Not as much mid range grunt as a B5?

[K2]

I came up behind an 06 B7 RS4 saloon this week in my B5 RS4, and was quite surprised at the mid range grunt that the car had on overtake moves.... I had to back off quite a bit whilst following. Either it was not being red lined or it does not have quite as much grunt as the old one.
Anyone else had similar experience?

[ZeroK66]

Oh they hav eno where near the midrange of the B5 I dont think. They are NA motors and will never be able to give the kick of torque that the B5 has. Even those that drive S4's that are chipped have said how the RS4 seems slow to drive in comparison.

[simple1]

Would say the mid range grunt is similar, only that after 5K rpm, the B7 kicks again...... the B7 is a torque surfer, and its easy to ovetake in 5th or 6th without having to change down. B5 is much more peaky in power delivery, and runs out of puff at 6k, I still feel that my B5 is quicker than B7, but it has 30ish bhp more........ In a straight drag race, the B5 is quicker upto 70 mph, then the B7 pulls away from my car until 100 when the B5 comes back with a bang.

[GlynRS2]

I would also go on to say that the RS4 is not really any quicker than my RS2, but the power delivery is completely different as is the handling.
As with you guys and your B5 RS4's my RS2 is not quite in an OE state of tune anymore! Very few people have played with their B7s yet and being naturally aspirated the gains will be modest compared to forced induction cars. If you look at the quoted manufacturer's performance figures for the RS2, B5 RS4 and B7 RS4 they are all in fact very similar.

[djcevo]

Are you comparing completely standard B5's? I thought the torque for a stardard B5 was 325 lbft? well the B7 is meant to be 317lbft but infact a few of them have come out with slightly more (322lbft) which in a car that is fractionally lighter should give a similar shunt, is it not the fact that as we all know turbo's feel faster??

Just doesnt make sense, more power, same torque, less weight = Slower?????

Has it not been the case that every publication that has tested the B7 timed them faster than the B5's too??

[simple1]

try reading the thread again No one is saying one is faster than the other, all we are saying is that the delivery is different at marked points.

[djcevo]

I still feel that my B5 is quicker than B7, but it has 30ish bhp more........ In a straight drag race, the B5 is quicker upto 70 mph, then the B7 pulls away from my car until 100 when the B5 comes back with a bang.[/quote]

??

[graemep]

From my first drive of the B7 I would say that while it sounds better, it doesn't feel as if it pulls as hard as my B5 (430bhp).

Although I am waiting for another drive to judge. It could be that the delivery of the turbo in the B5 is more /obvious but I will wait and see...

[TarmacTerrorist]

after test driving the B7 rs4 and then stepping straight back into my standard B5, my car felt alot more punchy yet did not pick up aswell as the B7.

[k5turbo]

I just happend to find myself behind a b7rs4 saloon today i was in my b5rs4 and to be honest i was quite disapointed with the b7 i thought it would have pulled a bit of a gap but nothing !! But my rs is not far off 450bhp so that extra bit of juice could of helped

[graemep]

Have had the opportunity to spend some more time in the B7, and it became very obvious that the two cars deliver their power at different points.

Off the mark, without dropping the clutch, the B7 pulls immediately while you would be waiting for the turbo lag to pass in the B5. Where the B5 does pull harder is when the big wodge of power comes in when the turbos kick in until the rev limiter kicks in (all too easy in 1st and 2nd) - the fact that the B7 revs higher means you can hang on to the revs longer.

Can't help thinking that the B7 will be the replacement for my B5..

[RS4Stan]

From my experience, you will find little difference in a 3rd or 4th gear type drag race between many high performance cars. This week, we keep the same distance behind a Corvette ZR6 between 85mph and 140mph. The same said when my mate in his C4S 996 and I decided to do a 60 to 110 drag in Italy and also a drag from 80 to 160 against a fried's 997 C2S in france. In all cases we were side by side and no one pulled a full car length on each other.
On Friday we raced B5 RS4 with 440bhp for 55 miles and, frankly, we were playing with it! The outright acceleration is similiar but the braking and corner speeds of the B7 were on a different level. At times we dropped back a long way, just to see how quickly we could make up the difference. When we saw the B7 brake (often from 140 on good French country back roads) used this as a reference to brake 100 yards later.
You just cannot beat 2006 technology.

[charlesdash]

Couldn't agree more with the emphasis of Stan's post. The power delivery of the B5 was far more 'Shock and Awe' than the B7 which is a rising storm, (apologies for the crap poetic nonsense!) but the really telling bit is coming into a heavy braking corner where the balance shift to the nose in the B5 always meant that the cars natural tendancy was to continue straight on with the resulting understeer. The B7 brakes far more evenly from speed and has far more rear bias allowing the driver far more control to place the car more accurately int he corner and then put the power down as the majority is then sent to the rear wheels.

I loved my B5 and for sheer brutality and looks the B5 is IMHO the superior car, but, and it is a big but, the B7 is a far more enjoyable and able car to drive due to the complete package that it is.