Opinions please: Audi S5 v. BMW 335iS

Well, I didn't really want to go to an Audi or a BMW forum to ask this question, so I'm going to ask the community I know and hopefully people with unbiased opinions who can really just give me the pros and cons of both cars.. and obviously their personal opinion or experience.

For my second car car, I am probably looking for something around the $60,000 range. I priced out both cars and a fully loaded S5 prestige runs about $62,000 and a BMW 335iS (again fully loaded with nav and rims, etc) runs about $63,000.

I currently have an Infiniti G37S sedan as my first car... But, because I was sadly a little disappointed in the G37IPL coupe (even though it would be less expensive), these are probably the two cars I will be looking to upgrade to either this fall (2011 when I'm in college) or mid 2012 after my first year of college.

Please give pros and cons! Thanks


Here are some images from the "Build your own" simulators:

personally, i'd go with the audi. but i'm a vag (hehe) fanboi. my friend just got a 2008 335xi coupe. it's really nice, i just like audi better..no replacement for displacement

buy the audi if you want everything including a kick *** VW engine.
buy the bmw if you want everything with an engine that can be tuned up a bit more for a few extra K at a good shop.

maintenance will be high with either. European cars are just that way.

resale is the big factor for me. bmw's resale better & trade in better than audi's. the reason i feel is all in the name. BMW vs. Audi. I guess it's the all caps.

good luck & happy shopping.

I have owned both cars as well. I had a '95 bmw coupe & a '04 audi sedan. the bwm gave me lots of troubles until i did some engine & exhaust mods. the audi needed to run open & wild. the trade in was amazing for both.

hope this helps...

peace

There is almost nothing prettier than a 3 series coupe BMW. . .my vote goes for it.

Get a ridiculously nice car for less than half that much and donate the other 30k to charity.
If you need a charity idea, my tuition is due.

Audi. But I love VAG cars. Its all I've even owed.

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The 335 is THE classic – cannot go wrong, perfect balance between sports car and practical daily driver. Audi is more luxury orientated but not sure you can fit golf clubs in trunk. You will not notice a difference in performance but the Audi has more kick than the standard 335, not sure about the iS. There was a write up on the Audi from C&D about some nervous laughter when pushing the Audi – its back end slipped out and overall loose handling (at 130-140 MPH). You will never get this with a 3 Series. Either is a great choice! The 335i is much cheaper than the Audi – the iS is another $5-8K. I have had 6 - 3s over the years… great car.

I recently acquired an '11 Audi A5 as a christmas gift and that thing looks sexy sitting in my garage! Haven't/don't want to drive it cause of snow, so I can't give an "experienced opinion." If you want the luxury/sporty look, go with the Audi! I can't wait til spring so I can let that baby loose! :D

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Originally Posted by elgolfman

The 335 is THE classic � cannot go wrong, perfect balance between sports car and practical daily driver. Audi is more luxury orientated but not sure you can fit golf clubs in trunk. You will not notice a difference in performance but the Audi has more kick than the standard 335, not sure about the iS. There was a write up on the Audi from C&D about some nervous laughter when pushing the Audi � its back end slipped out and overall loose handling (at 130-140 MPH). You will never get this with a 3 Series. Either is a great choice! The 335i is much cheaper than the Audi � the iS is another $5-8K. I have had 6 - 3s over the years� great car.

I priced them both out and they were within a couple thousand $ of each other... the 335iS (and even the basic 335) is much more expensive than I thought it would be fully loaded(and actually the S5 was less expensive than I thought it would be).... but the 335 does stay with the S5 performance wise (or at least thats what I've seen).

I guess I really just have to test both cars out... and again this won't be for another year or so... and if I go to college back east, I may not even need a car (or want a luxury car in the bad weather! haha)

thanks for all the posts