While you’re waiting for the new wave of cars, you might want to get in line just behind me to buy one of the most rewarding drives on the market today. The new Audi S-5 coupe brings together more of the elements of a true dream drive than any other car I can think of at anywhere near the price.
The Bentley Continental models, at $160-200,000 show how corporate owner Volkswagen has mastered the art of creating a high quality, high performance GT car. The Audi shows how they can do it for only $50,000!
Neither the Bentley nor the Audi can make much of a “green” claim, but they do appeal to wealthy car buffs worldwide, and make it possible for Volkswagen to finance the research necessary to develop everyday cars that are safe, reliable and environmentally clean. So when you buy your Audi S-5 because you can’t resist its style or its 364 hp V8, six speed performance, you can tell yourself your environmental dues have been paid.
Walter di Silva, a master auto designer who revived Alfa Romeo a few years ago, moved over to Audi in time to do the S-5. He considers it his masterwork. You must look at the car itself; photos fail to bring out the power, proportion and subtlety of this design.
Like most two-door, four seaters, the rear seats are only for cross-town travel. It could be called a 2+2, the Italian name for a trim little coupe with a dismally uncomfortable rear seat, generally used for the mother-in-law on Sundays.
This Audi isn’t about practicality. It is about stirring the soul of every true auto buff on this planet. The suspension is that magic mix of just enough control with nary a trace of harshness. This car isn’t Lexus/Cadillac quiet. Under acceleration there’s a muted, but very clean and mechanical V-8 thrum.
Cruising on the freeway, it’s super-quiet, but you can always tell there’s an alive machine under you.
As if all this weren’t enough, Audi interiors put the rest of the industry in the shade. From materials, to colors, textures, details, this is a better place to be than most tasteful homes.
You’ve probably sensed that I deeply admire this car. I can hardly wait to get my hands on the one I’ve chosen – a black one, with black and tuscan tan leather, six speed manual.
When I compare the cost of this car with the costs of buying and maintaining good collector cars, I can rationalize that the Audi was too good a bargain to resist.
Balance
After driving the Audi S-5, it was instructive to try a new Saab 9-3 sedan. A Saab doesn’t stir my juices at all, but in spite of that I found plenty to admire. A lithe, trim four door sedan, the Saab provides far more space in similar overall dimensions compared to the Audi. While the Audi controls are well-laid-out, they’re complex, whereas the Saab’s are a model of simplicity and clarity.
The Saab isn’t a hotrod like the Audi, but its 4 cylinder turbo motor is extraordinarily smooth and quiet, while delivering an entertaining level of powerful performance. Unlike the Audi, it’s quite stingy with gasoline, too. Price matters too – the Saab is only about $30,000.
One of my pet peeves is the American (and sometimes Japanese) tendency to do leather seats that are gathered at the seams to produce folds in the seat surfaces in an attempt to look lush. The crisp, clean plain leather seats in the Saab show how silly that fake luxury look is. The shaping of Saab seats looks unexceptional, but over the years I’ve always found them to offer an ideal balance of comfort and support.
I was much less impressed by a Volvo C-30, which was intended by Volvo product planners to be a sporty little alternative to cars like the Audi A-3, Mini, VW GTI, and R-32. Although the Volvo is a satisfactory transportation device, it totally fails to match the spirit and zing of its competitors. It’s not cheap either, at $29,000 for the test car. But whereas every Audi looks expensive and well tailored, even the $27-28,000 A-3’s, the Volvo, like the Saab, is a styleless, stolid Swede.
In order to end on a high note, I’ve saved the Volkswagen R-32 for last. It’s $35,000, loaded with navigation, leather, sunroof and about a zillion horsepower, and it’s cut from the same cloth as the Audi S-5, including the big horsepower, six-speed and all wheel drive. It’s a versatile, practical 3-door hatchback, beautifully finished, but slightly ordinary looking. It’s everything the Volvo isn’t, and far more appealing as a result.
If driving is what it’s all about, and you can live without the show-off factor, this is your car!
Whatever Happened to Tesla
Well over a year ago, Tesla, a peninsula group, announced a $100,000 electric sports car that was going to revolutionize the exotic car business. It was going to be very stylish, fast, and non-polluting. There have been several delays and one wonders if they are encountering the same difficulties that face other car makers – the huge task of making a high-quality, defect-free car, and establishing the sales and service network to support it.
GM and Ford have each spent about 100 years working on perfecting their businesses, and have found that it’s hard to do and harder to sustain. The industry’s many critics think they have all the answers, but, luckily for them, they don’t have to depend on results for their paychecks. Industry people do.
