After lunch it was time to drive back, now I was in the 7 speed S tronic 1.4 T FSI. We headed back to our base via some great sweeping roads that provided some of the best views. The German people I have to say are some of the most friendly I have ever come across, waiving at our convoy of A1s. We then reached an (I think) autobahn as everyone just booted it, I followed suit. Oh how I wished I was in my S8 at this point, I'm not sure what the A1 managed but it was certainly a license loosing speed in the UK. I had my foot mashed to the floor when in my rear view mirror the Xenons of a 996 Porsche Turbo flooded my rear view, I pulled over to let it past. As the driver floored it he shook my baby A1 and my tiny four pot was no match for his mighty twin turbo flat six, so I watched him disappear whilst still remaining hard on the throttle.
Back at the forum we had a look around some models Audi had on display, the car that most people were excited about was the lovely looking A7. I have to be honest, its the first Audi that has tickled me in any way since the C5 RS 6 was launched in 2002.
Audi were also confident enough to have a Mercedes CLS, Jaguar XF and BMW X6 in the forum for people to compare with. I sat in the Jaguar, I had high hopes for this car. I think it looks the part and has had car magazines raving about how good it is. All I can comment on was how horrible it felt inside, the seats weren't comfortable the dash felt tacky and the button on the door handle that would lock and unlock it felt tacky as hell.
My sister who works at Jaguar HQ was at a meeting with one of the top bods who started it of with 'Were never going to be BMW, Mercedes or Audi...'
Well, it certainly couldn't touch Audi in the interior department, the Merc was equally as bad. The cruise control stick felt like it belonged on a lollipop stick and it was just criminal for the guys in Stuttgart to put it on a £50,000 car. The BMW on the other hand felt solid, really well put together, just as good as the Audi which as we know has been the benchmark for interior quality for a while now.
The trip had nearly ended, I say nearly as Audi had one more treat lined up. Unfortunately I had to sign a disclaimer to say that I wouldn't reveal any details of the exclusive models and info given to us, and if I did I would have to pay them £10,000 to them. They even went as far as to take all cameras and mobile phones from us for this presentation.
It started of with them showing a film about how worldwide Audi had finally overtaken BMW and Mercedes and is now considered the number one premium car maker in the world. They also revealed that they were the only car brand in the world not to make a loss in the recession.
Then they brought out some new models, one of them was meant to be revealed at a motor show soon. It may have been already.
I have to say, when I got back to drive home. The 8 felt so much better then usual, faster more comfortable and more quieter. Then again it probably isn't fair to compare a car would probably have cost around (£70k) only a few years back to a £15-16000 hatchback.
Anyway, I would like to end this by saying a big thanks to Audi for organising this and in particular to the staff and reps that were there to help and assist us during our stay in Munich.
Guys, I have noticed so many stupid mistakes in the write up. Please ignore those mistakes as I haven't the energy right now to go back and change them!