vogeygolf

Believe me, I'd rather buy an A4 over a 328i. And I'd prefer a manual. But I'm not going to give up a significant amount of efficiency PLUS horsepower

jmpage2

These two videos do a pretty good job of demonstrating what the new exterior looks like;

jmpage2

This one's good for the S4, although I think that the new accents look far better on colors other than red;

av_audi

It must be ten percent improved efficiency over the energy consumption of the hydraulic setup itself, not compared to the power consumption of the whole car.

av_audi

The 328i looks like a great car that I am starting to consider as well. But again, I am 99% sure those numbers at McKenna are incorrect. You still get better mpgs with the 328i, but a a good part of that is due to AWD vs 2WD. The Hp difference seems to be mostly at the top end. The acceleration difference is due to a combination of that and the lesser weight of the 328i.

But my main point is that you are not giving up anything. You are paying for it, a lot. A similarly equipped 328i is at least $5-6K more. Throw in another $2-3K and you get into S4 territory.

jmpage2

A lot of it depends on if you are leasing vs. buying. 328i has a 62% residual on a 15K/year lease where on an A4 the residual is about 52% (money factor marginally better on the Audi). Basically the lease payments on the two are within $40 a month or less depending on equipment.

He15man

When it comes down to it, i love Audi's much more than i do BMW's, in which case i would stick with the A4 over the 328

gheffty93

from the reviews, it looks as though the BMW is better.

vogeygolf

You have a good point on the AWD and price. Price really isn't an issue. Looking for great combo of efficiency and power. I pretty much would put summer tires on any car I have, and since I'm in Colorado, I will need winter tires. So it's not like I'll run an A4 year round with all seasons.

We'll see what the real EPA estimates are. Another consideration is I HATE Winslow BMW here in Colorado Springs. I have found their service department less than desired

jmpage2

They are both great cars. The AWD BMWs will probably lose 1-2 mpg compared to the RWD versions, so the fuel economy numbers will be pretty close. I wouldn't even think of operating a RWD BMW (even with snow tires) in Colorado, although I know there are people who do it.

The 3 series is winning comparisons because it's a brand new platform that BMW has had in development for six years. I would imagine that things will tighten up further when Audi releases the B9 (or whatever it ends up being) in another 2-3 yrs.

Where BMW kills you is options. While a base level A4 Quattro tiptronic and a base level 328xi aren't too far apart on price, as soon as you add things like navigation, bluetooth audio streaming, leather, etc, to the BMW it is way WAY more expensive than the A4, to the tune of $4,000-$6,000 for roughly the same level of gear.

If I wan't going to lease I'm not sure I could justify the extra cost of the BMW, but right now with super high residuals on BMW, with a 45,000 mile lease it's close to a wash.