[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by sr2002

Yes, I realize that I will only get 3 more years and about 39,000miles of the whole coverage. I'm seeing some Audio A4s in the 30,000$ range with better equipment. Is the BMW warranty/maintenance coverage better than Audi's ? As far as out of pocket cost over the next lets say 3-4 years?

The maintenance coverage is better, because Audis don't include maintenance. But the fact is not much maintenance is usually required in the first 50,000 miles.

One reason BMWs cost more is that rwd engineering is more expensive to build than fwd. If fwd v rwd doesn't matter to you then Audi could be the better choice. BMW puts a lot of money into how it designs its cars and that also makes them more expensive to build. Their reputation also has more market demand, so that keeps their prices higher.

[tturedraider]

Just for fun http://shopautobahn-bmw.ebizautos.co...x?iid=15047118 a loaded M Sport model. You could probably get it for $28k - $29k. It would be fun!

[sr2002]

I see what you are saying. But like I said, coming from a 2002 Camry .. lol .. pretty much anything is going to Wow me. Its understandable when coming from a BMW/Audi background that one what notice small differences in driving dynamics and ergonmoics of the car. But in my case apart from performance, my other criteria is also I would like some at least basic options and less money spent out of pocket for atleast a couple of years of ownership.

With beemers at the 2015 30k mark I am not able to find a single 328i with Xenon or even leather seats. Granted the engine and performance was amazing. But on the other hand I saw this:

http://www.audiplano.com/certified/A...2d85047446.htm

and

http://www.audiplano.com/certified/A...b692be44d1.htm

Both have standard Xenon lights and leather seats on top of some other stuff. The second one is about 2500$ expensive than the 2015 328i I posted earlier, but its only got 1800miles, has AWD, Leather, Premium Plus and sport package lol .. that seems like a hard to beat value in my opinion for that price. I'm sure I'll be able to talk them down a little as my last visit to Audi didnt go too well and they sent me an apollogy email. I may be able to to get it down to the same price as the 2015 328i.

What would be the best way choose here? Am I missing something that BMW offers that Audi might not and visa-aversa ? ... Sorry if I'm sounding all over the place, but I'm really nervous as this is a very big decision for me being a new grad

[der_kommissar]

In all honesty, you should look at a recent cpo A3. If you don't need a large back seat you'll find a lot to like in that car, especially if you can find one under 30k with the 2.0. Personally, I would prefer a 320 to the 1.8t A3 for the extra room for my family alone, but I also recognize the A3 will have more features. Take your time wth this. Drive an A3, an A4, and I'd even suggest a 2015 or newer Volvo S60. All will be better deals if that matters. Once you drive rwd, though, it's hard to go back.

[der_kommissar]

Also- the cpo A4s you will find right now are on a very old platform. The 2017 is a big improvement.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by sr2002

I see what you are saying. But like I said, coming from a 2002 Camry .. lol .. pretty much anything is going to Wow me. Its understandable when coming from a BMW/Audi background that one what notice small differences in driving dynamics and ergonmoics of the car. But in my case apart from performance, my other criteria is also I would like some at least basic options and less money spent out of pocket for atleast a couple of years of ownership.

With beemers at the 2015 30k mark I am not able to find a single 328i with Xenon or even leather seats. Granted the engine and performance was amazing. But on the other hand I saw this:

http://www.audiplano.com/certified/A...2d85047446.htm

and

http://www.audiplano.com/certified/A...b692be44d1.htm

Both have standard Xenon lights and leather seats on top of some other stuff. The second one is about 2500$ expensive than the 2015 328i I posted earlier, but its only got 1800miles, has AWD, Leather, Premium Plus and sport package lol .. that seems like a hard to beat value in my opinion for that price. I'm sure I'll be able to talk them down a little as my last visit to Audi didnt go too well and they sent me an apollogy email. I may be able to to get it down to the same price as the 2015 328i.

What would be the best way choose here? Am I missing something that BMW offers that Audi might not and visa-aversa ? ... Sorry if I'm sounding all over the place, but I'm really nervous as this is a very big decision for me being a new grad

You're not missing anything. On a technical level Audis don't handle quite like BMWs, but, as you indicate, that may not matter all that much to you at this point. Audis are very nice cars.

I'll say one thing about the first one you posted, it has a CVT/Continuously Variable Transmission. You may not like that.

Originally Posted by der_kommissar

In all honesty, you should look at a recent cpo A3. If you don't need a large back seat you'll find a lot to like in that car, especially if you can find one under 30k with the 2.0. Personally, I would prefer a 320 to the 1.8t A3 for the extra room for my family alone, but I also recognize the A3 will have more features. Take your time wth this. Drive an A3, an A4, and I'd even suggest a 2015 or newer Volvo S60. All will be better deals if that matters.

Agreed.

[sr2002]

THanks for that advice, that is good to know. And I understand how this would be from an enthusiast perpective .. for example I consider myself an Audiophile (I think), so I recently bought a Rotel stereo receiver + pair of paradigm bookshelves for like 4000$ ... lol but I could have easily acheived a better overall system with higher connectivity and more 'Features' for less than that if would have went for Bose/Sonos/ or something like that ... I hope you understand my point ...

So in this case I'm basically looking for a Bose ..(which is a terrible example) .. which will have good basic configuration and decent if not the best performance for the dollar haha ... Sorry couldn't think of a better analogy...

I don't know if the admin minds this being a mixed BMW/Audi conversation, but I would appreciate some info on the 2015 A4, from a technical standpoint since you mentioned the 2017 is a newer platform, is there any knows issues with the 2015 platform as compared to the 2015 328i ?
One advantage with audio may be (and I Dont know yet), they might be able to give me some good discount I'm hoping, as I got a bad experience with them the last time I was there and I ended up writing a bad review for their dealership. They said they were ready to renegotiate with me.

[tturedraider]

The new A5 won't be here for a while. The June issue of Car and Driver has a review of the new A4.

This is old, but you might find it interesting - http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...mparison-tests , there's a video with the written article.

[sr2002]

Sorry that was a type I meant the A4. Since people are mentioning the b8 platform is at the end of life and now the 2017 has the b9. Also the cvt vs 8speed transmission

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by sr2002

Sorry that was a type I meant the A4. Since people are mentioning the b8 platform is at the end of life and now the 2017 has the b9. Also the cvt vs 8speed transmission

The new A4 has either the CVT on fwd cars or a seven speed dual clutch automatic on the awd cars.

[Noodlesz]

I picked up my first bmw 2013 328i last week 38k mi, $20k. Navi and Moonroof, not much else.

Didn't realize they didn't come without alarms, and mine didn't have xenons. I was more bothered not having an alarm than anything else. Not being able to see my text messages on idrive is annoying too but not major.

But if I am going to spend near 30k I'd make sure has xenon, alarm, amongst other things.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by Noodlesz

I picked up my first bmw 2013 328i last week 38k mi, $20k. Navi and Moonroof, not much else.

Didn't realize they didn't come without alarms, and mine didn't have xenons. I was more bothered not having an alarm than anything else. Not being able to see my text messages on idrive is annoying too but not major.

But if I am going to spend near 30k I'd make sure has xenon, alarm, amongst other things.

BMWs are VERY difficult to steal. Don't worry too much about not having an alarm.

[Noodlesz]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

BMWs are VERY difficult to steal. Don't worry too much about not having an alarm.

I'm not worried about them stealing the car. It's the stuff inside like my quarters they like to take.

And without the chirp it's hard to tell if the car is locked.

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by Noodlesz

I'm not worried about them stealing the car. It's the stuff inside like my quarters they like to take.

And without the chirp it's hard to tell if the car is locked.

You think an alarm is going to stop someone from smashing your window to steal your quarters??

It's pretty darn easy to tell if the car is locked without a chirp. If the lights flash, you locked your car when you hit the lock button on the fob. If your lights don't flash when you hit the button on the fob--well, that just means the car was already locked.