Not a fair fight . . . Audi A5 vs BMW 328

**jturner** · 04-08-2012 05:51 PM

Clearly, I'm new here but I wanted to share some thoughts about my 2012 A5 S-Line Cab which my wife purchased for my birthday present (Yes, I'm very lucky!) last week. The week prior we had gone to the Porsche dealer to pick out a 2012 911 but after hours of trying and wishing for a child seat to fit we gave up and headed to the Audi dealer. I had gone back and forth on the A5 vs S5 but at the end of the day my wife and I have 1 mile commutes and just could not justify the added bump in HP for the $ plus with 2 kids I'll feel less bad about the rear-seat dents from the car seats and the cheerios in the A5.

To the point - I've been driving a BMW 328 convertible for almost 3 years now and I have to say it is the biggest piece of garbage out there for the $60K MSRP. The car over its short life has been in the shop for 17 days out of 2.5 years - seems excessive considering my wife's Infiniti had only been in for 2 oil changes over 4 years (goes back to the 1 mile commute mentioned above). The car was brand-new on the showroom floor when I discovered it July 4th weekend 2009. For the first 4 months it was great. Then the problems started. The roof started rattling and would freeze going up or down - back to the shop it went. They fixed it, so they said, and it worked fine for another 3 months. This problem continued until about Oct 2011 and then I think they finially fixed the roof issue. The other issues which included lose window switches and a random driver side window issue oh and I almost forgot the trunk works maybe 3 times a week. Mind you NEVER been in an accident and always taken care of. . . until the Audi arrived then it is all about the Audi.

Over the 80 miles I have driven the Audi - my impressions vs BMW (being objective):

Rating 1-5 Audi A5 BMW 328
Appearance 5 4
Car Seat Fit (front face) 5 4
Car Seat Fit (rear face) 5 3
Dealer 5 0
Entertainment/Nav 3 4
Fuel Economy 5 4
Handling 4 5
Performance 3 4
Rear Seat Room 5 4
Ride Comfort 4 3
Road Noise 3 4
Seat Comfort 5 4
Sound System 5 5
Tires 5 1
Trunk Space - Top Down 4 3
Trunk Space - Top Up 4 5
Overall 70 57

Save yourself the trouble, if you are considering a BMW - don't. You will regret it.

I've attached some side besides for your pleasure. Yes, I have tweaked the grill on the A5. Given that I'm coming from a bright red to a black convertible, I needed to add something :)

**Petes4** · 04-08-2012 06:06 PM

"could not justify the added bump in HP for the $"

Wait a second, a week earlier you were looking at a 2012 porsche 911...?

**GSS5** · 04-08-2012 06:09 PM

congrats. both nice cars. hope you have better luck with the a5 in terms of reliability.

**jturner** · 04-08-2012 06:09 PM

Yes, The Porsche isn't the best for HP for the price either, I just love the car. With a daily drive like mine, 1 mile and 3 lights - it doesn't need to be fast, just a fun car and a rear seat for the kids.

**Beast** · 04-08-2012 06:17 PM

rear seats for the kids? watch what happens when they start growin lol. anyway how did you add those red things to the grill.

**jturner** · 04-08-2012 07:10 PM

Not worried about the kids getting to big I trade often:-) a for the red things, they are just 1/8" standard automobile pin striping. Just trim and apply.