Switching From One German To Another...

No no no. I'm not talking about German girlfriends, although I wonder what it would be like to have one. (Mind imagines her saying "Nein!", "Sprechen Sie Deutsche?", or "Scheisse!" So harsh is my impression! ) I'm referring to a switch I made in cars. I succumbed to the Audi marketing and gave in to a really slick looking Audi A3 hatchback!

This thing is not a station wagon so don't get any impressions that it's a "Mommy-mobile". It's a very sporty looking, sporty feeling and sporty handling vehicle that is a lot of fun to drive. It has the sleek lines that make you WANT to like it, grab the doors open, hop in and imbue yourself in an air of hipness that hasn't been felt since Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" made its comeback in the early part of this century. Don't you want to stare at it a little more? It certainly is inviting to you do so but don't forget that behind the attractive, slender facade is a raging Turbo 2.0L engine that puts out 200bhp. It has 236 lb-ft of gut wrenching torque that is a bit too tamed down by the current manufacturer specs.

I've had it on the highway for a day and it's definitely been fun. Maybe because it's new, different and most likely, the new car smell maybe intoxicating my brain with the fumes from the interior finish. Drugs? Maybe I'm on them, especially going from a very capable ride in the E46 BMW 3-series (that was a deliberate redundant reference) to the Audi A3. At the very least, I can take the good and the bad from both vehicles, not that there's much to be bad about. I'm not a detention monitor so I won't hold anything against these fine pieces of German motoring devices that just makes you wonder, "Will Japanese Luxury cars ever live up to German anal-retentive engineering"?