Nerene Virgin: Audi Aficionado

You've been driving an Audi for more than 35 years. What’s kept you coming back?

For one thing, they're very snazzy vehicles. The safety factor is important, also the response. You touch the brake and you get a response. You move the steering wheel, you get an immediate response. You touch the gas, you get an immediate response. I’ve driven other vehicles before Volkswagen and Audi and there can be a whole lot of play in the steering wheel. They often had that bouncy suspension that would make me carsick if I travelled any distance. I love the fact that you can feel the road in an Audi. You really feel that connection. And they are beautiful. Nobody does colours like Audi. I love the styling because they don't get dated.

Our daughter drives a 2013 A4 allroad. Our son is driving a 2015 Q3 that looks brand new. It looks like you just drove it off the lot because the styling has such longevity.

Though, you did once have a bad experience with one…?

I had an accident, yes. I was leaving Today’s Special. I was in doing some dubbing and pre-recording at night in the winter. When I came down the Don Valley Parkway and got on the Gardiner Expressway, I didn't realize it was all black ice. You couldn’t see it.

I hit the guardrail and the car tipped up on its side. I remember looking down at the road below and thinking, ‘I guess this is it.’ And then the car bounced back down. I wasn't hurt at all. The hood was gone and the car was totalled, but I was fine. So, I got another one.

And, it runs in the family. Apparently, your son had the choice between moving away to college or staying local and getting an Audi, and he opted for the car?

When my son was going off to university, he had a choice: You can go away and live in residence or you can stay here and get a car. Because we live in the country outside Hamilton, there are no buses. Our daughter, who was working for Audi at the time, saw an A4 that came in and thought it was absolutely perfect for her brother. So, we bought him that car.

VIRGIN’S HISTORY WITH AUDI BEGAN IN 1982 AND CONTINUES UNTIL TODAY.

• 1982 Coupe in red

• 1984 Coupe in silver

• 1985 5000, red

• 1990 quattro Coupe in black

• 2000 quattro A4 in black

• 2004 quattro A4 in black

• 2007 quattro S-line Avant in metallic black

• 2012 quattro Q5 in metallic midnight grey

• 2017 quattro Q5 in metallic black

• 2019 quattro S-line Q5 in metallic black

Daughter Nicole drives an Allroad. Son Thomas has a quattro Q3. Virgin’s grandson Jackson is the third generation Audi/VW owner, driving a 2017 Golf in red.