So, it's exactly a year ago today since I picked up the S4, and what a year it's been. What follows are my reflections on the year with the car, and how that's been put in context by other stuff that happened too.
I began by looking back at my 1,000 mile report, back in August last year. Here's what I said:
Everything I said there still applies, after one year and 8,574 miles. But I'm much more aware of how neutrally the car handles, and how and when to use the different gearbox modes to best suit the conditions. I now know just how good the adaptive headlights are.
I'm a little more critical of the ergonomics than I was last year - I think the centre console is a mess, with the two-different sized cupholders, the random storage slot (basically the hole where roof switched would be if it was cabrio) and an armrest that's never quite in the right place. But those are just niggles.
The car's been 100% reliable, used no oil, and the only servicing cost has been an oil change at my local indie for £121. Average fuel consumption for the year has been about 25mpg - not remotely near the official figures, but in line with what I was expecting and truly remarkable for a car of this size and performance. To put it in context, its fuel consumption is pretty much on par with that of my very first car, a 1976 Opel Ascona 1.9SR which weighed 960kg, had 90bhp (when new), did 0-60 in 11 seconds (when new) and peaked out at 101mph (when new).
So nothing's gone wrong, but the car's not been free of battle scars. I scraped the back bumper in January. It was fixed for £90 and unless you peer at it from a few inches away, you're not going to know:
Also in January, one of the diamond-cut alloys had to be refurbished. This was a fraught affair, with a less than ideal result, which in other circumstances, might have caused me a lot of irritation and cost in pursuit of a perfect outcome. In the end, I decided to live with it.
I also decided to live with it when, through my own stupidity, I managed to damage another wheel. I was doing a front/rear swap when, for a matter of seconds, I left one (not the one that had already been refurbished, of course!) standing upright. You can guess what happened; yup, it tipped on its side, landing face down on the drive. Here's the result:
I decided to live with that, too. There's a number of reasons, only some of which are to do with the car. When I was ordering the car, I had to choose between the diamond-cut rotors and the silver-painted triple-split five-spoke. I chose the rotors first because I preferred the look of them and secondly because I thought they'd be easier to clean. They have been, but if I'd realised they're virtually impossible to repair economically, I think I might have chosen differently.
The other thing I've wondered about whether I made the right choice is in going for an S4 saloon rather than an S5 Sportback, like @Dippy. There's an S5 Sportback (in black) just round the corner from me and it's so gorgeous-looking. Every time I see it, I feel a little pang of regret that I didn't go for one. On the other hand, the Sportback variants weren't on run-out sales like the saloons, so I suspect I wouldn't have got the £5,000+ incentive I got for buying a saloon.
Today, for what seems the first time in weeks, I was at home, and it wasn't raining or looking like raining. So, to celebrate the car's first birthday, I gave it a good wash and wax using Meguiars Gold Class Carnuba paste. I know some of our more-obsessed (yes, I do mean you @scotty76 and @Bristle Hound
) prefer to treat your cars with extra-virgin irradiated myrrh, but I'm happy with the results I get from Mequiars.
The sun refused to come out (and yes, it has rained again since I finished) but here's a few pics:
So, all in all, the afore-mentioned battle scars aside, she's looking awesome, and is awesome.
The footnote to this, though, is the other reasons I decided to live with the blemishes when they occurred. This is my first ever new car, and there's a curious psychology that I was unaware of. Every car I've had previously was used, and therefore I accepted it was less than perfect. Sometimes, I was able to make good some of the imperfections, and so was able to improve on what I'd bought.
But here, that's not possible; the car arrived perfect, so it can only gradually become imperfect while I own it. Trying to fight that is pointless, and worrying about every slight nick or mark (especially on those alloys!) would just leave me in a permanent state of anxiety, and I don't want to live like that.
And lastly, and forgive me for straying from the car to real life, something happened in the year I've owned this car that changed me forever. As some of you will recall, in March of this year, I lost my brother. After that, nothing about the car matters, I mean really matters.
Anyway, here's to the next year with this truly magnificent car.
I began by looking back at my 1,000 mile report, back in August last year. Here's what I said:
"Things I love:
The powertrain – coming back to petrol (even from an engine as nice as Audi’s 3.0TDi V6) is just soooooo welcome. The growl on start-up is something I never tire of hearing, and the power delivery is exquisitely relentless. I’ve still not yet given it the full beans, and I’m still getting used to the ratios and differing shift patterns of the S-Tronic. But I still know enough about it to understand that this is a seriously quick but stealthy* performer. I’ve not yet slung it down a deserted twisty road in anger; maybe in the Autumn when we go to Northumberland. Until then, I can’t offer a proper opinion on the handling.
*If the word “stealthy” didn’t already exist, it would need to be invented to describe the S4.
The looks – so, this is a saloon that’s been around for eight years, and is about to be replaced, so it’s a bit old and out-dated, yes? Err…no. The 2012 face-lift transformed the B8’s looks, and when you add the S4 styling cues on, paint it Tornado Grey and fit window tints, this is a car that looks quite splendid from any angle. Of course it’s not beautiful in the way that an E-Type or Ferrari Daytona is – it’s still only a saloon car after all – but all of the styling elements work so well together.
The interior ambience – again, despite Audi’s track record of quality interiors, the B8 is supposedly looking its age now, isn’t it? Again, an emphatic no. The supposed benchmark in this sector for interiors is the C-Class Merc, but I hate it. That huge screen stuck up in the centre of the dash makes it look like the most hideous afterthought. What were they thinking of, not making it retractable? Newer designs might have touch-screens and more intuitive media interfaces but so what? I’m buying a car, not a tablet.
As with the externals, every aspect of the car’s design language and execution (bar a couple, I’ll get to them later) make it a hugely satisfying place to be, at any speed. The supersport seats, and the fine-tuned adjustment they allow to be memorised, are perfect for a fat old man with a chronic back problem. The flat-bottomed wheel, the gear shift handle, paddles and dials all add to that cohesive feeling of a great place to be. The black/silver leather combo makes me salivate every time I look inside.
The xenon headlights with automatic activation, main beam assist and active swivel in corners. Sounds silly but I specced these up with a particular journey in mind on a road that is notoriously awkward to navigate in the dark. It’ll be two or three months before I drive that road in the dark, until then I can only surmise that it was money well spent.
Things that I find pleasing and which just add to the general feeling of satisfaction:
The electronic handbrake and hold-assist – makes live in an automatic so much easier; no longer do I sit with my foot on the brake pedal at traffic lights and junctions.
The media system – DAB, juke box, being able to watch a movie DVD (I suspect like the idea of this more than the reality of it) and the fact that I can finally input all of a postcode into the satnav.
The remote boot lid; so much better than the old one which unlocked but didn’t lift.
Automatic wipers. I was a sceptic; I always thought it was up to the driver to notice it was raining, but now I’ve got them, I like them.
Things that niggle me:
AMI – can’t see the point of it.
Phone integration. The Bluetooth is fine, but having to put the handset in the tray under the centre armrest - which means resetting the armrest position every time - to charge it via a short USB lead into the 12V socket is such a faff. Alternative is to stretch over, open the glove box and fiddle about for the AMI lead, which is even less convenient. I tend to go with the centre tray, but the number of times I’ve got out and left the phone in the car because I’ve forgotten it’s there is already in double figures. I’m really tempted to get a dash-mount Brodit cradle.
Silly one this, but the location of the ignition key slot inboard of the steering wheel really annoys me. If I want to start the engine to check something under the bonnet, I have to lean past the wheel and manoeuvre the key into the slot at the same time as maintaining pressure on the brake pedal. I invariably end up sitting in the seat, and then getting out again as soon as the engine starts. Also, while it hasn’t happened to me, I read on the forum of a member who damaged his steering wheel whilst getting out of the car with the key in his left-hand. That wouldn’t happen if the slot was on the outboard side.
I've had to buy a dipstick - WTF?!
I’ve just read back through, and am conscious that I’ve written almost as much about the niggles and annoyances as I have about the shock and awe stuff. But that’s deceptive.
To summarise, this is a stunning car. I can’t wait for my alarm clock to go off at 5am tomorrow, because it means I’ll be driving it. It doesn’t matter that it’s ten miles up a largely straight dual carriageway, plus half a mile at 20mph through a tunnel. It’s a car that makes you feel great just being in or near it."
The powertrain – coming back to petrol (even from an engine as nice as Audi’s 3.0TDi V6) is just soooooo welcome. The growl on start-up is something I never tire of hearing, and the power delivery is exquisitely relentless. I’ve still not yet given it the full beans, and I’m still getting used to the ratios and differing shift patterns of the S-Tronic. But I still know enough about it to understand that this is a seriously quick but stealthy* performer. I’ve not yet slung it down a deserted twisty road in anger; maybe in the Autumn when we go to Northumberland. Until then, I can’t offer a proper opinion on the handling.
*If the word “stealthy” didn’t already exist, it would need to be invented to describe the S4.
The looks – so, this is a saloon that’s been around for eight years, and is about to be replaced, so it’s a bit old and out-dated, yes? Err…no. The 2012 face-lift transformed the B8’s looks, and when you add the S4 styling cues on, paint it Tornado Grey and fit window tints, this is a car that looks quite splendid from any angle. Of course it’s not beautiful in the way that an E-Type or Ferrari Daytona is – it’s still only a saloon car after all – but all of the styling elements work so well together.
The interior ambience – again, despite Audi’s track record of quality interiors, the B8 is supposedly looking its age now, isn’t it? Again, an emphatic no. The supposed benchmark in this sector for interiors is the C-Class Merc, but I hate it. That huge screen stuck up in the centre of the dash makes it look like the most hideous afterthought. What were they thinking of, not making it retractable? Newer designs might have touch-screens and more intuitive media interfaces but so what? I’m buying a car, not a tablet.
As with the externals, every aspect of the car’s design language and execution (bar a couple, I’ll get to them later) make it a hugely satisfying place to be, at any speed. The supersport seats, and the fine-tuned adjustment they allow to be memorised, are perfect for a fat old man with a chronic back problem. The flat-bottomed wheel, the gear shift handle, paddles and dials all add to that cohesive feeling of a great place to be. The black/silver leather combo makes me salivate every time I look inside.
The xenon headlights with automatic activation, main beam assist and active swivel in corners. Sounds silly but I specced these up with a particular journey in mind on a road that is notoriously awkward to navigate in the dark. It’ll be two or three months before I drive that road in the dark, until then I can only surmise that it was money well spent.
Things that I find pleasing and which just add to the general feeling of satisfaction:
The electronic handbrake and hold-assist – makes live in an automatic so much easier; no longer do I sit with my foot on the brake pedal at traffic lights and junctions.
The media system – DAB, juke box, being able to watch a movie DVD (I suspect like the idea of this more than the reality of it) and the fact that I can finally input all of a postcode into the satnav.
The remote boot lid; so much better than the old one which unlocked but didn’t lift.
Automatic wipers. I was a sceptic; I always thought it was up to the driver to notice it was raining, but now I’ve got them, I like them.
Things that niggle me:
AMI – can’t see the point of it.
Phone integration. The Bluetooth is fine, but having to put the handset in the tray under the centre armrest - which means resetting the armrest position every time - to charge it via a short USB lead into the 12V socket is such a faff. Alternative is to stretch over, open the glove box and fiddle about for the AMI lead, which is even less convenient. I tend to go with the centre tray, but the number of times I’ve got out and left the phone in the car because I’ve forgotten it’s there is already in double figures. I’m really tempted to get a dash-mount Brodit cradle.
Silly one this, but the location of the ignition key slot inboard of the steering wheel really annoys me. If I want to start the engine to check something under the bonnet, I have to lean past the wheel and manoeuvre the key into the slot at the same time as maintaining pressure on the brake pedal. I invariably end up sitting in the seat, and then getting out again as soon as the engine starts. Also, while it hasn’t happened to me, I read on the forum of a member who damaged his steering wheel whilst getting out of the car with the key in his left-hand. That wouldn’t happen if the slot was on the outboard side.
I've had to buy a dipstick - WTF?!
I’ve just read back through, and am conscious that I’ve written almost as much about the niggles and annoyances as I have about the shock and awe stuff. But that’s deceptive.
To summarise, this is a stunning car. I can’t wait for my alarm clock to go off at 5am tomorrow, because it means I’ll be driving it. It doesn’t matter that it’s ten miles up a largely straight dual carriageway, plus half a mile at 20mph through a tunnel. It’s a car that makes you feel great just being in or near it."
Everything I said there still applies, after one year and 8,574 miles. But I'm much more aware of how neutrally the car handles, and how and when to use the different gearbox modes to best suit the conditions. I now know just how good the adaptive headlights are.
I'm a little more critical of the ergonomics than I was last year - I think the centre console is a mess, with the two-different sized cupholders, the random storage slot (basically the hole where roof switched would be if it was cabrio) and an armrest that's never quite in the right place. But those are just niggles.
The car's been 100% reliable, used no oil, and the only servicing cost has been an oil change at my local indie for £121. Average fuel consumption for the year has been about 25mpg - not remotely near the official figures, but in line with what I was expecting and truly remarkable for a car of this size and performance. To put it in context, its fuel consumption is pretty much on par with that of my very first car, a 1976 Opel Ascona 1.9SR which weighed 960kg, had 90bhp (when new), did 0-60 in 11 seconds (when new) and peaked out at 101mph (when new).
So nothing's gone wrong, but the car's not been free of battle scars. I scraped the back bumper in January. It was fixed for £90 and unless you peer at it from a few inches away, you're not going to know:
Also in January, one of the diamond-cut alloys had to be refurbished. This was a fraught affair, with a less than ideal result, which in other circumstances, might have caused me a lot of irritation and cost in pursuit of a perfect outcome. In the end, I decided to live with it.
I also decided to live with it when, through my own stupidity, I managed to damage another wheel. I was doing a front/rear swap when, for a matter of seconds, I left one (not the one that had already been refurbished, of course!) standing upright. You can guess what happened; yup, it tipped on its side, landing face down on the drive. Here's the result:
I decided to live with that, too. There's a number of reasons, only some of which are to do with the car. When I was ordering the car, I had to choose between the diamond-cut rotors and the silver-painted triple-split five-spoke. I chose the rotors first because I preferred the look of them and secondly because I thought they'd be easier to clean. They have been, but if I'd realised they're virtually impossible to repair economically, I think I might have chosen differently.
The other thing I've wondered about whether I made the right choice is in going for an S4 saloon rather than an S5 Sportback, like @Dippy. There's an S5 Sportback (in black) just round the corner from me and it's so gorgeous-looking. Every time I see it, I feel a little pang of regret that I didn't go for one. On the other hand, the Sportback variants weren't on run-out sales like the saloons, so I suspect I wouldn't have got the £5,000+ incentive I got for buying a saloon.
Today, for what seems the first time in weeks, I was at home, and it wasn't raining or looking like raining. So, to celebrate the car's first birthday, I gave it a good wash and wax using Meguiars Gold Class Carnuba paste. I know some of our more-obsessed (yes, I do mean you @scotty76 and @Bristle Hound
) prefer to treat your cars with extra-virgin irradiated myrrh, but I'm happy with the results I get from Mequiars.The sun refused to come out (and yes, it has rained again since I finished) but here's a few pics:
So, all in all, the afore-mentioned battle scars aside, she's looking awesome, and is awesome.
The footnote to this, though, is the other reasons I decided to live with the blemishes when they occurred. This is my first ever new car, and there's a curious psychology that I was unaware of. Every car I've had previously was used, and therefore I accepted it was less than perfect. Sometimes, I was able to make good some of the imperfections, and so was able to improve on what I'd bought.
But here, that's not possible; the car arrived perfect, so it can only gradually become imperfect while I own it. Trying to fight that is pointless, and worrying about every slight nick or mark (especially on those alloys!) would just leave me in a permanent state of anxiety, and I don't want to live like that.
And lastly, and forgive me for straying from the car to real life, something happened in the year I've owned this car that changed me forever. As some of you will recall, in March of this year, I lost my brother. After that, nothing about the car matters, I mean really matters.
Anyway, here's to the next year with this truly magnificent car.
Last edited:
