BenSfour
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- Joined
- Jun 29, 2017
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Right, so here goes.
My Audi history began back in '99 with an A3 1.8T which got the AmD treatment, then an S3 in 2001 (one of the first Revo tuned cars), followed by a Sportec tuned B5 RS4 in 2004. Needless to say, I loved Audis!
The RS got sold on for an M3 CSL, at which point I was sold on RWD cars until the calling of the B7 RS4. Which in my mind sucked. It spent more time back at Audi having repairs after just 1000 miles, and having tdi loaners whilst Audi pulled parts off of the production line to fix mine took its toll.
I lost faith so bought a 996TT for less money than the RS. If only that were true nowadays....
Fast forward 10 years and I should have kept the 996 or CSL, but hey, hindsight, credit crunch, divorce (not necessarily in that order) prevailed.
So to my point.
I've had quite a few cars in between, but never ones I bought on the premise of what I could do with them, rather than what they were out of the box.
Enter the S4. It replaced the M135i BMW I had which was just a daftly rapid little 3dr hatch which I could get 37MPG on a run and fit 3 kids in. That in turn had replaced a F30 330D lease bargain, again a capable machine.
My S4 came as a Black Editon with 19" Segments (so doesn't look like a BE), Nav Hi, Diff and Dampers. I will blame lurking on forums for making me only accept that I should only buy a car with those options. It took a while to find a B8.5 with this spec.
Having only ever driven one of the first B8 press cars on an Evo Magazine shoot when they were launched (my old 335i and an Evo. FQ 330 were used as the group test - great day out btw) I'd not experienced an S4 without the goodies anyway.
Long winded, but I'm sure you get it that I have an opinion on cars now and how they should drive.... rightly on wrongly!!
My S4 is a loveable machine. It wraps up all that is good about modern day Audis. I drive it premoninently on work trips and it is a brilliant GT in standard form.
It's quiet and smooth (although has got noiser, which I'm not going to moan about -but odd), has an excellent poise and turn in and disguises its bulk pretty well.
It has a ****** offset driving position which drives me mad as the transition tunnel is so big you'd think there was a lorry gearbox in there.
The gearbox is great, but the mapping is questionable. It really doesn't understand when the best time to change is, and, when it does, has no dramatics about it and all. Enter BMW's ZF 8 speed and I'd take that all day long (is that what's in the B9?). In the M135i it used to crack shifts, feeling like it was going to leave bits of metal on the road.
Back to the turn in and poise and I'm positive again - the steering feel isn't amazing ( like most cars nowadays) but it just goes where you point it with none of the understeer you expect. It tracks so well. I don't feel the weight really in most corners and it just simply isn't fazed.
ADS selections changes the steering from being sort of direct to wholly odd - in auto and comfort it just does what it wants and you are always correcting it and wondering what it's going to do next. Note. ADS being enabled via Carista may not be your bag.
On ADS, economy or whatever it's called, is deadly. No throttle response is a death trap on the motorway when trying to overtake.
The standard power is slightly lacking in torque but makes up for it in the top end. A history of turbo's cars is to blame I'm sure. My car now is a bit raspy where it wasn't when I got it. Not sure why.
It does 400 miles on a tank as I do long trips and, whilst not great at circa 32 MPG, is wholly acceptable.
I like a Q Car but probably a main annoyance is that the S4 looks like an S Line with 4 exhausts. S cars used to have a bit about them with wider wings, but shame no longer. I knew that though so my fault really!
To summarise it's a great car but as we all know, needs a tune. Hence why I got it. I really like good cars out the box and also like a car which I can spend half as much on, then as and when see fit, chuck a few bob at to make better. Not silly amounts, just affordable amounts. This one seems to fit that catagory.
My 2p on what is a pretty decent car. Luckily!
Cheers all,
Ben
My Audi history began back in '99 with an A3 1.8T which got the AmD treatment, then an S3 in 2001 (one of the first Revo tuned cars), followed by a Sportec tuned B5 RS4 in 2004. Needless to say, I loved Audis!
The RS got sold on for an M3 CSL, at which point I was sold on RWD cars until the calling of the B7 RS4. Which in my mind sucked. It spent more time back at Audi having repairs after just 1000 miles, and having tdi loaners whilst Audi pulled parts off of the production line to fix mine took its toll.
I lost faith so bought a 996TT for less money than the RS. If only that were true nowadays....
Fast forward 10 years and I should have kept the 996 or CSL, but hey, hindsight, credit crunch, divorce (not necessarily in that order) prevailed.
So to my point.
I've had quite a few cars in between, but never ones I bought on the premise of what I could do with them, rather than what they were out of the box.
Enter the S4. It replaced the M135i BMW I had which was just a daftly rapid little 3dr hatch which I could get 37MPG on a run and fit 3 kids in. That in turn had replaced a F30 330D lease bargain, again a capable machine.
My S4 came as a Black Editon with 19" Segments (so doesn't look like a BE), Nav Hi, Diff and Dampers. I will blame lurking on forums for making me only accept that I should only buy a car with those options. It took a while to find a B8.5 with this spec.
Having only ever driven one of the first B8 press cars on an Evo Magazine shoot when they were launched (my old 335i and an Evo. FQ 330 were used as the group test - great day out btw) I'd not experienced an S4 without the goodies anyway.
Long winded, but I'm sure you get it that I have an opinion on cars now and how they should drive.... rightly on wrongly!!
My S4 is a loveable machine. It wraps up all that is good about modern day Audis. I drive it premoninently on work trips and it is a brilliant GT in standard form.
It's quiet and smooth (although has got noiser, which I'm not going to moan about -but odd), has an excellent poise and turn in and disguises its bulk pretty well.
It has a ****** offset driving position which drives me mad as the transition tunnel is so big you'd think there was a lorry gearbox in there.
The gearbox is great, but the mapping is questionable. It really doesn't understand when the best time to change is, and, when it does, has no dramatics about it and all. Enter BMW's ZF 8 speed and I'd take that all day long (is that what's in the B9?). In the M135i it used to crack shifts, feeling like it was going to leave bits of metal on the road.
Back to the turn in and poise and I'm positive again - the steering feel isn't amazing ( like most cars nowadays) but it just goes where you point it with none of the understeer you expect. It tracks so well. I don't feel the weight really in most corners and it just simply isn't fazed.
ADS selections changes the steering from being sort of direct to wholly odd - in auto and comfort it just does what it wants and you are always correcting it and wondering what it's going to do next. Note. ADS being enabled via Carista may not be your bag.
On ADS, economy or whatever it's called, is deadly. No throttle response is a death trap on the motorway when trying to overtake.
The standard power is slightly lacking in torque but makes up for it in the top end. A history of turbo's cars is to blame I'm sure. My car now is a bit raspy where it wasn't when I got it. Not sure why.
It does 400 miles on a tank as I do long trips and, whilst not great at circa 32 MPG, is wholly acceptable.
I like a Q Car but probably a main annoyance is that the S4 looks like an S Line with 4 exhausts. S cars used to have a bit about them with wider wings, but shame no longer. I knew that though so my fault really!
To summarise it's a great car but as we all know, needs a tune. Hence why I got it. I really like good cars out the box and also like a car which I can spend half as much on, then as and when see fit, chuck a few bob at to make better. Not silly amounts, just affordable amounts. This one seems to fit that catagory.
My 2p on what is a pretty decent car. Luckily!
Cheers all,
Ben
