A few of us took the time off tonight to take part in the Audi A4 Experience (thanks to Alvin, Puny).
It was a short night and i'll give my short take on the event and the cars we got to spend some little bit of time with. All in all, it was a nicely done event and presentation, big thumbs up for Audi on doing an event of this scale for all car enthusiast to participate in.
After some yum yum nasi lemak at CV, we drove to Changi Aviation road for the event, tho it was dark, getting in was easy. Registration was a breeze and after some light refreshments, we were ushered into a mini theatre to watch a presentation on the car and the marque. *blah blah blah*
on to the cars... (AND to add, these are only my own personal views)
The courses for us to drive thru consisted of a short slalom and obstacle course for us to feel the diference between Audi's with and without an active steering system. This consisted of a short slow drive thru some tight parking speed corners, exiting which leads to a short slalom, then a u-turn, followed by another slalom, then braking and slowing down into another set of sharp parking speed bends bringing it to an end.
Next up wld be the ESP "test" , or rather an emergency lane change with foot off towards the end. Kind of different from the BMW run where u keep ur foot on the throttle. Basically, just a straight run up, lift-off, turn, brake and slow down.
Proceed on to the ABS "test", again, straight on, accelerate, hit braking point, floor the brakes, car comes to a stop wthout drama.
So that was the gist of the exercises which drivers will get to partake in.
Overall what do i think of the car?
Would i buy it?
I love the build quality of the interior, very solid and tough, with a very nice finish. Buttons galore will satisfy all techies out there, but i like my interface simple. The MMI works nicely and it is fast and smooth. Sound system seems to be pretty good too but didn't really got to try it. I'll take their word for it though.
I'd admit i'm biased and i'll say, its just not for me. The active steering is good around parking speeds, the normal rack isn't too bad because it is rather light and easy to handle around, so if costs is a prohibition, the normal rack works well enough for me. The steering "feel" being rather light at low and also at higher speeds takes away some of the "feel" of the steering.
Torque steer is reined in quickly by the traction control (ESP) system. The weight of the cars can be felt going thru the the courses, and you can feel the car transfer it's load upon each bend. The overall turning behaviour of this car thru the bends is some degree of understeer, corrected easily by lifting off the throttle. It's safe but not as fun as most of us would like it to be. (Or have gotten accustomed to in our BMWs, where a prod of the throttle makes the rear end squat a little when exiting thru corners) In the Audi, a full throttle jab mid corner will send the car off it's cornering line and activating it's "ESP" to try an get you back on course. You can feel it working at times.
The car we had the most time with during the evening is the 1.8TFSI, what does that mean?
Bascally, 1798cc, four cylinders, 16 valves and a turbocharger, but 160bhp from a 1.8 Turbo is not very strong sadly. The other car, a 3.2 Quattro was not for us to drive but to sit around in. Me thinks the 3.2 is not on my futre list. (@ 188k a pop, i'd take a 135i)
So what did the evening mean for me? Besides the great makan session, truth is, i like to drive my car more. Ooops....
It's not a lousy car definetly, but for driving dynamics, put up next to BMWs of similar range, the cars with the propellers just have that extra special touch and "feel" to them.
*Also, my fav. part of the night was when we all got lost trying to get out of the area after the event, it was hilarious.. 5 cars lost in the darkness *Axl was leading**
+ we all got a t-shirt
It was a short night and i'll give my short take on the event and the cars we got to spend some little bit of time with. All in all, it was a nicely done event and presentation, big thumbs up for Audi on doing an event of this scale for all car enthusiast to participate in.
After some yum yum nasi lemak at CV, we drove to Changi Aviation road for the event, tho it was dark, getting in was easy. Registration was a breeze and after some light refreshments, we were ushered into a mini theatre to watch a presentation on the car and the marque. *blah blah blah*
on to the cars... (AND to add, these are only my own personal views)
The courses for us to drive thru consisted of a short slalom and obstacle course for us to feel the diference between Audi's with and without an active steering system. This consisted of a short slow drive thru some tight parking speed corners, exiting which leads to a short slalom, then a u-turn, followed by another slalom, then braking and slowing down into another set of sharp parking speed bends bringing it to an end.
Next up wld be the ESP "test" , or rather an emergency lane change with foot off towards the end. Kind of different from the BMW run where u keep ur foot on the throttle. Basically, just a straight run up, lift-off, turn, brake and slow down.
Proceed on to the ABS "test", again, straight on, accelerate, hit braking point, floor the brakes, car comes to a stop wthout drama.
So that was the gist of the exercises which drivers will get to partake in.
Overall what do i think of the car?
Would i buy it?
I love the build quality of the interior, very solid and tough, with a very nice finish. Buttons galore will satisfy all techies out there, but i like my interface simple. The MMI works nicely and it is fast and smooth. Sound system seems to be pretty good too but didn't really got to try it. I'll take their word for it though.
I'd admit i'm biased and i'll say, its just not for me. The active steering is good around parking speeds, the normal rack isn't too bad because it is rather light and easy to handle around, so if costs is a prohibition, the normal rack works well enough for me. The steering "feel" being rather light at low and also at higher speeds takes away some of the "feel" of the steering.
Torque steer is reined in quickly by the traction control (ESP) system. The weight of the cars can be felt going thru the the courses, and you can feel the car transfer it's load upon each bend. The overall turning behaviour of this car thru the bends is some degree of understeer, corrected easily by lifting off the throttle. It's safe but not as fun as most of us would like it to be. (Or have gotten accustomed to in our BMWs, where a prod of the throttle makes the rear end squat a little when exiting thru corners) In the Audi, a full throttle jab mid corner will send the car off it's cornering line and activating it's "ESP" to try an get you back on course. You can feel it working at times.
The car we had the most time with during the evening is the 1.8TFSI, what does that mean?
Bascally, 1798cc, four cylinders, 16 valves and a turbocharger, but 160bhp from a 1.8 Turbo is not very strong sadly. The other car, a 3.2 Quattro was not for us to drive but to sit around in. Me thinks the 3.2 is not on my futre list. (@ 188k a pop, i'd take a 135i)
So what did the evening mean for me? Besides the great makan session, truth is, i like to drive my car more. Ooops....
It's not a lousy car definetly, but for driving dynamics, put up next to BMWs of similar range, the cars with the propellers just have that extra special touch and "feel" to them.
*Also, my fav. part of the night was when we all got lost trying to get out of the area after the event, it was hilarious.. 5 cars lost in the darkness *Axl was leading**
+ we all got a t-shirt
