Advice and guidance on a new RS4

[peter_964rs]

I test drove an RS4 yesterday. All I can say is Wow.

So, I am test driving a new M5 tomorrow. I will then have to choose which to go for. A difficult but enjoyable choice to make!

Rather than initiate an RS4 vs M5 debate - it's my choice to make at the end of the day and you lot will inevitably be biased - I want to understand the RS4 ownership experience.

Were I to place an order on an RS4 it would be for March delivery.

So advice and guidance much appreciated on options and stuff

1. What colour? I am thinking Sprint Blue. Has anyone done the optional colour thing, and how does that work - are you allowed to pick any colour matched to a swatch, or is it just any colour on Audi's books? What colour did you pick and why?
2. What options are essential? For me the sunroof, cruise and, having seen the Satnav screen in action, the full Satnav/TV/bluetooth pack. Anything else?
3. Seats - has anyone gone for the alternative seats and why? I'm concerned the standard seats might give backache and/or bumache on long journeys.
4. Fuel economy - what's the reality.......?
5. Reliability - again, what's the reality? I see clutch problems and bluetooth connectivity being mentioned, any other big ticket items causing concern?

Grateful for any comments, thanks.

[peter_964rs]

Sorry forgot to add

1. Any news/rumours on DSG for the RS4?
2. Anyone done the sports suspension plus thing? The suspension seems fine as standard but I have to ask...!

[PetrolDave]

1. I went Phantom Black with silver interior - can't comment on the special colours.
2. Cruise is standard in the UK. I went sunroof, auto air re-circ, adaptive lights and auto dim mirror. I didn't order the sat nav/bluetooth from Audi - it's MUCH cheaper if you retrofit it, and you don't have to make the stupid compromises over where to put the phone cradle (with a Bluetooth phone you just don't need a cradle!). I've also retrofitted the glovebox cool box.
3. I went for the Recaros not the buckets. Found the buckets made my existing backache unbearable, plus I just don't like the feel of the leather on the buckets IMHO it's hard and "cheap". Went for the silver silk nappa leather on the Recaros.
4. 15mpg when I'm having fun, 22 mpg when I'm cruising. But the sound is just wonderful!
5. New build cars have the replacement clutch hose fitted. Bluetooth connectivity problem is often because Audi don't code the electronics properly (I avoided that problem). Nothing else I've seen here or on Audiworld.

BTW if you like the Audi RS4 mats don't buy them - get Autostyle to make custom ones for you (£85 with RS4 logo on all 4 mats instead of £335 for the Audi ones!)

[simple1]

1. What colour? I am thinking Sprint Blue. Has anyone done the optional colour thing, and how does that work - are you allowed to pick any colour matched to a swatch, or is it just any colour on Audi's books? What colour did you pick and why?
2. What options are essential? For me the sunroof, cruise and, having seen the Satnav screen in action, the full Satnav/TV/bluetooth pack. Anything else?
3. Seats - has anyone gone for the alternative seats and why? I'm concerned the standard seats might give backache and/or bumache on long journeys.
4. Fuel economy - what's the reality.......?
5. Reliability - again, what's the reality? I see clutch problems and bluetooth connectivity being mentioned, any other big ticket items causing concern?

Dont be scared of by what you have already read, these faults are common to early cars and will be well sorted by Jan production run, but to answer your questions in the order they came..........
1. Colour is a personal thing, blue is stunning but then so is black and red. You can order any colour you like at a premium, Lippy pink RS4 B5 ordered by Steffi Graff springs to mind and was mixed using her actual lip stick or so the story goes..
2. Over and above the items mentioned, I like the tech pack which includes adaptive lights and rain sensors. Also Beeptronic is a good idea for resale.
3.Standard buckets are hard to get in and out of so if I was doing it again, I would order the Recaro option.
4. My car gets driven hard, not used daily but when I have motorways to cover, 25 mpg is the average on these type of journeys, throw in some local work and it drops to mid to high teens, I think my overall average so far 18.7 in 2500 miles.
5. Bluetooth was a known issue so that has been and is being sorted, clutch is also known issue and being sorted on a few cars, but as common as it would seem on the forum...... dont forget bad news always travels further than good........we are now waiting on a resolve for TMC and the speed powered aircon systems..........
Hard choice to make, but I would pass on the BMW, its just not my cuppa at all.
There will not be a DSG box for the RS4, Audi have stated quite clearly this will not happen.

[JMiles]

Hi,

I test drove the M5 as well as the RS4 and in terms of performance it was very close, however the M5 looked absolutely bloody awful inside with a big swathe of aluminium running across the dash. The heads up is gimmicky and from the outside it looks like someone's taken a chunk out of the dash. Oh and i-Drive!?! Final point, a friend has one and goes nuts that he has to stop at the petrol station within 200 miles everytime because the petrol tank isn't big enough and the consumption is a lot worse than on the RS4.

I may be sounding biased as you'd expect but I have previously owned 7 BMW's including 2 M3's and I loved them. I hate the new styling though!

1) Mine is Sprint Blue and I just love the colour. I Diamond Brite'd the paintwork early on and it just gleams beautifully. I like the grey and black as well although I think those colours make the car look a bit more understated.

2) Mine came with the auto bootlid opening which is a good extra for £30 , adaptive lights, air recirculation, Satnav, and Suede wheel and gearknob. My car was specced by someone else and I would definitely have added auto dimming mirror, rain sensor wipers and auto lights. One thing I would not go for again is the suede. It looks worn out already and I'm gonna try and get a warranty claim through.

3) I have the sports seats. Am 6 ft and 13 stone 10lbs. I get back problems but these seats far from making it worse make my back feel better. The lumbar support is superb. I've covered 8,000 miles in my car now including some 8 hour stints driving on the continent and have had no issues. Also no worrying wear from getting in and out the car, unlike my M3's that wore very badly.

4) My average is 20.4mpg, can get 25-26 on motorway runs and mid to high teens in town.

5) 8,000 and no issues apart from an oil top up. Runs smoothly, looks beautiful and sounds oh so good!!!!!!!!

At the end of the day I doubt you'd be disappointed with either car, but I'm loving my move to Audi for the time being. Good luck!

Jez

[peter_964rs]

Thanks for the comments

Shame about DSG. One minor gripe on the test drive was I couldn't effect a smooth downshift - kept shunting it slightly. Upshifts were fine. Is this normal? DSG is attractive because I get to keep both hands on the wheel and it doesn't shunt as much as the BMW SMG 'box (claimed; I haven't driven DSG and only SMG in the M3 as yet) or the manual, it would seem.

[gw007]

1. What colour? I am thinking Sprint Blue. Has anyone done the optional colour thing, and how does that work - are you allowed to pick any colour matched to a swatch, or is it just any colour on Audi's books? What colour did you pick and why?
2. What options are essential? For me the sunroof, cruise and, having seen the Satnav screen in action, the full Satnav/TV/bluetooth pack. Anything else?
3. Seats - has anyone gone for the alternative seats and why? I'm concerned the standard seats might give backache and/or bumache on long journeys.
4. Fuel economy - what's the reality.......?
5. Reliability - again, what's the reality? I see clutch problems and bluetooth connectivity being mentioned, any other big ticket items causing concern?

1. I currently have a Sprint Blue car and have a Daytona Grey car on order... why Sprint Blue? It was the only RS4 the dealer had at the time and being the impatient chap I am didnt want to wait 6 months until the new car arrived, so bought the Sprint Blue one as a stop gap until new one arrives (Jan 2007!). Must admit that I think the Sprint Blue colour is great, didnt like it at first but its grown on me... Missano Red is great as well, but went for a less "in your face" Daytona Grey for my proper car. I did like the Phantom Black until I saw one, didnt quite look right to me.

2. Options... for the new car I have pretty much ordered everything, tech pack, solar sunroof, sports suspension, etc... the only thing I didnt go for was the ceramic brakes which I couldnt justify £4500 for, oh and the TV option as I think its a bit of a waste of £700 for an analogue tuner. The sat nav is good, but the actual interface and setting a destination is woefully painful... I find the dial control a bit too slow to respond and you end up going past the letter you want. As someone else has said, I think there are probably better 3rd party options.

3. Seats... have gone for the standard bucket seats, bit of a struggle to get in and out of, but I find them really comfortable for long drives.

4. Fuel economy... actually, I have no idea! Its probably the one thing I didnt even look at or ask about when looking at the car, I knew it would be pretty low but what do you expect when its got a 4.2l engine! All I do know is that on those long journeys up and down the M1 and M4 I have to stop a bit more frequently than I used to.

5. Reliability... havent had any problems so far, but have only had the car for 2 months. As someone else has mentioned the forced air conditioning is a minor annoyance and there has been clutch problems. Mine seems to like doing a kangaroo impression sometimes when in 1st gear and giving it a few revs (nothing too much), I assumed it was my dubious driving but a friends A3 2.0T does the same thing.

Apart from that I cant recommend the RS4 enough, thoroughly pleased with it and it goes like sh*t off a shovel (as the saying goes).

One other word of caution is that it does attract quite a bit of attention, so far the missus has been stopped by 4 young lads while filling it up at a petrol station, fortunately they werent out to cause any trouble and just wanted a look at the car (and to hear the exhaust). I have also seen quite a few people (mainly young lads, well younger than me anyway and I'm 29) taking mobile pictures of the car while its parked outside the house... but I suppose it is a desireable car.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Guy

[TWH]

1. I went Phantom Black with silver interior - can't comment on the special colours.
2. Cruise is standard in the UK. I went sunroof, auto air re-circ, adaptive lights and auto dim mirror. I didn't order the sat nav/bluetooth from Audi - it's MUCH cheaper if you retrofit it, and you don't have to make the stupid compromises over where to put the phone cradle (with a Bluetooth phone you just don't need a cradle!). I've also retrofitted the glovebox cool box.
3. I went for the Recaros not the buckets. Found the buckets made my existing backache unbearable, plus I just don't like the feel of the leather on the buckets IMHO it's hard and "cheap". Went for the silver silk nappa leather on the Recaros.
4. 15mpg when I'm having fun, 22 mpg when I'm cruising. But the sound is just wonderful!
5. New build cars have the replacement clutch hose fitted. Bluetooth connectivity problem is often because Audi don't code the electronics properly (I avoided that problem). Nothing else I've seen here or on Audiworld.

BTW if you like the Audi RS4 mats don't buy them - get Autostyle to make custom ones for you (£85 with RS4 logo on all 4 mats instead of £335 for the Audi ones!)

When you say it's much cheaper to retrofit the satnav - do you mean fit the full audi system after buying the car and if so by audi or someone else? Or do you mean get an aftermarket system that's better and cheaper?

[PetrolDave]

When you say it's much cheaper to retrofit the satnav - do you mean fit the full audi system after buying the car and if so by audi or someone else? Or do you mean get an aftermarket system that's better and cheaper?

The full fit Audi system, sat nav plus Bluetooth - so you get total OE "look". I've got an RNS-E with the Speech Dialogue System - just waiting for the last part to get that fully working. Then I'll have an RS4 with an RS4 steering wheel, no phone cradle and speech controlled sat nav, using Audi parts - something Audi say you can't have!!!

Audi say it's impossible to retrofit their sat nav and Bluetooth - they're so very wrong. There's lots of people doing it worldwide - look here http://www.navplus.us

The best person in the UK is undoubtedly craigb. He does full installs, and has done lots of them. I got my Bluetooth kit from him and my RNS-E from a guy in Holland. Total cost - less than £1,300. Time to fit - less than 2 hours. The only thing you need in addition is a VAG-COM to recode the instruments and the RNS-E but there's plenty of people who will do that for you for a few beers and/or the cost of their petrol (me included!).

[Daz]

Craigb retrofitted the Bluetooth kit to my car yesterday. Top job.

[PetrolDave]

Craigb retrofitted the Bluetooth kit to my car yesterday. Top job.

100% agree - Craigb is the man.

[TWH]

Interesting, good to know guys. At that cost, I might look at the possibility of fitting iit to my B5 as it's significantly cheaper than the Pioneer double din setup I am considering at the moment.

[Daz]

I think you'll find the costs will be more for a B5. The whole loom will be totally different. Infact it may not work at all due to the CANBUS which I don't think the B5 has.

[bjacks]

Daz, I've seen a few people with RNS-E in the B5 mate, so it must work!

[PetrolDave]

There's a very interesting discussion on http://www.navplus.us about the problems with retrofitting an RNS-E to a B5.

Basically it does work, but there's a problem with the clock in the instruments and the clock on the RNS-E not synchronising so a guy in California has designed and is selling a box to place in the CAN connections to the RNS-E to solve the problem.

IIRC there can be a problem with early B5's not having a display in the instruments that is capable of showing the radio and navigation information from the RNS-E (some early B5's used a clock/data system but later B5's and the RNS-E use the infotainment CAN bus).