Traded in my 1er for an Audi A4...

[banglemangle]

Originally Posted by Jeef Beef

Review after 1,000km

Okay after living with this car for the third week, I believe I can be qualified to give some judgement on how it is everyday.

Drivetrain

The 1.8L direction injection turbo is an absolute charmer. It pulls strongly from low revs, makes a nice turbo whistle and has a deep engine note. On the road, it definitely feels more than the 118kw/250nm figures suggest. Off the lights, the car has plenty of pick-up and go and never really feels underpowered. A tested 80-120kph of 5.3s shows how strong the midrange is.

If the BMW N20 turbo 4 is anything like this, then we are in for a treat. The only criticism I have is that the engine does not rev past 6,000rpm, but for a CVT equipped car it rarely matters.

The praise ends there however. The CVT transmission works fine when you're moving about, and responds smoothly to kickdown and eerily holds the engine at a constant 5,000rpm as speed builds. During cruising, it likes to keep revs between 1,000 and 1,500rpm no matter what your speed which is excellent for fuel economy.

Unfortunately, as soon as you stop and try to go again, the transmission feels like a manual driven by someone with left leg spasms. I never knew that an automatic could be so jerky to drive. When you move your foot off the brake and press the accelerator (especially on hills) the tranny will think for a sec, before suddenly hooking up and jerking the car forwards. It's quite disconcerting during peak hour bumper to bumper drives.

Even worse is during parking, since the CVT seems to not roll when you take your foot off the brake. Accelerator input is required which is quite annoying in tight spaces. Also, when you try to reverse up a gradient, THE CAR WILL ROLL FORWARDS EVEN IF YOU HAVE YOUR FOOT HARD DOWN ON THE ACCELERATOR. The CVT is a freakin lazy bastard that takes about 0.5s before going "oh right, you want power to the wheels, here you go." I almost rolled forwards into my friend's mailbox on his steep driveway before the whole car jerked backwards (complete with wheelspin) and I almost ran into the garage door. Second worst automotive experience I've had (first being the situation that put me in this POS)

The FWD nature of the car also means that the front tyres love to chirp from moderate applications of power. Coming out of corners, there is always a tug on the steering wheel when the turbo torque kicks in along with a bit of wheelspin. Sometimes it's mad fun being a massive hoon (driving at 20kph) but sometimes it's just antisocial. More than once has an old lady looked at my disapprovingly.




Steering and handling

It's shit. That pretty much sums it up.

Steering wheel has as much feedback and feel as the analog stick on my PS3 controller.

Overall grip is okay on the Michelins, but being an Audi the front washes wide very early. Some complain about the understeer in our Bimmers but god damn unless you've tried driving with Macca's trays under the front wheels, you have not felt what Audi understeer is famous for. Luckily turn in is quite eager and body roll is well controlled so you can still steer it with some vigour.




Ride quality/NVH

This is where the Audi shines. Extremely plush and comfortable, perfect for cruising around.

Interior noise is also very low and isolates the outside world quite nicely. There's minimal tyre roar and you can just hear the exhaust when accelerating hard.




Interior/practicality

Again, Audi traits show through. Interior design better looking than BMWs.

Very roomy for 4 adults (don't try 5 big guys, I did and it didn't turn out well). Boot is cavernous. Seats lack lateral support, but are soft and great for long drives.

Stock stereo system shits all over BMW. The system is 11 speakers. There's also plenty of options on what is displayed on the very large LCD screen in between the speedo and tacho, again better than BMW's single readout display.





Miscellaneous

THE A4 LACK A PROPER LEFT FOOTREST - URRGHHHH this annoys me to no end. Could never find a comfortable position for my left foot.

Top hinged accelerator - again an annoyance. You cannot place any weight on it otherwise the car accelerates. Have to spend effort to keep the right foot elevated so it doesn't touch it.

This is different to bottom hinged BMW pedal where I can actually rest my foot and it only goes if I put effort into pushing it down.

Overpriced Passat / Skoda

[WAY]

Wait, extremely plush and comfortable? I have to admit not having driven the latest A4, but I have had a couple of A4's of my own, and they are anything but plush and comfortabe! The rides on Audis has always been jittery. Has things changed so much recently???

[Jeef Beef]

Originally Posted by WAY

Wait, extremely plush and comfortable? I have to admit not having driven the latest A4, but I have had a couple of A4's of my own, and they are anything but plush and comfortabe! The rides on Audis has always been jittery. Has things changed so much recently???

To me it seems pretty comfy, not that jittery at all! The 16' tyres with 55 profile must contribute too.

[chylld]

Originally Posted by WAY

Wait, extremely plush and comfortable? I have to admit not having driven the latest A4, but I have had a couple of A4's of my own, and they are anything but plush and comfortabe! The rides on Audis has always been jittery. Has things changed so much recently???

I think this says something about our E82 M-sport suspension than it does about Audi

Wheel size can make a big difference... I drove Alex's car and his 17's were ever so slightly more comfortable than mine.

[Bimmer_Freak]

Originally Posted by Jeef Beef

Top hinged accelerator - again an annoyance. You cannot place any weight on it otherwise the car accelerates. Have to spend effort to keep the right foot elevated so it doesn't touch it.

This is different to bottom hinged BMW pedal where I can actually rest my foot and it only goes if I put effort into pushing it down.

All my previous cars had a top hinged accelerator pedal. The 135i is my first with bottom hinged and i have to say it took me a while to get used to it. I really didn't like it at first.

I had to adjust my driving style to suit the pedal as it kinda feels like you have to place your whole foot on it and apply more pressure from your leg. Whereas the top hinged pedal i used to just rest the top half of my foot on it and the car would accelerate.

It's also easier to 'floor' a top hinged pedal.

[chylld]

Originally Posted by Jeef Beef

Top hinged accelerator - again an annoyance. You cannot place any weight on it otherwise the car accelerates. Have to spend effort to keep the right foot elevated so it doesn't touch it.

This is different to bottom hinged BMW pedal where I can actually rest my foot and it only goes if I put effort into pushing it down.

Coming back from marulan (when you were doing your stay-awake flybys) my right shin muscle was cramping up pretty bad... second time it's happened. Funnily the 1er is my first car with a floor-mounted accelerator, all my previous cars had top hinged accelerators and never had a problem.

Probably just getting old tho.

[05C4R]

Originally Posted by WAY

Wait, extremely plush and comfortable? I have to admit not having driven the latest A4, but I have had a couple of A4's of my own, and they are anything but plush and comfortabe! The rides on Audis has always been jittery. Has things changed so much recently???

yeah, audi interiors shit on bmw, prob about as good as merc, and yeah the small wheels make for smooth ride, but cvt is pretty ordinary on this one.

[Jeef Beef]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Freak

All my previous cars had a top hinged accelerator pedal. The 135i is my first with bottom hinged and i have to say it took me a while to get used to it. I really didn't like it at first.

I had to adjust my driving style to suit the pedal as it kinda feels like you have to place your whole foot on it and apply more pressure from your leg. Whereas the top hinged pedal i used to just rest the top half of my foot on it and the car would accelerate.

It's also easier to 'floor' a top hinged pedal.

Originally Posted by chylld

Coming back from marulan (when you were doing your stay-awake flybys) my right shin muscle was cramping up pretty bad... second time it's happened. Funnily the 1er is my first car with a floor-mounted accelerator, all my previous cars had top hinged accelerators and never had a problem.

Probably just getting old tho.

I dislike top hinged accelerators and how sensitive they are just to the weight of my foot. I prefer to actually have to put physical effort into accelerating. Our pedal arrangement also makes it extremely easy to heel-toe downshift.

Toyotas are the worst offenders. I remember back when I was on Ls and driving my instructor's Corolla...even if I brushed my foot on the go pedal it'd jump. You get 100% power from the car after 10% of the pedal travel.