SFV A4

For it's age, the A4 did very well. It's amazing how much a new transmission can decrease 0-60 times so significantly. But looking at the street start 5-60, the car took a dump. Used to be AWD helped that catagory.

JD15

The traction provided by AWD and the 8-speed transmission enable the car to be launched in an aggressive fashion to result in the impressive 0-60 time, but the A4's pedestrian peak hp shows up in the significantly higher 5-60 time. However, the 1/4 mile is a much better indicator of performance than 0-60, and the A4 represented itself fairly well a 14.4/95.

Sundowner

C&D is the first reference I've seen to the A4 pulling a 5.6s 0-60. everyone else, (including Audi) posts a 6.4-6.7 0-60 time for the A4.

dk1

A couple of data points that I found interesting in this comparison. In chassis category that effectively defines handling and driving dynamics (more important to me personally) the winner was Infinity and BMW was in 4th place. Volvo, the fastest car overall took the last place.

Overall ratings in these comparison tests is not very meaningful. You have too look at the details and decide what is important to you.

gunsmoker

C&D must be testing downhill

av_audi

But you can also keep it in the low to mid thirties and still get all the basic lusury amenities (leather, power seats, moonroof (don't like them but nearly everyone does). With the 3, the base model doesn't even include these (or does it now at least have power seats?) To get them, you have to get the premium package, which immediatly puts you over $40K. To match a P+ A4, you have to pay a 6-7K premium.

08CW6MT

Yep- I agree... I didn't even shop the 3 as I wanted to stay under 40k and get sports pack, the goodies in p+ etc.... similar equipped three series was much more...

JonDeutsch

I was really enthused and impressed how well the B8 goes up the BMW equivalent of a B9! I see the overall results showing 2 lead performers and 3 also-rans in the class.

I've really never driven a 3, so I don't have personal comparative data to draw from, but coming from a lighter, tossable TSX, I find my B8 to feel "planted" in the twisties, but certainly not tossable. I imagine in my mind's eye that the 3 does a better job of meshing planted and tossable, but I could be wrong.

C&D did a good job explaining the feeling of the B8's traction and compliance.

BMW did a good job updating the interior... but that's relative. Coming from where they were, it's a great feat. But they left the door open for Audi to leapfrog them again in their NextGen A4 in a few years.

I'm kind of surprised that only when BMW goes turbo-4 does the auto press go gaga over the brilliance of this strategy. Audi are the ones who had the ***** to go turbo-4 in this class first. And while the press didn't slay them for the choice, they certainly didn't mark it as a sea-change move like they have with the F30.

gunsmoker

I finally got my issue in the mail and took a closer look at the tables.
Where did these guys find the interior and trunk volume specs? I could not find that online. How can this be true? - They are saying the 328i has 3cf more front space, 1cf more rear space and whole 5cf more trunk space than the A4. Its rear space also topped their "subjective comfort and objective space categories". That in a car 3" shorter and with an identical wheelbase.
The 328i's cf total is also better by 3cf compared to the G25 which is 5" longer, 1" taller, and has a longer wheelbase.
Oh, and they also gave it 1 extra point for "best applied-transmission" since the transmission itself is identical to the A4's - see the gear ratios.
It has a bigger final drive ratio if that counts in the transmission category...

3 extra points for features/amenities because they chose a fully loaded 328i, come on!

What is the "rebates/extras" point for?

I know it's a close match, just pointing out the details.

av_audi

And back then all these magazine reviewers would make snobbish comments about the sound of the A4 turbo (diesel, sewing machine, unacceptable 4-banger for the category). With few exceptions, they now find all the right excuses for the BMW 4-banger. You can't take advertising rags too seriously with their reviews. Funny as it sounds, Consumer Reports is often more useful than the car mags, although some car mags occasionally put out very comprehensive and very useful reviews.