Is Audi a wide-boy brand now ?

[Amchlolor]

Bloke down the road has just bought a Q7.
Going by the massive wheels and black windows,I thought 'Fiddy' had moved into our street.
The noise it makes is quite incredible too (3.0 diesel).
It's like a giant hoover,sucking in everything around it.
Really unpleasant,un-enginelike noise.
Combined with the knobber with the RS4,who treats the gaps between the speed humps as an acceleration/braking zone,I find myself getting a wee bit concerned with the image of Audis these days.
Drug dealer chic rules,apparently.
No class.

Discuss.

 

[Von Maximo]

Time to move? lol

 

[JohnS3]

 

[onianbag]

i don't think any brand is safe these days - i've seen some absolutely heinous land rovers recently!

i think its the price you pay for audi being more successful - bmw used to have a monopoly on ignorant/wide-boy drivers.

for my money, audi is still the best at understated class

 

[Vertigo1]

Nowhere near as bad as BMW and Mercedes' image, imo.

BMW has by far the worst image of all the german marques and a very great many people perceive all who drive them as idiots.

Mercedes, OTOH, have an image of "old fart" or "middle-aged asian businessman", at least round my way. The latter is not a racist comment in any way, merely an accurate observation of the sheer number of such people who drive Mercs. For some reason the asian community seems to gravitate toward Mercedes more than any other single brand.

I think Audi, by comparison, has gotten off lightly and has a better image than either of the above. Sure, there will always be idiots driving them, as with any marque, but they've nowhere near the stigma of the other two.

 

[AL_B]

I think because Audi have been classed as bland and un-sporting for quite a few years has brought in a new era. You can "visually-enhance/modify" your normal Audi via the S-Line pack. But now, Audi produce quite sporty looking S and RS models, thus appealing to all. The more conservative can still opt for the bland and normal looking Audi. The more outragous can opt for bling, or flared arches etc.

I'm all for it, well done Audi!!

Saw a Q7 with the 20" Bi-colour "RS4" style rims in Manchester, it looked superb.

AL

 

[Macduff]

Q7 hasn't done the brand image any good IMHO as it's just another gas guzzler for people to show off with. It's not even good looking (again IMHO)

 

[Amchlolor]

I think Audi, by comparison, has gotten off lightly and has a better image than either of the above. Sure, there will always be idiots driving them, as with any marque, but they've nowhere near the stigma of the other two.

They've gotten off lightly so far,but they seem to be looking for a piece of what used to be considered BMW territory now.
I can't remember the last time I saw a 'sober' Audi,I really can't.
S-line spec,which is quite 'bling',is the bare minimum now !
Blacked out windows and all sorts of other gubbins are being added left,right and centre.
In fact,blacked out windows might even be standard on some models now ??
Dunno.
Forgetting the fact I don't like my particular car,I just wondered what people thought of the image shift.
From 'boring old man' to 'gangsta'.
Not my cup of hot-sick,but there you go.
I'm not ready for a pipe and slippers and a wood-trimmed interior,but I don't want to look like I'm away to a drive-by either.
Audi have gone from looking good at the golf club,to looking like the owner would hit you with one !
From gentleman's club carpark,to closed PC world carpark !
;-)

 

[silver75]

i don't think any brand is safe these days - i've seen some absolutely heinous land rovers recently!

word

 

[Matt]

Yeah I think because there is a guy with a Q7 with tinted windows & RS4 thats driven like a loony in your street the rest of the UK must be the same

 

[Amchlolor]

Yeah I think because there is a guy with a Q7 with tinted windows & RS4 thats driven like a loony in your street the rest of the UK must be the same

If you treat my street as a microcosm of the UK,it does seem to be the way Audi are heading.
The wide-boy's 'premium' car of choice.
That's my point,but you missed it.

The bloke with the Q7 probably said he "didn't want an X5",yet he chooses an X5 clone.

The bloke with the S4 maybe said he "didn't want a BMW,because they're owned by pillocks",yet he drives about like a pillock himself,with his windows down and his music being forced on others (along with the exhaust note).

Audi aren't really an alternative any more,they're becoming clones of the competition,or at least as bad.
You could say they've 'sold out'.

 

[silver75]

lol

 

[Amchlolor]

"Word" and "Lol"
Thanks for your input to the debate Silver75.
You evidently have a Pay as you go keyboard.

 

[AndyMac]

Anyone seen the new Audi pickup truck?

 

[silver75]

"Word" and "Lol"
Thanks for your input to the debate Silver75.
You evidently have a Pay as you go keyboard.

 

[silver75]

nobody told me about the minimum number of characters required to post in any of your threads bowfer

 

[Wes G]

Bowfer, your help and advice when people need it is great and you are normally right, I`m sure I`m not the only one that has thanked you in the past...but I do wonder sometimes why you choose an Audi??? You do seem to slate them like ALL the time? Did your company force it on you?

 

[Dan Gliballs]

Bo.

 

[silver75]

Bo.

Thanks for your input to the debate Dan Gliballs

 

[Dan Gliballs]

 

[silver75]

 

[rowansbank]

Anyone seen the new Audi pickup truck?

No doubt as was intended, this thread has produced all the banal stereotyping we all indulge in when it comes to ascribing characteristics to the driver from their choice of car. I normally drive a pickup because a pickup ticks all the boxes for me in terms of logistics and take great delight in confounding the expectations of other road users by letting them out of side streets, backing up on single track roads - amazing how some people don't realise that this exercise is actually easier & quicker in a small hatchback than in a truck with a top on the back! - etc.

 

[Amchlolor]

Bowfer, your help and advice when people need it is great and you are normally right, I`m sure I`m not the only one that has thanked you in the past...but I do wonder sometimes why you choose an Audi??? You do seem to slate them like ALL the time? Did your company force it on you?

As I stated,this has feck all to do with my car.
It's just something I've noticed and,even if I liked my car,it would bother me that just about every Audi I see these days looks like it's been pimped.
I can't be the only one that's noticed.
I may be the only one it bothers though,I concede that.

 

[batwad]

I blame the parents.

 

[AndyMac]

Can't think of a decent marque that hasn't been ruined by the great british public at some point or other, maybe a Saab.....
Anything of quality will undoubtedly get into the hands of the tasteless, that's just the way it is. I still think if you say you own an Audi people are at a loss as to how to stereotype you, which they will always try to do with almost any other brand.
Banal stereotyping exists because it's fairly accurate, otherwise it wouldn't exist, but there are always exceptions.

 

[benw123]

There's long been a problem in the UK with badge snobbery. Much as most of us in this forum love our 8Ps, a lot of the press - and therefore the public that consume their opinion - think the A3 is a Golf in a party frock.

I don't think Audi has an image problem these days, but it is true that they are making more of a statement than they used to.

 

[sat1983]

Bowfer- I'd get a jag if i were you.

 

[newbiecrg]

well it's only cars! Buy the ones you can afford and like! Be it Audi, Fiat, Daihatsu, Mercedes, TATA, whatever!!!!

For Billy Hicks fans..... Don't bring me Jesus!

Pedro

 

[normski]

If you treat my street as a microcosm of the UK,it does seem to be the way Audi are heading.
The wide-boy's 'premium' car of choice.
That's my point,but you missed it.

The bloke with the Q7 probably said he "didn't want an X5",yet he chooses an X5 clone.

The bloke with the S4 maybe said he "didn't want a BMW,because they're owned by pillocks",yet he drives about like a pillock himself,with his windows down and his music being forced on others (along with the exhaust note).

Audi aren't really an alternative any more,they're becoming clones of the competition,or at least as bad.
You could say they've 'sold out'.

And like most of the "points" you make, they are usually a load of total b@ll@cks driven by unswayable personal opinion...

 

[rowansbank]

Banal stereotyping exists because it's fairly accurate, otherwise it wouldn't exist, but there are always exceptions.

I'm afraid that this does not follow as it is quite possible (and history provides many regrettable examples) for a great many people - even a majority to be deluded about the characteristics of others by focussing upon appearances. As I said, we all do it but so long as it's just a bit of fun, no harm done.

 

[Caesium]

I think a bit of tint on the windows looks good, unless its totally black then it looks ****.

 

[Caesium]

Anyway, shouldn't this post be better in general chat rather than the model specific forum, or is it aimed at the opinions of "holier than thou" A3 owners only?

 

[TDI-line]

Whose Fiiddy?

 

[Caesium]

Whose Fiiddy?

He makes wood stain http://www.fiddes.co.uk/

 

[silver75]

Whose Fiiddy?

do a search.

 

[silver75]

I think a bit of tint on the windows looks good

chav

 

[Amchlolor]

chav

Using your own vernacular, "word"..

;-)

 

[EAGLE79]

Bowfer - Sell your audi and put yourself out of the misery, and the rest of us! Everyone has their opinion granted but you might as well just start a new site called 'I-hate-audi.net' as every post is just so negative and now your stuck in that mode. You can't tell me you hate everything about your audi??

Silver - Learn a new word other than 'Chav' as every idiot on this site keeps using it as a no brain answer to anything they don't like the sound of. Most Chav's are only aged 16 - 18 ish and couldn't afford a new audi. Their whole life revolves around asbo's, smoking, drinking and poncing off the state. So i don't feel that someone with light tints on there car is a chav, considering most audi's come with a tint anyway. So have you changed yours for totally clear glass?

 

[silver75]

....blah blah mindless ********...

the person I was responding to in my post knows full well that I was joking and will have taken my post as that.

 

[Amchlolor]

Bowfer - Sell your audi and put yourself out of the misery, and the rest of us!

Good idea.
I've a feeling my boss might try and do me with fraud though.
Pay attention eh ?