gmoney

I have had four Audis. A 2002 Allroad and three A4 Avants. I am coming to the end of my lease at the end of the year and am considering the new BMW 328d Sportwagon. This is a Turbo Diesel and it gets 43mpg hwy 33 City and has a very torquey engine. What do you all think? How will X-Drive be vs Quattro? Opinions appreciated.

G0to60

The quattro is a much better system than the x-drive in my opinion but you can't really tell until you get to some nasty conditions. The diesel portion is what would sway me over to the BMW since the crappy mpg is the only thing I don't like about my allroad.

Prospeeder

Just looking at them, i feel the BMW Xdrive and Mercedes 4matic are very primitive systems, looks like a truck or something, big ugly tranfer case hanging off the transmission, another drive line running up to the front diff. Of course its because they went from RWD cars to AWD, while audis are primary FWD made AWD. That and bmw transfer cases arnt known for reliability, iv replaced quite a few 2004-2008 ones. As for the diesel, im not sure iv warmed up to adding Diesel emissions fluid every oil change (or less according to many owners) and isnt a very DIY sort of thing. And the host of parts, sensors, pumps, tanks dealing with all the DEF stuff...

ayap

What I'm looking at as a direct competitor for the Allroad is actually the new BMW 328xi Grand Tourismo. These are the 2 cars I'm deciding on for my next ride.

1) MPG - I think the allroad does 27 MPG highway, while the 328xi GT does 33 MPG
2) Rear Leg Room - the BMW 328 GT has 2 inch more leg room at the back - more like a 5 series or A6 legroom, compared to the cramp rear leg room of the Allroad.
3) Speed - 328 GT goes from 0-60 in about 6 seconds, while the Allroad does 6.4 - 6.5 seconds.
4) Trunk space - BMW 328 GT has 56 cubic feet, while Allroad only has 50 when back seats are folded down.
5) Price (No Navigation) - configuring the 328GT with xenon, heated seats, leather surface seating, it comes out to $44K (with service maintenance included). The Allroad comes out to $45K - $46K without service maintenance.
6) Price (with Navigation) - the BMW's nav cost about $2K, while the Allroad's cost $3k.

I have a bias for the allroad since I had a 2004 AR before, but the BMW 328 has more space, better MPG, runs faster, and is priced better than the Allroad.