OK, I'll come clean right up front. I've been driving BMWs for over 25 years but recently decided to give Audi a shot. Traded my 335d for an A4 Quattro. I'm now considering an A6 but keep going back to the BMW 5 series. I posted on bimmerfest and of course got a lot of feedback telling how much better the BMW is compared to the Audi. I'd like to hear from some Audi owners. What do you think? The obvious advantage Audi has is price on a comparably equipped car. The BMW obvious advantage is residual price, it is considerably higher that Audi. For this reason I am thinking seriously about a '12 or '13 CPO Audi. I would be interested in your thoughts.

 

Audi has come a long way in closing the gap between them and BMW. In October I just purchased a 2013 A6 3.0T Quattro Premium Plus and absolutely love it. I have zero complaints. I had every intention on going and checking out the 5 series BMWs as well. I never made it off the lot. The new A6s outperform the 5 series BMWs in just about every category per articles and videos I watched by Car & Driver, Road & Track. The one downside to Audi is that the maintenance is not included in the price like BMW (oil changes, etc...) They do have an Audi care package for $820 that covers all routine maintenence up to 45 or 50k miles. Take an A6 for a test drive, you wont regret it. Great car so far.

 

How is the ride with the sport pkg? I've shopped around and have yet to find an A6 on the lot with the sport pkg. My A4 has the sport pkg and I really like the way it handles and the sport seats are awesome. The wife complains they are too firm but I like them. I'm negotiating on a CPO car but it does not have the SP. It does have the nougat brown interior that I want along with P+ and CWP.

 

Considering this is the first luxury car per say that I have owned, I really like the handling and ride in the sports package. I used to drive a F-250 with a lift and oversized tires so I really dont have any previous experience with performance vehicles. I too have the Nougat brown interior and I am very happy with it. It is very sporty and classy looking.

 

I have finally figured out how to attach some pictures. Here are a few of my A6. Its funny, Im wondering if I should have saved up more and gone with the S6.... That would probbably get me into trouble. I see that you are retired Army. Thank you for your service!!!

My only regret to this day was not joining the service. I was seriously considering joining the Marines out of highschool in '91. The first Gulf War was winding down and my mom, being a mom, persuaded me not to do it.

 

Your car is awesome. I drove an A6 3.0T today with SP and 20" wheels. Was pleasantly surprised that it rode very well. Switching from Comfort to Dynamic mode was really cool as you could definitely feel the suspension tighten and the engine and tranny going into a performance mode by holding each gear longer. I need to go back to the BMW dealer again and drive the 535 again. I am leaning toward the A6 at this point. The leasing figures from BMW are very attractive to the point that it costs the same to lease a $65K 535 as a $58K Audi.

 

I am curious to see if you ever went and test drove the 535? I wanted to get your opinion on how they compared head to head. The 535 was the other car I was going to go look at.

 

I did drive both the 535ixdrive and a 528ixdrive. I like the Audi better and ended up buying an A6 2.0T Quattro Prem+. Power was adequate and handling was actually better than the 3.0 in my opinion. I couldn't justify the $6K price increase for the 3.0. I got a very nicely equipped A6 Prem+ for $47K including the $1500 Loyalty Cash. A comparably equipped BMW 5 series with AWD would cost close to $10K more than the Audi. Supposed to pick it up in a couple days as my dealer had to get it from another dealer as I wanted a specific color combo (White/nougat).