First off, let me say I had a blast at the recent Audi Driving Experience at Homestead-Miami Speedway. MINI USA could learn a thing or two from Audi with regards to putting on a FREE consumer test drive at the track. I’m not talking about setting up free parade laps and sticking 300 MINIs on the track at one time for a photo-op. Yes the AutoX course at MTTS was fun, but nothing compared to 30 minutes on an actual road course at speeds over 100mph.

Now, before you watch the video, I have to admit, I drove the Audi a bit “hard” :). I took some turns at speed where I probably shouldn’t have, since the car in front of me was repeatedly braking in the middle of a turn, causing me to step out (sometimes off course) to avoid slamming into him. But hey – the reality is, it wasn’t my car and I wanted to see what the baby could do. Enough said?

I was very impressed with the Audi cars I drove. I started the day driving the 2009 Audi A4 on the speedway. The car handled very nice. Horsepower was “ok”, but I think my MINI had better throttle response and felt like it had more torque.

I then took to the AutoX course and drove the Audi A4, Lexus IS250, BMW 328ix and the Mercedes C300 (all 4-wheel drive machines). Overall, the Lexus won in the luxury department hands down. The air conditioned seats were amazing :). The VERY intrusive DSC made it difficult to toss it around though (they did not let us turn it off). The Mercedes felt the cheapest, but handled “ok”. Surprisingly, the BMW was the worst of the bunch in terms of handling. This was a shock for me. The steering felt sluggish and the car just felt like a total dog on the course. I really had high hopes for the BMW… The Audi definitely handled the best out of the four cars.

Next it was time to go back out on the speedway for a 20 minute session in an Audi A3 (the TT was already taken 🙁 ). I didn’t have high expectations for the wagon getting around the track, but I was really impressed once we hit the track. Sure, the power is not amazing, but it does the job. Where the car shines is in the handling. I was able to rotate the car through some of the turns almost as well as my MINI. I was shocked. The stock brakes did a decent job until the end of the session when the pads had had enough. I found myself almost plowing into the back of the car in front of me due to some serious brake fade (ok – so I went a bit deep too 😉 ).

Overall I had an absolute blast. Audi really knows how to put on an event. From the air conditioned lounge they set up in the track’s garage stalls, complete with free drinks and snacks, sofas, iPod Touches, and LCD Tvs, to the friendly staff offering free track time – it was a fun time for all. While the A4 is out of my price range, if the Audi A1 ever comes to the US, I may seriously have to look into it.