Just say no to the BMW 325...

Bottom line: dollar for dollar, the Audi A4 is hard to beat in its class. For the same price, you can get either a stripped, under-powered 325 with vinyl 'leatherette' seats without power, or you can get a well-equipped A4 3.0.

After months of test drives and comparison shopping, I bought an A4 3.0 quattro for about $34500. Fully loaded with Bose sound, heated seats, power everything, xenon lamps, climate control, computer, wood, leather, CD changer, etc. The BMW equivalent would be a 330xi for $45000.

Besides the fact that BMW drivers seem to mostly be jerks, the Audi styling has become classic on its own. You can't deny that BMW styling is classic, and its handling it slightly better than Audi's for sport driving. But for real world driving, the Audi is superb and it's design is becoming its own classic.

One of the selling points for the A4 was that Audi has taken special steps to quiet road noise and cabin rattles/squeaks. The fit and finish inside and out are unreal and second to none. After 6 months, the ride is still quiet. Much quieter exhaust than 325xi test drives (but BMW owners usually like loud exhaust!).

I could write a thousand words on the great ride, tight but not rough. Powerful engine (220hp, not 185hp!!), killer sound system, fantastic seats, etc.

The bad: The cup holders are a joke. Audi could learn from Honda in this area! Besides a precarious, small pop-out cup holder that is positioned up high on the dashboard (frightenly above the stereo & climate controls) - the only other cup holders are in the fold-down center armrest. To use these, you have to open up the top of the armrest - so you can use one but not the other.

The auto transmission is nice, but the default shift points in the normal drive position are set to shift at very low rpm to save fuel economy. But this means that if you accelerate progressively, you seem to always be running at too low an rpm, with occasional hard downshifts as the engine tries to keep up. There is a sport shift mode that works very well for the first few gears, but then it tends to avoid going into the high gear at ~45mph. The sport shift option is nice; allows you to do pseudo-manual shifting.

If all wheel drive is important to you, then the 3.0 quattro is a no brainer. Do not even consider a 325xi. The all wheel drive eats up power, and the already under-powered 325 is a dog in the xi version.