Rented an Audi A4 from Silvercar
 

Read about Silvercar on either Jalopnik or Truth About Cars (can't remember which). They're a rental car startup that only rent silver Audi A4s. Anyway, I was out in LA for a wedding and had booked a car with Enterprise. Arrived to get a very crappy VW Passat (how does VW get away with selling these things?!). Remembered reading about Silvercar, downloaded the app and gave it a shot. In typical startup fashion, you have to do everything through an app. A little annoying, but tolerable.

Surprisingly (or not), it was a little cheaper than Enterprise (or the other majors) wanted for their usual selection of craptacular midsize sedans at the airport. Signed up, made a reservation and picked up the car. I really hated the Passat (really awful car - please don't buy one. A Toyota Corolla would've been a dream car in comparison), so I returend it after 1 day and picked up a car from the Audi from Silvercar. Was kind of strange to arrive and see a fleet of identical silver Audi A4s. I meant to ask them how they picked the a4. I'd imagine that Mercedes or BMW would give better fleet discounts given their desire to be #1 in sales. But I've always been a bit enamored by this generation A4, so I was intrigued. I'd probably be driving one now instead of my 528 if the leases hadn't been so expensive.

Looking at the car from the outside, I'd never guess it was a rental car. In addition to just being an Audi, it had the s-line package?, 18" wheels and what appeared to be a hgih gloss black grille. Not a barebones base model A4 from what I could tell. Inside, it had the nav system and the 3G data connection to make Google maps, traffic, etc work. Sitting in the car definitely gave me that "nice car" vibe that Germans do so well (and the current 3 series lacks a bit). Figured it would be a FWD model (being LA), but it was actually quattro.

First impressions sitting in the car:
-Seats felt stiffer, and less comfortable than the seats in the 5. Probably similar to the base seats in the 3 though. Of course the Audi comes with leather instead of leatherette and lumbar support.
-Doors felt more solid and closed with a better thunk than either the 3 or 5
-Loved the adjustable center armrest.
-The gauge cluster was much more attracive and easier to read
-The steering wheel controls were a bit odd in a few ways but I appreciated the scroll wheel for volume
-Knobs and buttons felt great. Better than the 3 or 5 series. Love that knurled metal finish
-The MMI wasn't as easy/fast/intuive as idrive IMO. Yeah, I got used to it, but in many ways it just felt differnt to be different instead of better.
-MMI screen was noticebly smaller; missed having the split screen funtionality
-The aluminum trim looked similar to the aluminum hex on my 5; but better done with a nicer texture.
-Exteior and interior door handles felt much more solid
-Base 4 spoke steering wheel looked a little ugly but felt higher quality than my Msport wheel
-The key fob feels heavier and much higher quality

After 4 days with the car:
-Never got tired of looking at the car. The 5 is a nice looking sedan as well, but I think I prefer the A4's size and "well tailored" looks. Silver shows off the lines nicely as well. Just looked very high quality. Better paint and panel gaps as well.
-The one "chink in the armor" was the silver plastic trim around the guages and nav screen. Just looked and felt cheap. I think the S4 gets real aluminum instead IIRC.
-Weird that there's not a dedicated button the wheel to hang up the phone as in most cars.
-Loved seeing the spare tire in the trunk after owning 2 BMWs with runflats!
-Biggest surprise was the power delivery. Despite having the same ZF 8 speed, lighter weight, and similar power, it felt like I had to really floor it to pass on the highway. I'm guessing this is mostly down to transmission calibration. On a positive note, the transmssion didn't have the annoying habit of downshifting to 1st coming to a stop -- just coasted smoothly in 2nd as it should. I vaguely recall that this generation of 2.0T may be using a single scroll turbo vs the twin scoll in the BMW motor so that might account for some of it too. With a manual, I"m sure this is all a moot point.
-I preferred Audi's traditional automatc shifter to BMW's beer tap
-But not sure why they get the manual shifting completely backwards. You tip it away from you (instead of toward you) to shift to manual mode and then push it forward to upshift and back to downshift.
-The engine felt rougher at idle and while revving. They both are 4 cyls with balance shafts so not sure why.
-Liked how the Nav always shows you the next 3 turns. There is no setting with BMW's nav to do that unless you switch to the "route list" screen. Voice recognition was very similar and worked about the same. The google maps overlays look cool, but otherwise didn't do much for me.
-Bummed that a USB connector still isn't standard. Silvercar provided a cigarette lighter usb charger, but for music the only choice was BT audio. Very strange that VW/Audi persists with their proprietary connector.
-Was surprised that a trip computer function is not standard with the nav. Looked this up and apaprently you have to spec the "premium plus" to get it. Seems a bit odd in 2015.
-Handling was fine. I'm sure the optional sport package is much better. Better on-center feel on the highway than my car. Maybe a little less steering "feel" (less load up in corners, etc)
-Never really warmed up to the MMI interface. I think BMW really has gottne this piece right after so many years.
-Car got noticed and complimented by my friends (and valets) out there. Helped sell a bunch more silvercar customers i think.
-My wife preferred the interior overall to the 5. To me there are roughly equal pros/cons to each. When compared to a 3, I think it blows it out of the water interior wise.
-Noticeably more wind noise on the highway, but I've been spoiled by the 5 in this area. I'm guessing the A4 is just as quiet (and possibly quieter) than either the e90 or the F30. My old e92 was pretty loud.
-

Overall very impressive especially when you consider this car was beaten on by other rental car customers and this is the final year of the current A4. The next gen will quite interesting to see.

I preferred the A4 to my car in "around town" situations due to the smaller size, better ride over potholes (non runflats), better on-center steering, and less aggressive transmission calibration. On the highway, I missed the F10 a bit. In corners, it's a bit of an unfair comparison since my car has a sport suspension and this car did not. For my current situation, the F10 works a bit better. If a manual was on the table, and I were choosing between this and the 3 series, it would be tough. I'd probably get the Audi.

I rented one about 18 months back in SF. Was a decent experience. A little pricey compared to what I could do the 'generic' rental econobox for (but not too bad....).

I always look for Silvercar for when I have to rent... They just aren't available in too many locations yet that work for me.

Sounds interesting.

Downloaded the app--they have limited destinations currently (AUS, Dallas, Denver, LA, Miami, Phoenix, SFO), but the next time I head to SFO or Austin I will give it a try.*







*If I have to go to any of those other places I will just put a bullet in my brain instead.

The timing of this post is strangely perfect ... the R8 is at the dealer getting some things done to it and they gave me a 2015 Audi 4 allroad ...

After 2 days (and counting) I was wondering if anyone here from the board drove this generation A4 and I sign in and here is Rob posting about it :thumbup:

Is this the slowest car ever ... it is so strange, I floor the car and you can't feel any shifts, I have had enough time with it that the gas ran low so I put premium gas in and it still feels like the slowest car I ever drove and the automatic shifts so insanely smooth that you can't feel it and the car just feels WWWWAAAYYY too smooth. Is it a CVT with some software to make it feel like it shifts but doesn't ... pretty sure the answer is no, isn't that reserved for the FWD audi's

Rob did you feel this to ?

Otherwise the car is amazing ... it just feels good but way too slow ...

pretty sure FWD = CVT on the A4's

The Quattro cars definitley have a ZF 8 speed just like our F10s. Only the FWD cars are CVT. It's funny- I had to double check to make sure the rental car I had was Quattro. At first I was sure it was a FWD with the CVT given how the transmssion felt (just like you). Given that my car is so similar on paper (turbo 4, similar weight, similar power, ZF8 speed), I was really surprised by how much slower it felt. And you are right the shifts are much smoother than on the F10..which I actually liked. I guess Audi's preferred transmission calibration is much less aggressive. You really need to floor it to get it to downshift. My car will drop a few gears if you just breathe on the throttle. Still surprised that the same transmission could feel so different...shows you how important software tuning is these days. We both have the "sport automatic" option on our F10s too. I thought this was pretty much just marketing to get us to pay $500 for some paddles. But maybe they do actually use a different calibration on the tranmssion. Even in regular (comfort) mode my transmission is way more aggressive than in the Audi. It insists on starting out in 1st gear no matter what for example, whereas the Audi was quite content w/ 2nd gear starts. If so, maybe Audi does something similar if you opt for one of their sport packages w/ the paddles.

Maybe its just my car, but the downside for me of the more aggressive tuning is that I feel a jerk sometimes from 1->2 and 2->3. More pronounced in DS mode or when shifting manuallly. Plus I always feel the downshift to 1st when coasting to a stop - makes it hard to stop perfectly smoothly due to that extra bit of engine braking that kicks in at the last second..

There are a few people here that have current gen A4s, but I believe they all have manuals so they would not encounter this.

Otherwise a very nice car.

Being an Austin startup I keep hearing more and more about them all the time. Here's a pretty decent rundown

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mariahsummer...re#.tbLB0ZbJy3

A4 makes a good rental car, no doubt, it's like a german camry, upscale, but not too much so. Efficient & safe...

I had a '15 a4 loaner recently and found it quite slow, especially getting up to highway speeds, if in D. Keeping it in DS and adjusting to the engine's laggy turbo character (I owned this engine for four years, so I know how to work with it), it's far from slow. Sure it's no s4, but I can also feel the slightly lighter nose advantage of the a4. Non-sport a4 overall handles worse/softer but it rides a lot better, unless you get dynamic suspension on the s4.

I have a Quattro A4 Silvercar rental right now in SF. Great experience getting the car, especially compared to the enormous lines I walked right past in the SFO rental car center.

I despise the transmission in this car, and it's pretty gutless, but a good chassis and decent steering. Way better than any rental I've ever had from anywhere else.

Took a fantastically fun drive on the 9 to the 236 to the 1 from Sunnyvale to the ocean, through Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Having that awesome redwood smell fill the car and my nostrils, only to be suddenly displaced by sea air is a really wonderful sensory 1-2 punch. And the ridiculously twisty roads of course.

not sure if it is exactly the same drivetrain that was in my 2.0 turbo slushie VW Tiguan, but if so, using sport mode make the nasty transmission a little but better.

But just a little bit better

No question. It took me a little bit to realize sport and "manual" modes are two different things, unlike the slushie in my wife's E46. Still detestable though. Without sport mode it would be intolerable.

See this thread is alive again and again strange timing, I have a loaner 2016 A6 in my driveway right now with the same 2.0t engine though this one has 252 hp instead of the 220hp in the A4.

Surprisingly given the A6's bigger size (it's gotta be heavier too) the engine feels great ... This car moves really well, it just feels quick and the transmission is IMO much better then the A4's.

If Audi put the upgraded HP and the same transmission software in the A4 it would make it a really great car to own.

Plaz ... What do they charge to rent an A4 ? I would think it would be pretty expensive.

It depends on demand/availability, but not outrageous at all. Between $59 and $99 per day. I think I'm paying $79.

Looks like they recently opened in Phoenix too -- rates here are $49/day + tax (which is another ~$20-25/day -- rental car taxes here are nuts). That just might be the summer rate...

Wow I haven't rented a car in a while but that is pretty pricey ... Though I do understand it since it is a pretty expensive car.

That's not that pricey.

My corporate discount with Hertz is at best ~$38/day + tax for a mid-size car (and ~$200-225 per week). If you upgrade to a "luxury" car with Hertz, you will easily pay 50% more than Silvercar.

They charge a small premium, but I think its reasonable for what you get...

Exactly. Well worth it to not be in an Impala with spent tires. The A4 was tons of fun driving through the hills to the coast west of Silicon Valley.

I have a rental in San Jose reserved right now - full size (POJ something Impala-ish) for $15 a day... My 4 day rental is right at $100 including all the airport taxes and fees and such.

I thought about flying into SFO this time and getting a Silvercar. I did that about a year ago - just for fun right after they started renting at SF. It was a great experience and great to get a 'nice' car and all, but.... not cheap.

This time the cost for the Silvercar rental was about $400...
And the flights to SF were also more...
And I would be driving to Monterey (passing right by San Jose - twice)
And flying into SFO vs SJC (airport wise)...

I am going to San Jose and Dollar Rent a Car....

:D

Silvercar
 

I finally had a chance to try out Silvercar car rental on my recent trip to SFO.

If you've not heard of it, Silvercar's gimmicks are twofold: 1) a very app driven user interface that in theory reduces wait times, and 2) they only rent silver Audi A4s.

I have to say, I liked the experience a lot. They are located off-airport, which means you have to take a shuttle van from the rental counter to a somewhat dodgy warehouse district, but the process was as easy as advertised. There were no lines; you only have to interact with staff the first time you rent (they scan your DL). After that, you can use the app and a QR code to unlock the car.

The car itself was also nice. A silver A4 may be the closest thing Germany makes to a Camry, but it's several dozen rungs up from what you get at a "normal" car rental place. The cars were clean and well-maintained and much more pleasant to bomb around in than most alternatives.

Pricing was reasonable. It was $50/day base rate, with protection/insurance going up from there. That's certainly within the bounds of what I pay at other places, and can be submitted for expense reimbursement without embarrassment (unlike the Mercedes GL450 I had to rent once that was like $200/day).

Silvercar's coverage is still pretty limited, but I'd take a look and see if they operate where you're headed, and give them a shot.

merge?

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/showthread.php?t=104664

Ha. Sorry. Forgot about the other thread.

Threads merged. Left redirect link that will expire in 5 days.

I did a second rental with them back in August. Was great. Put a lot of miles on the car that time. Went from SF to Sacramento to Tahoe to Yosemite to Carmel to Santa Barbara to L.A. then back to SF. :eeps:

I was in Tahoe in August!

$50/day? For first time or not...?? I rented with them back a couple of years ago and all I can get is their normal rate now (that I found anyway). I just looked as I will be.....

I will be in Monterey in December and will do AVIS. I'm not travelling as much as I used to, I wanted to use them (AVIS) to try to keep my top tier status. Flying into San Jose so - kind of limits me to the mainstream rentals.

Holy crap!!

:lol: Yeah, ten day family road trip vacation. Was a blast! Though that last leg up the 5 from LA to SF was even more boring than I remembered. We were going to take PCH from Carmel to SB, but the big fire was burning near Carmel then and my wife didn't want to risk having to turn around and go back north if they had to close the coast highway at some point.

Rented another Silvercar, this time for our trip to Sedona/Grand Canyon/Scottsdale.

The new A4 is a really pleasant road trip car. I haven’t kept up with various trim packages, but with S line and “Dynamic” suspension it’s reasonably fun on 89a, and on the highway I frequently found myself around 100 mph without really noticing.

Plus it’s big enough to be a family car without embarrassment.

Not sure I’d sell the Golf for one, but with a 6M it would be a legitimately interesting choice if you could only have one car or needed the space.

Also have to say the ZF 8 speed box in this car is one of the nicer automatics I’ve used.

Probably because it’s a DCT.

Oh, is it? Huh. Am really behind.

Now the A4 is DCT and the S4 is slush box.

Yeah the shifts are really fast plus I have to tell you this car is really solid, my daughters 2017 got slammed REALLY hard in the drivers side rear door by a pick up truck that ran a red light which then sent her into another car and while the car got totaled the interior looked perfect. You would never know a big truck hit it if you were sitting inside the car plus the smashed in door worked perfectly after the accident.

It is a really great car which is why I got her the same exact car though different color.


Btw for 2018 they are all S lines.

Curious- did you lease or buy it? In the past, I've noticed that, in general, Audi leases are not favorable compared to BMW and Mercedes. Overall though, I think they generally make the most appealing cars in the segments in which they compete with the other big 2. The new A6 looks great inside and out. Looking forward to trying out the new A4 this summer with Silvercar (they actually had the best deal on a week long rental)

Both the totaled car and new car are leased ... I did a 3 yr on the first one and a 2 yr on the new one. If you want the figures I paid send me a pm and I’ll be happy to give you the details.

The lease deal on both are decent ... not amazing but not horrible.

Btw the new A6 looks appealing I love my current one and did a 2 yr lease on it and it comes up at the end of this year ... I hope the new one is out in time though I’m pretty sure the lease will be ridiculous being that the car will be just coming out.

Yes- the new A6 will likely have terrible lease deals for a while (my guess is 800+/month . Starting to see some deals on 540s so that could be an option for you as well (also seems like a very nice car but not as striking inside/out as the new a6).

I’m currently paying I think either $810 or $818 for my current A6 so I’d be ok with that number but keep in mind i do 2 year leases which is why the figure is on the higher side.

I will definitely be looking at the 540 as well as the 550 next ... at first I wasn’t into the 5er redesign but the style is growing on me.

ah ok- guessing you have a fairly loaded A6 then. New 5 series is starting to grow on me as well. Saw an M550 in person the other day and really liked it. Seems like the new 540 is roughly as quick as the old 550. If I decided to go down that route for my next car, I think I"d also seriously consider the new X3 M40i (seems like the overall best of the current crop of "performance" CUvs. Very similar interior/space as the 5 series but am starting to appreciate the SUV form factor for family use. (I have to eat crow on that one cause i vaguely remember you explaining how you started to appreciate SUVs when you had kids in car seats and not having to bend down all the time. Didn't understand at the time...I'm also realizing that the more upright seating position is more comfortable and my lower back doesn't hurt now even on long drives :) )

Rented a new a4 via Silvercar this past weekend in LA. Atleast at LAX, they now pick you up/ drop you off via Lyft. That's nice, although I had the bad luck of getting newbie Lyft drivers (in both directions) who took a long time to arrive since they got lost. Other than that dealing w/ Silvercar themselves was pretty seamless.

As for the car, it definitely feels very solid, and the interior is definitely a cut above the 3 series or even C class. The DSG shifted seamlessly even in stop and go traffic, so no issues there. Steering wheel felt nice and was wrapped the type of smooth leather BMW only offers when you get their "M sport" wheel. Seats were also very comfortable- just the right blend of comfort and support. And these were the base seats-- I think they're a big improvement over the last gen ones. All the buttons/ knobs felt great (the climate control knobs in particular feel like something off of a high end stereo). Even the key fob feels high-end!

As for performance, the handling and brakes seemed good. The steering seemed way too light in regular mode. Dynamic mode was a bit better. On a positive note, the car remembers the last mode selected when you start it (unlike BMWs), although you have to manually cancel start/stop each time.

My main complaint was that the drivetrain seems to take too long to respond if you quickly need power. Also seems geared very high (will loaf along at around 1K RPMs on the highway) which might be part of the issue. Dynamic mode was a bit better in that respect, but there still seemed to be noticeable lag. For better or worse (depending on your perspective) there's no attempt at engine sound augmentation, and it doesn't sound very inspiring.

I think BMW is a bit ahead in terms of ergonomics and functionality especially when it comes to MMI vs i-drive. (That being said, the Audi UI definitely looks nicer). Some examples:
1. The voice recognition in the Audi was pretty clunky and failed to recognize the first time on most occasions. It was more akin to the experience in the last gen BMW idrive. I couldn't just say "Navigate to xxxx" and have it work. First had to say "online search" (or something similar). And even then, it didn't work.
2. It did have CarPlay, but it was very glitchy (started flipping back and forth randomly between the Audi media player and carplay a few times). Also controlling it via the MMI wheel was clunky. It was clunky and glitchy enough that I gave up using it after a few attempts.
3. The cluster has a built-in map which looks cool at first. But there didn't appear to be any way to configure it to just show simple arrows and the next turn you're making. Instead, buried on the map it shows the current street name which changes to the next street you'll be turning onto when you get close (and a little dot appears). Kind of hard to parse when you're driving. Maybe if you get the HUD there's a more glance-able view of the next turn.
4. The driving mode selector is on a bank of switches that are recessed under the climate control area. Not as easy to change modes as w/ BMW's rocker switch next to the gear shift.
5. Though it looks and feels much nicer than BMW's, I found it harder to reliably engage Reverse. And, I know most VAG products are like this, but I'm not sure why they insist on having you tip the shifter away from you to go into manual mode (and why you bump it forward instead of back to shift up).

One thing I think they did well in terms of ergonomics was placing the volume knob and MMI presets right next to the knob itself.

Overall, my wife really liked the car (primarily for the seats and the really nice interior). She'd definitely get one over a 3 series. I'm not so sure--think i'd probably get a 330 over an A4 despite the inferior interior quality. That being said, I'm intrigued enough to want to test drive the new S4 at some point.