[///MPhatic]

This is NOT a negative Audi post, sorry to disappoint anyone.

Last night I attended a local car meet, and as soon as I pulled in this nice kid in an Audi S4 pulled up beside me and asked if he could take a pic of my car, remarking on the color. I said, sure, that's a nice car you've got there yourself. And it was. It sounded monstrous, and looked menacing as hell in semi-gloss black with gloss black wheels shod with wide 888R's. We exchanged niceties as we both took some photos and he was on his way.

When I got home and started editing, I looked at the shot and realized that it clearly showed why I have never even considered buying an Audi. It's not just that I much prefer to tail-wag than to launch, but the amount of aggression between the two brands is, and has always been massive. I realize that Audi is trying to appeal to a different demographic, that they prefer subdued, mature performance and styling to BMW's obvious bravado, but I think that's the core of it. Even at the age of 53.

Before the R8 crowd gets here, yes, I love them, but I'm weird because I prefer the original R8, and also yes, it's in quite a different price-point, and the goal of the car is quite different from an M2. Given a choice between a pristine R8 and a high-mileage 458 it's the 458 I'd take.