Test Drive

[markwm]

Had a very very short test drive today in a pre facelift car, dynamic pack, sports exhaust. Salesman stated I had to go on a pre determined route and was very short so impossible really to get a proper feel of the car other than some brief initial impressions.

Car had silver leather which looked really grubby after only 4k miles, I couldn't live with it. Goes without saying that it has more power than you'll ever need. Doesn't feel as big as it is. Didn't like the dynamic steering one bit, felt really odd. The biggest thing I came away with was that I was really disappointed with the sound, prefer the higher pitched tighter note in my RS4, but that being said the test drive was that short I didn't have chance to play around with modes or even try it in manual which in hindsight should have been the first thing I did. So I guess I need another test drive.

[wrekka]

Why so short of a test drive? Was the salesman late for a prior engagement!

[markwm]

Salesman was new to the company and new to the job so I think maybe a bit just wanted to make sure the car came back in one piece. Also, he didn't really know anything about the car. Had a drive in a M4 today and the demonstrator knew the car inside out and was a totally different experience.

[RSphantom]

Did you get your RS4 from the same dealer? If so I would be going mental with an offer of such as short test drive

If you get the chance to test one again then before you set off go into the drive select and into individual and change the engine sound to dynamic. You can obviously play with the other options, steering, gearbox, diff etc. but just leave all of them in auto or comfort. You will see the sound will improve

[Chesterfield]

Drop the box into sport mode too (pull back on the shift and gear selection will say S1, S2 etc).

That way you'll get the pops and bangs on overrun if you want.

I set my individual all to dynamic except the suspension. Though I've yet to play with all the settings to see if there are any others I think are netter dropped into comfort while retaining the noise and bangs.

Dropping a cog manually will also bring the pops out too.

I'm yet to tire of that noise.

[markwm]

Got the RS4 from another dealer entirely, I went back to him originally when I was considering the RS6 but he said he can't even got close to the types of discount I want. Only was able to do the 3k+3k.

Today I went to another dealer(within the same group as the one I had the test drive with the other day)...went there with the intention of test driving a used RS5 they had in but got talking to the salesman about the RS6 and he made it clear although they've in the same group as the other dealer, they were totally different. Anyways....

Tried to sell me a bunch of new RS6's on the network that just arrived, didn't discuss prices but the specs were huge so I said don't even bother. Then he put together my spec on the configurator but wouldn't even talk about prices/discounts until I "committed". I explained that I couldn't commit based on the extremely brief test drive I had at the other dealer and asked him to get me an extended test drive. He went away to see if there was a car available and there wasn't, the car I drove at the weekend from the other dealer had been sold apparently and there were none left within the group.

So he tries to sell me the car anyways, I made it clear I'm not committing to anything today without deciding if it's the right car so he said I should go to another dealer(from another group) and arrange a test drive, get them to give me their best price and then come back to him and he will beat it. So he expects other dealers to offer their best price but he won't discuss prices until I commit. Orange wheels offering nearly 15% at the minute, that said they won't even talk to you unless you're 100% committed to the car either.

I've arranged another test drive from a dealer in another group for my own sake. Trying to find a car without dynamic steering to try.

The experience at BMW was fairly simple, specc'd car, long enjoyable test drive with knowledgable demonstrator, offered discount without really asking and given various finance figures to look over, offered a quick build slot in May. Then asked 'what else do I need to complete the deal' giving me an indication of there being more to come off should I choose the BMW.

That's all I wanted from audi really, some figures and a decent test drive so I could come to a decision. Been a while since I bought a car so I forget all this fun stuff.

[PSB1]

That sounds like Portsmouth Audi behaviour to me!

[boff]

For me i'd give epsom a try, i got that bmw experience there - infact a car overnight (rs4) stephen reed was the dude

[markwm]

Drop the box into sport mode too (pull back on the shift and gear selection will say S1, S2 etc).

That way you'll get the pops and bangs on overrun if you want.
.

right got another drive booked, when you say pull the lever back you mean just pull it back toward the rear of the car?

[markwm]

ok so had another test drive today another dealer in another group. Couldn't believe it when the salesman said "You probably know more about the car than me I've only been in the job a few weeks". I don't know why Audi dealers don't have dedicated demonstrators, knowledgable about the cars. Anyways, not to worry as I had a long test drive and was able to get a much better feel of the car, followed the suggestions above, putting engine into dynamic and into sport mode. I figured sport mode would be manual, but it's auto? So I spent most of the drive in manual..

First thought something was loose in the boot then I realised it was the exhaust popping

Sounded much better, still can't hear the engine much but the exhaust is addictive. Must admit I miss a clutch peddle and the ability to play with revs and regulate the sound at will. There's so much settings/options in the RS6, it's slightly bewildering. In my RS4 there's 1 sport button and that's it but that's what I love about it. Not used to driving paddle shift auto's yet.

This RS6 didn't have dynamic steering and was much the better for it. The cabin is lovely, just amazing quality, constantly blowed away by audi's interiors. And the speed of the car is obscene, sometimes I wonder if it was too fast. I had a blast in the car today though, just need to make a decision. Something which I'm crap at. Still a niggle re the RS6 is the size, went down a narrow road with parked cars today and I was unsure of the width of it, and there's also the length. Also I don't know if I'm yet 100% sold on the looks, I've seen a few cars in the flesh now(all of them black), sometimes I thought they looked awesome, other times just meh. Hoping to drive around to see a few more cars in different colours to convince me.

My modest spec comes to around 84k OTR, would hope to get it around 72k. M4 I specced, comes to around 60k. Think it's between these two.