- Electronic gas pedal that makes no attempt to feel like a mechanical linkage, with programming that gives a ton of throttle opening for not a lot of initial travel to trick a driver into thinking the car has more pickup than it really does, but ends up just feeling like the engineers got the gas pedal programmed wrong.

- Long-throw brake pedal, that makes me adjust braking strength by pedal position instead of pedal pressure like any good brake system does.

- Long throw clutch pedal with no feel that makes me flap my left leg around too much.

- Clunky shifter that only lets me shift as quickly as it's willing to be shifted, which isn't that quickly, instead of how quickly I want to shift.

- Steering that feels nicely weighted around town but has no road feel and weak self-centering.

- Suspension settings that seem like a good ride/handling compromise but lose their composure when hustled past 7/10ths.

So because the main tasks I have to accomplish to get a car to go anywhere are using the shifter, pedals, and steering wheel, and I really don't like how any of these things work in Audis, I just can't get past that and say, appreciate the matte-finish plastics that VW/Audi fans rave about so much.

If other people like the cars, fine, that's their money. Me, I just can't stand em. But hope springs eternal, and when new ones come out I give em a look-see just in case those things I don't like have been exorcised. So far, no such luck.

Having recently driven an '06 330i and an '05 S4, I would pick the 330i hands down, even though the S4 has something like a 75 hp advantage.