LexFather

Great post. Right now I want a BLT .

TangoRed

Well in regards to LexFather's post, people have been calling Audi's rebadged VW's for ages. That never stopped, and plenty of people have already commented on it. And let's be honest, the only reason people ragged on the LFA was because of its super high price tag. It also wasn't the prettiest thing.

LexFather

Magazine reviews barely ever mention VW when Audi is reviewed. Internetz largely ignore the connection. In regards to the LFA most have no bloody idea about the car but it had a Lexus badge so it was stupid. When it had the Ring record it was a cup of **** and when Clarkson proclaims it's the best car he's driven there is hardly a peep said.

Says a lot about "enthusiasts" doesn't it.

I don't think I saw vw mentioned in the article above. What I do see is humping the S3 cause it reminds them of the S4 of the past.

Edit I see it but very vague and one mention.

I8ABMR

The Germans are doing the 31 flavors thing. They have such an extensive line up.

So the 3 is the new 4 I guess. They are all getting bigger so fast

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Looks are subjective so we can't argue that. But yes price was the main factor. "I can buy 3 GT-Rs and a Corvette for that price.." Yeah we heard that. Whatever, folks were just pissed they couldn't afford such an amazing machine. People failed to realize the LFAs purpose. The limited 500 unit production run locked the LFA into a future hall of fame role and it will forever be an icon. When the industry was hurting most and the economy began focusing on.. economy (), Toyoda pushed. It didn't make sense to offer such a vehicle (especially financial sense since they were losing much more money on each LFA than the price tag asked), yet it was produced. In doing so it dawned a halo and raised a banner for a sign of things to change for Toyota/Lexus which we first saw with the 4GS and inspired 3IS and upcoming RC and future F's. People can have their faster cheaper and soulless GT-R's. The LFA is balanced, exclusive, more luxurious and tuned to the senses. There is little comparison in my eyes other than car on car. Simply put the LFA is in a class above. The GT-R can enjoy it's Altima window switches

They grow up so fast

tromly

I think a twelve year old could design a more exciting interior!

spwolf

well 3 is now based on platform that also goes into many cheap Skoda's. No wonder the interior looks so sparse.

Problem with S3 is that it looks great for affordable sport sedan... but it wont be affordable, it is going to be $50k+ car.

Probably be better buying GTI or R on the same platform, and with actually nicer interior (i recently sat in A3 and Golf, next to each other, and Golf had higher quality interior)..

TangoRed

Not following you there...what does platform sharing have to do with interior design? Outside of air vent location and a few other minor things the platform shouldn't have anything to do with it.

spwolf

point of new platform sharing by VW group is that maximum amounts of parts are shared.... that also ends up limiting interior design as we can see here - it is really sparse and cheap looking with vast plastic areas. If you share many parts and their positions, then you can not create stylistically differing interiors either.

MBQ part is nothing like any platform sharing of before - Toyota does platform sharing, but not like this... however I suspect they will do same or very similar with their next platform as well.

It is all great for them and their profits margins - as this is why they are doing it, to make their cars cheaper. But then you end up having 50k car sharing platform with 10k car.

bagwell

I saw my first CLA (white) yesterday and was pretty impressed, but I'm just not a MB sort of guy....I feel Audi/BMW are more sport oriented and can't wait for the S3/A3. BTw the S4 starts at $48K, hoping the S3 will start near $40.

TangoRed

What limited interior design here is a function of profit margin not the platform sharing itself. Much like the CLA, Audi needed this car (in A3 form) to start just under $30k. Considering it comes with standard HIDs and a few other goodies, clearly they went for a cheaper interior than what is considered normal for an Audi to lower the price. They could've easily still designed a traditional Audi interior despite the platform sharing, but then it would've increased the price to near- A4 levels.

MQB isn't any different than what new automakers are beginning to do now. Mercedes is just begnning to do the same (see MFA and MRA). Jaguar is doing this as well- which is why the Range Rover and Jaguar XJ share platforms. Jag will also be using the upcoming XS & C-X17 platform iq[al] to underpin a variety of smaller Jag/LR vehicles. They plan on it being as flexible as Audi's modular platform.

Blackraven

You guys are missing out if Audi USA is not selling the hatchback.

I say that because in most cases:
Hatchback > Sedan

A class > CLA class
A3 hatch > A3 sedan

Probably one exception would be the Cruze because the Cruze 5 hatchback looks off compared to the sedan.

Infra

iTrader: (1)

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what platform sharing is. The interior has absolutely nothing to do with the platform. A platform consist of a template for common mounting points for the powertrain and body. To use a stark example, the Trailblazer and SSR shared the same platform. Do their interiors look the same?

$50k cars earn MUCH more revenue than they cost to build. What you're paying for is the overhead, or G&A, or R&D, or basically all the operating costs that go into building a premium brand image and incorporating new technology first. There's absolutely nothing about platform sharing that degrades a $50k car simply because it shares a platform with a $10k car. In fact, BOTH cars will benefit because BOTH cars are cheaper to manufacture, and therefore more money can be spent offering more features for both.

Automakers make decisions on what options to offer based on the tens or hundreds of dollars to remain cost-competitive with their peers. (Porsche alone seems to be immune to this. They sell LOTS of $100k+ Cayennes despite sharing a platform with the Q7/Touareg). Engineers are the most expensive group of employees they employ, so whatever can be done to reduce the labor cost spent on them, as well as the tooling cost resulting from their designs, benefits everyone involved.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

spwolf

Not for MQB platform... what you are talking about is how Toyota did platform sharing before. What I am talking about is new MQB platform from VW Group that shares a lot more parts than any other platform before.

Toyota's next platform is going to do the same thing as well.

Both are doing it to maximize profits.