S4 test drive-my views...

[Gareth]

Had my full day in the S4 yesterday and thought I'd join Matt (at www.BM3W.co.uk and here on RS246.com)in posting up my thoughts.

*First impressions/appearance- 'My' car was a Nogaro Blue Avant with the Blue/black alacantara interior. The colour really lifts the appearance of what is-to be honest- a little too grown up looking performance car. The alloy roof bars and matching mirrors are an Audi 'S' and 'RS' signature, and look suberb IMO. The Avus alloys look clean and not easy to kerb, but are now looking a little dated in design I reckon. A set of 19''Sportecs would do the job nicely with better tyres also (car had 235 Conti's)

*The day- I decided to split it up into two parts. Firstly a long run of motorways and 'A' roads to get a good feel for how the car would be on a Mon-Fri commuter type of run. Secondly I was going to exclusively drive on more demanding 'A' and 'B' roads to explore the performance fully

* Interior- Classy and stunningly finished full stop. Could not find fault with the quality at all, everything looked and felt sturdy. Loved the seats (as did Matt) and the dash is nice and clear with all the major controls falling to hand. Arm rest gets in the way though and needs to be flipped up to avoid it affecting the gearchange. Rear seat/leg room seemed fine and the boot is an added benefit for this practical car. The Alacantara grips well but would get pretty worn and dirty I think so I would prefer the full nappa option (c. £900)

*Driving- On the first part of the day the S4 just ate the miles without any issues. Ride is smooth and compliant and the V8 sounds pleasant at tickover, as well as throughout the rev range. The brakes are strong and fade free but are lacking in real feel I would say-could be worth an upgrade to the sets offered by Movit/AP etc. On the longer runs I averaged 21.2 mpg which I felt was acceptable for 4.2 V8.

*Chassis/drivetrain- As I said nice ride and steering but brakes slightly lacking in feel. Body control seems good and the damping is also effective for such big heavy car. Seemed pretty neutral and the understeer I feared was not there nearly as much as it could be for a car of this weight. On the second part of the day I really enjoyed pushing the car hard and it seemed to take most of the abuse thrown at at it. Have to say that it always felt secure but never felt F-U-N......like a M3 would on the same roads I feel. Gear change is consistant and clean and felt better than the LHD S4 I sat in at the NEC last year. Clutch is smooth and light 'ish' although the travel was a little too long for a performance car I felt, the M3 is more 'meaty' and with more feel.

*Engine- When you open the bonnet your fist reaction is "why have they put a 2.0 4 cylinder in there....?" It's amazingly compact and is suberbly designed by Audi. It's also pretty light which is a big advantage given the normal heavyweight V8's availble. However on the second part of my day when I was pushing pretty hard the mpg fell to 13.8...gulp.... I would guess an average of range of 17-21 mpg overall, so not great but not as bad as it could have been. On a track day I bet it would get near to 10 mpg however

*Overall conclusions- A very fine effort by Audi and great all round 'do it all' car. Needs a few little mods to make it better IMO-Brakes/Exhaust/Wheels/ECU re map and tyres-but need to be done well so as not to affect the balance.

I've decided to order a S4 avant for August/September and will now also have to look into the M3 alternative (like Matt again) to see if I can fall in love with the BMW 'M' car option-coupe or cab/SMG or manual?. If I end up taking the S4, it will be a car I would probably keep for up to a year as Audi are being sensible with the amount imported-550 this year and 1000 next-which is much less than BMW brought in of the M3's of course...and it's so practical as well.

Biggest downside of the S4? It's not a car I would take out for a blast-it's good but not fun- just for the hell of it, whereas the M3 is certainly that kind of car. I always looked forward to the M3 and it was always fun to drive and made me look for challenging roads...as well as tunnels and narrow streets!!

Decisions, decisions...

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[Dave]

Good write up Gareth,

I agree with all you have said.. I drove the saloon which sounds very similar. It's a car that you can use day to day and have fun in at the same time. Not an out and out sports car like the M3, but with the option there if you want it.

I like (love?) the way the steering weights up with speed... One fingered stuff in the car park, but nice and meaty when pressing on.

Also agree about the understeer.. you get in the S4 (esp after my RS6) and reckon with a huge V8 strung out over the front axel it's going to be a bitch.. but don't you believe it.. handles very well indeed!! [img]images/graemlins/clap.gif[/img]

A very good effort by Audi and I feel that every car they produce is better than the last

Dave

[Gareth]

Cheers Dave, glad we all agree so far!

Again it shows how important it is to really spend some time in a car you're looking to buy rather than rely on the TV/Mag reports... [img]images/graemlins/spineyes.gif[/img]

[Dippy]

Thanks for the report Gareth. My interest in taking the S4 for a test drive is now much reduced. I suppose all I need to have is confidence that I'm better off with my tuned B5 S4 than to have a B6 S4. You've given me that, especially with your report of fuel consumption - mine averages about 25mpg and never falls below 20mpg (I'd have to drive like Bushy all the time for that [img]images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]). I suppose the only area where the B6 S4 would be better than mine is on the track, and that's never going to concern me!

The good news again, however, is that this is all a recipe for onw hell of a B6 RS4. [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Gareth]

I agree that the B6 S4 is a great basis for the next RS4.

Also the S4 cab will be a good drive too I reckon.

[TimJMS]

Great report, Gareth... agree with you on nearly all your points.

I say nearly because if I was an S4 owner I would most definitely be seeking out those tunnels [img]images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] One of the great joys for me (juvenile I know) was blipping that throttle in queueing traffic. I reckon most pedestrians agreed with me about the noise!

You are absolutely spot on about supply and demand with this model too. Getting out after a year should be painless. There will be greater model awareness in 12 months which wont hurt the residual either.

I applaud your decision [img]images/graemlins/clap.gif[/img]

[JohnH]

Tim, I think you dont know Gareth that well as just because he has put an order in doesn't have any bearing on whether he buys one or not...eh Gareth [img]images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

My money is still on him getting an M3 again but then he could surprise us all!!

[Gareth]

Cheers Tim.

When I was referring to the seeking of tunnels I was talking about my last M3, but I'm sure the S4 will be just as fun in that regard!

Gareth. [img]images/graemlins/jump_clap.gif[/img]

[Gareth]

Tim, I think you dont know Gareth that well as just because he has put an order in doesn't have any bearing on whether he buys one or not...eh Gareth [img]images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

My money is still on him getting an M3 again but then he could surprise us all!!

Wounded by that John...hehe [img]images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img]

Let's wait and see eh? [img]images/graemlins/033102bigblink_1_prv.gif[/img]

The thought of having to deal with rip off BMW dealers if I get another M3 doesn't exactly fill me with joy though [img]images/graemlins/rocketwhore.gif[/img]

[PhilT]

The thought of having to deal with rip off BMW dealers if I get another M3 doesn't exactly fill me with joy though [img]images/graemlins/rocketwhore.gif[/img]

And what makes you think that Audi will be comparably better?

[TimJMS]

Hmmmm had second thoughts about my last sentence as soon as I hit the continue button!!

I applaud the decision to place the order [img]images/graemlins/clap.gif[/img]

If you change to Sportecs on the S4 Gareth, at least you will be driving something new. Will the fact that M3's are still blowing their engines have any effect on your choice? The approx £5k additional drop in residuals did for me. Have BMW (UK and Germany) sorted this yet?

Cheers

[Gareth]

The thought of having to deal with rip off BMW dealers if I get another M3 doesn't exactly fill me with joy though [img]images/graemlins/rocketwhore.gif[/img]

And what makes you think that Audi will be comparably
better?

Well we live in hope Phil... [img]images/graemlins/3flypigs.gif[/img]

[img]images/graemlins/spineyes.gif[/img]

[Dippy]

There's always a way to avoid rip-off dealers, BMW, Audi or otherwise, and its the only way to stop the ripping-off in the long run.

[Gareth]

Tim

The Sportecs (especially 19's I think) would look very nice on the S4.

I was at the BMW 'M' Power owners day this weekend at Silverstone. There was a great turn out of around 30-35 E46 M3's but 3 of them blew their engine during the day [img]images/graemlins/033102scull_1_prv.gif[/img]

Very embarassing for BMW and heart breaking for the owners-hopefully BMW GB will also honour the warranty . There is a known period of time on the production line that has suffered from many engine failures worldwide. BMW GB have been operating a "softly, softly" recall on these cars to have the mods done. The cars that went 'bang' on the day were mainly (well 2 out of 3!) manual cars where it's possible the owner/driver simply over revved the car. You cannot do that in the SMG II cars though I believe. If I still go for the M3 however the very small chance that I would suffer the same issue would not bother me too much.

As for residuals I would hope the S4 to be better than the M3 which is suffering from vast over supply versus demand now.

Gareth.

[kiwi_mtm]

Have you driven the RSe, if so, how does it compare