Audi S4

First up was the Audi. The dealer had a black S4 on the showroom floor with a black/aluminum interior. It was stunning to look at with a great stance, nice wheels, perfect paintwork, and great fit/finish.  Even the trunk is nicer than most car's interiors. I get in, and shut the door. It has that classic Cherman thunk that I associate with 80s Mercedes. Yes, all of the details that Audi gets right add up to make a great first impression.  And if this were an iphone I'd probably have my credit card out by now. At this point, a salesman spots my lustful gaze, and asks if I'd like to drive one.   You think? Getting older has its privileges; I was usually summarily ignored when I was stalking cars in my 20s.

After an interminable 20 minute wait, the sales dude pulls up in a fresh-off-the-boat blue S4 with most of its shrink wrap still on. I have to admit that all of the foam and plastic did make me think twice about the abuse I plan to inflict.  He tells me to get in, and that he'll be right back.

Like a partially trained monkey, I start pressing buttons and turnings knobs, quickly landing on  "ze MMI Kontroller". The nav system has one of those center-console mounted controllers beloved by all German carmakers. BMW made them infamous with the "iDrive," and by all accounts, Audi did  a great job refining the concept with their "MMI".  I came away with the impression that it was a nice system to impress your friends with  lots of flashy graphics and animations. Even the seat heating adjustments are animated in shades of red and gray!  But the positionining of the controller seemed a bit off, and the context sensitive buttons that surround the controller didn't seem like they'd be easy to use with the car in motion.

Pulling out of the parking lot, I was already having second thoughts. What's with the feather-light steering?!  Being speed-sensitive it did firm up as the car got above 20mph, but there was something abrupt about the transition that I didn't like.  And for such a fast and schporty car, it was a bit TOO quiet. Where was the exhaust note, or even supercharger whine?  It seemed like the perfect car to commute between Munich and Ingolstadt at 130mph, or even humiliate Porsches with at a track but for everyday driving it was just too damn serious. Great car though.