Acura has now completed the transformation of the TSX from a handsome, well-balanced sport sedan that was actually affordable into a bloated, imbalanced, hideous, over-priced crapmobile.
Can someone please explain to me why all the FWD bitching always applies to Acura but never to Audi???
Heritage.
Now, excuse me while I spit whilst saying that.
It's a good point, and I've asked it before: why does Audi get let off the hook for nose-heavy front-drive-derived cars that share DNA with Volkswagens? The only answer I can get is heritage (which applies to Benz and BMW maybe, but not Audi) or that the existence of very large, front-heavy cars with big engines shoehorned into them excuses them from criticism when they throw four rings on a Golf or Passat.
The real reason is snobbery. You can look down your nose at Honda, especially if you own a glitch-ridden German luxury sedan.
WhatTheHel
I certainly don't give them a free pass, and I'd never recomend an Audi over it's VW counterpart to an actual driver. Even with quattro the driving feel is very FWD, if mostly because of engine position.
Audi's are beautiful though, have very, very nice engines and top rate interiors, and they've been fixing the flaw with the newest models apparently (haven't driven the new 40/60 setup myself yet (outside of the R8), so I can't say if it's worked).
The old Acura was solid competition for Audi when it came to FWD handling and feel. I've driven the old TL and too many A4's and 6's to count, the TL was better than the FWD A4's in that respect. The problem is you can get an Audi that dosen't torque steer with quattro and I haven't seen enough SH-AWD Acuras on the road to credit them with the same. Comparing either to a 3-series, as everyone wanted to do with both, was a bad joke though, and discounts any journalist making that opinion known from having their driving impressions taken seriously.
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Acura has now completed the transformation of the TSX from a handsome, well-balanced sport sedan that was actually affordable into a bloated, imbalanced, hideous, over-priced crapmobile.
Because most people buy the quattro model according to my local Audi dealer.
WhatTheHel I certainly don't give them a free pass, and I'd never recomend an Audi over it's VW counterpart to an actual driver. Even with quattro the driving feel is very FWD, if mostly because of engine position. Audi's are beautiful though, have very, very nice engines and top rate interiors, and they've been fixing the flaw with the newest models apparently (haven't driven the new 40/60 setup myself yet (outside of the R8), so I can't say if it's worked). The old Acura was solid competition for Audi when it came to FWD handling and feel. I've driven the old TL and too many A4's and 6's to count, the TL was better than the FWD A4's in that respect. The problem is you can get an Audi that dosen't torque steer with quattro and I haven't seen enough SH-AWD Acuras on the road to credit them with the same. Comparing either to a 3-series, as everyone wanted to do with both, was a bad joke though, and discounts any journalist making that opinion known from having their driving impressions taken seriously.