So...
I have a 184Q which I really like driving - lots of low down power nice... but as always, the quest for more power beckons. With that in mind, I've been looking at an alternative and test drove a second hand S5 and RS5 yesterday.
The RS5 was first out (come on... anyone who says they don't want to drive an RS is not telling the truth ). Lovely car and very fast (I whizzed past a GTI like it was standing still ), but it only generates its copious amounts of power high up in the rev range. 0-4k RPM and it felt "powerful", 4k-6k and it was starting to get going and at 6k you needed a lot of space in front of you to avoid running into something! Whilst the power was lovely, it didn't seem all that practical to me as you have to really scream the revs to get the power. Yup, great for being quick off the mark at the lights, but I didn't feel it that practical for day-to-day driving (i.e. a 25-30 mile commute along single carriageway A roads and a fairly busy motorway).
I also tried the 3L S5 sportback and that was much smoother - power delivery was better low down in the rev range and it felt it would be a better drive around town. Having said that, it didn't feel that much quicker than the 184Q, despite the extra power. OK, I only drove it a few miles, but I wasn't blown away....
Now I know the 184Q has silly amounts of torque (in fact the petrol engines I drove yesterday did not have much more torque than the A3, but weighed a whole lot more), but I was surprised at the difference in power delivery and how it affected the way you drive the car - and not the straight line 0-60ish which is great for beating people off the line (there's definitely 1 road I drive regularly where the RS5 would be easy to get to silly illegal speeds very easily).
Which leaves me in a quandry. I drive 60 miles a day so buying a big petrol car would only be on the cards if it gave me a decent number of goose-pimple moments. Neither the RS or S did that yesterday - so I'm assuming the other larger S cars would be similar (note an A4 is too small for me - I have a 3 door A3 as it is easier for me to get in and out of as I'm 6' 8" tall and "well proportioned"). As far as I can see, the only practical way forward is:
PS: Most ridiculous moment was looking at the speedo in the RS. 30mph was where I expected to see 10mph so figuring out what speed you were doing was pure guesswork. A quick glance and all you could say with certainty was you were doing "somewhere between 30 and 40"...- this car is designed to go quickly!
I have a 184Q which I really like driving - lots of low down power nice... but as always, the quest for more power beckons. With that in mind, I've been looking at an alternative and test drove a second hand S5 and RS5 yesterday.
The RS5 was first out (come on... anyone who says they don't want to drive an RS is not telling the truth ). Lovely car and very fast (I whizzed past a GTI like it was standing still ), but it only generates its copious amounts of power high up in the rev range. 0-4k RPM and it felt "powerful", 4k-6k and it was starting to get going and at 6k you needed a lot of space in front of you to avoid running into something! Whilst the power was lovely, it didn't seem all that practical to me as you have to really scream the revs to get the power. Yup, great for being quick off the mark at the lights, but I didn't feel it that practical for day-to-day driving (i.e. a 25-30 mile commute along single carriageway A roads and a fairly busy motorway).
I also tried the 3L S5 sportback and that was much smoother - power delivery was better low down in the rev range and it felt it would be a better drive around town. Having said that, it didn't feel that much quicker than the 184Q, despite the extra power. OK, I only drove it a few miles, but I wasn't blown away....
Now I know the 184Q has silly amounts of torque (in fact the petrol engines I drove yesterday did not have much more torque than the A3, but weighed a whole lot more), but I was surprised at the difference in power delivery and how it affected the way you drive the car - and not the straight line 0-60ish which is great for beating people off the line (there's definitely 1 road I drive regularly where the RS5 would be easy to get to silly illegal speeds very easily).
Which leaves me in a quandry. I drive 60 miles a day so buying a big petrol car would only be on the cards if it gave me a decent number of goose-pimple moments. Neither the RS or S did that yesterday - so I'm assuming the other larger S cars would be similar (note an A4 is too small for me - I have a 3 door A3 as it is easier for me to get in and out of as I'm 6' 8" tall and "well proportioned"). As far as I can see, the only practical way forward is:
- Tune the current A3 within an inch of it's life (I already have a DTUK box)
- Try an S3
- Try an A6/A7 with the 3l bi-tdi engine in, but then you're combatting another 500kg or so of weight...
PS: Most ridiculous moment was looking at the speedo in the RS. 30mph was where I expected to see 10mph so figuring out what speed you were doing was pure guesswork. A quick glance and all you could say with certainty was you were doing "somewhere between 30 and 40"...- this car is designed to go quickly!
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