GF looking for a new car - A4 or any of these?

[2012A4Q5Owner]

Yeah, replacing those runflat tires gets old. I know my brother (who makes a healthy 6-figure income) had an SSR and he pissed and moaned when he had to shell out nearly $2000 for a set of tires. He promptly got rid of the car. He could easily afford the tires, but apparently, just because you can afford it doesn't mean you want to spend it. I personally like the acceleration on the BMW more than my A4 (I am hoping an APR ECU update in the future will fix this issue! ). But then again, I am averaging mid 20's for MPG in mostly urban traffic. With my last fill-up costing $4.29/gallon, it makes me glad that I bought an Audi with a 2.0T instead of a BMW with a V6. My last long highway trip I was able to go 479 miles on 14 gallons of gas. Audi also gave us much lower interest rates where other car dealers wanted to give us rates in the teens. That's one of the things that turned me into getting an Audi. BMW was just too picky about your FICO score. On our Q5 we got 2.9% with not so perfect credit through Audi finance. We would have never gotten this vehicle without that. I have not test drove the new BMW's coming out with the 4 cylinder turbo's, so I wonder how those compare. At least Audi has been making 4 cylinder turbo's for a very long time and has learned from previous problems.

[ocean48]

Glad someone look at a subaru. Sorry guy, you could of also look at the forester xt. If you didnt like sti. Evo are fast but not as reliability as subaru.

I got the quattro after i got the 09 subie.

AWD !!!!!!! FTW!!!!!!!!

[bigdadi]

So winter harsh weather in Toronto has no difference with New England's.

First priority : All Wheel Drive is a MUST. Scrap those're not.

Sencond priority : Feel, the only thing you can find out is 'Test Drive'.
If you want longer test drive. Lease take over short term.
http://www.leaseexperts.ca/testimonials.asp

Third priority : Pricing, discount, financing, etc. Rich or not, you won't argue with great deal and save you money.
Best car deals finder in Canada
http://www.auto123.com/en/new-cars/deals/

[2012A4Q5Owner]

If you want a cheap lease with no money down, you can take over somebody else's lease who is looking to get out of it and pay the remaining payments. A friend of mine just did this. He's paying $199/mo. to lease a 2011 Toyota Corolla for his daughter.

http://www.swapalease.com/

Somebody else put the money down. They either lost their job or just wanted out of the lease. He just came in and took over the lease payments. I wish I had known about this before.

I think this would be one of the best way to go. You could constantly keep switching cars with out any down payments. Just take over short term leases right before they are about to end. It's cheaper than renting a car and often much cheaper than car payments. Then you wouldn't have to bother with maintenance and stuff a lot of the time if you got cars that went long term between maintenance, especially with the German cars. Had I know about this site before getting my Audi, I probably would have went this route. I drive about 10,300 miles per year, so cheap leases would be perfect for me. I think I'm averaging 862 miles per month. That's close to what many leases allow. I use the Road Trip app on my iPhone to track miles and gas mileage. Gives me handy stats in a pinch. It's nice being able to track my miles because then I can know exactly the average miles I drive on moment's notice to see if I don't drive too many miles for many of the leases.

[Toronto S5]

Hi everyone... just an update several months later. Just as background for those that didn't read the thread, the GF was looking at a number of new cars, outlined in the OP. We settled on 3 AWD choices:
-2013 328i xDrive
-2013 A4
-2012 IS 250 (no 13 model yet)

and test drove them all.

Short answer is that her order of preference lined up with the pricing... liked the 328 first, A4 second, IS 250 third. Pricing wise, given the discounts on the 2012 IS, it will likely come in after-tax BMW $5k more than the Audi, and the Audi $5k more than the Lexus. We also found a demo Lexus that could also likely go another several thousand lower (10k kms). [Question: how much lower than a new should that demo go?]

We're struggling with this because if they were all the same price, she'd go with the 328 because she just wants a different car than me as we already know the Audi cockpit well as a change of pace. But 2013 A4 is gorgeous. The Lexus remains in the mix due to the 2012 model having some great deals including the demo. The $10k+ difference between the BMW and Lexus just seems huge to justify the Bimmer.

Any additional thoughts at this point from the galley at this point would be really helpful as we're easily swayed... are we missing anything?

[MonzaA5]

Originally Posted by Toronto S5

Audi A4
BMW 328i
Infiniti G25
Infiniti G37
Lexus IS 250
Lexus IS 350
Lexus ES 350
MB C250
MB C300

Thanks very much guys!

Well it looks like you are looking at just about every car in the entry level luxury category. My view on these cars is as follows:

328i: Nice car overall, good handling and comfort, good performance but engine is noisy and not very refined.

C300: nice car, fun to drive (unusual for a MB); facelift interior is a major improvement; smooth engine that's eager to rev and decent power. Exterior design is kind of meh; not bad but not great either.

Lexus IS250: Nice exterior design (not typical for a lexus). Very cramped inside, rear seat space is useless, boring interior, engine is waaaay underpowered. Also, this car has been around for a long time and is approaching the end of its model cycle.

Lexus E350: Overpriced Camry. Enough said.

G25/G35: The G35 has good power but it's not nearly as fast as its 330 hp engine rating would suggest. The G25 is terribly underpowered and slow as hell. Like the IS, this model is approaching the end of its model cycle. Boring exterior, cheap interior, questionable reliability (even compared to german cars)

For me, it would be a choice between the A4 and 328i. If I was planning to keep the car for a long time, I'd probably go with the bimmer simply because it just came out while the A4 is in its 5th model year already.

[MonzaA5]

Originally Posted by Toronto S5

Any additional thoughts at this point from the galley at this point would be really helpful as we're easily swayed... are we missing anything?

If the 328i is too expensive, get her a 320i. Yes, it's not AWD but AWD is not necessary for Toronto winters provided you get winter tires and exercise common sense.

[bigdadi]

GF GF GF ... they only put attention on style and comfort, nothing else, oh one more thing, make sure the 'gas low' light is working. Enuf said.

[Tillse7en]

Two cars I would definitely check out that you haven't mentioned are the new Volvo S60 R design and the new Buick Regal turbo GS.
The GS will now be offered in an auto if she doesn't drive stick.

Good luck in your search.

[Toronto S5]

Well, to close the loop on this for anyone interested since so many of you were helpful here, she/we decided to go with the new 2013 328i xDrive. I'll memorialize our thought process for any others that come across this thread when deciding on a new car.

As mentioned, the other finalists were the 2013 A4 and the 2012 IS 250 AWD.

Lexus IS 250: The IS 250 was the least expensive of the 3, and certainly very comfortable, but as some mentioned, it is coming to the end of its generation lifecycle (new generation in 2014?) and is the least fuel efficient with the V6, so some of the cost is eaten away there. The backseat was also the smallest and not the most practical.

Pros: least expensive, very comfortable and felt reliable, interior felt very nice (not cheap at all as some mentioned)
Cons: end of generation, least fuel efficient, probably the least aesthetically pleasing on the outside, backseat cramped


Audi A4: We ultimately stopped looking at the A4 because I already drive an Audi and we wanted something different. Some will disagree with that concept, some will agree. In any case, she may well have picked the A4 notwithstanding that.
Pros: interior is still second to none, MMI looks great, new LEDs, value for price is outstanding
Cons: driving was not as "fun" as the 328, already have one Audi between us (for us)

BMW 328i xDrive: The winner for us ended up being the 328i, on the back of a new generation 3 series that looked and drove great. I think the exterior looks outstanding, narrowly edging the A4 (looks way more aggressive than the last 3 series). There's obviously some excitement around a new generation and the car was the most fuel efficient. That being said, it was the most expensive of the 3 and we still struggle with whether it was worth it.
Pros: she liked the driving experience the most, new generation, most fuel efficient, new exterior looks the best in our view
Cons: most expensive of the 3, interior still feels sparse and not as nice as the other two (little things like no digital speedometer)

At the end of the day, our call was made in large part due to already having an Audi, and the Bimmer felt way better than the Lexus in many ways, though far more expensive. Had we not already had the Audi, I think we (she!) would have opted for the A4 because it was a bit cheaper and offered superior interior. That said, the new F30 3 series is a real looker!

Thanks again for everyone's help.