Ambitious Audi needs to crack America: US sales at British levels
09-13-06, 11:21 PM
#16
Like he says, the IS is getting away with it because of younger crowd. And btw, I think that the IS back seat is fine with 4 average sized people in the whole car.
As for Audi, I am still befuddled on the interiors. The A8 is gorgeous, yes, right up there with Lexus. But the A6 interior--rear lacks even seatback pockets! Front isn't that superb either.
And they need to lose that ugly grill! Pull a Subaru, please--and just like them, reverse your grill decision!
As for Audi, I am still befuddled on the interiors. The A8 is gorgeous, yes, right up there with Lexus. But the A6 interior--rear lacks even seatback pockets! Front isn't that superb either.
And they need to lose that ugly grill! Pull a Subaru, please--and just like them, reverse your grill decision!
09-14-06, 01:29 AM
#17
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no, that was Honda
new tranny > old tranny
BMW is making their own setup right now, just like when BMW copied Ferrari
sh-awd is obviously superior, so are the awd units found in STI's and EVO's. Nobody cares about awd, it's a dead fad. rwd in today's chassis are perfectly fine.
Last I checked Luis Vuitton, Gucci, and Versace originate from Europe. Only vain people in the world are Europeans, and Middle Easterns.
Most vain people are the one's who own luxury vehicles in the 1st place.
Yup, the overcrowded streets of Europe are paved in gold. If Europe is so wonderful why not move there?
new tranny > old tranny
BMW is making their own setup right now, just like when BMW copied Ferrari
sh-awd is obviously superior, so are the awd units found in STI's and EVO's. Nobody cares about awd, it's a dead fad. rwd in today's chassis are perfectly fine.
Most vain people are the one's who own luxury vehicles in the 1st place.
Yup, the overcrowded streets of Europe are paved in gold. If Europe is so wonderful why not move there?
09-14-06, 01:31 AM
#18
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09-14-06, 03:33 AM
#19
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The word Autobahn is german for freeway. Its all through out Europe and the only spots where there is a speed limit on their freeways is near large cities. This is the singular reason german cars traditionally are the best handling and stable cars at high speeds. It was because you could go so fast, cars were designed to go that fast safely and steadily. It wasn't because the german automakers got together and decieded to make each car they made an engineering masterpiece. It was out of necessity that german cars are as such now and traditionally. Other car makers brag about testing their car's suspensions on the autobahn. About the hand bags and fashion, you're right vanity is everyone's favorite sin. I would never move to hippy loving europe. I'm a libertarian and hate taxes :-)
09-14-06, 06:55 AM
#20
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I tell you whats hurting them, yes that grill, got mine right before the change 
Its the service and dealer network they need to totally separate it like toyota did with lexus. Right now you go to a VW/Audi dealer and they give you a freakin stripped golf as a loaner because the last two jetta owners faught over the passat loaner before you got there, just shuttle me home please and call me when its done. You dang near spend 100k on a car and get treated like you own a jetta III wagon. Its ok I love my Audi and I've since found an awesome independent audi shop, yeah I've had a couple issues but they were minor, nothing worth starting a thread over.
Its the service and dealer network they need to totally separate it like toyota did with lexus. Right now you go to a VW/Audi dealer and they give you a freakin stripped golf as a loaner because the last two jetta owners faught over the passat loaner before you got there, just shuttle me home please and call me when its done. You dang near spend 100k on a car and get treated like you own a jetta III wagon. Its ok I love my Audi and I've since found an awesome independent audi shop, yeah I've had a couple issues but they were minor, nothing worth starting a thread over.
09-15-06, 06:43 AM
#21
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Audi is more of a niche player in the US for the same reason that Subaru is a niche player, because there is only a limited market for AWD "cars" here. SUVs pretty much cover the AWD market, and Audi hasn't really built any of those until recently with the Q7. But now it's just another player in a very crowded market. I have yet to see a Q7 on the road. Outside of the SUV hungry North American market, the Audi brand is obviously much more viable because people still want "cars" when they want an AWD vehicle or wagons, not a big SUV.
Say what you will about Quattro, but that marketing name and its heritage has very little pull these days, and most people could care less that it's inherently more capable than other systems out there. 99% of people just want to be able to get around in rainy or snowy weather without worrying about gettnig stuck or stranded, and even the most basic AWD systems out there combined with stability and traction control systems are capable of that. You don't "need" a costly 100% mechanical system to accomplish that unless you really do live out in the rough where there are lots of unplowed or unpaved roads to deal with. BMW's xDrive, Merc's 4MATIC, and all the other AWD systems out there whether they have a marketing name or not are easily capable of meeting most people's needs. Quattro is just more overbuilt.
Then there are the reliability and quality issues. They've improved a lot within the past few years if you've been following Consumer Reports and JD Power surveys, but dismal reliability and enormous out of warranty expenses have turned away a lot of Audi owners from the brand. They're complicated cars, a lot can go wrong, they're expensive to fix, and can easily break the bank just trying to keep one on the road out of warranty. Again, things seem to have improved recently, but the damage has already been done. I'm not even old enough to remember the "sudden acceleration" thing. People who say that that's the only reason Audis aren't more popular are not seeing the big picture.
And yeah, the crappy lease residuals.
Say what you will about Quattro, but that marketing name and its heritage has very little pull these days, and most people could care less that it's inherently more capable than other systems out there. 99% of people just want to be able to get around in rainy or snowy weather without worrying about gettnig stuck or stranded, and even the most basic AWD systems out there combined with stability and traction control systems are capable of that. You don't "need" a costly 100% mechanical system to accomplish that unless you really do live out in the rough where there are lots of unplowed or unpaved roads to deal with. BMW's xDrive, Merc's 4MATIC, and all the other AWD systems out there whether they have a marketing name or not are easily capable of meeting most people's needs. Quattro is just more overbuilt.
Then there are the reliability and quality issues. They've improved a lot within the past few years if you've been following Consumer Reports and JD Power surveys, but dismal reliability and enormous out of warranty expenses have turned away a lot of Audi owners from the brand. They're complicated cars, a lot can go wrong, they're expensive to fix, and can easily break the bank just trying to keep one on the road out of warranty. Again, things seem to have improved recently, but the damage has already been done. I'm not even old enough to remember the "sudden acceleration" thing. People who say that that's the only reason Audis aren't more popular are not seeing the big picture.
And yeah, the crappy lease residuals.
09-15-06, 08:15 AM
#22
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Audi is more of a niche player in the US for the same reason that Subaru is a niche player, because there is only a limited market for AWD "cars" here. SUVs pretty much cover the AWD market, and Audi hasn't really built any of those until recently with the Q7. But now it's just another player in a very crowded market. I have yet to see a Q7 on the road. Outside of the SUV hungry North American market, the Audi brand is obviously much more viable because people still want "cars" when they want an AWD vehicle or wagons, not a big SUV.
Say what you will about Quattro, but that marketing name and its heritage has very little pull these days, and most people could care less that it's inherently more capable than other systems out there. 99% of people just want to be able to get around in rainy or snowy weather without worrying about gettnig stuck or stranded, and even the most basic AWD systems out there combined with stability and traction control systems are capable of that. You don't "need" a costly 100% mechanical system to accomplish that unless you really do live out in the rough where there are lots of unplowed or unpaved roads to deal with. BMW's xDrive, Merc's 4MATIC, and all the other AWD systems out there whether they have a marketing name or not are easily capable of meeting most people's needs. Quattro is just more overbuilt.
Then there are the reliability and quality issues. They've improved a lot within the past few years if you've been following Consumer Reports and JD Power surveys, but dismal reliability and enormous out of warranty expenses have turned away a lot of Audi owners from the brand. They're complicated cars, a lot can go wrong, they're expensive to fix, and can easily break the bank just trying to keep one on the road out of warranty. Again, things seem to have improved recently, but the damage has already been done. I'm not even old enough to remember the "sudden acceleration" thing. People who say that that's the only reason Audis aren't more popular are not seeing the big picture.
And yeah, the crappy lease residuals.
Say what you will about Quattro, but that marketing name and its heritage has very little pull these days, and most people could care less that it's inherently more capable than other systems out there. 99% of people just want to be able to get around in rainy or snowy weather without worrying about gettnig stuck or stranded, and even the most basic AWD systems out there combined with stability and traction control systems are capable of that. You don't "need" a costly 100% mechanical system to accomplish that unless you really do live out in the rough where there are lots of unplowed or unpaved roads to deal with. BMW's xDrive, Merc's 4MATIC, and all the other AWD systems out there whether they have a marketing name or not are easily capable of meeting most people's needs. Quattro is just more overbuilt.
Then there are the reliability and quality issues. They've improved a lot within the past few years if you've been following Consumer Reports and JD Power surveys, but dismal reliability and enormous out of warranty expenses have turned away a lot of Audi owners from the brand. They're complicated cars, a lot can go wrong, they're expensive to fix, and can easily break the bank just trying to keep one on the road out of warranty. Again, things seem to have improved recently, but the damage has already been done. I'm not even old enough to remember the "sudden acceleration" thing. People who say that that's the only reason Audis aren't more popular are not seeing the big picture.
And yeah, the crappy lease residuals.
09-15-06, 10:37 AM
#23
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Audi is more of a niche player in the US for the same reason that Subaru is a niche player, because there is only a limited market for AWD "cars" here. SUVs pretty much cover the AWD market, and Audi hasn't really built any of those until recently with the Q7. But now it's just another player in a very crowded market. I have yet to see a Q7 on the road. Outside of the SUV hungry North American market, the Audi brand is obviously much more viable because people still want "cars" when they want an AWD vehicle or wagons, not a big SUV.
Say what you will about Quattro, but that marketing name and its heritage has very little pull these days, and most people could care less that it's inherently more capable than other systems out there. 99% of people just want to be able to get around in rainy or snowy weather without worrying about gettnig stuck or stranded, and even the most basic AWD systems out there combined with stability and traction control systems are capable of that. You don't "need" a costly 100% mechanical system to accomplish that unless you really do live out in the rough where there are lots of unplowed or unpaved roads to deal with. BMW's xDrive, Merc's 4MATIC, and all the other AWD systems out there whether they have a marketing name or not are easily capable of meeting most people's needs. Quattro is just more overbuilt.
Then there are the reliability and quality issues. They've improved a lot within the past few years if you've been following Consumer Reports and JD Power surveys, but dismal reliability and enormous out of warranty expenses have turned away a lot of Audi owners from the brand. They're complicated cars, a lot can go wrong, they're expensive to fix, and can easily break the bank just trying to keep one on the road out of warranty. Again, things seem to have improved recently, but the damage has already been done. I'm not even old enough to remember the "sudden acceleration" thing. People who say that that's the only reason Audis aren't more popular are not seeing the big picture.
And yeah, the crappy lease residuals.
Say what you will about Quattro, but that marketing name and its heritage has very little pull these days, and most people could care less that it's inherently more capable than other systems out there. 99% of people just want to be able to get around in rainy or snowy weather without worrying about gettnig stuck or stranded, and even the most basic AWD systems out there combined with stability and traction control systems are capable of that. You don't "need" a costly 100% mechanical system to accomplish that unless you really do live out in the rough where there are lots of unplowed or unpaved roads to deal with. BMW's xDrive, Merc's 4MATIC, and all the other AWD systems out there whether they have a marketing name or not are easily capable of meeting most people's needs. Quattro is just more overbuilt.
Then there are the reliability and quality issues. They've improved a lot within the past few years if you've been following Consumer Reports and JD Power surveys, but dismal reliability and enormous out of warranty expenses have turned away a lot of Audi owners from the brand. They're complicated cars, a lot can go wrong, they're expensive to fix, and can easily break the bank just trying to keep one on the road out of warranty. Again, things seem to have improved recently, but the damage has already been done. I'm not even old enough to remember the "sudden acceleration" thing. People who say that that's the only reason Audis aren't more popular are not seeing the big picture.
And yeah, the crappy lease residuals.
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