Lol with your responses I don't think you quite understand the point, so I'm gonna unsubscribe. Family sedan lol , go do your research, my 335 is as quick off the line as an M3 and has far more sophistication than a Ford with a dead rear axle. Sugges you buy a car in your comfort zone.

I see you need an audi with quattro. They are completely unbeatable off the line, especially in the wet or snow. If you have fuel cost issues, i used to have a 3 litre diesel, 500 ft lbs of torque, driving 4 wheels with torque vectoring. You can easily leave a porsche 911 or any american v8 in the mud if conditions are less than perfect. If it is a perfect dry day, same thing, but you need a 4 litre petrol [rs4/5/6] or 4 litre diesel [sadly only in a8's or suv's.]

BUT AUDI 3 LITRE 4 WHEEL DRIVE AUTO TDI'S DO 40 MPG ALL DAY AT 80-90 MPH and in europe are cheap to insure.

The old Mustang V6's with the Ford Ranger derived 4.0 weren't worth the effort; I drove one and couldn't figure out why I was so underwhelmed, until it clicked that the MDX I'd driven there in was quicker.

The new V6's look very tasty though if you're going to drive the thing, relegating the V8 to sunday special territory.

Now, on a completely different note, the new Hyundai ad campaign with the "opposition" made me realsie how little choice we have here in terms of cars. Korean really is the only mainstream alternative to the German/Japanese/Yank majority. (hat tip to the Volvo driver at the back).

Fiat-Chrysler had better roll out some decent Alfa's and bring them over here if we're not all going to die of boredom...

Alfas were sent, but they rusted through on the boat :-]

Fiat and chrysler make alfas, its like frankenstein and dracula made a baby. 2 of the worlds worst makers.

Oh ford rangers, we have some of those in grenada, the gearboxes arent nade to take the torque of the engines if they ever go up hill... They need complete overhauls every 20-3p thousand miles, fortunately labours cheap here.

Well, we have one of those in the household as well. Much as I dislike tin tops one does occasionally need to carry straw or greased pigs or household rubbish and a pick up is good for that. Again, it's cheap to run and does the job.

The mid-sized German sedans mentioned above miss the boat for me as they don't offer the practicality of a minivan, aren't cheap to run and, unless convertible and manual, aren't a fun thing either. Also, they're nearly all grey, the last thing a man struggling with the fact of the need to move children around needs is a grey sedan.

The trucks of choice here are either from thailand [isuzu] or south africa [toyota hilux] i actually tried to import a hilux from the states, toyota said 'sorry sir you cant get them here, too pricey / over-engineered for american use' basically they cost more than the tacoma? Things you get but they are actually much tougher. Just compare the wheel bearings and trackrod ends, twice the size. Best advert for hilux, the taliban use nothing else if they can get them.

The old ones are, well, the oldest.

Your own research is suspect. The latest mustangs have multi link suspension.

To convince yourself that a 335 is as quick as an M3 is naive too. The M3 (and M4) engine is a derivative of the N55 engine in the 335i. Both displace 3.0 liters and have six cylinders arranged in a straight line. The similarities end there. The M engine has a larger bore and a shorter stroke than the 335i’s. Not to mention the two (rather than one) turbochargers, the forged crankshaft, the dry-sump oiling, and the water-to-air intercooler that make 430 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque possible. And also a weigh difference.

Aren't Audi switching to another 'FWD unless the computer thinks you need the rear wheels' system? Or is that just on the cheapo models?

I read an article a few weeks back about how they'd decided to do it to reduce fuel consumption, but don't remember the details.

No, there are 2 quattro systems used by vag, but all the audi performance models use a torque split at all 4 corners, ie vectoring. The split is managed by knowing the g force being applied laterally and by acceleration/decelleration, nothings a straight split in percentage terms, its all a curve.

The result is 'interesting' the faster you drive, the faster it wants you to drive, tucking into corners feels like 4 wheel steering.

The off-road vectoring isnt the same at all, designed for stability / keeping it pointing where the sterring suggests it should be going.

The petrol engines do shut down pairs of cylinders, but its not Needed for diesels, they are already pretty efficient, once you forget the hype about lab tests. Diesels are well matched to the greater losses that 4x4 does result in, and they are so easy to drive quickly, walls of torque right from low revs, never need more than about 4k ever.

There is an interesting truth about vectoring, if it comes into play seriously, it turns down stability control, or they effectively fight each other. You actually want an unstable car if you want it to corner maximally, keeping all 4 corners flat on the road doesnt necessarily result in the quickest drive, letting 1 or 2 wheels slip seems to be what it thinks is optimal - at the limits of adhesion - not for every day use...

Roush? Now your talking