S4 test drive-my views...
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 11:46 am
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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*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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