Unequal brothers?
02/13/2021
It was in 1970 when "auto motor und sport" compared the Audi 60 with the VW 1600 TLE and announced this on the front page with the headline "Unequal brothers". In the comparison test itself , the title was even clearer: "Technical knockout".
In fact, the 55 hp Audi won the comparison point for point: better bodywork, superior visibility, larger trunk, safer driving characteristics, superior comfort and lower fuel consumption. The future had triumphed over the past.
The VW owed its existence to the Beetle that had been built since the post-war years, which meant a rear engine, rear-wheel drive and air cooling.
The Audi was a modern concept with a self-supporting body, front engine and front-wheel drive.
50 years later, a similar pairing could be made, namely an Audi A3 and a VW ID3, similarly priced and comparable in terms of performance.
The ID3 would beat the A3 hands down in terms of space, running smoothness and fuel consumption, even though, like the VW 1600, it had a rear-mounted (electric) engine and rear-wheel drive, while the Audi naturally had a transverse-mounted water-cooled front-mounted petrol engine and front-wheel drive. Just "unequal brothers", but even more unequal than 51 years ago ...
