[Iyencar]

All the on paper specs went out the window when your dad took a pic with the frameless door. The A4’s better ride quality is of no use if your mom’s feet are dangling on a Mumbai Pune ride. The 40 nm less torque is of no use when you’re stuck at Times of India junction for 40 minutes and RWD is pointless when you’re weaving in and out between autos and ST buses. It’s not like you hate the BMW and your parents are clearly thrilled by it and more comfortable in it. Go for the 2 series.

[dieselhead01]

Hey, having driven both of the engines for quite some time, I could assure you I found the beamer’s 2.0 litre turbo petrol easily superior in my opinion. The EA888 gen3B from the Audi A4, the same engines used in the Superb, Tiguan, Kodiaq and a few other VAG cars hasn’t impressed me at all from the performance standpoint. Wherein the petrol beamer was very punchy from the get go and would never bore the enthusiast in you, and since you’re going to be the one who’s behind the wheel 85% of the time, 220i is a wiser choice. But not to forget, the A4 is far more practical, and looks understated and neat, extremely refined and plush. But if I were you, I’d pick the 220i, ‘to each his own’.

Cheers

[smile_plzz]

Originally Posted by kal-el

Hence quite the dilemma. We are going for a longer test drive tomorrow with both the cars back to back so will add more information about it tomorrow.The car will be mostly used by me(85%) and my parents will be chauffeured if they have to go somewhere which would be very rare. There's more chances of us going out to dinners and long drives together where dad will be in the front passenger seat. Also dad says we will keep the car for 5 years and maybe upgrade again. So I look to you, esteemed BHP members to remove my bias and point me in the right direction. I have some experience I want to highlight about the individual showrooms I visited but this has gone long enough, a different post maybe.

I just went through the same dilemma. In my case, it was BMWX5 vs Audi Q7. I decided to go with Audi for facts that I was getting 1-2 class higher car at same price. Audi Q7 matched the price of X3. It wasn't that I couldn't pay for X5 but my business mind didn't allow to pay 30-35% higher for similar product.

After lot of research, I found Audi's to be very reliable in terms of maintenance cost and frequency of issues. Not though BMW has bad track record but my research indicated higher cost of maintenance of BMW. They were a right mix of BMW's driving pleasure and Merc's comfort/interiors. I had tough time convincing my family for Audi (Branding!!) but I guess your family in on board with that, so one lesser issue to solve for you. I believe if you go for A4, you should be able to negotiate somewhere between 50-51.

But Do look at importance aspect of boot space and ground clearance. As soon as you will go out of Mumbai city, low ground clearance will hit you (literally!!).

But everyone decision making has different dynamics, so it's your and your families personal choice. You are young blood, your emotions are more likely to play strong role than logic in your decision making process. You can afford to be emotional now and take more pragmatic/calculated choices in future.

[Auto spawn]

Been in the same boat as you! Same age, same family scenario!

Having experienced both of these cars, I would recommend you to simply go for the 2 series, it’s something your parents love and at the same time, you’ve found it fun to drive. It’s a modern, good-looking car that’s not at all common on our Mumbai roads, it’s simply a big head-turner!
Coming to the A4: yes, while it does belong to a segment above, I feel it’s a bit outdated looking and the interiors need an overdue refresh. Service also remains a concern with Audi from what I’ve been hearing from some owners.

[gursartaj]

Hey, I would like to add some perspective to this debate.

I owned a BMW X1 2016 S-drive (sold in January '22) and replaced that with a MY21 Audi A4.

I know the A4 is a newer car in comparison but the overall fit and finish was far beyond my own BMW.

As everyone said, the 2 series is a segment below and is an entry-level model. After having been through the ownership, I wouldn't want to own another for a while.

The Audi A4 is a much smoother experience, it's super comfortable and i genuinely never get tired of driving it. I bought the BMW thinking I'll enjoy the performance but I barely ever tested it.

BMW service and maintenance is much more expensive. I had bought the service and warranty package and that's the only reason I kept the car. But that adds to the overall price.

If you want something comfortable, great to drive and oozes luxury go for the A4 hands down. With the 2 series, while it's what the heart wants today, you will feel buyer's remorse a few years from now. A4 is amazing value for what it offers in that price range.

[kal-el]

UPDATE

Hello again, y’all might remember me from the Audi A4 v BMW 2 series GC dilemma. I’m sorry its taken so long to update since we have been really going back and forth on so many things be it finances, car ownership period, the car itself lol etc. But firstly I want to thank all the esteemed members for their inputs about ownership and the whole head over heart debate, it made us all(mom dad me) take a step back and re-evaluate. Now this might feel trickery and I apologize in advance but we decided to go ahead with neither and instead have finalized on the 3 series GL (petrol). Between the A4 and 2 GC, there was compromise of some sort on either end, but we randomly checked out the 3 and it had acres of space in the rear, even compared to the C class. I dont think I need to explain my bias for preferring this (258 horses). Albeit we will miss the frameless windows of the 2 GC and I’ll miss my fav Audi, we feel the 3 is a mix of both and even better. So why not? I did ask dad if its feasible to stretch our budget and he promptly said yes we can even though he doesnt plan to keep it after 4-5 years. We do love the 3 series and I’ll elaborate more on that after booking. Anyway, thats how we have a Carbon Black 330 Li booking on hold right now. This is where I an kind of confused as this is our first luxury car purchase or any car purchase since the last we bought was in 2011 and things have changed. So the price quoted by one dealer to me is as follows-

75,xx,xxx is the original amount on road

67,xx,xxx is the amount quoted by the dealer which includes 3rd year warranty and 3 years service package plus accessories like leather key cover and floor mats.
Also insurance is included at 1,25,000
I need advice on this as the insurance online is way lesser so is it good to go with the dealer for first year or how is it?
Auxiliary charges are 20000
Safety cess is 20000
I know these charges can be cut down but need second opinions.

He claims this is the best price he can give. We are checking out another dealer tomorrow and will update about the same but I really thought we could bring it down to 65 last month. They said that last month was the end of a quarter so the discounts could have been nicer, now in this new quarter, this is the best we can do.

I am looking for any and all advice regarding pricing and insurance and anything in between, we want to get it right. I dont know if this warrants a new post so mods if anything is amiss please do rectify. Thank you!

[speed400]

Originally Posted by kal-el

The BMW blew me away with the handling dynamics, sure the ride wasn't as plush as the A4 and road noise crept in a bit but that was minimal and could live with.

You already have your answer OP. You're struggling between what 'you should be' doing and what you actually want to do. Go with what you want to.

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by kal-el

---
this albeit my first post doesn't feel like it as I have spent countless hours on the forum enjoying these threads and having countless conversations with myself . Be it GTO's Thar or Joshmachine's Audi A4, it's like reading a novel, but about cars!

Thanks for bringing out the "novel"ty of the A4. Indeed, it is poetry in motion!

Originally Posted by kal-el

UPDATE

---
we decided to go ahead with neither and instead have finalized on the 3 series GL (petrol).

I feel kind of sorry for having missed this thread by couple of weeks, else I would have done my bit to keep you away from all the distraction and just egged you to go for the A4

Having said this, if the 3er is indeed what you finalized, then .
The GL's extra space will definitely comfort your parents when they are seated in the back and the extra adrenaline will keep you happy when you play with it.

Reg the budget/pricing, I recall you saying your original budget was in mid-50s lakh range so pushing another 15-20% on top of this is something that you & dad would have thought of. For insurance, going online is anyday cheaper and possibly recommended also provided you tick all the boxes in terms of coverage. If you have a NCB coming from previous car, then you could look to avail that also providing some more slicing.
For other non-essential charges, ask your dealer to strike them off just like that.

Festive season is just around the corner, so if you can do some cross-dealer shopping and wiggle out those extra discounts, then nothing like it.

[kal-el]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

I feel kind of sorry for having missed this thread by couple of weeks, else I would have done my bit to keep you away from all the distraction and just egged you to go for the A4

Haha finally, the man himself. Noone could’ve done justice to the A4 the way you have through your travelogue and insights. Maybe our next will be the four ringer

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Reg the budget/pricing, I recall you saying your original budget was in mid-50s lakh range so pushing another 15-20% on top of this is something that you & dad would have thought of. For insurance, going online is anyday cheaper and possibly recommended also provided you tick all the boxes in terms of coverage. If you have a NCB coming from previous car, then you could look to avail that also providing some more slicing.
For other non-essential charges, ask your dealer to strike them off just like that.

Yeah we are pushing the budget as I feel GL is an allrounder. If I recall right, I think you were smitten by the 3 series too and that just cements my thoughts about it lol. Well, both the dealers matched the insurance quotes online so now I am torn, might go with them for no hassles, atleast for the 1st year. The handling charges they are giving are close to 50k which is crazy so thank you for that, I will negotiate. Hopefully tomorrow we close the deal.

Thank you for the info, super helpful hope we take the cars out once the beemer’s here