Tony_W

Has anyone driven an AUDI A4 3.0 Quattro? If so how do they compare to an Impreza?

I followed one at fairly high speed the other day and was impressed with it's acceleration and looks...

Tony

chiark

Not the same, but I've driven a V6 2.5TDI Sport Quattro.

Torque is good/astounding, acceleration impressive. What lets it down in my view is the absolute inertness of the experience, especially compared to the Scoob.

Steering feel is non-existant. The chassis is well controlled, but feedback is lacking, despite this being with the sports suspension pack. Bodyroll was better controlled than the scoob.

Gearbox is 6 speed, but that's all to say about it. It looks good and short, but is actually long throw. It works.

Brakes felt ok, slightly grabby initially but having better initial bite than the scoob by quite a long way. Didn't seem as "feelsome" as the scoob, but that's what I'm used to I suppose. Didn't get a chance to really try to make 'em fade, sorry

It is horses for courses. The Audi is fast and very refined at the expense of being less involving. The scoob feels (and sounds ) more involving and, for me, that makes it worthwhile.

If I was grown up and sensible, the car would be high on my list providing something could be done about the steering feel (or lack of!)

Flat 4x4

Echoing what Chiark said, I went from an A4 Quattro to an older 99MY Scooby.

The latest A4 is much of the same to what mine was - brilliant cruising, stability, grip, materials, solidity.

Not the ultimate in driving experiences but that all depends on what you want. I did 45000m in the Audi in 18 months and thought it great at what it did best. I've done 14000m in the Subaru in 5 months and enjoy its ultimate fun factor, forgiving its so-so refinement.

Have a drive and see what you think

jasey

Traded in UK300 3 months ago for an Audi A4 3.0 Quattro Sport (the sport is essential for the reasons stated above). It still comes nowhere near as fun as the UK300 but it is much more refined.

I went out for a blast this morning and realised why I like this car so much and it's this;

If you want to have fun on twisties and throw the thing about you can - it doesn't allow you to go as fast as the UK300 did - but in some ways this actually makes it more fun (as in you feel that you could come off the road in this car - something that *rarely* happened in the UK300). You can also decide to drive like an old fart and the car doesn't mind - the UK300 just didn't like being driven sensibly

Horses for courses - will try to keep this one for a wee while

Flat 4x4

Glad you like it - and you won't notice the mpg going from a Scooby.

When they eventually bring out the next generation V6 diesel in the A4, I would be tempted by a Quattro Avant again -provided that it comes with 210bhp+ in std trim - which means 240bhp chipped.

HoonDevil

Not tried the A4 3.0 quattro but did consider S3 or S4 as replacement for the impreza - ended up keeping the impreza and buying a horsebox replacement instead. Audi was built really well but not fun to drive in the same way as the scooby. Also, when I saw the servicing costs it really put me off the change from subaru to audi. And I remain happy with my choice so far.

TeeDeeEye

Audi service costs put you off?

When I had my S3 it used to do about 17,000 miles between services using the variable service interval scheme, even at around £250 a pop that `aint bad.

jasey

I'm with TeeDeeEye on this one - A4 has currently done 7,500 miles and the check says I've got 9,600 miles (or 480 days ) to go til the next one. However as I haven't had to service it yet I wont be able to tell you (and as I traded in the UK300 after 15,000 miles I might never be able to comment on service costs )

jasey

Still no Service costs - 12,000 miles on the clock - 4,600 to go