lot of coin for an A4. No sports package, no s-line package, no six cylinder (not that their normal six is worth paying for anyway). Sadly, you can also get a 335i (300hp twin turbo six cylinder) with the premium package and cold weather package for roughly the same price as the A4. I’m not positive the BMW comes with as many doo-dads, and it’s not a brand new design, but 211hp against 300hp? Of course, if you want all wheel drive, you’d have to pony up to the 335xi which run a couple grand more. And in all fairness, the 2.0T has plenty of torque … but the BMW has 300ft/lb. Which in case you’re wondering, is more. Unfortunately, it also drives and sounds a lot like a diesel.

As with all the current round of german cars, the interior looks nice, but they’ve taken a hint from the american and japanese manufacturers, and they no longer also feelnice. The plastics are hard and smooth, the buttons and knobs feel flimsy, the doors don’t have that solid feel that I expect. And the other thing that really caught my attention was that the MMI menu was significantly slower to respond to inputs than the version in our Q. Lower grade processor?

But how does it drive? Does it still understeer like a pig rooting for grubs? Surprisingly, for an Audi, no. There’s still that big pause after turn in where you press the accelerator and the car sits there trying to figure out where to send power. Or maybe it’s the auto tranny? I don’t know, but all my Audis have had that same fun killing pause. Bigger engined Audis mask it better, so maybe it is the automatic trying to figure out what gear to give you?

You can read all the techy stuff about the trick rear diff in the magazines and I have to state for the record that it seems to feel like it works pretty good. At least, I think the Drive Select has the trick diff … maybe that’s just the new S4? The info on Audi’s website is vague marketing speak. But what I really didn’t care for, and what the magazine reviews gloss over, is the wooden steering that goes from carnival ride light, to rusty when you press the ‘dynamic’ button. I know it’s supposed to liven the car up and make it feel sporty, but instead it just makes the car feel cumbersome. How about dial in the steering to be perfect all the time and then just leave it? Which is kind of the complaint I have with the dynamic suspension too. It goes from being jiggly in comfort, jiggly in automatic and then firm bouncy in dynamic mode. Which is weird because it’s not brittle like Audi suspensions that I’m used to. It’s very firm, about as firm as any of the aftermarket suspensions I’ve ever had, but extremely bouncy like the shocks can’t keep up with the stiffer spring rate. But I’d thought that springs were regular steel coil and it was only the damping rate that changed? Our Q feels just the opposite; soft springs and hard as nails dampers.

And all of that would probably be easily forgivable if the thing looked good. But it just doesn’t. They chose to live somewhere between non-offensive and not-caring. They went very A6-ish on it, and I’m no fan of the A6. Audis for the last ten years have been about understated sophistication, where the new design direction for the A4 (and A6) is just been dull as brown dirt. There’s nothing here to get excited about for your $45,000.

There was a s-line on the show room floor, and the chunkier wheels gave it a little more presence, but there’s just not getting around that drooping tail line that reminds of a sagging diaper. Even worse, the pictures of the new S4 look just as boring and that’ll be at least ten grand more expensive. For a completely un-special supercharged V6. At least the great thing about forced induction is the cheap power upgrades from software.

If I can’t find a good S4 convertible when my lease is up, or if gas prices are through the roof at that point, I may end up looking at the Avant. But unless they do a refresh that turns up the styling, count me out on the sedan.

I’m still trying to find out how, mathmatically, leasing works because for what I’m paying per month and what the residual is I shouldn’t be this far behind. My guess is that if I kept it another year I’d be in better shape, but I don’t think I can put up with it that long.

While I’m waiting for stuff at work I figured I’d compile a list of pros and cons. And just so that I’m not being pessimistic I’ll put my likes first. But I’ve come to the conclusion that this is a 20k car with 15k worth of badges.

Likes

1. Suspension. Although it’s gotten a little brittle with the colder weather and/or mileage it’s still very comfortable for the cornering performance it delivers.
2. Handling. It’s doesn’t have the same high ultimate limits that my BMW did, but responds to inputs better than the BMW did. Sometimes being able to have fun at slower pace is preferrable to just going fast. It’s hard to explain. The best analogy I can come up with is, going fast in a slow car is more engaging than going slow in a fast car.
3. Panoramic Sunroof. Having that second skylight in the backseat is just plain cool.
4. Exterior Styling. I still like the way it looks.
5. 7spd automatic. The 7 speeds really masks the lower power output of the engine by making sure it’s always in it’s power band. And I like how you can just slap it left or right for downshift/upshift. Other auto gear selectors usually make you go to an S mode before you can select a gear. It’s needed though, because it doesn’t like to kick down when you press the gas. Instead you have to manually slap it down to a lower gear.

Dislikes

1. The seats. This is by far my biggest complaint with this car. The seats are rock hard and in the year I’ve had it I’ve never once found a position that’s comfortable for more than 20min. Even if I did, they left out any memory for the seats so it’s not like I’d be able to get it back to where I found it. Getting out of the car after a 30min drive, my back aches, my ass aches and my legs are asleep. Sucks; and it’s the major reason I’m trying to get rid of it.
2. Service costs. Yeah, I know it’s a Mercedes, okay, I get it. Try this on though: $250 for an oil change. They call it, ‘Service A’ to try to disguise it and make you feel better but when you look at the list, it’s an oil change. Sadly you have to do it to keep the warranty. I’m not entirely sure that’s legal, but …. Oh, and Service B? $450. Yeah, oil change. This thing’s gotta go before that.
3. Cheap interior. I knew when I bought it that it was a little low rent, but instead of disappearing into the background it’s become more of an eye-sore.
4. Gas mileage. Mixed driving is 22-23mpg, as long as most of the mixed is freeway. Pure city driving is 15-16mpg and pure freeway is 26-27mpg. My 330i, with more horsepower, did 30-31mpg … but the same mixed.
5. Wind noise. Either that or the tires are getting LOUD as they wear.
6. Cheap ass trim pieces. The lower grill is some of the chintziest plastic this side of a Kia. Strike that. Kia’s are probably built better. I’ve had two break so far and book time on replacement at the dealer is 2.5hrs. Because, being the excellent engineers they are, to replace the lower grill requires a full bumper removal.
7. Dealer service. I’ve got several small problems like the mirrors being loose, vibrating bad enough while driving that you can see anything in them, and squealing when they open or close. And a sunroof that squeals and stutters when opening. But the dealer service is too incompetent to even acknowledge the problems let alone figure out a way to fix it.

Just meh

1. Power. I don’t ever seem to miss not having more power. The 7spd, like I mentioned, masks the lower power of the C300. Power always feels adequate as long as you’re in the right gear.

As far as I can see, that pretty much leaves me with a 135i. If Heather doesn’t miraculously turn up pregnant between now and then. Logan can suck it up and squeeze in back. And I’m hoping that BMW has their dual clutch gearbox in normal cars by then so that I don’t have to have the manual/automatic fight with Heather again.

I know it’s not the prettiest thing in the world, but 300hp, rear wheel drive and small car seem like they should spell fun. I just don’t dare go test drive one now or I’ll be looking for crazy ways to try to get out of my lease early.

Audi RS4? Fairly rare as far as I can see. Plus no automatic … which isn’t a huge deal, but it cuts the fan base to the people who really want a hot rod Audi. Outside of the PacNW, parts of the Midwest and New England, what’s the draw for a $75k A4 on steroids? At least with an M3 you can pose; especially in a convertible; triple that with the SMG, so an automatic is available at least. C63? Probably do pretty well, but my gut feeling is people who want an AMG also feel the E63 is more suitable. Corvette will always have a market, it’s an incredible sports car value.

So back to the GT-R. They claim the boosted V6 doesn’t share any parts with the VQ, but come on. Do they really expect me to believe they don’t share a lot of the same design? And the VQ has been one of the best V6s on the market for a few years. They’ve also been building turbo motors for Skyline GT-Rs for years; modified versions routinely go over 900hp reliabily. Nissan says they’ve locked down the ECU to be tamper proof so tuners won’t go crazy, but somebody will figure it out. Japanese tuners are already cranking out exhausts and aero parts for the car. That’s fast! The unknown quantity will be the dual clutch semi-auto transaxle. VAG (Volkswagon Audi Group) have already proved the dual clutch auto can be reliable, but they don’t have a product in the market with as much power either.

Accessiblity. Nissan really isn’t doing anything that nobody else has done before. Subaru and Mitsu have been doing awd and active diffs for awhile on the STi and Evo. But in the GT-R, Nissan is bringing the power along with the technology to bring supercar to the masses. It’s performance target was the 911 Turbo. Yadda yadda, yeah we’ve all heard that one a million times. And yeah, they beat its time around Nurburgring. Whoopie. And the automotive press has stated many times how easy it is for any bloke to get in a 911 Turbo and go insanely fast, easily and (relatively) safely. Probably is any bloke can’t plunk down $150k + on a 911 Turbo (I haven’t actually looked, but knowing how Porsche does business, the price of the car after you get seats, tires, a steering wheel and a radio will be closer to $200k). And have you ever heard stories about maintenece costs on a Porsche? One of the big reason I could never muster the balls to buy a used Boxster. $65-75k isn’t any bloke territory either. But it’s close. Closer than $150k. And think of that! It’s Boxster/Cayman money. Sure the interior looks circa 1986 (I’m hoping it looks better in person), but all that technology makes all that performance accessible. And so does the pricing.

So how am I going to get one? I figure my current lease plays perfectly into my hand. The first of the GT-Rs is supposed to show up here in the summer/fall of 08 as a 2009 model. My lease is up in early 2010. By then I’m hoping the intial demand and gouge is gone and I can get one ordered for MSRP. I’m not dreaming of < MSRP just yet. But there's already talk of a GT-R Vspec with more power and less weight. If that's announced, I expect demand for the GT-R might lessen. So now for the money. Heather's truck will be close to paid off at that point, so she might be convinced to take on another large payment. That'll depend on how the Audi looks like it's holding up long term. For sure it'll cost more to maintain than her Toyota did, but I'm hoping that it won't be too astronomical that she'll decide to buy a new one instead. So that means, I just need to start saving the money I'm saving on the lease, and probably all my bonuses from here until then, and I'll have a nice downpayment. Sounds like a plan.

More info
Official Nissan website
EVO Magazine Japanese spec car review.
GT-R wiki site

I don’t know how they pulled shutting down streets in Manhattan, Rio and Rome to get this commercial shot. Monoco would’ve been easy during gran prix weekend. And there’s no CGI.

Video after the jump.

shell : circuit

I’ve been looking at the new C class since it’s introduction in August but the bellevue mercedes dealer was just awful to try to work with. No cars available, wanted to charge me $1000 for shipping on a dealer swap and wanted to mark up the lease rate astronomically. But worst of all didn’t want to give me anything for my trade.

Ended up over at Phil Smart in downtown Seattle and they were much better to work with. Didn’t get a monster deal like Heather’s Audi, but they were at least willing to negotiate. Who knows if it’s just a matter of getting the right sales person/sales manager or right time of the month. Bellevue mercedes was insulted that I’d even consider not paying them exactly what they wanted.

It’s not the most powerful, most luxurious or cheapest in it’s class. It was a good deal less expensive than my BMW though. But I mostly bought it for the way it looks and how it rides. There’s still a lot of grip in the corners without beating me up on the bumps like the BMW did; the trade off is that the steering is on the overboosted/numb side. The looks are polarizing, but after the bland soft curves of the BMW, I really like the angular lines.

This time I also bought the lower end motor and so far I don’t regret it. My BMW, I’d wanted to get a 325 but ended up going 330 just because Heather warned I wouldn’t be happy with less power. Merc doesn’t kill you by not making options available on the smaller motor like BMW does, it’s got the same horsepower that my e46 330 did, and along with the 7sp auto it’s quick enough for every day driving. The C350 had a lot more grunt, but I didn’t want another > 40k car this time. The thing I’m most impressed with, surprisingly, is the Sirius satellite radio. Merc gives you a 6mo trial, and after listening this weekend, I’ve got it in my head to sign up; I’m even thinking of spending the money to add it to Heather’s car instead of an ipod interface. They’ve got some good kid channels for Logan, and being able to use it on the trip all the way to Spokane is enticing.