Re: BMW vs Audi
I have an A4 and an E64 630 convertible so here's my experience with both makes.
My wife and I test drove the E93 320 (and others like Camry, CRV, etc) before we bought the A4 and both of us felt that the A4 was better both for interior and drive. I'm not a Schumacher sort who drives at the knife edge so cornering at speed etc was not a consideration. Nevertheless, we felt that the pick-up from standing start was better for A4 and more importantly the cabin noise levels were streets ahead. We thought the 320's engine was too noisy - and it was a shitty noisy if you know what I mean. I'd pay for A Lambo or Ferrari engine noise but not for a 2-liter ...
Most importantly, the servicing levels for Audi are miles and miles ahead of PML. I always get invited to events by Premium, they send me CNY ang pows, give me $200 voucher for servicing, etc etc. And this is for buying their standard as shit model ... As for PML, what do I get out of them from buying one of their top end cars? Nothing. No invites, no ang pows ... not even a fart in my direction. Look, I'm not a hard up guy for these sort of things but if one place gives you first class service and the other ignores you, who are you going to go to in the future? It just says something about Premium that they give a crap about me to do this and that for me ...
Last anecdote - I recently serviced the A4 for its 20,000km mark and got tip top service from Premium. Apart from the standard stuff that they do, they gave me the option of doing other things like changing air con filter, etc. They guy actually said that it's probably a bit early to be doing this, but some customers prefer to have it done at 20k interval so air con is cooler. Do you get such transparency at PML? I haven't! During the day when I left the car with them, they called me on my mobile and told me that they had actually finished the servicing. But when the mechanic drove it from the service bay to park it, he heard the engine was a bit rough. So he took it back to look and see what's the problem - turns out the turbo valve is a bit loose so they replaced it with a new one under warranty. As for PML, I feel that when I take my car there for regular servicing, the service is never efficient and is just on the side of acceptable. It's cold and calculating, and I feel that I'm only there to drop my car off, pay, then take my car back. That's it ...
So when it comes to changing my 630 in the next 1-2 years, I'm 99% sure that I'm going to be looking at something non-BMW for my new ride. R8 perhaps?
Apologies for length.
you got see my mod list? hee.
