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WhatCar? 330d SE Coupé
07.08.2007 |
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LOOKING BACK, IT’S unbelievable we’ve had to wait
11 years for a contest like this. Audi may have been
launching new models here, there and everywhere
– loudly blowing the premium-brand trumpet in the
process – but for some reason it has left the sports-GT coupé market alone since 1996.
No longer. Audi’s new A5 is nothing less than an assault on the stronghold that is BMW’s 3 Series Coupé, and the people who created it have gone to elaborate lengths to ensure their car won’t enter the fray under-armed. Engines have been uprated and chassis layouts rearranged in an effort to ensure the A5 can challenge the BMW as a driver’s car. Buy a four-wheel-drive quattro A5 and you also get a rearward-biased power split in a further attempt to replicate the BMW’s feel.
So, here they are at last, and it’s a sign of the times that we’ve opted for diesels: A5 3.0 TDI with a 3.0-litre V6 engine and standard quattro drive, versus BMW 330d SE Coupé with a 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder driving the rear wheels.
WHAT ARE THEY LIKE TO DRIVE?
A quick (and unscientific) poll on which of these cars is the best looking – a crucial element with coupés – produced mixed reactions. Some say the A5 is elegant; others think it bland. The BMW excites less-passionate comment either way.
On the crucial issue of driving ability, though, the 330d is a clear winner, having a balance and precision the A5 can’t match. The BMW’s front wheels point it into a corner and the rears push it round, and thanks to modern suspension and tyre technology plus electronic stability aids, it stays marvellously planted on the road.
Still, the A5 puts up a better fight than any other compact Audi within recent memory (hotshoe RS4 excepted). It’s actually the more taut of the two through bends and over crests, and taken in isolation gives little cause for complaint. On fast, flowing roads it’s a match for the BMW, and thanks to its four-wheel-drive system it’s the more confidence-inspiring in the wet. It just lacks the BMW’s final degree of agility.
Our Audi came with the £1300 option of 19-inch wheels, a set-up that’s too aggressive for UK roads. It’s never less than firm – punishingly so where there are sharp breaks in the surface. The 3 Series, equipped with standard run-flat tyres on 17-inch rims, has not always been universally praised for its ride quality, but it’s the more forgiving here.
It’s no surprise to find remarkably similar performance figures for the two engines. The Audi has 237bhp and 370lb ft of pull; the BMW 231bhp and 370lb ft. The Audi develops its maximum pull a couple of hundred revs earlier, though, and feels a little stronger and more driveable – odd, as the BMW actually turns in fractionally more impressive acceleration figures on the move.
The Audi’s engine is the more refined – it’s barely audible even when accelerating strongly, whereas the BMW’s is always there in the background – but there are other refinement issues. With the A5, wind noise starts earlier and there’s a high-pitched drumming that’s either suspension- or tyre-related. There’s road noise with the BMW at times, too, but it’s less severe.
WHAT ARE THEY LIKE TO LIVE WITH?
Both these cars are nominally four-seaters with passenger and luggage space that elevates them to the role of sporting grand tourer. At heart, though, they are best enjoyed by two people.
The A5’s dash is a fusion of what we’ve come to expect from Audi. Everything is there to delight, from the soft-touch plastics and beaten aluminium trim to lovely details like the sprung clips that hold drinks in the cupholders.
The driving position is faultless, too, although the stout windscreen pillars and narrow rear window block crucial areas of your view. You start the car with a button (as in the BMW), release the handbrake with a switch and perform many routine functions through Audi’s instinctive MMI central controller.
It’s equally hard to fault the fastidiousness of the BMW, although it’s not such a model of clarity. Its instruments are harder to read, and the iDrive system that does the same things as Audi’s MMI is more complex. The arms that proffer the seatbelts to front seat occupants are a nice touch, though, and there’s a more airy ambience within the cabin.
The BMW can at least justifiably call itself a four-seater. Crucially, it has an extra inch or so of head- and legroom in the back, and that turns it into a genuine grand tourer, whereas the Audi is more of a two-plus-two. Access to the rear of the BMW is also easier. Both cars have luggage areas befitting GTs, but the Audi’s is bigger and neater – the BMW’s is afflicted by intrusion from the wheelarches. In both cars you can lower the rear seats.
WILL THEY BREAK THE BANK?
Audi’s premium-brand ambitions extend to premium pricing, and though the A5 goes some way to justifying its £1210 disadvantage (four-wheel drive is the most obvious feature it has over the BMW), there’s no denying that, for now at least, it will be the more costly to run.
For a start, the BMW has been around for a while and prices have found their true market level, whereas Audi dealers are insisting on full whack.
The Audi will hit you harder on company car tax, too. That quattro drive system and the 85kg weight handicap it imposes hurts economy and emissions: a 330d driver will be some 4mpg and four tax bands better off than someone in the A5 3.0 TDI. When you consider you are also paying tax on a higher list price with the Audi, the BMW is the clear winner in financial terms.
There are three crucial requirements for cars like these. They have to look good, drive well and accommodate four people on the odd occasion.
In two of those aspects – ability and space – the BMW holds inarguable advantages. When you
also take into account the BMW’s considerable price-and-costs advantage, the result is clear-cut.
As for which looks better, that’s down to you.
1st - BMW 330d Coupé SE
FOR Pace; handling; genuine four-seat GT capacity; running costs
AGAINST Nondescript looks; awkward boot; iDrive central control unit
VERDICT Maybe not the most stylish, but enjoyable to drive – and the more sensible of the two
2nd - Audi A5 3.0TDI quattro
FOR Lovely V6; stylish cabin; security of 4wd
AGAINST Not roomy enough in back; noisey, lumpy ride on 19" wheels; costly
VERDICT A good enough drive, but not a genuine grand tourer. Nice to look at, but expensive to own.