Audi Q5 Driving Experience

As a die-hard BMW aficionado, it might seem strange that I'm also an Audi fan. Credit that change of heart to last August's Audi Driving Experience! That said, it's fair to say that where there are a number of options, the choice I'm looking for is "All of the above!" My ideal garage contains a couple Ferraris, a Porsche or two, several BMWs (my 550i, an M5 for the track, and a 650i once a hard-top is available), a 2009 Corvette ZR1, and would still have room two or three Audis. I'd also have a bay or two for the motorcycle collection (Suzuki GSX-R1000, Ducati 1098, Yamaha R1, Honda CBR1000, BMW S1200RR).

In any case, offered the opportunity to drive someone else's car (or bike), I'm there! Especially when I don't have to worry about abusing their tires and brake pads.

If you're in the DC area and have nothing planned for tomorrow, run-don't-walk, to sign up for one of tomorrow's sessions: http://www.audidrivingexperience.com/2009/?area=Q5City&id=325! Then, read on. If you're outside the DC area, check out http://www.audidrivingexperience.com/2009/?area=Q5 for your options.





Complimentary, Audi hosts a fantastic well-run event, with a good balance between the marketing and sales pitch, technical briefing, and hands-on driving. Yesterday's all-day affair included continental breakfast, all the cappuccino and lattes you can stand, and was wrapped up with a very nice lunch. Again, all compliments of Audi. Classy.




An overcast drive on 495 turned to rain, which, shortly after our arrival in the Audi tent, turned to torrential downpour. OK. Good for testing stability control systems.

We arrived shortly before 10AM, so had ample time to enjoy the amenities in the first tent as we waited for the kick-off of our 10:30AM session.





The planetarium-like briefing introduced us to Audi and the Q5. Although there are many features of note, probably the most catchy was the full 3D navigation system with rendering powered by a custom NVIDIA 3-D chip. (I own NVIDIA stock, so I'm glad to see growing demand for their chips! ;-)) Also notable was the surprise announcement that we'd also be driving the supercharged V6 A6. Woohoo!




Following the briefing, the skies began to clear, and we moved to the hands-on briefing. These briefings were much more marketing-oriented for the Q5 than they had been for the A4 in August. And, we missed a few key features (turning parking break on/off, turning off rear windshield wipers) that might have been handy. But, who's complaining!

On to the first drive! We split up into three groups. Our group of three Q5s followed our Audi leader on a tour of the area around FedEx Field. It was all quite sedate. Aside from the ride height and elevated view out the windows, it's pretty much like driving a big A4 (which, by the way, is what the Q5 is at heart -- based on the A4, it has a 4" wider wheelbase to preserve the CG relative to the tires).

Back in the FedEx stadium parking lot, we split up into two groups. I was initially disappointed as we headed to the A6, figuring they would be the highlight of the experience; a great place to finish. As it turned out, they were a nice step up from the drive on street. The A6 supercharger launched nicely off the starting line, shifted cleanly into second just before the cones denoting the braking point, and then jumping on the brakes brought ABS into play for a stop well ahead of the turn. The power and braking were not substantially different than I'm used to in the BMW 550i, so it wasn't that impressive of an experience for me. But, to say that a 3 liter V6 is matching performance of a 360 HP 4.8 liter V8 is saying a lot. And, with the supercharger, there's absolutely no turbo-lag.

The more impressive experience was as the passenger. The G-forces that I usually expect from the initial launch were much more surprising when someone else is controlling the throttle, and the first two or three seconds were quite roller-coaster-like. Wheeeee!

Sadly, the shift into second made the relative lack of horsepower evident. With 360 HP, my 550i is just getting going when you shift into 2nd gear at 44 MPH; it continues to pull hard in 2nd until the next 70 MPH shift point. And, would continue to pull hard at 70 MPH in 3rd, if there was anywhere around here to do that. (It continues to pull hard in 6th once you get the car into the 90+ MPH zone. During our trip in Munich, I routinely forgot that I was in 6th rather than 5th at 100 MPH.) If anyone is seeing this as a play for Audi to get me in their S5 and their R8... they'd be right. One way or another, a trip to Sonoma and the Audi Sportscar Experience is in my future!

As we wrapped up the runs in the A6, we watched other group yank the Q5s through the road course blocked out by orange cones. Ah! Now, that's more like it as we watched full-throttle acceleration into S turns, followed by a hard left. One of the Q5s got the rear out in the hard left. Oh yeah!

We each got our own Q5. I took the lead car, and was first out on the track. After a intro run behind the Audi leader, we were each launched one by one onto the course, advised to take the first lap easy.

The first lap was indeed easy, and I was fortunate to sort my way through all the cones. (Others weren't so fortunate.)

My second lap, I pushed harder, and caught up with the car in front of me that had gone off the course. Oops...

My third lap, I pushed still harder, and found that I could break the wheels loose on the wet pavement (the sun was out, and the track was clearing under the cars -- but not yet dry). Hard acceleration in the Ss, right-left-right, then left, hard. Around to the left, then right hard. Accelerate briefly into a hard off-camber left (the parking lot slopped steeply to the car's right at that part of the "track"), and around the left into slalom cones left, right, left, right, left, then hard right and then into the "pit" chicane. Slow, and stop behind the line of traffic.

What a rush! Breath. Relax.

Repeat! Fourth and fifth laps, I accelerated the entire time except where necessary to stay within the cones. On my third or fourth lap, I just about ran over the cones on the off-camber turn, but was able to balance braking and throttle to use the front wheels to pull the Q5 through the remainder of the turn. Confidence inspiring! Even wildly abused, the Q5 maintains its composure.

The fifth lap was just silly, as I was now fully comfortable with the car, and the lay of the track. Tires complaining at every turn and then engine revving hard much of the time; where's the video recorder when I need it!

Heart rate returning to normal as we walked back to the tent for debriefing and a quick 15 question "test" / competition, lunch preparation was under way.

We took the post-event survey, giving Audi high marks, and then jumped in line for lunch.

Wrapping up close to 2PM, it was a very full day! A quick spin through the empty FedEx parking lot gave the 550i a chance to breath and wear off a little tire. OK! Time to head home before the FedEx security folks call the police.

Thanks again Audi! A fantastic experience that I'd recommend highly to any car fan!!

Audi Driving Experience

ROCKS!

The relatively innocuous Audi marketing flyer showed up about a month ago. Opening up the tri-fold brochure, I noted the "Two-Hour Introductory Program (Complimentary)"... interesting.

Registration revealed that Summit Point Motorsports Park in nearby Summit Point, WV was hosting Audi's program from August 7-13. Nice. Times were available in the afternoon on Friday (last Friday, to be exact). Even better!

It turns out that Summit Point Raceway now has three tracks! Although their URL shows "Raceway," their website now confirms that they're a "Motorsports Park." The Audi event was held on the Shenandoah Circuit -- a track I didn't even know existed until a day before the event. Not a huge track, but large enough to be split into two separate loops; one for the A4s and one for competitor testing.

As a BMW loyalist, it was unlikely that Audi was going to sell me a new car. But, I figured I should give them the opportunity -- and, who can pass up free track time, really!?

Arriving just before 3PM, registration went smoothly, leaving time to grab a drink (also complementary) and survey the track and the prior session's sets of drivers finishing their final runs.

One set of A4s was following the instructor in his S5. Another pack, made up of Audi TT, A4, A5, A6, A8 and Q7 following another S5. And, on a separate track in the distance, the 2009 Audi A4 went head-to-head against the 2008 BMW 328xi, 2008 Lexus IS 250 and the Mercedes-Benz C300.

Shortly after 3PM, we joined an Audi instructor for the combination driving instruction / engineering briefing / marketing pitch. Among things, we learned about Audi's new "Drive Select" which enables on-the-fly tuning of speed-sensitive steering ratio, suspension stiffness, throttle response, and transmission shift points. Interesting.

Following the "training", half of us split for the head-to-head testing, the other half (including me) headed for their A4s for the high-speed run on the larger portion of the Shenandoah Circuit.

I selected the car immediately behind the instructor, and ended up as the only driver without a passenger. Bonus! (Twice as much driving time for me!)

The first lap, we took at a relatively slow pace, to learn the track and the proper racing line.

Second and third laps progressively increased the pace. Still nowhere near the limits of the car, but lots of fun. In particular, turn three (counting clockwise from the top-middle turn on the map) was tight enough that it was easy to begin to slide the car, and exiting three and accelerating for turn-four really allowed the quattro (all-wheel drive) to shine, as the front wheels yank the car forward into the next turn.

Elevation changes on this circuit are notable. Not quite up to Laguna Seca standards (i.e., Turn 8 and 8A), but still very impressive.

Possibly most notable is turn 7 (by my count) marked by the bright white concrete curve. This turn is modeled after a famous turn from the Nurburgring in Germany; this one, I think. Banked at 20 to 30 degrees, much higher speeds should be possible for the intrepid. Coming off the bank and onto the flat at 40 to 50 mph is quite a transition.

Up the hill, accelerating to 70 mph and over the crest through turn 8, then breaking hard and heading down the hill through turns 9 and 10 past the pit area. Several more turns brings up the final straight, and a top speed of roughly 90 mph (or, 145 kph, as seen by some drivers).

I, for one, was too busy watching the road (and staying off the instructor's bumper) to bother checking the speedometer. Plus, I found that the feel of the car and the view out the windshield told me all I needed to know about speed for the few laps that I ran.

We were nowhere near the limit of the A4, as I found that I could break far after the instructor (in his S5) and could accelerate far harder than space allowed (holding to one to three car-lengths all speeds from 40 to 90 mph). Impressive!

The "Drive Select" was interesting, but I found that the "performance" setting was the only thing I wanted on the track. It would be a lot of fun to play with in real-life: Great to tune between "comfort" ride for long trips, and "performance" for fun. Or, try the "auto" setting to let the car choose for itself based on driving conditions.

And, the automatic was flawless. I had no need for the paddle-shifters, as the car seemed to know the right gear at every moment, in each part of every curve. Amazing. (Years ago, I had my automatic BMW M3 on the larger track, and was continuously harassed by its late downshifts in Turns 1, 2, and especially 10! In my 1986 RX-7 I had managed a top speed of 115 MPH on the straight. In my more powerful 1995 M3, the automatic destabalized the car so much in turn 10 that I never made it past 110 MPH before getting back on the breaks for turn 1. Sad. With a 5-speed stick-shift, 115 MPH would have been easy, and 120 MPH should have been possible. Top speed for the car, as I recall, was 133 MPH.... funny... my gixer will do that in under 10 seconds.)

Wrapping up our tour in the A4s, we headed back to the pits to transition to Part 2 of the driving experience.

Three laps in each car gave each of us a chance to compare the handling, breaking, and acceleration of each car. While many of the other 16 groups had three drivers, I had only one partner, yielding an extra turn at the wheel for each of us on alternate cars.

Mercedes C300 was first up, with OK steering, soft handling with a lot of body roll, effective but soft brakes, and barely OK acceleration.

Lexus IS 250 was next, and was a lot of fun to push hard. Steering and turn-in were good, suspension was good, brakes were good (and encouraged abuse of the ABS in the brake-test portion of the track) and acceleration was good.

BMW 328xi was third, and suffered from the same automatic shift problem I'd experienced in my 1995 M3. Suspension, brakes, and acceleration were all good, but it struggled for the correct gear on a couple of turns.

Audi A4 was the last of the bunch, and was a blast to drive hard. Of the bunch, it had the best "all wheel" drive feel, had perfect throttle control, and provided excellent feedback about the limits. Suspension, brakes, and acceleration were all excellent.

So, there it is: 4th: Mercedes, 3rd: BMW, 2nd: Lexus, and 1st... Audi.

Thanks to the folks at Audi for a great afternoon!!