Have an Audi Day...
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11-09-2015 | 06:35 AM
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Have an Audi Day...
Being the owner of an Audi SQ5 (my wife's ride) I was invited to a day of driving Audi's at Fex Ex Field (Redskins Stadium) in Wash DC. So yesterday I grabbed a buddy of mine - Jim Moran - and off we went in the Porsche to go play. I've done dozens of these events before, most are lame and a few are good. I have to say that this Audi event was hands down the BEST manufacturer car test day I've ever been to. Sometimes these gigs can be less than exciting, with boring little parking lot drills and auto-x stop boxes. Not this one. Big parking lot courses and they said "drive 'em hard". Added to the fun was the fact that Jim and I rode together all day long - we'd swap between driving and passenger. So we're egging each other on and laughing like two lunatics who have never been allowed to play with cars before.
Right off the bat they put us in Audi R8's and RS5's. WAY TO START THE DAY. I've got quite a lot of autocross and track experience, so my competition mode kicked in immediately and I knew I would be running up on the other cars on course. Most people are not very good autocrosser's, it takes practice to get proficient at it. It was high-speed lead / follow and these were not salesmen putting on the Audi Event, but professional race car drivers and they set out to do some blistering paces. No passing allowed as you would expect. This was our ride for the track session - pretty nice.
I was reprimanded once for being too close to another R8 on the course, I could have easily passed them given the chance. After the admonishment, I'd let those slow cats get way ahead on the course and then boot it so we could have some fun once I put enough gap between them and us. The R8 is a very nice car, but I think my pal Raf's Boxster S would have been even better on the course. The R8 is like a big Cayman, its well-balanced, corners flat, has good inputs and is a very nice car. Of course, there are no bad cars over $100K, just different ones. I would own an R8, but it didn't strike me as 'I gotta sell my 991S and get one of these'.
The RS5 has a hellva engine on the pipe, but its an understeering, heavy car that gets unsettled in hard left/right transitions.
We did the snore drive around town as the second event, and that was my first change to play with adaptive cruise control in an A6. That is an amazing feature, works terrific in driving around town. Much more impressive than I expected in a street car, I'd check that on an options build sheet.
Then back to Auto-X to cycle through the A3, A6, Merc CLA, BMW 228i, Merc E350, BMW 528i. on the autocross course. We got a lot of runs, about 20 each. My impressions:
Audi A3: A cheap little economy car trussed up to try to be stylish. The upgrade car for a Secretary. Not particularly memorable but not especially bad, either. Kinda like a Mazda 3 to me.
Audi A6: This is a very nice car. Well balanced, capable, handles it weight well, quiet, well appointed, You could do a lot worse.
Mercedes E 350: Oh! what a pig. Heavy, sluggish, resistant to turn-in. Mediocre brakes, Careful in the slalom, it won't let you transition well....its still rolling left while you are going right with the steering wheel. Totally goofy - and I mean goofy - shift lever. What were they thinking?
Mercedes CLA: I really liked this car. Powerful engine that goes NOW....very capable handling, decent brakes and body roll. My fav of the autocross cars.
BMW 228i: This thing is a turd. WTF happened to BMW? It has a cheap interior, lousy brakes, lousy - and I do mean LOUSY run flat tires that roll over onto the rims. Poor handling, too. I cannot believe this had a Roundel on the hood. Shameful.
BMW 528i: Unimpressive. Decent engine, but the handling is not there. Better than the Merc E350, but the Audi A6 will spank it. Pretty damn far from The Ultimate Driving Machine. Feels like there is 500 lb on each end on the bumpers. Slow to rotate, and another car with mediocre brakes. Pass
It was really good to be able to go back-to-back in cars. I came away from this thinking "What happened to BMW?" and also new-found respect for the little CLA Merc...that car was a hoot.
There was nothing there that made me want to trade in my Porsche, though they had this killer RS7 I was flirting with all day long. At $ 139K sticker though - that's 599 Ferrari money and the depreciation curve on that Ferrari will be close to zero.
Conclusions: Turbos and Automatics/Dual Clutch transmissions are not for me.. Every one of the cars we drove suffered from severe turbo lag and I hate automatics for serious driving. Give me a naturally aspirated, three pedal car and now I'm in business and having fun. As long as I own a sports car, it will be naturally aspirated and have a stick shift.
If you get a chance to do this Audi Event - definitely go. Huge fun, very accommodating and you get tons of track/autocross time. They are headed to Dallas next week - those of you in Texas - sign up for it!
- Duane Collie
Right off the bat they put us in Audi R8's and RS5's. WAY TO START THE DAY. I've got quite a lot of autocross and track experience, so my competition mode kicked in immediately and I knew I would be running up on the other cars on course. Most people are not very good autocrosser's, it takes practice to get proficient at it. It was high-speed lead / follow and these were not salesmen putting on the Audi Event, but professional race car drivers and they set out to do some blistering paces. No passing allowed as you would expect. This was our ride for the track session - pretty nice.
I was reprimanded once for being too close to another R8 on the course, I could have easily passed them given the chance. After the admonishment, I'd let those slow cats get way ahead on the course and then boot it so we could have some fun once I put enough gap between them and us. The R8 is a very nice car, but I think my pal Raf's Boxster S would have been even better on the course. The R8 is like a big Cayman, its well-balanced, corners flat, has good inputs and is a very nice car. Of course, there are no bad cars over $100K, just different ones. I would own an R8, but it didn't strike me as 'I gotta sell my 991S and get one of these'.
The RS5 has a hellva engine on the pipe, but its an understeering, heavy car that gets unsettled in hard left/right transitions.
We did the snore drive around town as the second event, and that was my first change to play with adaptive cruise control in an A6. That is an amazing feature, works terrific in driving around town. Much more impressive than I expected in a street car, I'd check that on an options build sheet.
Then back to Auto-X to cycle through the A3, A6, Merc CLA, BMW 228i, Merc E350, BMW 528i. on the autocross course. We got a lot of runs, about 20 each. My impressions:
Audi A3: A cheap little economy car trussed up to try to be stylish. The upgrade car for a Secretary. Not particularly memorable but not especially bad, either. Kinda like a Mazda 3 to me.
Audi A6: This is a very nice car. Well balanced, capable, handles it weight well, quiet, well appointed, You could do a lot worse.
Mercedes E 350: Oh! what a pig. Heavy, sluggish, resistant to turn-in. Mediocre brakes, Careful in the slalom, it won't let you transition well....its still rolling left while you are going right with the steering wheel. Totally goofy - and I mean goofy - shift lever. What were they thinking?
Mercedes CLA: I really liked this car. Powerful engine that goes NOW....very capable handling, decent brakes and body roll. My fav of the autocross cars.
BMW 228i: This thing is a turd. WTF happened to BMW? It has a cheap interior, lousy brakes, lousy - and I do mean LOUSY run flat tires that roll over onto the rims. Poor handling, too. I cannot believe this had a Roundel on the hood. Shameful.
BMW 528i: Unimpressive. Decent engine, but the handling is not there. Better than the Merc E350, but the Audi A6 will spank it. Pretty damn far from The Ultimate Driving Machine. Feels like there is 500 lb on each end on the bumpers. Slow to rotate, and another car with mediocre brakes. Pass
It was really good to be able to go back-to-back in cars. I came away from this thinking "What happened to BMW?" and also new-found respect for the little CLA Merc...that car was a hoot.
There was nothing there that made me want to trade in my Porsche, though they had this killer RS7 I was flirting with all day long. At $ 139K sticker though - that's 599 Ferrari money and the depreciation curve on that Ferrari will be close to zero.
Conclusions: Turbos and Automatics/Dual Clutch transmissions are not for me.. Every one of the cars we drove suffered from severe turbo lag and I hate automatics for serious driving. Give me a naturally aspirated, three pedal car and now I'm in business and having fun. As long as I own a sports car, it will be naturally aspirated and have a stick shift.
If you get a chance to do this Audi Event - definitely go. Huge fun, very accommodating and you get tons of track/autocross time. They are headed to Dallas next week - those of you in Texas - sign up for it!
- Duane Collie
Last edited by drcollie; 11-09-2015 at 06:55 AM.
