Thank you very much for the compliments guys!
Now to answer Luw's question:
Steering:
The 3 series undoubtedly feels like the more focused driving machine mainly due to it's steering feeling meatier and more natural feeling and directly responsive to driver input. The Audi's steering feels very assisted, and the level of assistance varies considerably depending on speed. It's disconcerting at first, but with familiarity you also realise its a very responsive tiller when it needs to be and is much lighter and easier to manoeuvre at low speeds. It lacks the BMWs’ road feel, which seems just about right to me.
Ride/Handling:
The 3 series rides on the standard suspension tune with 17inch runflats, the Audi on the S-line sports suspension with 17 inch rims. They both don't really offer a 'luxury' ride and can be fidgety on our poor roads. Certainly nothing harsh or uncomfortable though, because both are very well damped with the BMW being marginally better in this respect. To compensate the Audi has the tighter body control and contains roll better. Overall however the BMW feels like the sportier car; more on it's toes and willing to carve through corners and push out of them with its great rear wheel balance. E
The Audi feels more like a cruiser with a little less ride compliancy then you would expect from one. A more compromised drive really. That said if you really want to push the Audi, it will work with you and the quattro system ensures traction is always faultless. But really keen drivers would prefer the BMW's set up.
Refinement:
The Audi is outstanding in terms of NVH. It contains road noise brilliantly and slips through the air very very quietly. The BMW is also very good, but does lose a little bit of ground in this respect letting more road rumble into the cabin. There's also a bit more wind noise. Not that the BMW is bad, it’s just that the Audi is so good in this respect.
Drivetrain:
The 3.2litre engine in the Audi is a very sweet and impeccably refined unit. It's probably a little thirstly by today’s standards and could definitely use more low end torque. But it really sings when you give it the boot and is turbine like in its smoothness. The unit operates best at the higher end of the rev band and it’s just as well the 6 speed transmission is such a fast and smooth operator. Rarely do you notice any shunt when changing gears. This is one smooth engine/gear box combination.
The diesel engine in the 3 coupe sounds completely out of character with the vehicle. It's a smart sporty looking thing that sounds like a tractor from the outside. At idle and in the cabin the story isn't much better and there is quite a bit of vibration transmitted through. When on the move though things quieten down and smooth out considerably, but the engine never sounds like anything you would expect in a coupe. The torque on offer is brilliant however and despite the slower 0-100 times, the kick down response is excellent. It's a very nice engine when moving along until you pull up to a stop sign or a set of traffic lights. More effort should have been made to refine its idle character. The fuel economy credentials are outstanding! The transmission is also very smooth, though gear changes are a few degrees more perceptible than in the Audi.
Interior:
The BMW benefits from a very nice contrasting beige and black combination. That said the trim, which is supposed to look like piano black, looks rather glittery in sunlight and as a result is a bit chintzy. The bamboo would have been a better bet. You can't really complain about the quality and feel of the plastics and the leather is more supple than in the Audi. It's very well put together too and gives the impression you will get thousands of rattle free miles out of it, even if the interior panel gaps are not as tight as the Audi.
The seats are rather flat and lack side support and the general design and layout of the cabin does look dated next to its counterpart. it's a bit cold and 'slabby' for lack of a better description. The steering wheel feels very nice in hand and the evening ambient lighting is a big selling point. Very nice.
The Audi interior is as per my comments above. It's extremely well put together, yet there is an overwhelming impression of plastic. And the feel of these plastics could be better. I'm certain Audi has saved some pennies over the materials used in the old A4 and even current A3. The leather is also more rubbery/vinyl in feel, which is rather sad because Audi once had the best standard leather trim out of the 3 Germans.
The seats are extremely comfortable and offer just the right amount of side support without resorting to crushing your rib cage. The design and layout feel at least a generation ahead of the 3-series and does wonders to overcome the rather average materials. It really does make the interior feel and look better than the sum of its parts. The ambient lighting is sufficient but lacks the BMW's wow factor.
Interface:
The I-drive unit is vastly superior to the unit I used in our X5. It responds smoothly and the operator interface is entirely intuitive. There are a few ergonomic bugbears for me though such as the cup holders, volume control knob, usb and auxiliary input placement. But these are obviously not major issues. One big ergonomic glitch I found in the 3-series, and also my previous 1-series, is that the steering wheel obscures much of the speedo when I’ve set a comfortable seating position and steering wheel height. The BMW could also use a more informative and useful interface on a screen in the instrument cluster rather than relying so heavily on the I-Drive display. Audi and Mercedes are much better in this area with useful displays showing information such as radio station frequency, phone numbers, navigation info etc.
The MMI system in the Audi is also a smooth operating system. The placement of all the controls on the transmission tunnel is nice because everything falls easily at hand. That said you do sometimes tend to take your eyes of the road to make sure you’re selecting the right menu in both the BMW and Audi.
The interface is as intuitive as the BMW, but I don't really like the way the commands at the corners of the screen correspond with the 4 unmarked buttons surrounding the main control knob. The way you nudge or twirl BMW's I drive knob or Mercedes Command knob to simply highlight the command/menu makes more sense to me. You never need to take your eyes off the road when doing this.
Both the Audi and BMW could also use a numerical keypad like Mercedes. It may mean a few more buttons on the console but sometimes twirling the knobs to enter numbers can be quite a chore. The circular layout of the alphabet and numbers on the screen on both systems, while better looking from a graphical point of view, is also a bit clumsier than the linear layout used by Mercedes Command.
Appearance:
This offcourse is the most subjective part of the review. But to my eyes the Audi's lines are sublime and those LED headlights glorious to look at. The best LED execution of any car on the road still. IMO offcourse! The stance and proportions are also spot on. And again back to the lines, they really are superb. Simple and sexy yet slightly menacing all at once. The car turns heads to a point where I almost feel a little uncomfortable. I'm going to put the darkest legal tint I can find to help resolve this.
I would love nothing more than to put an amazing set of 19's to complete the look, but I fear the impact they will have on what is already a rather firm riding g car. And the tyres are new anyway.
The LCI of the 3-series has freshened things up quite nicely, but it doesn't have the same allure as the Audi to me. The rear quarters seem a bit heavy and the overall appearance a bit soft. To my eyes it doesn’t pull of the Audi hat trick, being simple, sexy and menacing all at once. I think an M-sports kit and wheels would improve the looks a lot though.
Conclusion:
Both are really great cars with their various pros and cons. I’m happy with my choice in the Audi and I could sit and look at it all day lol.
With a more 'appropriate' engine and nice set of wheels though, I'd be just as happy driving the 3.
Anyhow, here are some I managed to upload:
It's mostly just trim peices rubbing or rattling slightly, but the centre armrest is particularly bad. It's nice that it retracts back and forth and up and down, but the plastic construction has not held up to weight over time and the slightest nudge now will cause it to creak.
