The life and times of my B7 RS4

[Mr Footlong]

Being lucky enough to also own a modded C5 and the B7, I feel very similar to how you do in your earlier posts. Whenever I get in the B7 and get straight down to spanking her, I love how well she handles, the beautiful howls that come from the engine and just how well I feel part of the car. They are pretty accomplished for acrobatics too, rewarding people that know what they are doing and being surprisingly forgiving when I have the occasional ran out of talent moments....

However, when I get in the C5 Barge and vaguely use the throttle, the surge of torque every time from the big old lump puts a smile on my face and for open road runs she is simply a weapon, albeit a slightly unweildy, squirrelly one when driving like I stole it and braking accordingly. Still can't bring myself to part with either, but when time comes and I can hopefully afford a P90D (Torque, Torque and a side serving of Torque thank you), I am pretty sure that the C5 will be going . For now, every time that I get in the other after driving one of them for a few days, they remind me of why I love both of them so much.

I too find that there is no comparison in the cranking/starting of the B7 compared to the C5, to the point where I thought that something was off with the ignition sequence. MRC have reported back that she doesn't appear to take long to start or be laboured at all, just the way that they start compared to the C5 lumps.

[JCviggen]

Porsche gave me a 991 C4 GTS for a week. Well I asked as the '4 needed a bit of maintenance so it seemed like a good opportunity. I'm getting all kinds of silly stuff one like replacing the shifter (previous owner scarred the hell out of the top) a new bottom half (logo) of the FBSW plus a poly rear diff bushing and 034 gearbox mount. And some fresh 5W30 Fuchs Titan for winter, I run a 40 weight in summer.



As awesome as the car is, I'm troubled by the fact that it doesn't *feel* faster in a straight line than the B7. And in a single gear it doesn't actually appear to be much different when you time it, either. It's just that the PDK bangs the shifts in so quickly that it ends up gaining a lot of time while the RS4 is in between gears. But I've not had a proper run in it yet, so it's a bit early to draw conclusions. Being a GTS though it has so much stuff on it that a more base C2S is probably faster. Still I'm thinking a 997.2TT might be more for me now. I just prefer the looks and interior of the 991 by a wide margin. And the new PDKs are vastly improved too.

And the wide rear end with the ducktail wing is epic.

[bam_bam]

And the wide rear end with the ducktail wing is epic.

We wouldn't know, you've not posted a picture of that.

[JCviggen]

And the wide rear end with the ducktail wing is epic.

We wouldn't know, you've not posted a picture of that.

I beg your forgiveness for this inexcusable lapse.



Pretty awesome piece of kit really. Unlike the ESP on the RS4 (or any normal car I guess) it will go pretty sideways in the snow with all systems ON when you give it a bit of throttle. It does start making the typical noises of applying brakes here and there but still, susprising. With things off it's quite a bit trickier to keep in a slide than the RS4 though. You could easily spin it.

[JCviggen]

Looking (and sounding) dirty

[bam_bam]

And the wide rear end with the ducktail wing is epic.

We wouldn't know, you've not posted a picture of that.

I beg your forgiveness for this inexcusable lapse.

[JCviggen]

In Soviet Russia, winter tire mounts you.

Or something or other. Very handy anyway, even if I did have to drag the winter tires out of the closet and down the stairs.

[JCviggen]

I seem to have a habit of buying cars right before leaving the country for New Year. Added a 2015 Cayman GTS this time, pics end of the month when I'm back. Same colour combo as my old C5 was. Agate grey with orange/cognac seats. X73 suspension, tq vertoring, should be great fun and if I want to feel more torque and forward shove I've still got the Audi. And when the warranty runs out, plenty of strangled potential left in that 3.4 flat 6.

The colder weather really makes the RS4 fly with the JHM exhaust and tune. 3000-8000 was done in 6.8 secs and 0-100mph on the speedo in 9 seconds dead with only a slow semi-launch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaBcTjt9HYc

In this weather the RS4 feels every bit as fast at the top end as the Bentley CGT V8S I was test driving for a review last week - and that basically has the C7 drivetrain.

[RIV]

Being stalked by Sakimino, this is what happens when fit JHM products

[sar]

your car gets faster, this is what happens when fit JHM products

fixed that for you mate!

[RIV]

RIV wrote:
saki's stalking gets stronger!! this is what happens when fit JHM products

and no doubt your car goes faster

[JCviggen]

Came home after nearly 4 weeks abroad to find this. For several seconds I actually thought the car wasn't there when I entered the car park at 1AM in the dark. Can't see colour in the dark and the shape of the car had "changed" somewhat to X6-ish.





Temps had been between -15 and -20C all this time and while the battery could still unlock the car starting was a no go. I do keep a spare batt inside but when I changed them over the disconnecting rendered both my keyfobs useless for unlocking the car. This led me to crawl into the car via the boot with a small torch in the middle of the night. Putting the key into the ignition solved things and I had some good fun "recharging the batt" on deserted slippery roads. Took a while for some warning lights to go off after all the low voltage shenanigans but all is well now. Did notice that the SAI regularly faisl to operate when it's really cold, I hope the useless thing it packs it in for good sooner rather than later.

[Shoppinit]

Maybe you should keep some jump leads in the car, too. Save you disconnecting the main battery.

That snow's been ploughed pretty close to your rims.

[JCviggen]

Another year, another Destination Nurburgring trackday in the spring. If you can call it spring anyway, it was cold and the worst day for driving the 'ring in ages as the good weather came to an end a day too soon.

Still got one dry-ish lap in early in the morning before the heavens opened. Seemed like the only cars on track were Porsches, or they just happened to be the ones slow enough for me to come across. Helmet cam video below



It was a pretty nice and brisk lap, but being the first one of the year and in pretty poor conditions meant not much of a lap time.

Things deteriorated pretty quickly from there, with the Michelin Cup 2's being more than a little out of their element as the track got wetter. I edited some laps together as a best of/worst of due to the full laps being a bit dull to watch.



Never had the car crab sideways in 3rd gear before, so grip levels were truly appalling. If I had been going round in a 200K GT3 (RS) I probably would've been slow as **** too.

Better next year, hopefully. I'll need new brake discs as these are warped and crazed beyond saving. During winter storage the pads had rusted to the rotors so badly that my father had to call in professional help to get the car moving. Brakes were shaky even after the rust had scraped off and with new Carbotech XP10 fitted it got pretty bad pretty quickly once on track.

Oh, and I removed my comfy seats and fitted Recaro CS (with airbags) because I apparently like doing things the hard way. Took me ages to find in stock, then the seat frames and adapters for the airbag connectors. All told I didn't spend a lot less than simply buying used OEM buckets.

[jon_273]

Mine also takes a couple of seconds to crank over on cold starts, and a couple of times during winter the SAI plays up and puts the warning light on. I thought it was a problem but now I guess it's normal when cold.

Misano red saloons look great!