RE: new s4 impressions

[spiny@cix.co.uk (Martin Day)]

dave.eaton@minedu.govt.nz (Eaton Dave) wrote:

> interesting response, thanks martin.  you have owned your s4 saloon 
> for 4 months, i had a 1 hour drive, so some of the things which i
> noticed would pale into insignificance over 4 months, and visa versa i
> guess.  one thing i did not do was to tootle around town as much as i
> could possibly avoid ;-)

I found the S4 to be fine round town. It would crawl around with little 
or no accelerator. If you wanted to pull away a little faster then it was 
best to rev the engine for just half a second or so to let the turbos 
spin up before letting the clutch out.

> re: brakes
> the brakes are very sensitive, as noted.  but i "panic stopped" from
> 120km/hr and the avant stopped better than my rs2 would (the rs2 had 
> new brake pads 8 months ago).  the issue with the brakes is the
> modulation of
> them (as you seem to agree).  i would assume that you would get used to
> their sensitivity, as most a4 drivers seem to do.  i was certainly 
> noticing
> it less and less over the test drive.  i agree that you can modulate 
> the rs2 brakes better.  no question.

I agree they certainly seem to bite quicker and harder than the RS2 
brakes but I'm not entirely sure whether some of that isn't just down to 
the extra assistance. I did get used to modulating the S4 brakes but I 
never got to like the feel of them and I don't think I could ever be as 
accurate with them as I can be with the RS2's.

> re: the gearbox.
> this is really interesting.  my rs2 has a great 'box, but throws are
> definitely longer than the new s4.  and heavier.  a fast fore-aft 
> shift is
> always slowed by the box, regardless of how much force you use.  it's 
> not as
> bad as the ur-quattro, not by a long chalk.  but the s4 avant is a 
> definite
> improvement.  i wonder if they have made some running change to the
> linkages?  it also makes me think that i will get the rs2 linkages 
> looked at...

All the reviews I've read in the car mags have complained about how long 
the S4's throw is. I've never had a major problem with my RS2's box. 
There's a definite notchiness to it but I've never noticed it causing 
changes to be particularly slow. It doesn't slide effortlessly the way 
that e.g. the 968CS does but it's not too bad. One slight problem though 
is that the engine revs seem to be held high by some kind of artificial 
(EMS induced presumably) flywheel effect for far too long after you lift 
off the gas on an upchange which means a fast one can never be really 
smooth.

> ...

I think I made the mistake of expecting rather too much from the S4 
hoping for something like an update on the ur-quattro - a sports saloon, 
usable as a GT too but with the emphasis firmly on sports - but it turned 
out to be an update on the A4 - more of a GT with a sporting edge to it. 
If I'd gone for the avant rather than the saloon I may well have kept it 
as a practical, fast car and just got something sporty to drive when I 
didn't need the practicality. Despite my disappointment with the car it 
was still very hard to part with it. It looked so good in nagaro blue 
with black leather and aluminium trim, beautifully put together and had a 
great engine. Once the facelift model is out I'll definitely be back for 
a test drive and if they've fixed the brakes (and may have fixed the 
gearchange already) then I'd be very tempted to swap the RS2 for one.

> i agree about waiting for the facelift.  the next step is to take the 
> car over a week-end and live with it some. 

Please let us know your experiences when you do.

> the sales-type-droid asked
> if i wanted to trade the ur-quattro on it.  errr, is this a trick
> question?

Did he have no clue about the car or was it just a cunning plan to get it 
for himself?

Martin