Yannis

Mja if you can't find original RS4 wheels you can always find a replica:

http://www.germancarzone.com/showthread.php?t=1150

BTW A6 is a great car. I envy you.

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Maserati

Roberto: CLS is nice car .. but i have few things that annoy me .. first of all is the dealer and the way they treat ppl ... they think that their cars will sell even if there were no salesmen on the counter ... and u have to be like billionare to get their attention .. second I testdorve a CLS 500 .. i was impressed by the ride quality, handling, acceleration and interior design overall .. but i didn't like MANY things such as:
- Price, way beyond my budget (a little bit lower than 100K)
- Noisy car, i mean wind noise was so high that i thought am in 1970's toyota and salesman sitting next to me started to give really nice execuses like the windows has no frames .. and it is a sport car u need to have the feeling of speed and such BS .
- rear space and legroom, not sufficient for my needs
- after sales services .. really painful to treat such ppl .. u have to argue each and every time u bring ur car for service .. my friend bought W220 and their was a fault in the command system that it raises the volume level by it self .. they had to replace the steering wheel (sounds crazy?!) .. and that took almost a month !!! and they replaced his steering wheel with another one not of the same type .. crazy

in conclusion, i started shopping arround again and settled with the Audi, they are really nice with customers .. I test drove the A8 4.2 , 3.2 .. the A6 3.2 twice .. inside and outside the town .. and they are still trying to convince to go ahead and order my car .. and they are saying wait for the Q7 u might like it .. or RS4 ... and both are within my budget .. and promised them not to come back with empty hands .. I'll need my cheque book to enter the dealer's gate

I like Audi and BMW now more than MB .. even BMW i went to see new 540, 550 and 740 ... they are all awesome as a whole package .. and i need more time to choose the best ..

lol that was a long story but just tried to explain everything to avoid fanboy wars

EDIT: yannis , lol don't envy me till i get it .. btw i hate replicas .. they made the ride quality horrible and the car vibrates like hell .. so am trying to get the original ones ..

Hypersonic

Aha, thank you for taking the time to explain in such detail MJaaFY. Very interesting to read too.

I will look forward to seeing what you finally decide to buy - all those cars you are looking at are excellent

Maserati

Roberto: thanx man, I appreciate ur interest .. and I'll keep u updated

I know it might look a long process to decide which car to have.. but my problem is that am a picky (spel?) person ... i pay attention to detailes ... and u can say flexible at the same time ... if postive things about the car are dominant then I would go for it .. but in my case, there is no absolute winner till now .. but the A8 might be the best over all package: comfrot, design, ride quality, handling,quiteness, quality (inside and out) everything, except being pricy

my friend is also in the same dilemma and he was with me in most dealer visits, but he has different prespectives ... like size is his main factor to decide .. and he found the 730Li is the best choice for him .. fully equiped except the night vision .. he is waiting to test drive it on Saturday to finally take actions .. but I already gave him my feedback since I drove the 750Li last summer and had a lot of fun drivin it .. hopefully he likes I-drive since he is anti-PC kind of person lol

and the mystery continoues ....


EDIT: Audiholic .. I had a great experince with the Multitronic transmission .. it was fast like hell ... is the DSG more fun ? it was smooth and really fast to accelerate the car at different speeds ...

Tumbo

Well, my experience was fun as hell..hehe. To changing gears on the steering wheel was pretty cool. But just put it in "S" and damn that car goes. Yes I really felt like the car was shifting much faster with the DSG and it didn't "wait" or shifted down unnecessary. I also test drove a ordinary 3.2 Q without DSG and it wasn't the same..

Tell me what the impression of the A8 4.2?

Maserati

Audiholic: it was nice overall, the car handeled well with all comfort I expected since most of current press reviews show the A8 as the toughest of its rivals. well it is not that tough compared to current 750Li (didn't experince the S500 yet). the car was deadly silent on all roads. I reached speeds up to 180 Km/h with absolutely no wind noise. MMI was really easier to handle than I-Drive. nothing wrong with the car at all. I liked the design. and the dealer now offering me an exclusive interior of the A8 that has 2 tone leather (Amareto and black) but not like the standard .. it has stitching and some really classy touches of wood ... really unique .. even the price wouldn't go higher than the ones they have in stock ... but exterior color is black ..

the only thing I missed in the 4.2 was the low-end torque .. the car was accelerating fast but u can't feel it untill u see the speedo moving .. everything else was dam fine .. BTW they are having the Quattro tour on 18-Jan ... I have an invitation and might attend it if possible .. they gonna bring A6 3.2 FSI quattro to test it no a track .. I hope I have nothing to do on that day

I wished they manage to use the mutlitronic transimission on the 4.2 engine .. it would've changed the car's behaviour 180 degrees ...

Tumbo

Thank you for the write-up. Always nice reading others experiences. I haven't got a chance to try a A8 yet.

If you compare the 750Li to the A8 then?

Giannis

excellent "review" MJaaFY. Sometimes the dealer is the one that makes you buy a car, or make you run away. The previeous summer (2004) i was looking for a car, too. I was looking for a good car around 35.000 euros. At that time i was considering a BMW 318i, an Audi A4 1.8T (same with Yannis), a Volvo S60 2.0T and a Saab 9-3 Sportsedan 2.0T.
I liked the 9-3 very much and went at the Saab dealer at first. Due to work reasons, i couldn't visit any dealer before 1 p.m. One day (1.30 p.m.) i visited the Saab dealer to see the car, arrange a test drive and make my opinion about that car. God i was treated so badly. The salesmen that were there, refused to give me more that 15 minutes, to discuss the car and refused a test drive. I got so angry that left immidiatelly.
Then i went to BMW. At that time there were two salesmen and a logistics man. The one salesman was talking to another customer, while the other was ''playing" in his desk with a chick. So he told the logistics man to talk to me. He didn't know anything about the car at all. That pissed me off. Then, a 318i with 140hp costed 35.800 euros, without having aluminum rims, leather, CD player and staff like that. That made me angry, too!
The next day i went to Audi. There was the head salesman and some chicks that were working there. As soon as i got in, the Audi salesman welcomed me, offered me coffee and staff like that. He told me too many things about that car. I asked for a testdrive. He said that he hadn't a car with the engine i wanted at that momment (he didn't lie) and he offered me to drive his car (1.6). But i had tested that car (a friend has a same) and overall i was very pleased with the car and the treatment. At that time i thought that this is the right car, even though a friend had exactly the same... I was ready to buy it, but, before ordering, i had to pay a visit to Volvo.
At Volvo (2.00 p.m.) I had the same treatment. The salesmen (two of them) new very much about the car. It costed me about 34.000 euros, with all the features i wanted. I payed in cash, so they gave me some other staff for the car free. Then i testdrove the car. A4 was better, but S60 was more comfortable, more like a cruiser, while A4 is a sport sedan.
I finally settled to Volvo, as i liked it more than the A4, and at that time there were no more than 10 S60, so i could feel unique. (i was the first to order the facelift model).

With the above (^^) i want you to see how the dealer can make you run away from a car, or make you wanna buy it at any cost...

Maserati

Giannis: yeah man .. they really can turn u off unless u REALLY want the car regardless of the dealers treatment ... but to me it is important the way they treat me as a customer .. since I'll be dealing with them the rest of the car's life cycle .. anyway ... I went also to Lexus dealer with my friend .. the same guy who may order a fully equipped 730Li .. he sat in the car .. few seconds and he said let's go ... lol i was amazed why he decided so fast that this car doesn't even deserve couple of mints to figure out the main things .. and then a salesman came by .. he was so rude .. like he was saying "buy now or get ur a.. out" .. so it was a quick decision .. the car looked so dated "LS 430" and really as one already mentioned, has "no soul" .... really like a fully loaded Camery .. even the same buttons lol ..

anyway .. we went directly to BMW showroom .. really he had the 7-series down in his list .. that he didnt like even thinking about it .. he sat in the car .. couple of seconds and I can see the dashboard in his eyes lol ... He was amazed by the difference of materials and quality of finishing in the BMW ... and shouted "THIS IS CLASSY" lol

anyway .. he made up his mind that 730Li is the way to go .. and he is finalizing his order for colors and interior details like stitching, piping (spel?) and such stuff ..

god I really went way off topic, lol sorry Audiholic to ruin ur thread ..

Regards all

Maserati

Audiholic:

here is a small comparison, +'s and -'s of each Car

BMW: -

+Low-end torque (Bigger Engine)
+Steering
+Engine sound at High RPMs

-Styling (I've always had mixed feelings about this car, one day am really in love with it and a week I hate seeing)
-I-Drive, really need my attention for say a month to get used to it and many sub-menus. don't get me wrong am a Comms. Engineer and all my work is based on PC's and programming .. but I hate such things in a daily car
- Interior design, too complicated but I like it sometimes


Audi:
+GREAT traction on all surfaces (tried full acceleration on a wet road, totally like being on a dry road and the car accelerates normally)
+Design (just magnificent)
+Value for the money, i mean if I purchase the car i ll get a FULLY FREE maintenace for 105K Km or 3 Years while in BMW they have a tricky maintenace package (like brake pads only twice and such tricks)
+the car felt like ONE PIECE .. it is really well built that u can feel it
+It is an Audi --> then it is Unique (J/K) lol but i mean it is rare to see here

-Sometimes I hate AWD cars especially when am in a bad mood, like I do some burnouts lol

nothign else

but believe me guys , both cars are great in terms of handling, quiteness and comfort ... I tried both cars in almost same conditions .. so i can say they are even

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