seen the new s6 and s6 avant on www.germancarfans.com? take a look. these are "hot" cars. audi is every bit as good as bmw imho. i think it is simply a question of styling preferences and feel. build quality, engineering are comparable to bmw. i am not the only one who thinks this way. as far as interior fit and finish goes, audi has bmw beat hands down. exterior styling is subjective, i prefer bmws but the new audi styling is quite nice. i know some are very put off by the large mouth gaping grill look audi has decided to go with, but then again, some feel bmw's bangle styling has gone awry too..the 3 series has the a4 beat easily. i would probably choose the 5series over the a6 (i did) and the a8 versus 7 series is a toss-up. overall, in terms of breadth of product bmw has audi beat but not by much! audi is a worthy competitor.