Who else is into cars? What do you drive?

JimInOz

When my Son isn't driving a real car, he drives this.
Probably cost more than I paid for my first car.

JimInOz

When my Son isn't driving a real car, he drives this.
Probably cost more than I paid for my first car.

vbrad26

Good place for sure, but what's his BTG time at Nordschleife lol.
Slick setup though!

styggpyggeno1

I have had company cars since the 20th century. I have had enthusiast cars during this time but not owned an every day car in over 30 years.

I retired last fall and had to buy a car... As many of the company cars I have had were Audi I ended up with one that I felt checked most boxes on my list. A 2019 A5 Sportback 45TFSI Quattro with 21 000 km on the odo (84 year old guy who did not drive it much).

Somewhat practical (my wife has a van and we do have a pick up too), quiet and nice for long distance touring, fairly nice to look at and 0-100 km/h in under 6 seconds. Quattro is nice during the Swedish winters. LED Matrix lights, adaptive cruise control and the big MMI package with navigation+, etcetera.

And now for something I would like to share:

It came with 18x8 winter wheels and 18x8,5 summer wheels. As I am old enough to decide for myself that extreme low profile tires is crazy on an everyday car I bought eight (8) rims that suits me better. I am not using this car for track racing...

I started looking into what options I had. Audi speced 17x7,5 as the smallest that suits the bigger brake disc and caliper on this model. I checked what was available from Audi at the time - and found out something strange and funny.

The funny thing with these rims is that they came as standard on A5: s between circa 2017 and 2021. They were included in the price. The bigger and wider ones I got with the car were original option rims.

I guess most people reading this thread about cars are aware of the difference between forged rims and cast rims(?). For those who do not know here is the short version: Forged rims are light, strong and very expensive. Cast rims are not.

And the rims that came as standard on these A5: s are forged. Made by the renowned company Fuchs (yes the Fuchs that made/makes Porsche and Mercedes forged rims - and for many other high end makes).

So... Audi put on forgeds rims "for free" and 90% of the customers checked the box for optional rims. Cast and heavy.

These were the winter wheels that came with my car. They weigh in at 96 kg for the four - including tires (not studded).

Here are the 17x7,5 Fuchs "Audi" and they weigh in at 70,4 Kg for the four.

That is 25,6 Kg less unsprung weight. The rims themselves are 8,4 vs 12,9 Kg!

I might not win on track day but I will sure have an upper hand at the red lights. edit - I might actually have a chance at track day too - as low/less unsprung weight is king in all diciplines.

PS the rims I bought were the cheapest on our local auction site - as they are too small for todays fashionista and because they were the standard alternative. I bought eight of them to be able to have the lightest option both summer and winter.

Archer

Test drove a Cayenne S hybrid today. Looking at some sort of hybrid given what a certain person has done to the world oil supply of late. Hefty price tag but handles really well, and 515 hp doesn’t hurt either. Holding off for the time being…but it was fun.