I was recently invited by Audi Cape Town to join them on their MVP Day by the great Chris Rawlinson of HuddleMind. The basic promise of the day was that a few of us would be given a few cars, we would drive out somewhere and stop for breakfast, relax, chat and then drive back in time to arrive for lunch. All the while swopping cars on the way ensuring that we get to drive each model of Audi that was on the trip with us.
We arrived at 9am (some of us at least, @CapeTown_girl showed up late!) and offered coffee and tea while we were briefed on the days plan. We were welcomed by Chris, Grant and Wernich of Audi Cape Town.
We were then introduced to the cars:
- Audi Q5 2.0T
- Audi A3 2.0T
- Audi A5 3.2 Quattro
- Audi A5 3.0 TDi
I paired up with Athol Price of BrandScape and jumped into the Audi A5 3.0 TDi passengers seat as we took off from Audi Cape Town in the Waterfront to our first meeting point, the Shell garage at the foot-end of Sir Lowry’s Pass. We stopped on the N2 highway to swop seats and I took the helm of the A5 from there all the way through to meeting point.
The A5 is a beautiful car! It’s a dream to drive and the comfort levels inside the car are well specced. I love the driving position, the centre console setup, the steering responsiveness, the MultiTronic gearbox and the ease of which this car goes from 100km/h to 160km/h to overtake slower traffic.
We were the first to arrive at our meeting point and relaxed while we waited for the other 3 teams to arrive. We quickly swopped cars and headed toward Betty’s Bay for breakfast. The only place in Betty’s Bay that was open at the time actually. A small, quirky tea shop!
We drove the Audi A3 2.0T next, and oh boy did I drive it! If you know the route, you’d know that its pasted up against the side of a mountain with sharp cliffs dropping into the sea on the other side. It’s a tight bending, single lane, windy road that is any driving enthusiast’s dream. I was not shy with the A3. It does have the same setup as the VW Golf GTi which has a reputation of being a boy racer. I hammered the car into corners hard and held nothing back on the short straights with quick hard gear changes on the 6 speed manual gearbox. It was nothing but the most exhilarating, fun drive that I have EVER had. The Audi A3 2.0T stands out for me as the most fun car that I have driven yet!
On the last stretch, I went up against @AmandaSevasti in a straight shootout run to the finish in the A5 Diesel and the A3 did its job of making the task tough for the lady!
Breakfast was a scone and tea. We sat around and chatted for a bit. Chris and Grant then had a lucky draw of two prizes, an Advanced Driving Course in an A5 and a day with an R8 out on the streets of Cape Town.
The truth is that I don’t remember who won the R8 drive, but what I do remember is ME winning the Advances Driving Course 
) #Buya
I drove the Q5 back to Gordons Bay and while everyone else enjoyed driving the SUV, I didn’t. I guess that I’m too much of a boy racer and wanted to plough the lumpy beast into corners under heavy breaking and pull it out of corners as quick as possible to plough it into the next corner. I hated the body roll but totally enjoyed the superior driving position of being so high up.
I didn’t get to drive the A5 petrol due some chop smashing into the back of it coming down Sir Lowry’s Pass while @JohannSchwella was at the helm, so I had another go at the best car of the day, the Audi A5 3.0TDi.
It’s completely convinced me to upgrade my A4 to a A5 on my next Audi purchase.
To Chris, thank you dude. You are a royal legend and I have mad love for you. I have the utmost respect for you and your work and your most notable humility.
To Grant, thanks a mil for spending the day with us out on the road and explaining the cars so well.
To Wernich, this was all you. You are a real champ to recognise the value of leveraging social media and you have a great guy to back you up on that front. Chris won’t let you down. You run a smooth operation there and your coolness about the little accident did nothing less than impress all of us. Thank you for the treat and a HUGE thank you for the Advanced Driving Course, I’m stoked about it.
The Audi MVP Day rocked and I REALLY hope that I get invited back!
Be sure to join our Audi Run, which is a group of us that get together every now and again for a breakfast run in and around Cape Town. Our Facebook Group has more details.
