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22203 messages,  Last post on May 15, 2013 at 12:39 PM

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What is this discussion about? BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Volvo, Porsche, Jaguar, Audi, Maserati, Maybach, Car Comparisons, Coupe, Convertible, Sedan

Messages Page 2217 of 2222

#22152 of 22203 Re: I need help [blckislandguy] by james27

Apr 05, 2011 (5:43 pm)

Replying to: blckislandguy (Apr 04, 2011 6:36 pm)
I have a 2006 M35x and am replacing it with a BMW 535ix GT this month (pick it up in Munich the end of this month). I found the M noisy on a long trip even after I spent nearly $1k on a shop to install Dynamat all over the interior. The 2011 models supposedly have active noise cancellation, and that may help. I didn't look at them since the old one just had enough headroom, and the new ones are lower. The newer ones have more gears in the tranny, so may also rev lower at cruise, but mine ran over 3000rpm at 70mph, which may be fine on a short trip, but got really old on a long one.

#22153 of 22203 Re: I need help [circlew] by blckislandguy

Apr 07, 2011 (7:19 pm)

Replying to: circlew (Apr 05, 2011 8:39 am)
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. You are right. The Audi lineup doesn't appeal much to the new money crowd which is fine with me.
 
 The A7 is now on the ground and looks gorgeous. Idon't think that the gold chain crowd will ever want to drive one. Now if Audi can get their residuals up, a biz lease on an A7 would be just the thing: a little style, AWD to get home with in January, a hatch back to throw my gymn bag into in the AM, etc. All without teeing off the troops.

#22154 of 22203 Re: I need help [blckislandguy] by plekto

Apr 07, 2011 (10:05 pm)

Replying to: blckislandguy (Apr 07, 2011 7:19 pm)
That A7 is going to finally give the BMW 5 series something to have bad drams about at night
 
It looks fantastic, the interior, well, it's Audi - enough said, and it's getting rave reviews. I expect Top Gear or Fifth Gear to review it very shortly.

#22155 of 22203 A7 by dssxxxx

Apr 08, 2011 (5:48 am)

Looks great..............exactly the same as my A8 except the volume control is on the right instead of the left.............
 
Too bad they lowered the height 3".

#22156 of 22203 Re: A7 [dssxxxx] by plekto

Apr 08, 2011 (11:19 am)

Replying to: dssxxxx (Apr 08, 2011 5:48 am)
Perhaps a better comparison would be kind of like how the Jaguar XK is essentially essentially a upper-middle class man's Aston Martin. ie - This shares a lot of DNA with the Panamera. But for less money, less snobbish factor, and without the hideous rear end. It's a win-win-win situation.
 
If you think of it in this light, it's clear why it's 3 inches lower and looks like it does. Now Audi has two world-class cars - and this one isn't priced at stupidly high levels like the R8 is.
 
Oh - Top Gear's review of it says that the ride is pretty much not a factor. In a good way, that is. It does everything except for make you excited on track days/have that supercar rush. Myself, I love that sort of understated and yet supremely confident feel that you get from cars like this. Volvo used to be the epitome of this type of ride years ago, and for me, that's the right balance between performance and luxury. But I suspect that a slightly louder exhaust kit would solve it if you really want to make some noise.

#22157 of 22203 Re: A7 [dssxxxx] by james27

Apr 08, 2011 (3:16 pm)

Replying to: dssxxxx (Apr 08, 2011 5:48 am)
Those 3" are exactly the reason why I ended up with a BMW 535 GT, it was one of the few cars that actually had some decent headroom. I'll put up with that rather than having to cock my head into the sunroof well!

#22158 of 22203 Re: A7 [james27] by plekto

Apr 08, 2011 (6:11 pm)

Replying to: james27 (Apr 08, 2011 3:16 pm)
Of course, given the seating angles (it's quite low in the Panamera) your head won't touch the ceiling anyways. For anyone under 6'2", it'll be fine. And a lot cheaper than the base Panamera.
 
Plus, what's not to like about a V6 with a big supercharger on it? Thank you thank you thank you for not putting a whiny little turbo on it, Audi. Since it has a better transmission than the base Panamera (8 vs 7 gears), and weighs a bit less, it gets to 60mph in about half a second quicker as well. IMO, there's no reason to actually buy the base Panamera instead of this.

#22159 of 22203 Re: A7 [plekto] by james27

Apr 08, 2011 (6:21 pm)

Replying to: plekto (Apr 08, 2011 6:11 pm)
Ah, but I am taller than 6' 2", and don't like to sit leaning way back, which makes it even worse!

#22160 of 22203 Re: A7 [james27] by tlong

Apr 08, 2011 (7:01 pm)

Replying to: james27 (Apr 08, 2011 3:16 pm)
Those 3" are exactly the reason why I ended up with a BMW 535 GT, it was one of the few cars that actually had some decent headroom.
 
I hear the Scion xB has a lot of headroom, too.

#22161 of 22203 Re: A7 [tlong] by james27

Apr 08, 2011 (9:43 pm)

Replying to: tlong (Apr 08, 2011 7:01 pm)
But I thought this was the LUXURY lounge...
 
It really frosts me that some of the nice cars are only available here (in the USA) with a sunroof, and that can take as much as 3 or more inches out of the headroom. On an A6 I owned awhile ago, you could still order it without, and the difference was 2.85" extra headroom. Personally, I can easily live without a sunroof...higher insurance, higher center of gravity, more sources of squeaks, less torsional rigidity, and more expensive (in Germany, the GT's sunroof is optional at 1700 Euros...an amount I'd much prefer spending on other things!). Mercedes had the sunroof 'optional' for awhile, their 'base' price was lower than some comperables, and the salesman told me all sorts of people came in and complained, 'but it's standard on X'; not associating that their base price was inflated because of it. As a nation, we are pretty poor about understanding this sort of thing...too bad. I much prefer the old way where you could cherry pick the items you want, especially, if the manufacturer allows that in their home market (i.e., Germany). While you can get packages, and it can save money if you want most of it, it's really annoying to spend say $2000 to get one thing that's available in their home market for $200, and you could easily live without the others. The hassle here is many of those brands are only marketed as 'luxury' cars, where they, with less content, are sometimes a commodity vehicle in the home market, except when optioned out with all sorts of really nice stuff. On most, we can't buy it without leather, for example, and on most of the mid-size cars like the A6, 5xx, and Exxx, it's optional in the home market, and, you can get it in an ecconomical 4-cylinder engine...it still is built well, but costs maybe 10's of thousands less. So, you get what you pay for. Here, we're too stuck up, expecting the cache of the brand to only represent certain things. It would just be too much for someone to have a neighbor with a car that looked the same on the outside to cost $25K less than yours...we're just stuck up...

Messages Page 2217 of 2222

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