European Car has an article at the front of the mag called "Life at the limit" by some guy named Alistair Weaver. He seems to think that he is like the head of all of the big 3 German car companies at oince. Listen to what he has been saying about our beloved Audi in the past 3 issues. Please forgive the length, but I want to accuratly present what he says......
MARCH 2005
The articke begans talking about the poor job VAG is doing with the Bugatti Veyron and calls it a "badly conceved white elephant" despite the fact he hasnt seen it or knows it capabilities. He works his way through Volkswagen and dogs the Golf then gets to Audi and says........
"Audi has traditionally been one of the worst perpetrators. In recent years, the company has been publicly commited to developing RS models with more power than the equivalent car from BMW M power. This commitment dictated that if the new M5 has 500 bhp then the next RS6 must have at least 501 bhp. For a company that is still playing brand catch up, it was an understandable policy, but there are sighs that is is about to be abondoned."
Somehow he must know that the guys at Quatteo Gmbh have a picture of an M5 an E55 on the wall and they keep that in sight the whole time? Then he goes on to say....
"..I fell into a discussion with Stephen Reil, who is in charge of product developnent at Quattro Gmbh, Audi's equivalent of M Power. Reil is masterminding the next generation of RS models and his thought on the power struggle between Audi, Mercedes (AMG), and BMW (M Power) were facinating. "Continuing to increase the power output is not the way foward," he said. "With more power you increase the weight and we think that is silly. If things continus as they are you end up with a 1,000-bhp A4....With a rear wheel drive car, all you succeed in doing is lighting up the yellow ASR sign,"he explained, making a thinly veiled criticism of AMG, which now markets a 603-bhp limousine." The Quattro chief was not only trying to make a case for the benefits of four-wheel drive; he was also urging a change of focus. According to Reil, the Quattro Gmbh brand will "continue to support the exclusive and sporty image of Audi by developing cars that combine high-power outputs with outstanding dynamics and road handleing. You have to change the emphesis to suspension and tires," he said."
Weaver continues with "Reil will have an oportunity to demonstrate the benefits of this change of focus when the new RS4 is introduced later this year (2005). It should make its debut at roughly the same time at VW-owned Bugatti finally delivers it's first production car. Perhaps we'll end 2005 talking about their wonderful chassis dynamics, rather that headlining the RS4's 420 bhp or the fact that the Veyron dosnt quite have 1,000 bhp. But somehow i doubt it."
SOOOO..after talking to the head of Quattro Gmbh, Weaver is saying that everything that Reil said was false, and Audi is still in some HP war with Benz and BMW!!!
February 2005
Mr. Weaver is at the track with "...a bunch of Audi owners. Most of them were track virgins and their reaction to the event was facinating. Rather than hail the genius of their natural car control abilities or the benefits of the Quattro drivetrain in such trecherous conditions, they all proclaimed the genius of ESP. When a youthfull owner of a tuned 420-bhp S4 Avant returned to the pits, all he could say was, "I never realised ESP was so good."....In many instances, Esp was the only thing that kept them out of the bushes. Back in the pits, S4 man told me that he hadnt dared turn off the ESP because he'd no doubt spun immediately."
I just think it is interesting that he selects a "bunch of Audi owners" to talk about how terrible they were.
December 2004
Mr Weaver calls the 2005 A6 styling "contrived and heavy handed."
I dont see why he seems bent on picking out Audi's and ewither baching their looks, bashing their drivers, or bashing their designers. Did he get burnt by an RS6? WHo knows. Just intresting that in 4 months he bashes Audi 3 times.
Oh yes, in October 2004, he says that Aston Martin (who has yet in his history to turn a profit) has a stronger image than any other car company in the world!!
Whew. Thanks for letting me vent..
Reply With Quote
Don't get me wrong, when journalist pick Audi as the better product I think it's cool and all, it just doesn't mean it's true. It is after all just their opinion.
scared of Audi.. hehe
test driving cars.
