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Designing Audis must be the most tedious job in the world. Quite clearly no imagination needed. www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/2015-audi-a4-r...d
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Oh I know they're good cars but the minimalist styling both inside and out is so dull, surely it's had its day? I want something to interest me and Audi's don't do that. A friend bought a new A3 earlier this year and without the number plate you could think it's 3 or 5 years old.
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Being as Audi seem to be selling quite a few cars, and in 2014 beating their own records then why would they change something that obviously works for many people?
Simple really, if you don't like them, then don't buy one. Heaven forbid that someone should think that your new car isn't new.
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A friend bought a new A3 earlier this year and without the number plate you could think it's 3 or 5 years old.
I sold a 15yr old A6 last year. Without the number plate you could think it's 3 or 5 years old.
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I've never liked the interior styling and the outside is ugly too. They've picked up the weird side panel styling seen on the new Polo. Still, it is a premium brand and selling well, so the management must be getting lots of bonuses and kudos.
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It may look just like the previous model, but I expect it's going to start getting some very good reviews. That weight saving and new chassis should make it competitive to drive again, compared with BMW 3/C Class/XE. The out-going model was poor by all accounts.
Just as the latest A3 looks like the last one but is a much better car.
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Just as the latest A3 looks like the last one but is a much better car.
Looks like you are right. The petrol engine version does almost 60 mpg! Wow! A luxury barge with small car economy.
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Hopefully the changes at the top in VW will revive Audi also. Sadly the company has little grip on a changing world. Like Audi A3 hybrid a prius copy only 18 years later.
BMW may or may not be on the right track but have put an interesting eco statement on cars going forward.
Seams the A4 is the one to look at after 3Series,C Class and Jag XE. I had a A4 and 3series and just felt the A4 only added wheel spin and under steer.
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The B8 doesn't seem to be as popular in the UK as the B6/7 were. I don't see as many about. The design isn't as tight.
To my eye the latest C-class W205 doesn't look as good as the W204. From the rear the W205 looks rather like a Rover 75, while from the rear the estate looks like a Hyundai i40 estate.
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Whilst not a fan of Audi they must be doing something right, and keeping their designs relatively conservative is selling.
Compare with Honda, particularly Accord, which once were a similarly quietly handsome car each model that bit more advanced than the last but not losing that reserved quality appeal.
For some unfathomable reason they decided to out-steroid Mazda's 6 with the last incarnation and look where that got them....Lexus are going down the same ugly road, compare the classy and timeless 460 with the latest designs which are frankly painful to look at and will age quickly once the need for accessory shop look grills thankfully passes.
I only wish the growing fad for bling and fairy lights on nearly all makes would go the way of the dodo too.
edit, agree with Trilogy about MB's too.
Edited by gordonbennet on 30/06/2015 at 20:12
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Apparently Audi salesmen/women have as easy a time as the designers. Many buyers don't bother to take a test drive. That leads me to the conclusion most are buying Audis for the badge and perceived quality. No wonder VW/Audi sell so many dull looking cars while BMW shift so many ugly ones.
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I quite like a bit of bling, it beats bland.
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The current trend is for arch villian style lights and big radiators. Horrid. What happened to character? Fiat still have some, but Ford, Audi, VW and others are like sheep. I thought the VW Polo from ten ypears ago was a lovely design, very distinctive,mthe latest is dull, with an ugly rear.
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There's nothing new under the sun. I can think of plenty of 'Russian dolls' over the years: here are some at random -
Pre-war Morris 10, 12 etc up to 25
Post-war Morris Minor, Oxford, Six
Austin 1800 and Maxi
Triumph Toledo, Dolomite and 2000
More recently Volvo S60 and S80 and BMW 5 and 7 series as well as Audis.
Surely the point about all these is that although they might have looked like each other, they didn't look like anything else. Audi don't mid that the A4, A6 and A8 look similar - but they are unmistakably Audis. And that's what sells.
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Surely the point about all these is that although they might have looked like each other, they didn't look like anything else. Audi don't mid that the A4, A6 and A8 look similar - but they are unmistakably Audis. And that's what sells.
BMW 3Series and i series look nothing alike.
Audi in the USA is lost 3% market share so maybe the look is not selling there.
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BMW 3Series and i series look nothing alike.
Should have gone to Specsavers.
'Course they do - the trademark kink in the rear quarter light, the shape of the front and rear light clusters, clearly part of the same family.
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Add the BMW 3 series to the list of lookalikes. :) An ugly mutt.
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I'll ask the question :
Have any of those who've posted so far actually DRIVEN any of the BMWs/Audis being panned here ?
Though I'll have to agree regarding the look of certain cars : the BMW X4, X6 and 5GT are particularly hideous (to me, though I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that viewpoint), and the designers deserve to be flogged to death with rusty barbed wire.
However, whether you view them as bland/ugly or whatever, the 3 series and 1 series in particular are brilliant "driver's cars". The Z4 is achingly good-looking (though not as good as the old Z4 coupe or the Z3 cabrio) along with being great fun to drive.
My experience of driving modern (within the last decade) Audis is nil. But even so, I certainly wouldn't pan the A4 or other models for being 'bland'. If anything, I'd criticise them for being indistinguishable - is it an A4 or an A6 sort of thing - but you can equally say that about the BMW 3/5 series cars, or the Merc C/E, or plenty of other offerings.
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Have any of those who've posted so far actually DRIVEN any of the BMWs/Audis being panned here
Of course they haven't. They just universally deslike anything German. The only cars they like are the Toyota and Honda which they continue to claim will be repaired FOC forever even when the warranty has run out, makes me laugh that anyone would believe such utter tripe.
Lets be honest, most cars today are hardly lookers but go back 30 or 40 years, were cars then any better looking. Of course not. They were just dull, dull, dull but far rustier and fare less reliable.
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Have any of those who've posted so far actually DRIVEN any of the BMWs/Audis being panned here
Of course they haven't. They just universally deslike anything German. The only cars they like are the Toyota and Honda which they continue to claim will be repaired FOC forever even when the warranty has run out, makes me laugh that anyone would believe such utter tripe.
Lets be honest, most cars today are hardly lookers but go back 30 or 40 years, were cars then any better looking. Of course not. They were just dull, dull, dull but far rustier and fare less reliable.
I've driven an Audi A4 and two Audi A6s. I bought none. Just too dull to drive. Not bad cars, just deadly dull. I have previously owned German and still do, but my MK1 Focus is much more fun to drive than the Merc.
Way back in the 1970s and 80s Ford did extremely well even though the designs were not Russian doll inspired.
BTW, I'm laughing that anyone here would believe such utter tripe that those panning German cars have never driven any.
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My criticism was of the looks, since I see them from the outside, that matters to me. I have been inside the Audi A4, last generation, perfectly nice, well made, comfortable.
Okay, i do hate German cars, I would never buy one. Thank goodness I bought a VW instead. Any idea where they come from? I assume Japan, good old Japanese brands.
I saw the new hybrid BMW hurtling down the A3 on the day it was announced, must have been on a road test. Gorgeous. The latest Jaguar is gorgeous too. Both have character. I hate the BMW Z4, can't abide the weird styling, it's not being anti German, it just looks weird.
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Okay, i do hate German cars, I would never buy one. Thank goodness I bought a VW instead.
Erm?
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>>>"Z4 is achingly good-looking (though not as good as the old Z3 cabrio)"
Nope, the Z4 and Z3 have always made me feel nauseous. Fronts too 'roundy' - look like a fish.
The Z1, however, I liked.
It's all in the eye of the beholder.
Colleague has just got a nearly-new Audi, in gunmetal grey. He's really excited and chuffed about it.
I hope to god it's a pleasure to drive, because to me, to look at, it just leaves me cold. Utterly unmoved. It's just... er... nothing, somehow. Sorry!
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And if I recall correctly I started off by saying "I know they're good cars ". Neither do I drive a Japanese car, I'm lucky enough to have put prejudice and preconceived ideas to one side and drive a DS5, beautiful and distinctive inside and out with the odd splash of tasteful bling including a rather lovely pearlescent white paint which really does shimmer when the sun comes out or under street lighting.
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