Well ya. I don't have $30g just lying around.
Anyway, I just got back. I test drove 2009 Audi A4, 2009 Mercedes C300, 2009 BMW 328xi, 2008 Acura TL Type-S, and a 2008 Lexus IS 250. If I had to rank them they'd be go follows:
1a&b. Audi A4 and Mercedes C300
2. Acura TL Type-S
3a&b. BMW 328xi and Lexus IS 250
I was extremely disappointed in the BMW, only because the engine in that car was absolute shit. The throttle response was completely lifeless. The triptronic feature helped it perform better, but it had zero horsepower and the suspension and steering felt like garbage as well. It was also the only one out of the lot that didn't have a headsup display for the stereo/nav/dvd etc. It had pretty much every other feature imaginable however. It's really hard for me to believe this since I'm such a huge BMW fan, but this particular car wasn't worth purchasing.
My favorites by far were the Audi A4 and the Mercedes C300. I loved the way both of them drove and handled. The Audi was a quattro with a shiftable automatic transmission just like every other new car nowadays, but it came with the steering wheel mounted shifter paddles, which was extremely fun. That's the first time I've ever used those shifter paddles and it was just as much fun as I had imagined. All I had to do w as mash the throttle and blip the paddle and it shifted very quickly and extremely smoothly, I was impressed. It shifted way faster than I could have with a manual transmission. I test drove the A4 with the 2.0 liter turbocharged engine, which if driven conservatively will average around 30 mpg, which is really nice. The interior was plush and had all of the standard features I'm looking for.
The Mercedes was right there with the Audi. That car is loaded with all kinds of standard features and crazy little technology features that I was blown away with. Granted I knew all this before checking the car out but it was still cool to see in person and mess around with. It was the only car with an adjustable suspension and engine feature. There's a button on the center console with a C and S and arrows pointing to both, which is the comfort and sport setting button. Basically what it does is, when you engage the sport mode it stiffens the suspension slightly, gives you better steering response, and increases the throttle response, which was cool as fuck man. The changes were subtle but noticeable enough for me to like it. Oh, and the sound of that engine is phenomenal. It was very deep and bellowing when you slammed on the gas. Man, that thing was fucking nice.
As far as the technological features, the coolest one I thought was the vents under the rear bumper that catches air and expels it from these slits in the taillights, which gives the rear of the car more down force, which is a fucking ingenious feature since the car was RWD. I mentioned this to the hot blonde that was my "Client Advisor" aka the saleswoman that I was assigned, and she had no clue about that feature. I went off telling her how Mercedes added microscopic pieces of ceramic to the paint to make it more chip resistant, and how all of the buttons have been tested to take the same amount of pressure to engage, etc. She had no clue about any of this which didn't really surprise me, none of the "salespeople" I talked to today had any idea about any of these cars. But anyway, that Merc was awesome. Oh, it was the only car I've ever seen that has actually made the headliner, pillar covers, etc, all black. The entire interior was blacked out and looked sexy as hell. Pretty much the same thing I just did to the RSX, except mine is better looking because I used high quality black suede.
As for the other cars, the Acura TL was nice and had all the features I was looking for. The only problem was it was a four cylinder and FWD, which is exactly what I'm looking to get away from. So even though it was higher rated imo to the Lexus and BMW, I wouldn't buy it.
The Lexus was nice, it had all the features I was looking for, but like the BMW had no balls at all. The interior of it was really nice and well laid out. I just couldn't see myself driving that car. It's a freakin Lexus for crying out loud.
I think I'm going to have to check out a different model of BMW though. I just couldn't believe how badly that car drove. I need to find me a 335i which has a twin-turboed 3.0 liter and a sport feature.
