I find this hard to believe since the near-new rental I had seemed like it was
falling apart. Beyond that, the Cavalier is one of the worst cars in it's class
on a consistant basis, and I know someone who's 96 Impala SS nearly came apart
at the joints. Add to the cheap interiors, lifeless drive qualities and usually
sub-par perfomance and you've got a formula for disaster. The V8 powered Impala
couldn't break 7.5 seconds to 60 MPH, long gone are the days of 13 second SSs'
from starught off the factory floor. Besides, the Malibu hardly qualifies as a
sports sedan. I guess next you're gonna try to tell me that the Bonneville SSEi
and Impala/Monte carlo SS are class-leading sports sedans, right?

You reccomend an M3 and an S70R over the S4? Are you serious? And you don't
think the S4 is sporty? The S70R is a nice car, but Volvo wants to much money
for it. The S4 carries about the same price, has better performance and a nicer
interior. Not to mention the fact that the outgoing C70 and the current S80
have had numerous reliability problems, Volvo isn't the company they used to
be. The S4 is a better buy than the M3, hands down. It loses (by .02) to 60 MPH
from a dead stop, but it has a better interior (especially the front seats),
more amneities, rear doors, AWD and better track performance, period.

The A6 is a great car. But the new 2.7T S-Line isn't cheap and the 3.0 isn't
avaliable with a much needed manual tranny. If you're really interested, wait
till the new ones are out.

Not really very "sporty" either. The 5 series and the A6 2.7T S-Line both have
it beat for sporty driving. It is the most "prestigious" though.

The IS300 has great handling but a very cramped interior, a slight lack of
low-end torque and a much slower 0-60 time. An A4 3.0 Quattro with the 6-speed
will pull of 0-60 in 6.6 once it's been broken in, and you get AWD to boot.

Whaaaaaaaaat?? Ha! The Impala SS of the early and mid 1990s couldn't break 7.5
seconds to 60 mph! A 1.8T Quattro A4 with the 5-speed could or at least could
very nearly match the Impala's 0-60 numbers and blow it away around a track!

Look, I've got a bunch of funky cars on my list of favorites, and I'm all for
sleeper effect. But there's honestly something wrong if you really like the
Impala as an overall car more than a 540i. Is there such thing as an aotomotive
therapist? You must have had a bad childhood experience with a BMW...

Well, yea. The E is/was a heavy car and much like the 525, is really only there
so people who can't afford the V8 can still get a mid-size car with the
prestigious brand name glued on. Hell Audi makes a 1.8T version of the A6 for
Europe, nice car - shitty performance. If you'd ever driven an E430 (or the new
E500) of the E55 you'd know it'll crush an Impala.

Are you serious? The Impala is a "real driver's car" but a 540i isn't? Houston,
we have a problem....

Have you done any furthur comparison? I'm now wondering if this person is also
"Tha Gee".

Best Sports Sedan?

Easy. RS6.

Second choice would be S4 4.2.

Third choice would be A6 4.2.
Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html

Ha, if you want plenty of room, and near sports car handling, go buy a Porsche
Cayenne S, or better yet the Cayenne Turbo.... 0-60 in 5.6 seconds, even
though it weighs 5000 lbs.

Randy

Randy S. writes:

I drove the Turbo for about an hour last October before I bought my RS6. It's
a great SUV with plenty of performance. A bit pricey, however. d;o)
Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html