Bill S

Compared to my non-sport 2.8 Avant Quattro, the 3.0 quattro felt noticeably livelier, particularly at low revs. Suspension felt a lot firmer and transmitted more road imprefections into the cabin. Overall, it felt more solid and tighter. Styling is not too important to me, but I did't care for the increase in size and complexity (e.g., dual climate controls).

The CVT is amazing--very smooth and easy to drive with none of the jerkiness and unexpected behavior I hate about conventional automatics. It did seem to pause a bit before responding to throttle increases, but I suspect that is mostly turbo lag (not used to turbos, so not sure, and they didn't have a 3.0 CVT to try). Whatever it was, I didn't like it. I will probably stay with a 6-cyl if and when I upgrade. I have enough trouble with the Clair service department without adding arguments about chipping to the battle zone.

Overall, positive impressions, but not overwhelmed. My trusty old '98 with 60K compares pretty well and I'll probably keep it until at least the second model year of new Avants in the hopes that first-year bugs of this extremely complex car will be worked out. My '98 has had a lot of ongoing service troubles, even though it was several year after the then-new A4 introduction.

kcS4

what was the suspensions on both cars, std. or sport? interested in your opinion of firmness and ride. Also was the CVT more lively then a TIPTRONIC? I am used to turbo lag on my S4 and 1.8T so that isn't a problem for me. Thanks

Bill S

Sorry, should have specified. Both cars I drove were non-sport. They were noticeably firmer than my '98 non-sport 2.8 Avant quattro. I felt more road imperfections and the cars seemed tighter. The CVT did seem much livelier than the Tips I've driven. As I said, I did notice hesitation I didn't like, but I suspect that was turbo lag and I am not used to turbos. I didn't get the sense that the transmssion was lagging, but I would only be sure if I drove a 3.0 CVT, which they didn't have.