RE: All-weather fast saloons | Six of the Best
Discussion
I can't speak for the others but ownership of the RS4 was something of a mixed bag. Fantastic acceleration, even more impressive stopping and a real V8 high revving soundtrack in a proper saloon car. Sitting in the most uncomfortable seats ever watching the fuel guage unwind. The memory of paying £40 for two o rings also remains. Strangely it was bloody dangerous in the snow and would slide sideways at the merest touch of the throttle.
Stuart_A said:
I can't speak for the others but ownership of the RS4 was something of a mixed bag. Fantastic acceleration, even more impressive stopping and a real V8 high revving soundtrack in a proper saloon car. Sitting in the most uncomfortable seats ever watching the fuel guage unwind. The memory of paying £40 for two o rings also remains. Strangely it was bloody dangerous in the snow and would slide sideways at the merest touch of the throttle.
Yep, rock hard suspension. Unnecessarily so I thought. The only other car that was similar in that regard was a Mitsubishi Extreme EVO VI I owned.JAMSXR said:
Baldchap said:
They're very different animals TBH.
The B5 is more naturally an RS6 competitor, so straight away you have 450bhp Vs 621bhp, so clearly the RS4 wasn't as quick, but once you're over 400bhp everything is fast enough and the pace graph obviously flattens out.
I liked the RS4 a lot, but my wife hated the ride quality. Not as bad as the AMG Mercs, but as a passenger it was pretty unpleasant TBH. Rear headroom wasn't amazing and our teenager at the time complained a lot. The boot was also smaller than the Golf Estate it replaced.
We test drove the Alpina and it was the ride quality that sold it. We drive to Spain regularly so over a ten hour day in the car that difference in ride and noise makes a huge difference. I'd say the Alpina has a better put together interior too. 20k now and still no rattles or similar.
They're arguably for different things. I think Audi sort of target laptimes, whereas the Alpina feels like a road car in its purpose. Don't get me wrong, it can hustle and it absolutely does handle, but it never feels scrappy over bumps, you never hear an 'Ouch' when you hit a pothole, as was experienced in the RS4.
Whereas the RS4 was rapid, the Alpina doesn't really feel like it's trying until about 80mph, at which point it's almost like it says 'Oh, we're doing this again, come on then' and all of a sudden chucks the horizon behind you. To put it in context, 800Nm of torque is more than the 5.0 V10 TDI that Top Gear towed a plane with.
Massive boot, really nicely put together, absolutely f
king massively rapid and all day comfortable. I have and do regularly do 1000km days back to back with zero complaints.
Can you tell I like it?
Both lovely cars. I find my B9.5 to ride better than previous BMW and Mercedes, it’s almost ‘magic carpet’ like, but that’s thanks to Dynamic Ride Control (which can be a pain to maintain). The B5 is more naturally an RS6 competitor, so straight away you have 450bhp Vs 621bhp, so clearly the RS4 wasn't as quick, but once you're over 400bhp everything is fast enough and the pace graph obviously flattens out.
I liked the RS4 a lot, but my wife hated the ride quality. Not as bad as the AMG Mercs, but as a passenger it was pretty unpleasant TBH. Rear headroom wasn't amazing and our teenager at the time complained a lot. The boot was also smaller than the Golf Estate it replaced.
We test drove the Alpina and it was the ride quality that sold it. We drive to Spain regularly so over a ten hour day in the car that difference in ride and noise makes a huge difference. I'd say the Alpina has a better put together interior too. 20k now and still no rattles or similar.
They're arguably for different things. I think Audi sort of target laptimes, whereas the Alpina feels like a road car in its purpose. Don't get me wrong, it can hustle and it absolutely does handle, but it never feels scrappy over bumps, you never hear an 'Ouch' when you hit a pothole, as was experienced in the RS4.
Whereas the RS4 was rapid, the Alpina doesn't really feel like it's trying until about 80mph, at which point it's almost like it says 'Oh, we're doing this again, come on then' and all of a sudden chucks the horizon behind you. To put it in context, 800Nm of torque is more than the 5.0 V10 TDI that Top Gear towed a plane with.
Massive boot, really nicely put together, absolutely f
king massively rapid and all day comfortable. I have and do regularly do 1000km days back to back with zero complaints.Can you tell I like it?
I was very close to getting a B3, ride quality was the biggest attraction.
Edited by JAMSXR on Sunday 28th April 22:40
Actually, what are they like for running costs/FRED failure?
A friend's Audi seems bad enough...
Baldchap said:
Black S2K said:
Will you lot shut up - this could get expensive.
Actually, what are they like for running costs/FRED failure?
A friend's Audi seems bad enough...
Zero costs beyond fuel, tyres, windscreens and servicing but never had either out of warranty. Actually, what are they like for running costs/FRED failure?
A friend's Audi seems bad enough...
My friend's Audi went wrong on about the last day of the warranty and that caused a bit of an argument.
Engineered almost to perfection, one might say...
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