Audi

Wow, I’ve been busy these past few days. I’ve not had time to put up the last few reviews here.

Next up was a trip to HBL Audi. This, I thought, was going to be a one car stop like the Caddy dealership. Jessi has been sexed on the A3 (the station wagon) since she saw our neighbors car. So I ended up testing both of them.

First up was the S4. This bad boy scared me and I was power shifting the 400 hp CTS-V (ed: The S4 has 340hp). I drove this thing like I was a 15 year old girl driving my parents car for the first time. While the CTS-V was fast, the S4 feels fast even when your going 10mph, but even with all that implied speed (I never got over 60mph) it still didn’t feel like a good ride. The clutch was very, VERY touchy. Basically having to push it all the way down to the floor and then let go real quick else you were in for some serious whiplash. This was not a gearbox that I enjoyed at all. For some reason I have fond memories of the Jessi’s old TT gearbox but this model/generation really left something to be desired.

The interior wasn’t anything over and beyond a normal A4, the nav was clunky, random buttons were placed in random places. For example the side pocket on the door, you know that place you stuff candy wrappers, had 6 buttons for various things. All that just left a bad impression on me.

So next up, on a whim, was the A3. I knew Jessi was really going to like this one but I wasn’t completely sold on it. While again I really didn’t like Audi’s interior, I have to give mad props to the DSG transmission. So the A3 model we took out was the 3.2 S Line variant. This version comes with a 250 hp (50 more then the standard) V6 and the wonderful DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox). What is DSG? Here is the official statement:

With the Direct Shift Gearbox DSG you can enjoy an uninterrupted power flow and a healthy portion of driving pleasure. This innovative transmission combines the sportiness of a manual gearbox with the advantages of an automatic. Your driving can therefore be particularly sporty, economical, or an individually tailored combination of the two – just as you please.

The DSG never takes a rest: while you are accelerating in 2nd gear, for example, the control logic is already pre-selecting 3rd gear. At the gearshift point, the twin multi-plate clutch reacts in a flash and the transmission shifts seamlessly. A two-shaft construction makes this changeover possible and ensures an uninterrupted flow of power to the drive wheels.

What this means is that basically you have a manual that thinks like an automatic. And not just any automatic but one of the smoothest I’ve ever been in. The salesman also loved to point out that this type of gearbox is what was contained in the $1.2 million Bugatti Veyron (Vee-Dub owns Bugatti and Audi, so it’s only natural they share some stuff). This little feature actually made me forget about the unimpressive interior. Only one problem, I really dislike wagons. Even the sporty wagons with wonderful gear boxes like this one. Unfortunately you can’t get the DSG in any other Audi at the moment. So, resigning to the fact that I was not going to get a station wagon and that the S4 was so unimpressive, we headed out.