[BiturboS4] mostly ranting

[John M. Harrison]

Agree with Ti and Dave's comments, but would go even farther - The US is
clearly the great evil in the world with regard to environmental
duplicity.  We permit labeling of clearly dangerous and environmentally
unsound products with various kinds of "green" designations that are
just advertising contrivances (lies).  We fully intend to burn up the
rest of the world's oil reserves before getting into our own and to
artificially under price gasoline to make this process quicker.

Meanwhile, we steadfastly refuse to sign onto the Kyoto (sp?) protocol
or any other meaningful global environmental initiatives.  And we
produce an astounding array of gas guzzling over-sized and
under-regulated (for pollution, safety, noise, etc) vehicular nightmares
that appeal to the most base and aggressive testosterone-driven
instincts.

I still don't understand why we cannot purchase high performing all
electric vehicles or other alternatives.  The lack of development effort
on electric and alternative vehicles in the US is shocking and
suspicious.  A nice compact electric runabout would be perfect for my
daily in-town use which rarely exceeds 20 miles - insufficient to warm
up gas burners, but just perfect for an all-electric car.

My S4 has been spending most of it's time garaged after getting it back
from body repairs after my second deer hit of the summer.  Sort of put a
damper on my lust for driving it.  Just glad I have minimum deductible
full coverage insurance.  State Farm has been great about it.

I've been reading all the finicky warm-up and warm-down procedures some
of you feel are needed for the turbo S4.  These issues just point out
the fundamentally inappropriate duty cycles that most of us operate our
internal combustion cars under.  They simply are not the correct
solution for short travel distances and stop and go traffic.  All
electrics are perfect for short commutes.

Someone commented on the difficulty of making turbocharged engines
produce low emissions.  I wonder if this is a symptom of the way the car
is set up for performance.  What if a small turbo engine were designed
purposely to provide maximally efficient and complete combustion rather
than lots of power and acceleration on-demand?  I have noticed that mine
stinks more than I might expect from a new car bearing a windshield
sticker that says "Colorado Emissions Exempt Vehicle".  Has anyone seen
actual emissions test results on S4 and/or other turbo cars compared
with conventionally aspirated models?  Does anyone in this country even
care about emissions any more?  Here in Wyoming we have no testing or
inspection of any kind and you can pretty much license any POS without
the authorities even looking at the vehicle.

What is the deal with the mileage of the S4?  Who says 17 mpg average?
My computer always reports 20.8 mpg average.  Is this number just
programmed in there?  It never changes.  I haven't bothered to check it
"manually".  Gas is so artificially cheap here in the US that we really
don't even need to care - and most of us don't.

Don't get me wrong - I still love the S4.  It is a wonderful piece of
engineering, without question the most responsive and fun car I've ever
had and one of the most attractive cars on the road IMHO.  Audi should
create a high performing all electric in the same or similar package.

Perhaps I'll take it out this weekend in order to assist my great and
invincible country in justifying the need to take over the oil producing
regions of the world by burning a lot of cheap gas just for fun.  At
least I will be quiet and classy about it in my S4 unlike those noisy
and obnoxious red-neck pick up truckers, SUVers and dirt-bikers.  I am a
snob about my taste for things European, but am I really fundamentally
any different than most of us in this country about consuming resources
way out of all reasonable proportion or need?  No.

Burn it if you've got it, baby.  Looking forward to the occupation of
Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc. toward this end.  Please
understand my snide tongue is firmly in cheek much of the time.  Cheers.


John M. Harrison  fully repaired S4 Avant in the garage safe from deer
hurling themselves at it in Laramie, WY





-----Original Message-----
From: Ti Kan [mailto:ti at amb.org]
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 4:54 AM
To: Edwards, Dave
Cc: biturbos4 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [BiturboS4] RE: Warranty on battery (well it was
originally)


I guess I agree with most things you say, we do get a nice deal here.

I have to point out, though, that even though our fuel is cheaper than
yours it is also inferior (lower octane and higher sulfer content).
This is particularly bad in California where the maximum octane now
at most stations is 91.  This is the main reason Audi de-tuned the
US spec S4 to maintain a good safety margin.  Getting back the Euro
level of power/torque or beyond is no problem, but then it becomes
necessary to buy high octane, catalyst-friendly race fuel.  That is
neither cheap nor convenient.

As to the US polluting the planet, I'd offer no argument there.  At
least
our Audis are relatively clean running compared to most behemoth SUVs.
Funny you should mention this subject, because the reason for California
fuel to have lower octane than other states is because of the additives
claimed to reduce emissions.  Well, recently they found that one such
additive, MTBE, is actually polluting our ground water...

-Ti
2003 A4 1.8T multitronic
2001 S4 biturbo 6-sp
1984 5000S turbo
1980 4000 2.0 5-sp
--
    ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
   ///   AMB Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA. USA
  ///    ti at amb.org
 //////  http://www.amb.org/ti/
///

Edwards, Dave writes:
> Well I noticed your smiley, but nevertheless I have to bite back ;-)
>
> Even if you compare your deal to mainland Europe, your benefits
outweigh the
> difference in spec. You pay about 10% less for the car but get 4 year
> warranty including service costs. Europeans get an inferior 2 year
warranty
> and pay for their own service. They also pay around $4.50 per gallon
for 93
> Octane (equivalent) gas.
>
> Of course in the UK we do so much better as we get a 3 year warranty,
> although still not as good as a US warranty and we pay for services
too. Of
> course for this luxury we pay around 25% more than the other Europeans
(yes
> about 40% more than Americans) for the car, and our gas is over $5 per
> gallon.
>
> Of course everything you can get on a Euro car can be added to the US
car,
> particularly the performance. I've read enough about US owners who
have two
> ECUs (i.e. a stock one for when the car is at the dealer).
>
> No, you have to accept that you're getting a good deal: Now that AoA
is
> importing the RS6, I'm sure you'll get the next RS4 too, all at
cheaper
> prices than Europe.
>
> Of course regarding the price of gas, we'd all like to pay US prices,
but
> we'd prefer not to have the US's reputation on pollution of the planet
:-(
>
> Cheers,
> Dave


_______________________________________________
BiturboS4 mailing list
BiturboS4 at audifans.com
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/biturbos4