It’s hard to think of a brand that’s fallen harder than Audi. Nissan has had a similar trajectory, but expectations for Nissan were never quite as high as they were for Audi, which makes it feel somehow worse.
Who has replaced Audi? I don’t think it’s Lexus, as that brand has always had its own niche. Perhaps Genesis? Nah, I think Genesis is taking more from Mercedes, spiritually if not literally. Tesla? It’s probably Tesla. That brand became the default for a certain kind of person for a while.
Audi is pushing F1 big this year, and F1 does indeed have a huge halo. Will it be enough to shine a light on Audi? Volvo isn’t in F1, and it’s not in as bad a shape, but it needs to prove it can do an EV launch without crapping the bed.
European driving tests are, generally, harder than American ones. What are Brits doing about it? Cheating. That’ll work! Yesterday’s TMD was a lot, so I’m happy to end this one on a positive note.
‘A Lot Of Pieces Of The Puzzle Are Coming Together’
Today was the big reveal for the livery for Audi’s R26 car for this year’s F1 season. Normally, I wouldn’t care that much. If you love F1, that’s awesome, but there are places that are going to typically be more excited about every livery reveal than The Morning Dump.
Audi, though, needs the help. Sales are crashing (it’s a global problem) and the CEO is dealing with a bunch of internal heat. Formula One can provide a ton of attention, of course, and also create value if your team is successful. For a brand like Cadillac, which is on a bit of an upswing, I get the positioning. If you become a Cadillac fan via F1, then there’s probably something in the lineup you might like.
“Today, a lot of pieces of the puzzle are coming together,” said Gernot Döllner, CEO of AUDI AG and Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi Motorsport AG, at the team presentation. “It’s impressive to see how the intensive preparation is paying off and the performance of those involved is becoming evident. For the first time, the full power of the project is on display. We are ready and excited to inspire people around the world by taking part in Formula 1.”
It’s hard to time out the multi-year process of getting into F1, and Audi faces some interesting challenges here. Right off the bat, Audi is built on the bones of Sauber, which is still a backmarker team that sometimes moves into the middle. Will there be more success this year? F1 is changing rules and powertrains, so there are some opportunities. Chaos is a ladder, and if anyone is used to chaos, it’s Audi.
Assuming that Audi is successful on track, are there going to be products in the showroom to get fans excited enough to buy something? If Bortoleto manages a podium, is that going to drive people to lease a Q5?
I’m not sure it’s worked out for Mercedes, and Mercedes has a more interesting lineup right now. Obviously, Ferrari has roughly 300,000 fans for every car it sells, but that took decades of careful work.
Like Döllner said, pieces of the puzzle are coming together, but right now it’s just a frame, and the frame is the easy part. When Audi can start getting pieces of the sky together, I’ll be more hopeful.
Volvo Can’t Screw Up The EX60
As mentioned, Volvo has a 400-mile car in its new EX60, which is a Polestar 3-sized vehicle to slot in between the EX30 and EX90. The embargo is up later today, so you’ll be able to read all the details here.
Will it be enough? I’m not sure. After all the hype for the EX90 and EX30, both were bad launches. The EX90, while good, feels like a work in progress. The EX30 was seriously delayed.
Automotive News says dealers are cautiously optimistic that this might go better:
Jason Church, chairman of the Volvo Retail Advisory Board, said the EX60 is the automaker’s “second chance” to get an EV launch right.
“EX60 must launch on time and be top notch when it rolls off the line in Sweden,” said Church, COO of Courtesy Automotive Group, which has a Volvo dealership in Scottsdale, Ariz. “Early customers cannot be beta testers.”
Oof.
People Caught Cheating On The British Driving Test Up 47%
I was able to drive in England, and it was mostly fine. If I can do it, presumably anyone can? Perhaps not, according to a recent story in The Guardian, which said cheating was up 47%.
Do they take cheating seriously? Yes!
Ninety-six people were prosecuted for attempting to cheat driving tests or impersonate candidates in 2024-25, the DVSA said. A prosecution case can include multiple incidents.
Impersonators and learners who use them could be sent to prison, banned from driving, ordered to carry out unpaid work and made to pay court costs.
Qounain Khan, 23, from Birmingham, was handed an eight-month prison sentence at Cardiff crown court in June 2025 after pleading guilty to impersonating learners at theory test centres 12 times. The court heard impersonators could be paid up to £2,000 for passing a test.
Sorina-Ana Turcitu, 42, from north London, admitted attempting to take a practical driving test on behalf of someone else, and was sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months at Ipswich magistrates court in September 2025.
While I think that imprisoning people for this kind of stuff is severe, this is a real public danger. It seems like a lot of these are suspended sentences, which, if it works the way I think it does, those people stay out of jail if they don’t re-commit the crime.
The Autopians Hit The Detroit Auto Show
Ray Wert asked me for a press pass, definitely with an ulterior motive, and I approved it with the understanding that he’d write an article for us about it. He hasn’t written anything yet, which is entirely predictable, although he’s shown up in one of his wife’s Instagram reels, so I know he was there!
Showing him up were our own readers, who actually got into print first! Our awesome colleagues at the Detroit Free Press caught up with our own Vibe-owning Vibe-creator:
Nick Hernandez, 31, of Sterling Heights, came with his friends who are part of the Autopians, readers of the car culture website the autopian.com.
“I’m just here to have fun and see the cars,” he said.
He has been regularly attending since 2015. He said the show is not as big as it used to be and said Saturday that he hopes to see more brands and “signs that the show is not declining.”
If they can do it, you can do it, too, Ray. Maybe he wasn’t allowed to leave the car, and so he was just stuck there the entire show?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I’ve been a Lily Allen fan going way back to the mixtapes. When she married that guy who plays the sheriff in Stranger Things, I thought, “Hey, neat, I hope they’re happy.” Apparently, it was extremely unhappy, and she’s put out an entire album talking about how terrible it was being married to that dude. This track is less a replay of the awful things he allegedly did, and more a reflection on her unsuccessful attempts to deal with it. I think “Dallas Major” is my favorite track on the album, which, while difficult, does provide a kind of “Blood on the Tracks” catharsis.
The Big Question
Are you an F1 fan? Were you?
Top photo: Audi
I don’t hate F1 or its fans but I can’t enjoy it. When the winner is apparent by lap three, what’s the point? Also, the main focus of the TV broadcasts is to point out all the wealthy celebrities.
I feel the same way, I used to watch years ago. F1 is a boring parade. I love IMSA and WEC because it’s the exact opposite, just constant action.
That Detroit auto show but was entirely too short. I hope more follow up is coming?
“ The court heard impersonators could be paid up to £2,000 for passing a test.”
I would be interested in finding out WHO is hiring these people and paying them that much. Clearly they are wealthy self-entitled assholes of some sort who think learning how to drive properly is beneath them.
“Are you an F1 fan? Were you?”
No… was never a really big fan. The cars and the sport seem to be disconnected from reality.
I find 24 hours of Lemons racing or European rally car racing more interesting. Hell, I find Go Kart racing to be more interesting and anyone can do that like I have.
I’d guess more than the US is suffering fatal problems with uncontrollable immigration?
Never really gotten into four wheel racing of any type. I’ll watch pretty much any kind of motorcycle racing though.
Not me motorcycle racing scares me when I’m sitting on my couch
Was an F1 fan.
Back in the 80’s and into the 90’s. As an SCCA flagger, I worked the ’95 and ’96 Montreal Grand Prix. It was the last year of Ferrari’s V12’s and they were hauntingly magical in their noises.
I didn’t stop following F1 because they dropped the V12’s, I just moved on to other things. The V10’s took over, and have their appeal, but I was on my way out by that time anyway.
Isn’t F1 more of a European thing?
F1 is more of a world wide thing. The US was part of the F1 circuit until, what, the 70’s? Watkin’s Glenn, etc. Then, I don’t remember why, the US fell out of favor with F1 (blame Bernie Ecclestone?), so we got no race dates for decades. I think F1 came back to the US relatively recently (last 20 years?) when F1 changed owners. Now we have multiple events in the US. My dates are probably all wrong, but I think I got the vibe right.
My take on Audi is that the current design language is overcooked and stringy. It’s a mess of lines everywhere, and every model is boring and gimicky. They offer nothing that other manufacturers don’t do better, including value. They went all in on this barely evolved and unimaginative design language under the new boss some years ago, and this is the logical result.
I saw a pristine early 00’s Audi S8 in a Target parking lot yesterday and it supports your comment. It was so clean, elegant, understated but yet had so much presence.
Yeah, that’s a great example of when they were doing good design. The previous generation RS7 was a gorgeous car as well.
If I still followed any racing, it would be rally and F1. I gave up when F1 became too difficult to watch with the odd times and either PPV or BS jumping around trying to find a new way to stream every specific race. With manufacturers I largely hardly care about, cars that have nothing in common with real cars, and a tendency for eras of near total dominance of a single team, it’s not remotely worth the effort. Rally is even worse to find and always has been and the cars have diverged so far from the real thing that I don’t care about that anymore, either.
I agree that is why I never watch NASCAR because you have 4 teams with 4 cars, half the field and they have one car to race and 3 to block other cars. I think no one should be able to have more than one car in the race
TBQ- yes, since jacky stewart’s 1st title, but stopped mid70’s thru late 90’s. been to 3 grandprix, including the 2011 montreal gp.
i don’t expect audi to last in F1 – think bmw, toyota, honda et.al. due to the precarious situation the corporation finds itself in…
Okay what does the Q stand for?
the big question
I used to follow F1 Super closely, but the Mercedes dominance and lame sounding engines drove me to being “a filthy casual” as the diehard sports fanatics call it. IndyCar, Endurance Racing and NASCAR are all more entertaining to watch. Plus F1 ticket prices are obscene, Austin was over $400 for a singular GA ticket. The Rolex 24 was $225 for my dad and I to go and included garage passes plus food. I got my pair of tickets for actual seats at the Indy 500 this year for $220, and I got into MidOhio for Indycar last year for free from Honda for owning a Civic Type R. I was looking at going to IMSA at Road America with my dad last year and it would have been $160 for the two of us.
Also, Audi really needs to fix their QC if they want to at the minimum maintain their customers. My best friend has had two brand new ones get bought back within the first 2 years of ownership. He went from the biggest Audi apologist to now owning a new BMW 230i.
VW is in real trouble in North America. Maybe they sell over in Europe, but their leaders just spent the week begging China to come bring in cheap cars….So they are fucked all over. RIP.
TBQ: yes, i started following F1 in late ’60’s, stopped in mid ’70’s. and then picked it back up in 90’s. there was very little media coverage back then so i had to rely on magazines and newsletters, now i can watch every practice, qualifying and race live.
i’ve been to montreal gp twice (button’s 2011 win – iykyk) and austin gp once.
it is an engineering team sport – a journeyman driver in the best car can beat a great driver in not-the-best car.
I personally think that Audi’s hubris and industrial weakness will see them leave in a few years (e.g. honda, toyota, bmw, et.al.) – does anyone believe they can build a powerplant head and shoulders above the competition like MB had in ’14?? i don’t.
I used to watch every F1, IndyCar, and NASCAR race. I dropped NASCAR as it got dumber and dumber (With “timeouts’ and “playoffs”). With F1, I am down to watching the 30 or 10 minute summary. With Indycar, it’s just hit or miss. I’ll watch the 500 usually, but other races are a maybe these days.
As for the Detroit Auto Show, I used to go all them many, many years ago. Lat time I went (which is still got to be at least 10 years) it had turned into a sad imitation of itself. Not sure how it looks these days, and frankly, I no longer care. The domestic models I can see at the dealerships that are all around me. Maybe some of the high-end foreign stuff is back, but it’s not worth driving downtown for in the dead of winter.
I watch F1 but after the insane high that was 2021, it’s more of a second-screen thing while I play video games. I’m a MotoGP fan through and through; at least if a MotoGP race is boring, you spend 45 minutes instead of over 2 hours.
I also don’t really have faith in Audi’s F1 commitment. Their takeover of Sauber has been…. weird. A lot of changes in how they were taking ownership, it all felt off. I know they raced that R18 in WEC forever, so they have that level of pedigree. But the order of magnitude increase in cost that is Formula 1? And their current situation? I just don’t understand it.
F1 is wayyyy different costwise than it was before. The cost cap means that the costs to run a top winning team are massively reduced, while the explosion in popularity due to the Drive To Survive Netflix series means there’s more marketing money to be made. Excluding the engine program costs, the team will likely run at a profit due to sponsorship money in its first year. Long-term, the entire operation (including engine program) is expected to be a net profitable business unit by 2030, unless things go horribly wrong.
The takeover definitely didn’t start off well, but the new management seems a lot more competent than Andreas Seidl.
That ignores the fact that they stood up their own powertrain division, which is not tied to the cost cap. The Race, who I think have decent info, say that based on the original 75% takeover, a 100% acquisition likely cost around $600million. The engine program “will likely have a nine-figure cost attached to it, too.”
And while it’s a clean livery, the lack of sponsors is somewhat telling. I think both Red Bull teams have more sponsors on just the nose than Audi does on the whole car.
“they stood up their own powertrain division, which is not tied to the cost cap”
So they’re using a completely independent engine dev team for F1? I thought that’s pretty common, but usually they rotate in a few road car engineers at a time for experience, amd Audi isn’t doing that.
I agree that the takeover has been messy and the sponsors are a bit lacking, but it can also be a bit of a tactic to leave your livery plain to advertise that there’s sponsor space. I’d be concerned if there still weren’t many sponsors by next year.
I think the timing of it all is pretty awful short term with the current VAG cash crunch, but if that was big enough of an issue they’d have to sell the team tomorrow. I still think they’ll be OK long-term as long as they don’t completely McHonda the engine.
Agreed, they definitely can be good long term but I just wonder if current management agrees. As you say, the timing is just bad. Feels like typical VAG at this point.
I enjoyed F1 quite a lot during Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari era. Mostly watching in college, so I guess 2003-2007-ish. Haven’t followed it since.
My favorite series was always WRC, though. Every single event was exciting, even when Sébastien Loeb was dominant.
Man, Audi, no matter how they perform this season, have likely produced the best looking livery on the grid. Clean, coherent, sympathetic to the car in places. I really like it.
I started watching F1 again in late 2017-2018, and am fully immersed to the point I not only watch practices and qualifying, but the entirety of the F3 and F2 seasons as well. I’ve never seen a single second of Drive to Survive, in fact I don’t even have Netflix. The real drama on track is enough.
I know a lot of people say F1 is boring or they don’t “get” it. To me F1 is a lot like soccer, wherein a casual viewer would see nothing happening, when in actuality quite a lot is happening. I feel like once you take the dive and learn how to watch, the why of everything becomes even more compelling.
What do you mean by learn how to watch? Is it something you pick up on after watching it enough?
I assume it’s a lot like how I feel watching football. When I watch I just see a bunch of sweaty men slamming into each other in pursuit of an egg. If you don’t really watch F1 for a few races and get a grip on what to watch for, you’re just gonna see a bunch of cars going fast. Much of the allure of F1 is also in the myriad personalities, drama, and tribal knowledge you gain from watching an entire season or more. Although if you watch F1TV you would think people only watch to see the drivers girlfriends and celebrities.
Actually I used to be big into F1 instead of NASCAR. But now I don’t understand F1. BUT YEAH you pretty much have football down except they have 4 chances to go 10 yards or kick. That is why Football scores can reach 60 points and soccer can end in a 0-0 tie. You appreciate the skills we want the action
F1 is like Soccer? Pretty much explained why F1 isn’t popular in the US.
Roy Wort prolly just wanted to get intimate with some poor saloon’s bootlid.
“All of the reliability of a VW with the repair costs of a Mercedes” isn’t exactly the best selling point for a car, but it’s where Audi has lived in my mind for years. I say that as a VW owner who gets to see that little Audi symbol right next to the VW one on the part I’m replacing. I love F1, but I don’t see how them being in F1 is going to do anything for them. If anything, everytime one of their cars has a DNF I’ll think yeah that sounds about right
It’s going to cost them millions and millions of dollars to compete and they will gain about 2 car sales from it. It’s almost like an NBA team tanking itself, except there is no draft pick at the end of this experiment.
Their only real hope of this having a positive effect on their bottom line is sponsorship dollars nad team merch. I was watching the P1 coverage of the reveal, and sure enough they’d added a bunch of sponsors, but there’s no way those dollars outpace their spend. So I guess it’s down to t shirt sales. I mean, who knows? It’s worked for Ferrari
Actually following Subaru love and charity is More likely to create sales
TBH that is what will occur in the US. BUT in Europe with F1 who knows? Not us Norte Americanos.
I’m fine admitting I first became interested in F1 because of DTS. I’m a life-long car person, but on my internal Venn diagram of cars|racecars, F1 didn’t overlap with ‘real’ cars. As I’ve gotten older, I’m less interested and see less value in this sort of line-drawing exercise, but that’s another story.
A year after DTS debuted, I ended up getting paid to write about F1. That’s when I really got into the minutiae. Imposter syndrome is a helluva motivator. Once that role changed and I wasn’t required to be an F1 super-fan, my interest diminished, but not totally.
That interest shifted for sure. I’m now far less interested in the technology of F1, similar to before I was a fan. (Fun fact: there’s not actually much tech that trickles down from F1 to ‘real’ cars.) I’ve become far *more* interested in the people and the history of the sport. The culture of and around F1 has so many interesting human stories that I’m glad something like DTS came along as a gateway to that world.
“I’ve become far *more* interested in the people …”
This is how I ended up getting into junior series as much as I have. It started to occur to me that people don’t just come into F1 out of nowhere. When you start digging down, you realize how big the sport is, how wide that pyramid gets at the base. That’s when you realize how tough it is just to get into F1, because probably 98% of those trying to make it, will not.
Which particular DTS are you re to?
Sorry, Drive to Survive on Netflix
I watched a lot of F1 until Senna died, after that it entirely lost its appeal to me, but I have tried to watch some on Youtube last few years and it has become a caricature of itself and with Mohammed Ben Sulayem corruption has grown, rules are FAR too strict, technical regulations that kills creativity.
The problem now is that the people running and owning the sport and its regulations are not interested in F1 racing but in profiting from it. They have never raced any car, nor watched a race, they only landed in F1 because they came across an opportunity for profit and influence.
Audi, Cadillac will have to endure years of lackluster on track performance that needs more effort, talent and money than they are likely willing to provide. The sport is already full of well funded talented people. I’d be very surprised if Audi or Cadillac has a team running in 2036 season because the people driving the effort does not have actual interest in the sport, innovation, but in return on investment and they will not hang around long enough to actually build a team, 3 years in, max 4, and they will start selling off.
I’m not fan of MBS, but it’s pretty laughable that you think F1 is more corrupt now than in the past.
I’ve found that corruption stayed pretty even (Abu Dhabi ’21 being the exception).
Competition on the other hand, has pretty much never been better in F1. Historically, there were only a few contenders for race wins and podiums within an F1 season. With the ’22 regulations, that changed dramatically.
So much in here to break down.
F1 =/= FIA
It’s always been extremely corrupt.
There have always been people trying to get rich in the sport as well as people only in the sport because they could afford it even though they lacked the skill, talent, and drive.
Teams now know the expected costs way better than ever before. We are in the cost cap era, which is a big reason even the worst performing teams approaching profitability.
The sport is already full? 11 teams with roughly 500+ people per team isn’t all that much for a global affair that claims to be the pinnical of racing with budgets over $150M per year per team. Also, surprisingly few women, minorities, etc. Sounds like it can continue to grow.
I would agree the regs are too tight, but it’s been that what for 15-20 years. I think with cost caps,new should certainly open things up a bit.
Not an F1 fan. I’ve tried a few times, but it just never takes. It’s too pretentious for my taste. IndyCar has been the only big time sport I follow in depth for some time now, but my interest in that is starting to wane.
I need to hit more local dirt tracks this summer. I like not knowing who anybody is, and just watching the show.
I totally get that. It can be hard to get into any new sport. Usually the real excitement happens between the races, evolving technology, so you will need to put in more than 68 laps on Sunday, but in recent years this has been dominated by more corruption, politics both from FIA and the teams internally
There was a time in my life that I consumed every motorsport I could see coverage of. That time is long since passed.
IndyCar>F1
I agree.
Also, love the user name!
Love my F1. Don’t even have a favorite driver or team. It’s actually been a lot more entertaining that way. Yeah, I don’t get as excited if “my driver” were to win, but I also don’t have to get upset or depressed if I did have a favorite not win. But, after what McLaren did to Piastri, I was rooting for him or Max to beat Lando for the championship.
Are you an F1 fan?
Nope.
Were you?
Also nope.
Audis problem is trying to be Lexus. Here’s a list of some stuff they totally screwed up on, likely because LEADERSHIP OF PUBLIC COMPANIES ONLY CARES ABOUT SHORT TERM PROFITS and continuous unending growth (which isnt’ possible):
Edit. WTF my formatting got eaten, I put a 1,2,3,4,5 list and it all vanished?
1- Brand dillution of the S-badge. It went from something rare/meaningful to something they slapped on damn near everything, as a bodykit/wheel option, with no real substance behind it. The UrS4/S6 was drastically different powerplant from the Audi 100/A6, and it was based on…
2- RALLY PEDIGREE. Audi= RALLY. Yeah, I know they dominated LeMans until their corporate overlords told them that Porsche would be a better fit, but Audi should have never stopped rally racing
3- Every model should have 5 cylinders. Every single one. I get that sharing parts with VW saves costs and INCREASES SHAREHOLDER VALUE but it’s stupid. They should have the 5 cylinder in the A3, A4, A6, etc. And the boosted 5 cylinder DAZA engine should be available in all of them as the S3/S4/S6 etc.
4- The RS2 has been forbidden fruit for so long, and it’s gained a huge following on the internet, which is completely deserved and why it’s my favorite car. However, Audi has done NOTHING to celebrate this car other than do a photoshoot with their shitty RS6. They don’t mentioned the UrS4/S6 having the almost the exact same drivetrain (smaller turbo diff intake/injectors), and they’re not making a modern RS2, which boggles my mind. Take the A4 avant, shove the TTRS 5 cylinder into it, add some Porsche wheels, make it MANUAL ONLY, and call it the RS2, sell in crazy limited quantities, only in Nogaro Blue. Like DUH. It’s so obvious!
5- The RS6 is a complete joke. No rally pedigree, automatic only, fake vents and scoops, just a trash car for people who lease and don’t know anything about cars. Cancel it.
6- Bring back the diff lock button.
7- Mercedes does a great job of supporting their older models with parts availability. Audi does the exact opposite, forcing most of it’s enthusiasts to ship parts from Europe. Why?
I could keep going, but the brand image imho has been shit on and watered down for decades now. They SHOULD be a fairly rare boutique brand that focuses on all weather performance, and manual transmissions (aka people who actually know how to drive, not leasing to Karens/Stacys.
1-For better or worse, they’ve designated each model’s upgrade engine option to be the S model. Nearly every brand is doing [performance branding]-Line styling packages, so Audi isn’t alone in that.
2-I think Audi’s rally heritage and AWD system became mostly irrelevant as a marketing point once AWD became fairly ubiquitous amongst most models. Quattro isn’t that special when you can get AWD in nearly any crossover and even sedans and hatchbacks like the Camry and Prius.
3-I, too yearn for 5-cylinders, but they have major packaging issues compared to the competition’s inline-4s and V6s, especially on the FWD platforms they use. I wish that they found a way to make it work anyways, but Dieselgate means that even a Porsche uses the same 4-cylinders.
5-Reviewers (and their comment sections) seem to like the RS6 better than the new M5 wagon FWIW.
1- I’m aware that they are digging their own graves as well.
2- That’s because they haven’t communicated well. Audi’s original Quatrro system was all torsen diff based, which kicks the shit out of FWD based haldex systems. It’s not even close in performance driving, and here you are, not knowing this, saying you can get AWD in all crossovers. It’s not remotely the same level of traction.
3- They are currently shoving their 5 cylinder in their smallest cars, the TTRS and the S3. If it fits in those, it should fit in their larger cars.
4- Journalists are not enthusiasts. Audi has abandoned the fans that made it successful
They just don’t do anything that special anymore. The designs are bland, Quattro AWD is not special anymore, the interiors used to clearly look higher quality, and they usually have the same motor you find in a VW.
If you want a solid, reliable luxury car, you buy a Lexus. Mercedes gave that up 30 years ago. Audi never had it to my knowledge.
If you want a “driver’s car”, you are still most likely going to BMW. BMW was always a notch above Audi, even the S-cars.
And if you just want to show off a luxury badge, Mercedes still wins there. BMW next. Audi might be below Lexus at this point there.
If you really want the best AWD, you probably should buy a Subaru.
Arguably Mercedes is in the same hole of “why is this a good car again?” as they push gimmicks like screens, interior lighting, and lit up grill ornaments, but they still have that brand factor.
I think it also helps that Mercedes and BMW don’t have a brand like VW to compare a GLC300 to and wonder why you are paying for the premium version.
Which Quattro? REAL torsen based Quattro? Or VW based Haldex AWD? There is a massive difference, and Audi’s torsen-based Quattro is better than Subaru by a large margin.
Do they still make anything with “real” Quattro? Looks like maybe the RS cars have it?
Yup. Just did a quick google and found some reddit threads discussing this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Audi/comments/1b1l3wm/what_is_the_last_production_year_audi_with/
Apparently, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” doesn’t really hold up when your race cars have nothing in common with your street cars.
As far as I’m concerned, Audi lost their relevance many years ago when they stopped being the only luxury car with AWD.
That and AWD is not equal to all other AWD. The ‘famous’ Audis all had torsen based AWD, which kicks ass. Then they started using VW AWD which was all FWD biased Haldex bullshit.
I don’t know enough to argue, so I’ll assume you’re right. At the same time, I’m not sure the general public knew or cared, they were just looking for the AWD badge.
I thought I read an article years ago now, that when the quattro system came out, it was groundbreaking, super dope all that jazz.
But rivals came to market with as good or better options and now its just meaningless and doesn’t stand out anymore. But they still try to pretend its special. Maybe there are a few features that 1-2 of their drivers like, but for most, its probably not a noticeable difference.
Incorrect. Their rivals came out with AWD systems JUST like VW’s FWD-biased haldex systems. For Karens and Beckys driving crossovers, it works fine. For performance driving or really low traction situations, it is not on the same level at all.
I think you need to research Audi’s original torsen based quattro system vs haldex systems, which are effectively FWD only until there is slippage.
Yes, I don’t get why a F1 program would get me to go buy a boring Audi A5.
It doesn’t even work for NASCAR anymore, and they at least pretend that a “Camry” is racing out there.