B9 RS4 ?

[bam_bam]

The volume control on the right looks as though it's an afterthought.

Im used to touching my passengers leg when I select first gear in my 205 - looks like you'll be doing the same to adjust the volume!

You won't have any passengers if you buy that...

[smudge]

Over a week on and I still think that thing is just beyond ugly.

I just about like the Alcantara steering wheel, beyond that there are no lines, no form, no structure inside or out. I never really liked the B8 RS5, but this is just hideous. On the basis that many styling cues from the 5 were applied to the 4, I can't see the RS4 being any better.

Such a shame.

[bam_bam]

It is a very muddled car.

[Ian_C]

Just like Audi being an increasingly muddled company nowadays

Remember 10+ years ago, the 'sniffpetrol' spoof advert of a dog shiit with a BMW badge on the top, with the caption 'BMW 1 series - we can sell anything' or 'customers will buy anything' or something very similar....

[johnnydog]

Having driven several models of the B9 A4 with the same interior layout, my personal thoughts are that -
1) the engine start button is in the wrong place - it is a physical stretch to operate it, and I'm not particularly tall at 5'10 and don't have the seat right back
2) the heater controls are a bit retro, and look a little like an after thought (oh, we forget the heater controls - where shall we stick them)
3) the sat nav is unnecessarily fiddly to operate (may get used to it in time)
4) the digital dash has so much information on it that you spend more time reading the information available than watching the road ahead
5) the operation of the gear-lever is similar to that in the A8 / S8 - following a gear selection, the lever returns to the same position. Only personal, but I like a definite position when the gear lever is moved, i.e. into P, rather their than pressing a button on the side of the lever.
6) if the same has been adopted on the RS5 and subsequently the RS4 - upward moving door handles???? What is the purpose of those, as they don't follow the natural movement of your hand when pulling the handle
7) door mirrors that look like an aftermarket extra, without naturally blending into the flow of the body

I have never been overly impressed with the location of the MMI screen; to me it looks out of place, whereas on the B8 RS4 it was all incorporated in the dash and looked like it was designed that way. I know it is the same on most models now, and is more in the view of the driver from a safety point of view, but again looks like an add on.

All these are my own thoughts, and if I'm on my own, so be it!!

And as an aside, I still miss the aluminium finished flat bottom steering wheel from the B7 RS4, surely that could be incorporated in a new model but with steering wheel controls? That particular flat bottomed steering wheel really set the interior of the RS4 apart from other models.....

Having said all that, I didn't particularly like the B8 when it came out compared to the B7, but it grew on me and I made the change. Maybe, the B9 will, but at this moment, no....

[DeanoC]

Anyone who thinks this new B9 won't be much faster than the B8 needs their head looking at

There are numerous tricks car manufacturers do to set a good 0-60 time on paper. Back in the 90s, all cars suddenly had second gear reaching exactly 62 mph on the redline. I remember reading in TG Mag even Toyota did this on a boggo Yaris. Power sets a good 0-60 time - you are using max revs and the car makes its power at max revs.

(likewise, some car manufacturers simply didn't bother, the original k series Elise S1 + S2 and VX220 (na) redlined in second at around 57 mph, thus the 6 second 0-60 time makes it look far slower on paper than it feels in real life)

In the real world, there is simply no substitute for torque. 442lb ft is more than any R8 / Huracan derivative ever built.

Look what Ferrrai have just done with the California. They ditched the natural aspirated 4.3 litre V8 that made 358 lb ft, and fitted a 3.9 litre turbocharged V8 with 557 lb ft. Transforms the car, they ditched the silly short gearing as a result, no need to rev the balls off it to make it go

I'm trying to think of a more real world example. 2002 Honda Civic Type R (200 bhp) vs 2005 VW Golf GTi (200 bhp). Sure, the Type R is probably a second faster 0-60 than the Golf, but in the real world, when you aren't doing side-step-the-clutch launches, the torquey Golf more than has the Civic covered for in gear acceleration

I'd even go as far as saying that there would be a bigger difference in performance / figures / in gear acceleration between say a B8 RS4 and B9 RS4 (both 7 speed autos) than a B7 S4 and a B7 RS4 (both 6 speed manuals). The 125 lb ft different between the B8 B9 would make more difference in the real world than the 70 bhp different between the B7 S4 + RS4

The Tiptronic is no surprise - when the B8 S4 was blowing its gearboxes to bits with a quoted 325 lb ft (in reality, way more than that, more like 360 lb ft) there was only ever going to be one option for the B9 RS4, especially after Audi ditched it for the B9 S4

I don't agree. Having had ridiculous torque in a mapped 335d, big torque for the engine size in a cupra and now low torque in the RS4. What never gets mentioned is the rev range. The torque curve on a charged petrol will be like a mountain where you get big numbers for maybe 3k rpm. Either side of that you can drop to half the torque pretty quickly. Mine is 330lbft at 6.5k rpm but is only ever 10% less than that from 3k - 8.5k giving me 5.5k of the rev band where im 90-100% of torque. Less for more time vs. more for less time.

All i have to do is keep the revs up and luckily the box just wants to do that all day long. Yes you can get caught off guard and yes it won't feel as quick in a surge type way but the constant torque over lots more revs does bring acceleration if used.

The changes revently sre due to economy and the environment not performance.

I personally find revving the balls off of something to go quick more fun than just staying in top gear 50mph+ like i did in my 335d.

I much prefer S/R tronic to a ZF. But with their money issues they had to go with the lesser option. They are doing a box with graziano and i hope this will end up in the R5

So MRC just had the new S4 on the rollers. I had a play at merging the dyno graphs from the B9 S4 and a stock rs5 they had. This explains my point about headline torque figures not being the basis of fun:

Note ignore torque on the power graph and ignore power on the torque graph. Manipulated because of the scales so they can never both be accurate on the same graph.

Power:



Torque:



So the power is obvious. It much better having more for longer in a linear diagonal line.

On torque the rs5 has less between 2-4k rpm but the same or more between 4-6.5k rpm then infinitely more between 6.5-8.5k because the S4 has had to change up.

All my smiles are from revving the nuts off my car, it would lose its shine if i had to keep it between 3 and 5k rpm to be quick and an auto or DCT box will not do that when you punch it. That's why linear power, flat torque, high redline and a DCT that drops cogs in milliseconds is the perfect setup for fun in my opinion - and why i bought the car.

[Ian_C]

Oh there is no doubt the top end of the B8 4.2 is savage / glorious.

Its a while since I was in the current S3, my dad and I have both had 5dr Sportback manuals from Audi before, had one yesterday as a courtesy car, I couldn't believe the 'go' in any gear. And whilst Im normally a manual gearbox fan, the facelift 7 speed S tronic suited the 'little terrier' nature of the car perfectly. I read somewhere the S tronics have another 20 lb ft, not sure if this is true or not? It certainly felt more Tha 10 horsepower faster than the manual I drove around launch in 2013?

[ARSEY4]

Mine is at the dealers at the moment and I have an A4 Avant and I have to agree with everything johnydog says above. The volume button position and starter button position are very odd! The exterior handles pivot upwards and will take some getting used to and I would think shorter people and women will find the action very strange. I think looks wise when it gets its aggressive arches on it will look great and I'm sure its just a case of getting used to something different but I'm not sure I will get on with the engine as I just love the V8!

[PSB1]

Dude where the <beep> are my arches?

http://www.motor1.com/news/140489/2018- ... ant-spied/

[MikeFish]

Dude where the <beep> are my arches?

http://www.motor1.com/news/140489/2018- ... ant-spied/

I'm impressed by that wrap though, the pattern all seems to join up and continue other than a bit below the headlight. I assume it is precut panels off a machine so no real skill involved other than applying it like a normal wrap.

[FaisalJ]

This has me wondering if it's just that swirly wrap making it hard to make out any body contours.

B8 spy shots from 2011 for comparison:

http://www.caradvice.com.au/137858/audi-rs4-spy-photos/

[bam_bam]

Yeah, I'd dare say they're not running wide-bodied panels but they are running an RS4 track width for testing.

[DeanoC]

The arches will be lame of the RS5 at Geneva is anything to go by

[Surrey Sam]

Still will sound like a vacuum cleaner regardless of how it looks

[DeanoC]

Still will sound like a vacuum cleaner regardless of how it looks

Exactly and only go below 4k rpm. I'm out