Audi body design errors

Dear folks,

yesterday I took my very reliable Audi 80 for some service at the Audi dealer an did try the A5 and A7 five door cars.

Altough these cars look very nice and the interior trim is as good as it gets with even an ergonomic control panel (at last), those two cars are now plagued by body design errors which you do not find on the A4 and A6 cars.

They have increased the roof curve to make it look even sleeker and this results in the problem that a tall man (like myself) cannot sit on the back seats. Worst, the design have made the back door window even more slanted towards the front making it very difficult to climb in and out of the car.

I would strongly suggest to Audi that they do redesign their A5 and A7 roof line in order for tall adults to sit in the back.

Bests

LHR

Reply to
laurentien
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I do not believe these two are designed with your stated purpose in mind. What prevents you from going the A6 or A8 route?

Reply to
AD

They were designed as coupes (even though the A7 is a four door). Look at MB's E-class coupe and the CLS four-door coupe. They weren't designed to carry people for back seat passengers on long trips. There is no "design errors".

Dave RS6

Reply to
D. LaCourse

Thanks to SUVs, small cars need to be reinforced much higher up than they used to. Compare the doors and roof of a 1980 car to a 2010 car. Manufacturers are lowering the floor and roof to partially compensate for the handling and gas milage losses caused by all that metal.

Reply to
Kevin McMurtrie

I have to disagree there.

I am sorry to say that I do not necessarily consider these MB cars very well designed.

I know a lot of coupes out there made to carry tall people in the back, remember the Audi Coupe ?

It could fit two large adults in excellent seats at the back. Peugeot has its 406 and 407 coupes able to carry people in the back, otherwise, they should call these car 2+2.

Then, I like to buy five door versions of cars being more practical and having a nice shape, like the Citroen C5 for example. But they have to be able to fit four tall adults.

LHR

Reply to
laurentien

Question of preference and as a client my choice is important. I am considering the A6 but I find the hatchback more convenient. I do prefer the A5 five door designs as long as they can fit adults in all four main seats. Remember the Saab 9000, much more practical then its sister car the Lancia Thema.

I may settle for the Citroen C5 next time.

LHR

Reply to
laurentien

And my 57 Buick can beat your 1980 whatchamacallit. Cars are safer today than they were in 1980. The Audis in question were *designed* as coupes. If you don't want a coupe, don't buy one. Simple, really.

Dave RS6

Reply to
D. LaCourse

That is why we have chocolate and vanilla. Simple. But, there is no design flaws in the cars. They were *meant* to be that way and were

*not* designed to satisfy Citroen C5 afficionados. A coupe is a coupe. A sedan is a sedan. PERIOD!

Dave RS6

Reply to
D. LaCourse

You may not consider MB coupes (2 and 4 door) very well designed, but they have collected accolade after accolade throughout the years. The MB CL is one of the most coveted cars in the world. The CLS is absolutely beautiful. And, the E-Class coupe without the B pillar makes it what used to be called a "two door hard top" back in the 50s and 60s. The design is timeless. Who shives a git if the two folks in the backseat don't have enough room?

Dave RS6

Reply to
D. LaCourse

BTW, look at the Bentley Continental GT and the Brooklands and tell me those are "design errors."

Dave

Reply to
D. LaCourse

Since you can get C5 I assume you are in the market where A6 is offered in a hatch trim also. I'd sooner buy a station wagon than a hatch. It seems to me neither fish nor fowl. M6 is one possible exception, but it's a car on stilts so it's not really a hatch you see.

Reply to
AD

Where I'm from MB rust through from road chemicals just about as the cheap frankoitalian trash that is abundant in that neck of woods. A friend got a 2001 entry level luxury hatch from alfa romeo & co: spent $1000 in repairs in no time at all and is cursing his decision every time he spins his perf winter rubber on snow and ice:

front wheel drivers are pure trash imho. If it was not for quattro i would've gotten a beemer any day over audi.

Yeah, you need to buy that french bucket of bolts to appreciate the german engineering. Assuming you have enough patience to disassemble half the car when you need to change headlight or taillight bulbs that contraption will rust through in 5 years and maybe by then you'd take another look at the durable goods from germany.

Reply to
AD

Hmmmm. The MBs and Audis exported to the U.S. must be different. I have owned Quattros since 1984 and have never had an issue with rust. On the contrary, they outlast any of the American crap that is on the road, and I lived all those years in New England where the roads are treated with salt and other chems in the winter months. MB is the same. Never heard of a rust problem.

Dave

Reply to
D. LaCourse

:

Well, its local specifics I guess: the place I'm from used to have inexpensive auto repair hourly rates, consequently, all the totalled crap from western europe was brought over cause it was cheap. So those rusted E late model benzes i've seen could've been in accidents and repaired.

I haven't seen rusted late model audis but i might not have been looking close enough. My body shop guy tells me if it was in an accident audi or not - it will rust.

It could be also an issue of a demand: benzes and beemers command a much higher price in that secondary market while audi is not selling for insane prices. Hence the lesser pressure on importers to bring junk with rings on the hood might be at play.

Anyhow, the import tariffs are about to change and germans would have to sell their totalled cars to japs and chinese for scrap prices I guess. Can't wait to see german scrap yards baloon.

Reply to
AD

You can't please all the people all the time unfortunately.

You don't say what model 80 you have, but most of them have a major body design error IMO. Speaking of experience with the B3, the storage area is very impractical. It's impossible to get anything long (e.g bike) inside

- give me a hatch or estate anyday. A 100 Avant in my case :-)

Reply to
ovalking

I have checked the Citroen C5 today and they have the same problem as the A5 lowering roof which prevents tall people to sit in the back. Many other cars like the new Opel Insigna or even a long list of Asian cars now have the same problems.

Why is it that those designers do not design cars with proper head roofs and large back doors for easy access. Even on my Audi 80, one person did hit her head going through the back door.

Bests

Reply to
laurentien

I know but now the trends is that most sedans are moving in the direction of lacking headroom. As said, I think now of buying the A6 Avant like my brother in law did and he loves it since it is also quattro.

LHR

My Audi 80 is a saloon and its booth is much longer than my former BMW

323i. Moreover, you can fold the rear seats if you need more space, very convenient and rarely found at that segment.

LHR

Reply to
laurentien

Someone has to buy a forrester. Then, it might be you. Leave decent cars to smaller folks. We have to have something left for us in the increasingly guilliverish world.

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AD

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