ThePiombino

You make that sound so simple, like there's not a $20K price difference to start...

While we're at it, may as well get an RS4 because the A4 is also a monster waste of money by that logic.

markcincinnati

It would be helpful to know if you are looking at MSRP or Street Price [for a 100% cash payment] or Monthly Buy Payment or Monthly Lease Payment.

BMW and Infiniti (and, to be fair Audi and others, at different times of the year) have special LEASE PAYMENT incentives [sub-venting] that can make the MSRP almost irrelevant. BMW frequently offers lease payments on its over $40,000 cars that seem virtually impossible to turn down due to their financial arm's willingness to offer a very low money factor (interest to the rest of us) and a very high residual (usually for no more than 39 months, however.)

I suspect the sub-venting is done to move more cars without -- apparently -- discounting the cars by some brand damaging amount. If you want to buy a $50,000 BMW for 36 months, well you can pretty easily calculate the monthly payment: $1,388.89 plus interest. Of course you can, from time to time, lease a $50,000 BMW for less than $700 per month; and, you will never have any maintenance bills and in three years you will likely buy one set of tires, three set of liscense plates, gas and insurance and, well -- BMW figures they'll get lots more takers if the lease figures look good.

If you are looking at a cash up front, full-payment deal, then the MSRP and (more importantly) your final out the door price are the most important. If you are financing, you also need to evaluate the deals from the financial arms of the mfgrs, unless for some crazy reason you want to go to your bank and simply get a quote on $X dollars for Y term, meaning you will not be swayed by a 0% interest deal offered by the Bank of German car brand name here (or Japanese car name here, etc.)

My advice (if you are looking for more "relevant" input from us here at AW) is let us know if you are looking FIRST at the literal selling price or some form of a monthly payment; or, if you are looking first at a leasing opportunity; or, if you are looking first at the car itself (within some kind of pre-defined financial structure.)

All things being equal, I'd take the M3 or the S4 or whatever the high zoot hot rod is at the moment of decision. All things, such as price, to name one, are NOT equal. So, I would guess a head-to-head comparison between a 328 and an M3 is right out.

My wife went through this recently -- ended up with an Infiniti FX35 rather than getting her third BMW X3. MSRP's were close. Lease terms were not. For HER, both cars had enough merits to be considered on a level playing field. The Infiniti had greater content, longer warranty and was over $160 per month less for a lease that had 3,000 miles more per year on it than the Bimmer.

Was this an economic decision? Well, yes, no, but -- meaning, "all things being equal" she probably would have gone with another German car. But for what turns out to be a too big to ignore mo/pay, she ultimately went with the lower cost choice.

Your situation seems similar. If I read that correctly, then the Infiniti deal may well be the best one (until January 3rd).

Insofar as the tin can comment is concerned, I guess that is in the ear of the beholder, and I am not qualified to make a comment on the G, only on the FX. The FX seems, to me, to be on-par with the BMW X5 or X6 in terms of solid feel and performance. I see nor feel nothing tin-canny about the brand, which is typically called "the Japanese BMW" by the folks who get paid to write about cars at C&D, R&T, MotorTrend and Automobile.

Me? Well, so far, nothing even comes close to Audi -- but, who knows, in 9 months my 2009 A4 Prestige lease is up; I can tell you I will shop Audi, BMW, Infiniti and perhaps even the Volvo S60 T6. Just for grins, I may even try a Mercedes.

With even a modest incentive, I'll have Audi #30 -- but if the price stinks to high heaven, well, anything goes (within the list, of course).

Let us know your thoughts, then we can opine.

Drive it like you live.

av_audi

Yep, starting with 2011 MY, I think. It's just Audi trying to push folks towards P+.

av_audi

I don't go by EPA. I use Consumer Reports numbers, which are more realistic. The latest generation of the Infiniti V6 is more fuel efficient, there is no doubt about it.

Btwy, the highway EPA does not reflect real freeway cruising. It includes some slowing down and acceleration sections, for an average speed of something like 48mph (if memory serves me right). CR has not tested the manual model, so I don't have true freeway cruising numbers. But the fact that hwy EPA is 2mpg lower for the manual does not sound promising. It's funny, the one fault I had always found with the Nissan/Infiniti V6 was its lousy mileage. It has now improved, but not for the manual model. Weird.

av_audi

We can push that logic all the way to an M5

It's a B5.5. The problem is that I need the third middle seat in the back. In its infinite wisdom, VW decided to ditch it. Other markets have the third seat option now, but not us in the US. Headroom is pretty bad in the back, but that shouldn't be a problem for another few years/

The latest models have much nicer interiors.

quality_sound

Have you priced a 328? Start adding options and you can very quickly get into base M3 territory.

My point was, though, that the A4 is a better value. B

quality_sound

Ahhh, yes then you'd have to stick with a B6 Passat or B8 Audi. If you didn't need the middle seat the CC is actually pretty room. Well, at least it was for me but I'm only 5'9".

av_audi

I drive about 23Kmiles a year, so leasing is not an option. I am only looking at minimizing the bottom line, i.e. the out the door price, with a cash purchase if worth it. But if extremely low APR deals can be combined with rebates, something that is becoming a little more common, I will finance instead. Why hand out the cash if I can keep it for an interest similar to what CD's pay.

So in terms of cost comparisons, the prices I am looking at will fluctuate as incentives come and go.

Of course, except maybe in dream land For some people, how much they can afford is how much they are willing to pay, and that sets the maximum price for the car. It's easy enough. For others like me, it's how much seems reasonable to spend on a car, and that is a little harder to figure out, simply because many more subjective factors are involved.

av_audi

But the same is true for the A4. You can equip one to cost more than a P+ S4. The 328i with Premium + Xenon is pretty close to the P+ A4, plus it has free maintenance for 50K.

av_audi

Even the Passat doesn't work for me anymore because it hasn't been offered with a manual for a few years now. Too bad for the Passat. And too bad for the form over function CC. Increasingly, VW seems unable or unwilling to fill the niche between the A4/328 and the Camcords. Instead, they are pushing the CC upscale, and they are cheapening down the Jetta and Passat/NMS.