S4 vs. S6

["Haley, Doug" <HaleyD@yankelovich.com>]

On Sun, 22 Sep 1996 15:57:48 -0400 (EDT), Chris Lemon 
<br00206@binghamton.edu> wrote:

>Hey all...

>Could someone enlighten me as to the differences between a S4 and a S6?

Hey Chris, just got around to catching up on q-list backlog.  These are 
really the same car.  But soon they won't be.  I'm probably a little fuzzy 
on dates and so forth, but here's a summary.

==>in 1989-1991, Audi produced a super-high caliber sporting sedan 217hp 
quattro call the 200.
==>in 1992 Audi iintroduced the new body style and called it the 100.  They 
also introduced a successor to the 200 (but really the same car under the 
skiin) which they called the S4.
==>in 1995 (I think) Audi changed the name for the basic 100 to call it the 
A6, at the same time they introduced the A4, which replaced the Audi 80/90 
series.  They changed the name of the S4 to the S6.
==>in 1997 (maybe) Audi will introduce high-performance versions of all 
three body series.  The A4 version will be an S4, the A6 version will be the 
S6, and the A8 version will be the S8.  The latter two already exist in 
Germany.

So, in general terms, the 200 became the S4 became the S6.  And now some 
entirely different car will be the S4.  Incidentally, there's a really hot 
version of the S6 in Germany and some other countries called the S6+, which 
has the 4.2liter V-8 making something like 320hp!!

Differences between models.  Same basic engine, inline 5-cyl turbocharged. 
 The 200 had 217 hp which was increased to 227 hp via computer control of 
the turbo wastegate (overboost).  This remained unchanged for the S6.  There 
have been some detail changes along the way, such as presence of a boost 
guage in the dash (early S4's like mine have it) and rear anti-roll bars 
(dropped in 1993).

These S cars are Audi's answer to the BMW M-series and are pretty serious 
competitors on most human levels (absolute performance in dry weather goes 
to the Bimmers, I think).  Nobody knows about them because they were so 
ungodly expensive when new that Audi sold damn few.  Something like 200 cars 
per year in the US for 1992, 1993.  In 1995(?), Audi brought only S6 wagons, 
which continued in 1996 as 1995 models to avoid the cost of recertifying 
such a limited production model to meet OBDII requirements (for EPA: 
on-board diagnostics new standard).  These models have now been dropped from 
the line, temporarily, we hope!

*****************************************************
Doug Haley
"There is no fundamental difference between a sufficiently advanced 
technology and magic" (A.C.Clarke)
'92 S4 (mine)
'95 Saab Turbo Conv (hers)
'91 Sentra SE-R (theirs)
'61 Alfa Giulietta Spider Veloce (ours)
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