onlygerman4me

My wife and I are trying to make a decision between the 2012 Avant and the soon-to-be 2013 Allroad. We are not big technology users so the Audi Connect in the Allroad is not a big selling point for us. Frankly, we really like the Avant's combination of utility and its great drive (relative to other wagons and SUVs). We are hearing that the Allroad will be a few inches higher off the ground than the current Avant with the same chassis, etc.

Regarding the additional height, will it make the Allroad drive more like an SUV and therefore take away from the sedan driving experience in the A4 Sedan and A4 Avant? We are not in a rush but do not want to wait for the Allroad if it ends up driving more like an SUV due to the heighter center of gravity and additional curb height. Any advice will be very helpful...

OnlyGerman4Me

thejulex

I have a feel that all the new peoples with new 'allroad' coming to this forum will be shunned since their car is essentially an avant with anti-coil overs installed...

I hope there will be separate forum created for them as otherwise it will be all confusing in here as original allroad and new 'allroad' have zero to do with each other other than having 4 wheels and audi logo on the grille.

jav

In a word, no. I drove one this past weekend in Park City. Drove like a sports sedan. The new allroad is supposed to come standard with dynamic drive which has a number of suspension settings available including a Comfort mode and a Dynamic mode (and two others if I recall correctly). Great handling buggy in any mode.

Sundowner

For $38k, I hope it comes at a Premium Plus option level and not a stripped out Premium.

onlygerman4me

I apologize if I posted this thread in the wrong forum. I am new to AudiWorld and did not realize the old versus new Allroad issues my post would present.

GTA_Driver

You didn't post in the wrong forum, don't worry about it. Right now there's only 1 forum for all Allroads. When the new one is released, I'm sure we'll get a new forum for it.

All feedback I gathered so far, the 2013 Allroad will handle great. Even the old Allroad never handled like an SUV. Yes, its center of gravity is higher, but nothing like that of an SUV.

It's also the rest of the suspension. Compare Grand Cherokee SRT-8 - that thing handles well for an SUV.

thejulex

Driving my wife's X5 is also a surprise... it is actually more agile suspension wise than my otherwise tight allroad and it is higher/heavier. Pretty sad actually but a testimony to BMW's engineering abilities.

jav

I was told by our chaparone that you could option one to the 9's and push the sticker close to $50k.

GTA_Driver

Yup, optional packages pricing is borderline criminal.

But then, what is so wrong with the base model?

jav

NOTHING wrong with the base model at all!! In fact, for some parts of the world (country?) it might make sense to add a "Winter" trim line and cater to the winter driver needs and capabilities and skip over a lot of the other things. It's a fact that a lot of people have a 2nd car to drive when the TT or R8 is in the garage for the winter.

Of course they'll never do it for two reasons: 1) a lower priced model would remove some of the "exclusivity" of the model and 2) dealers would load them up with crap you don't need anyway just to max out profits.