Shopping Experience Number 2

"CompactLuxuryFan" (compactluxury) 07/06/2019 at 21:14 • Filed to: None

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Having !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! over at the Mercedes-Benz dealer, I figured I should poke Audi and see if I should keep on having a four ring emblem in the garage.

I have taken my A4 into Audi San Francisco for service and popped by their showroom a couple of times (they’re in two different locations), so I already had a bad taste in my mouth from them. However, I have had great experiences at Audi Palo Alto before, so I knew if was possible to have a great Audi dealer experience relatively close to my house.

The SQ5 competes with the GLC 43 and is the natural choice for me to check out. It’s a great size, very handsome, and I love Audi’s current interiors and overall feel. Even with my dislike of blacked out cars, the black on black one Audi Palo Alto had in their showroom looked amazing, and I loved sitting down in it. It felt much more compact and less trucky/sportier than the GLC.

It looked great, from any angle the exhaust fakery wasn’t visible, that is. This is what kills the SQ5 for me.

I’m not even that bothered by the actual exhaust tips not exiting out the bumper with nice shiny tips. But the fake plastic molded into the bumper just looks extremely tacky and cheap. Completely out of step with the rest of the car. To me, the whole thing is ruined by this and I would not want a current SQ5 in my garage (I still love the previous gen).

Luckily, there’s another car in Audi’s lineup that is well (possibly better) suited to my wants: the S5 Sportback. And that’s what I was actually down there to drive.

First, the bad news: doing an inventory search for S5 Sportbacks had already been a complete bust, as *every* car in the Bay Area was either black, white, or gray. What’s more, it seems 99% of Prestige (the top trim) S5s are optioned with the carbon fiber interior trim, which is only available on the higher trims and replaces the standard brushed aluminum, which I much prefer. To add insult to injury, it’s hard to find S5s without the black optics package, which I don’t particularly care for. Combine all of this with the relative scarcity of S5 Sportbacks (relative to the SQ5 at least), and it’s a car I pretty much knew I would have to order.

Pictured is the specific one they had available to drive, a black on black Prestige (loads of goodies but costs $8,100), with, among other things, the S Sport package (adaptive dampers and a sport rear differential), “dynamic steering” (some electronic trickery with the rack), four rings logo projectors on the bottom of the doors (okay), the Black Optics package (chrome deletion and those 20" wheels with summer tires), and the carbon fiber interior bits.

I set off and immediately I could tell two things:

The interior is better than the GLC 43's, even if I don’t like the carbon fiber

I prefer the more “car-like” driving experience

Audi Palo Alto was awesome as always. The sales guy was not pushy in the least and was actually concerned about me getting to know the car and determining whether I would be happy with one.

I came out thinking I definitely prefer the S5 over the GLC 43. It just felt less truckish and more manageable. Lighter and nimbler. And Audi’s current interiors are truly wonderful and aging well. I really enjoyed the virtual cockpit and overall MMI experience. When we got in the car, it was low on gas and automatically brought up a list of gas stations we could navigate to, which I thought was cool. I do that all the time on Waze.

However, there were some problems with it:

The interior is aging well style-wise, but I would have liked a touchscreen. The MMI update for the A4 and S5 will be very welcome next year.

The “top view camera system” included in the Prestige package wasn’t all that great. I think it may have made parking harder than without it, and you couldn’t zoom in on any of the cameras except the rear one, which itself was more of a hassle than it should have been thanks to the lack of a touch screen.

The trunk was surprisingly small.

Giving it the beans when getting onto the highway was kinda... disappointing. The digital tach is cool and the 8-spd auto behaves well, but the shove I was expecting just wasn’t there. I don’t know if there was something about this particular example, but it felt noticeably slower than my 335. If I’m going for something 10 years newer, I’m hoping to at least get something as quick as what I have now. And by publication numbers it does look like Audi’s current 3.0T is outgunned by the direct competition.

I’m also hoping for a ground clearance/approach and departure angle improvement, and I’m not sure this low “coupe” would give me much of it.

The biggest dislike about the car itself for me was actually a minor nit I have about the interior. This may be weird to many, but one of the features I love the most about both my dad and my brother’s automatic Audis is the “auto hold” feature they have. It was one of the first things I looked for in the S5's interior. I was shocked to just find a blank sitting right in the middle of the cabin where I though it must be supposed to be. On a fully loaded one, too!

Auto hold will hold the brakes when you come to a stop, holding the car still and effectively negating the automatic transmission’s crawl, allowing you to relax without holding any pedal when, say, stopped at a red light. To set off, you just roll onto the gas and the brakes let go. In Audis world-over, you can activate and deactivate it with a button right by the electronic parking brake lever, like pictured here:

On US-spec cars, however...

A horrible blank!

I hadn’t been able to quickly locate the feature on the GLC (not sure if it has it), so I figured there must be some silly US regulation that prevents this wonderful (for city drivers, at least) feature to come here. But then I remembered I’ve seen this button on a Honda HR-V, of all things! Why the hell did Audi remove it for the S5??? Who knows what else they took out! For US B7 A4s like the one I own, you have to have it coded in order to be able to roll the windows down or up from the fob. Moves like these make no sense to me, so I can only see them as Audi saving a couple of bucks. And that’s not the obvious corner-cutting experience I’m looking for when shopping for a luxury vehicle.

Another big problem I have with the S5 is that Audi just doesn’t seem to want to sell them. The sales guy was able to track down a lovely blue S5 Sportback optioned like I would want down in San Diego, so he ran numbers for me. The S5 Sportback and SQ5 are priced pretty much on top of each other. But for some reason, Audi will throw an extra $3,000 at SQ5 buyers vs S5 buyers (at least at the exact time I was looking). The blue car in San Diego had already been sitting on the lot for 100 days! How am I supposed to pay a $3,000 premium for real exhaust tips?

Thus, the search continues...

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > CompactLuxuryFan 07/06/2019 at 21:39

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These posts are great. Though I don’t see myself being in a similar position, I can really feel your pain shopping among luxury makes and finding frustrating flaws at high price points.

E-class wagon maybe? Car-like (it’s a car!), luxurious, and plenty of cargo.

412GTI > CompactLuxuryFan 07/06/2019 at 22:51

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Great write up, I enjoyed the GLC one as well. I glad I’m not alone on my dislike of carbon fiber trim. Like I get it looks cool and “sporty” but for that money I just can’t stop thinking it looks like cheap plastic. I’d rather have the metal or wood trim.

I think the S5 seems like a great choice for you but understand the dislikes. I could see it as a car to replace my GTI eventually. Funny  my dads Accord has the auto hold feature. I had a hard time trusting it during the few times I’ve driven it but bet you get used to that.

DarkCreamyBeer > CompactLuxuryFan 07/06/2019 at 22:55

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I bought this  Quantum Gray S5 coupe with black optics in May replacing my B8 A4. I love it. Gray over black wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I love this non metallic gray. I’ve got the carbon interior trim and like it a lot better than the aluminum in my old car, which scratched easily.

FWIW I’m into Audis now mostly because the dealership experience for me has been much superior to the other Germans and the Japanese brands. Part of this is that I do business with the 2 Jim Ellis group Audi dealerships in Atlanta, but I do think Audi is ahead on the overall customer experience in general.

superdave847 > CompactLuxuryFan 07/06/2019 at 22:57

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Funny regional story—sort of—at least telling. My buddy bought a S5 sport-back from Plaza Motors here in St. Louis, but had to wait a few weeks for it to be shipped in from Nashville, because that was the only one in the midwest available with the black optics package that he wanted.

Clearly you need to be in the midwest and he needs to be in California.

In anywise, it’ s a beautiful car. Way cooler than a GLC 43 or SQ5.

For my money in that SUV market, I would get the BMW X4 M40i in that dark blue with the M colors stitched in the leather—but no, I haven’t thought about this at all.

DarkCreamyBeer > DarkCreamyBeer 07/06/2019 at 23:03

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Btw: my car’ s windows go down with a double-click then hold on the fob, if you are within about 10 feet. It also still has hill hold, they just don’t give you a switch to turn it off because Americans can’t be trusted.

WilliamsSW > CompactLuxuryFan 07/07/2019 at 01:49

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  The GLC should have auto hold - my 2014 E class has it, as did a recent CLA loaner . No buttons to turn it on/ off - you just give the brake a little extra push after you stop. Perhaps the Audi works the same way?

When I drove the S5 sportback, I loved the interior materials, but was pretty underwhelmed by the rest of it.

Good luck!

CompactLuxuryFan > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/07/2019 at 14:03

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The E-class is more than 10" longer than the (surprisingly short) GLC. A little narrower (also surprising?), but I think it’s way too big for me. Which is fortunate because those things are awesome but they don’t start until a couple of grand over where a GLC 43 tops out, so they’re definitely out of my price range.

By far the biggest flaw looking in my price range is that the S4, C43, and M340i wagons aren’t brought here!

CompactLuxuryFan > WilliamsSW 07/07/2019 at 14:11

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Hmm that’s an interesting theory! I mentioned it to the salesman and described the feature and he had no idea what I was talking about so I doubt the Audis have that. In any case, I think I’d rather have the button, especially if they’re just gonna leave a blank there.

CompactLuxuryFan > superdave847 07/07/2019 at 14:13

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I’m guessing the real regional difference there is the summer tires that come with the package. Fine in California, not so much in the midwest.

BMW was up next on my test drive list, so you’ll be hearing my thoughts on that at some point.

CompactLuxuryFan > DarkCreamyBeer 07/07/2019 at 14:15

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The auto hold feature is different from the hill holder. It’s meant to be used even on flat ground, and will hold the car indefinitely . I don’t think Audi has it in the US. Does your car also have a blank next to the parking brake?

WilliamsSW > CompactLuxuryFan 07/07/2019 at 14:45

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I really like the way it works on the Mercedes, but I also hate blank buttons.

Mazda has it, but it’s weird that Audi doesn’t. Though Lexus doesn’t have it either.

superdave847 > CompactLuxuryFan 07/07/2019 at 15:06

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There are probably Estoril blue F30 wagons about with a manual still. That would be a dream.

CompactLuxuryFan > superdave847 07/07/2019 at 15:25

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The F30 Touring (F31) never came here with a manual (or without xDrive... or with six cylinders ). I’m pretty sure there are no Estoril brand new ones left, and the F30 platform is too old to pay new car prices for anyway. If I went the used route again I would probably look for an X3 35i with the M-sport package. Facelift F31s do look absolutely amazing, though. They’re pretty common in San Francisco, lucky for me.

DarkCreamyBeer > CompactLuxuryFan 07/07/2019 at 15:27

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Yes