I was really making a wonderful non-factual sweeping statement. In my mind audi stopped be relevant in the mid 80's. the 80/90 was a glorified jetta/passat, with the a4/6 not being much different. The only thing exciting that came out of their camp was the TT and some high end s/RS variants. Now a-days, their styling is drool worthy, but I cant get over the VW crap swimming in the DNA. my issue is more with VW than with Audi. Sharp lookers, just not for me.

love my BMWs, but my Audi A3 with just a couple basic mods is an awesome car. great interior, tons of power 270/320tq with APR stage 2 and still gets 30mpg highway if I'm gentle.

I try to run the RPM's up a little when possible.
In stop & go highway traffic, I like to put it in
S mode and let the engine brake for me
at slow speeds while keepng the RPM's up.

It's difficult to escape the mixing of automaker DNA these days. The era of the 5000 is long gone and I think Audi has made massive strides. I think by nature of models like the S and RS models, they are supposed to excite. (I think you'd LOVE the TTRS. Talking to Audi's pro drivers at the event, they all love that car.) The rest are "regular" cars that evoke the same level of excitement as a F30 328i or F10 535i. I agree with you that the styling of current Audis is very nice.

There is certainly VW in Audi and if that turns you off, how do you feel about Porsche? We used to call my dad's 911 a fancy Beetle. ;)