Standard Suspension - very impressed.

[ARSEY4]

I had an RS4 for the day on Saturday. It had pretty much everything on it accept sports exhaust and variable 3 way setting sports suspension. I am comparing it with my 2011 RS5 but I was really impressed. I preferred it to my RS5 set up in that the 4 felt lighter, more nimble and just perfectly damped. The suspension was firmer than mine in auto mode but no where near as hard as mine in dynamic mode. It reminded me of the day when I drove my brand new B7 out of the showroom back in 2007. I've had quite a few cars since then but nothing put a grin on my face quite like the B7 until Saturday when I drove the B8. It would be a brave decision not to spec the adjustable set up as it could quite possibly be resale suicide but comparing it to the RS5 it's a better set up.

[Graeme4130]

I found the rs4 to be better sorted than the rs5 in both optional and standard set up
Weirdly, the rs5 is slightly softer sprung and makes for a more comfortable ride, but compared to the rs4, it feels a bit more disjointed and is maybe over damped, but under sprung. Hard to quantify what I mean without hand gestures, but the rs5 tends to wander over the road a bit more and generally feels less 'set up' than both guises of RS4
Fwiw, other than resale and pack option price, the standard RS4 suspension is equal to the option type IMHO