been on here not very long, but have been an admirer of the RS4 for a long time. My last car was a mk4 R32, good fun car but was not fast enough for my liking and was getting a bit tired of the hot hatch image it had / negative attention it attracted. Just about any idiot in anything from a saxo to a civic type R would see me and think they were Schumacher even though all I wanted to do was go from A to B without racing!
anyway, picked the RS4 up from Audi on Saturday and drove it back home, approx 50 miles on the motorway. My dad dropped me off at the dealers in his E46 M3 and followed me back, he said it looked great on the move..
Its an absolutely brilliant car, so much more than just the performance figures which most people associate with the car. Yes its got the speed / power, but to be honest I haven't even given it a thrashing since I got it. I pressed on the loud pedal a few times and it impresses where the R32 ran out of puff, this thing has plenty more power available and it keeps pulling. Obviously it feels a bigger car than the R32, it is at the end of the day, but like I said, I havent pushed it hard enough to have it understeer etc.. my enthusiastic cornering was just rewarded with grip, grip, and more grip.
Its got much smoother, softer suspension than my R32 which is nice, but also a bit deceptive, add to that better aerodynamics and sound proofing meants its much quieter and smoother at higher speeds, such an effortless cruiser.
The interior is absolutely brilliant. I've been playing with some of the toys like the tv tuner which is actually quite good quality and entertaining. I also really like the mp3 memory card slots, I bought a couple of 4GB SD cards and ripped like 15-20 cds on windows media centre which automatically labelled them and copied/pasted them onto the memory card and slot it in and hey presto it all works with all the correct names / folders as slick as anything! A bonus because I have tonnes of mp3's and dont have an ipod.
I love the sport button! It doesnt seem to affect the loud pedal (i.e. make full throttle come on with less depression of the pedal, not sure its meant to?) and it doesnt affect the side bolsters on the seats but it DEFINITELY makes the exhaust sound brilliant. Still dont think its louder than my R32 milltek non-res but Its so much cooler a noise!
Its not as thirsty as I thought it would be, on the motorway cruise it was doing 26mpg average at about 75-80 all the way, and in and around town on the drive to and from the golf club it was doing a very reasonable 23-24 mpg. That was with me being restrained and following the speed limits but with the sport button on to hear that lovely V8 better.. It seemed to slip under the radar through town and not attract any idiots attention which is a big plus in my book.
Overall I'm pretty blown away by the car, its just impresses massively in every area. Its discrete, its got a fantastic interior, a fantastic exterior, it sounds brilliant, its quick / powerful, very practical with a good sized boot, its sticks to the road especially around the corners and its loaded with plenty of kit to keep any man happy. I know I chose the right car and am so glad I didnt get an E92 M3.
Meeting up with my friend who has a C63 amg later in the week, will try and snap some pictures of them together! in the meantime Here are a couple of mine.
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