Need S-car info/advice

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

    Well, I find myself on the horns of a dilemma. I've been looking for a
S4/S6 to replace my beloved '91 200q for the daily commute, since the 200q
is getting up in mileage (kilometerage?). I've been to Toronto many times
and driven several S-cars, but none that I liked well enough to throw the
200q over for. Now I've found a pristine "local" '94 S4, pearl on black,
with 90k km on the clock. The car was in a town 300 km north of here (almost
as far north as the roads go in eastern North America) and has been sitting
unused for 4 months in a driveway. The owner was coming to town on business,
so she drove it down so I could take a look at it ( delightful woman, said
she did the trip at 160 -170 kph, she's got so many speeding tickets from
driving the S4 she's on the verge of losing her license - this is a person
who loves to drive!). I spent 2 hours last night going over the car and
another 2 hours this morning at the local dealer with it up on a hoist going
over it with the quattro mechanic. This car is NICE! Aside from a few
scratches and a small stone ding, the body and paint is excellent. The
interior is in excellent condition, everything works, including the CD and
phone, all the lights work, no fuel leaks, no hydraulic leaks. The POS
almost-bald Continental Sport Contacs howl so much it's hard to tell if the
tranny pinion is making noise, but it seems OK. Lots of power, smooth,
strong engine to redline, good bomb.
    Now the problem. The roads up here are, well, a little different than
the roads in Toronto. The pavement is cracked, rutted, patched, uneven, and
contains the odd hole here and there. And that's the TransCanada Highway,
the side streets are worse. The 200q and my wife's Camry handle all this
with aplomb, eating up the rough spots in a fine display of well-damped,
compliant suspensions. When I took the S4 out, I almost rattled the fillings
out of my teeth! Good Lord, that car rides stiff! My wife summed it up
neatly - "This thing rides like a truck!". An empty '64 Chebby pickup comes
to mind, but the pickup might have a slightly softer ride.
    My question for the collective wisdom of the list:
        How much of the harsh ride is due to the 225/50/16 Continentals and
how much is due to the springs & shocks? Will a more compliant tire soften
it up and reduce potential dental bills? This is a really nice car, but the
thought of pounding 75 km back and forth to work every day doesn't exactly
fill me with joy.

    The other part of the dilemma is that the 200q is in such fine
condition, it's hard to justify giving it up. The dealer's Service Manager
told me today it is one of the few 200q's he would truly call "mint". He
said whenever it is in the shop, he takes customers in to show them what a
300k Audi can look like. Nice compliment, but is just makes the S4's ride
seem a little harsher!

        I kind of have a hankering for this S4, though - anybody BTDT on
ride compliance?

TIA

Fred Munro
'91 200q  281k km
'94 S4 90k km ??????????