Lean Machine Eye to Eye With the Competition

By PAUL DEAN

Feb. 25, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Almost a decade of solid public relations has failed to shorten buyers’ memories of Audis that apparently accelerated at will, usually backward.

Government investigations in the United States and Canada cleared the company and its cars, establishing driver error as the probable cause. That official absolution received only scant play.

Even a foolproof mechanical fix that eventually became an industry standard--a transmission lock prevents shifts out of “Park” or “Neutral” until there is pressure on the brake pedal--hasn’t made the dark images go away.

So Audi has launched a fresh offensive to restore sales.

It has decided to build everything better.

No more mucking about with five-cylinder engines and cars of scholarly heft with piddling to middling performance. The 1992 ideology from Ingolstadt, Germany, aims to produce higher value and aggressive presence. The new, three-car Audi 100 line is the first of the future.

This is a mid-size, near-luxury sedan designed not to shuffle among the competition in search of sales crumbs and a niche. It clearly intends to stare down the Establishment: Acura’s Legend, the Mercedes 300E, Volvo 960, the BMW 525i and other up-market Goliaths.

This fourth-generation Audi 100 certainly is leaner of waist and stiffer of chassis (Audi says 30% stiffer), with an interior of Canadian elm and leather providing the insular feel of a premium sedan. The car is stuffed with first-rate appointments, high technology and most safety features.

And it definitely is quicker, thanks to a 172-horsepower V-6 replacing that odd, five-cylinder bratwurst machine of yesteryear.

If this isn’t enough to entice, Audi has declared a price war. The sticker on an entry-level 100 is $27,700 for a four-door with the 2.8-liter V-6 engine, manual transmission, velour upholstery and most of the niceties: Anti-lock brakes, driver’s-side air bag, tilt and telescopic steering, cruise control and sunroof.

That’s close enough to the price of an Acura Legend or Mazda’s 929 to make little difference to serious buyers.

Yet Mercedes wants $43,000 for its base 300E, and the BMW 525i starts at $35,000. That gives the Audi 100 an enormous advantage. In fact, it’s only seriously undersold by the classy Alfa Romeo 164 ($25,800) and the marvelous Lexus ES300 ($25,250).

Base prices, of course, do not exist in the real world. Fresh air in the tires changes everything. Prices have been known to rise to mortgage levels once salesman start hitting option computers.

So expect to pay $30,000 for the slicker 100S--actually $29,900, but for $100 we aren’t about to become part of a marketing ploy--and $32,900 for the 100CS.

This latter lump of luxury is loaded to its 10-disc Bose CD with trip computers, a driver-seat and mirror-memory system, a sunroof opening to pre-selected positions, engine trouble monitors, an infrared alarm/locking system and other modern miracles.

All of which tells us that Audi has left no consideration unturned in broadening its estimate of what today’s picky buyers want in their motor cars. And later this year, look for an all-wheel drive 100 Quatro in sedan and station wagon versions.

There is nothing radical, however, to the exterior of the Audi 100. While everyone seems to be going retro these days--the new Infiniti J30 and the Ford Crown Victoria are particularly Jaguaresque--Audi is sticking with aero.

It is a safe shape, balanced and rounded, but an improvement barely above a mild revision on a car on which every other change seems to involve the very last nut and bolt.

And some will be sold in pearlescent paint that would be rejected by Baskin-Robbins.

The interior of the 100CS, however, is ample compensation for its timid exterior. It is slightly larger than last year’s 100 series with head and leg room galore, front and back.

With the exception of an undersized, hidden and thoroughly awkward button for power locking doors, the layout of gearshift, control stalks, heater and sound system is fumble free.

Wood accents are not excessive, and every plane and line of the interior, from a deeply hooded dash through striking console, reflects its designer’s search for harmony.

Seats are comfortable without losing shoulder and thigh support--necessary bracing in a car capable of some fairly dramatic maneuvering.

Not quite so impressive is an illuminated display on the dashboard indicating the gear selected and in use. This remote layout seems to be an approaching vogue. Yet comments are rising against such a disruption of normalcy by moving shift information away from the gear selector, with no obvious benefit. We’ll have to see.

The Audi’s gearshift is overly stiff, the selector gate is notched deeper than a buzz saw, and nothing moves unless the driver is paying full attention to what his hands are doing. We presume this to be another sad hangover from Audi’s unintended acceleration blues.

On the road, Audi has achieved an optimum. The ride is gentle approaching the soft, but without making body roll and flop the corollaries of heavy braking or other emergency moves. The handling, in fact, is superb, thanks to a widened track and a suspension geometry of bushing, mounts, struts and springs tuned to the side of stiffness.

The automatic transmission is creamy through its four gears. Despite a slight increase in curb weight, engine poke is so improved at the bottom end that Audi’s 0-60 m.p.h. times come comfortably close to the opposition.

Overall, this drive train is a living argument for hurrying the day when all cars, even compacts around $12,000, come with V-6 engines and a safe surplus of power.

Although the steering appeared a little light, it did not dampen any load or position information coming from the front wheels. Pushed hard, the car’s handling is generally neutral, with an inclination toward under-steer.

Fifteen-inch, cast-aluminum, six-spoke wheels are standard on the 100CS. All-weather Goodyear Eagle GA tires equip all models and they are speed rated.

Speed? Any vehicle in the Audi 100 line will run out quickly and easily to 130 m.p.h. Truth is, they are faster. But Audi has wisely decided to electronically limit top speed.

The 100 is very quiet with an interior deaf to most engine and road noises. The ride is solid without being ponderous. This clearly is a German car, kin in Teutonic feel to anything by Mercedes.

A suggestion: Drive the Audi 100CS back-to-back with a Mercedes 300E.

Look around. Feel, smell, touch. You decide if the Mercedes is worth $10,000 more.

1992 Audi 100CS

Cost:

Base: $32,900

As tested: $36,840 (including elm inlays, leather seats, eight-way power seats with five-position memory, remote locking and alarm, driver-side air bag, anti-lock brakes, automatic climate control, Bose sound system.)

Engine:

2.8-liter V-6 developing 172 horsepower.

Type:

Front-drive, five-passenger, mid-size sedan.

Performance:

0-60 m.p.h., as tested, with automatic, 9.9 seconds.

Top speed, electronically regulated, 130 m.p.h.

Fuel economy, EPA city and highway, 17 and 25 m.p.g.

Curb Weight:

3,385 pounds.

The Good:

Auf Wiedersehen to slow acceleration.