SENIOR EDITOR KEVIN A. WILSON: What's not to like, except for being just a few pennies shy of $50,000, pretax? Compared with the base car, that's $10,000, or nearly 25 percent worth of gewgaws and furbelows, most of it going to inflate the Volkswagen-Audi Group profit margin.
There's plenty of thrust, and the Audi Drive Select system has discernible, worthwhile adjustments for the suspension/trans/steering. I prefer dynamic mode, and I really don't understand the press comments that I've read calling it "too stiff for normal driving." It felt good, even on some rough stuff, and only too stiff if you're accustomed to some floating barge. It also offers auto and comfort modes. The latter might be good if you're taking Grandma out of the nursing home for a nice dinner or something, but this is/should be a sport sedan. I don't like "auto" anything, except maybe climate control, which makes the fourth mode particularly enticing--it's "personalized" and adjustable via the MMI. You can choose your own mix of sporty shifting, throttle response, steering response and shock settings. It's worth noting that this is not an all-new idea--speaking of Grandma, my mother's '02 Lincoln Continental has customizable ride and steering settings. But the interface here is easier to manage, the choices are wider and the differences between modes are more significant. I said I don't like auto anything--the six-speed automatic transmission here is really good, but I think I'd still choose to shift my own gears, thank you very much.
IN FLEET: Oct. 31-Nov. 14
AS-TESTED PRICE: $49,975
DRIVETRAIN: 3.2-liter V6; AWD, six-speed automatic
OUTPUT: 265 hp @ 6,500 rpm, 243 lb-ft @ 3,000-5,000 rpm
CURB WEIGHT: 3,827 lb
FUEL ECONOMY (EPA/AW): 20/22.9 mpg
There's plenty of thrust, and the Audi Drive Select system has discernible, worthwhile adjustments for the suspension/trans/steering. I prefer dynamic mode, and I really don't understand the press comments that I've read calling it "too stiff for normal driving." It felt good, even on some rough stuff, and only too stiff if you're accustomed to some floating barge. It also offers auto and comfort modes. The latter might be good if you're taking Grandma out of the nursing home for a nice dinner or something, but this is/should be a sport sedan. I don't like "auto" anything, except maybe climate control, which makes the fourth mode particularly enticing--it's "personalized" and adjustable via the MMI. You can choose your own mix of sporty shifting, throttle response, steering response and shock settings. It's worth noting that this is not an all-new idea--speaking of Grandma, my mother's '02 Lincoln Continental has customizable ride and steering settings. But the interface here is easier to manage, the choices are wider and the differences between modes are more significant. I said I don't like auto anything--the six-speed automatic transmission here is really good, but I think I'd still choose to shift my own gears, thank you very much.
IN FLEET: Oct. 31-Nov. 14
AS-TESTED PRICE: $49,975
DRIVETRAIN: 3.2-liter V6; AWD, six-speed automatic
OUTPUT: 265 hp @ 6,500 rpm, 243 lb-ft @ 3,000-5,000 rpm
CURB WEIGHT: 3,827 lb
FUEL ECONOMY (EPA/AW): 20/22.9 mpg
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