J. Patterson

Came back home last Friday. Manual transmission Prestige with dynamic suspension and sport differential. Was an Audi corporate car. 4 months old with 8000 miles. It's good to be back in an Audi. (Well another one. Have the old TT and a TDI Q7 too.) It rained today and when I drove in it I was SURE that I did the right thing :-)

eric strauss

Having had two S5's and an RS5, I believe the S5 to be a better all-around car - it is so well balanced and the low end grunt is a joy in the twisties.

Best wishes

Eric

J. Patterson

Thanks. That is high praise from an experienced owner. I do like the torque. Missed that in the Porsche. I'm not too far from APR. Will be tempting to visit them and gain a few hp. Will resist that for now though.

dseag2

Congratulations! I'm on my third S5 ('10 S5 Cab, '11 S5 Cab, '15 S5 Coupe). Hard to find anything else that is so satisfying to drive with few sacrifices. I love the S5 in white. Beautiful!

eric strauss

… horsepower is a tricky chase and a pas de deux with your warrantee. IMHO, the S-cars have enough grunt (although more is usually better).

Upgrade money is well spent on tightening the transitional handling without mucking up the ride quality, such as the underside brace.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B8_S4...ent/ES2951399/


Also, for us in the canyons, the weakest point of the S5/S4 are the brakes (we are lucky to get 12K between new from rotors and pads. A Stage1 upgrade on all four corners is a great investment.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B8_S4...nce/ES2960509/


Finally, I know its a bit childish, but a sportier exhaust wakes up the inner beast in both the car and you.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B8_S4...nce/ES2827483/

Happy Motoring and again, congratulations

eric

plat27265

Congrats on your new S5!

J. Patterson

Eric. Thanks. I will do my best to resist the ECU flash. Warranties ARE important :-) I have BTDT on the 2001 TT 225 and actually got through the whole 100k mile CPO without a warranty issue that involved it's being Stage 1. At 120k however it dropped an exhaust valve at Road Atlanta and I bought an engine for it. :-/
I'm sure that if I ever track the S5 that brake upgrades will be needed. I was not aware of ECS's 2 piece rotors for rear but I have seen the front ones used on other Audis. My first step however would be pads and fluid. I expect that some Carbotech XP8s or even some Stoptech 309s and some good DOT 4 like Motil will suffice for any use that I give the car. I'm not a big fan of 2 piece rotors for street use. More expense and maintenance. They do save weight however and they do not distort cone shaped when hot and cause tapered pad wear. I have Brembos and Racing Brake curved vane rotors on the TT with Carbotech XP12s and Goodridge SS lines and it does pretty well. (though I HAVE faded them and charred the dust boots.)
As to the exhaust. I have 3" downpipe, high flow cat and a Borla on the TT. So-- I've BTDT too . Lots more noise than additional power. I won't be doing that to the S5.
Thanks again for sharing your experience.

ChipB

My path has been the opposite of yours - my first track events were with my S5, and then I bought a 2007 Cayman S. The S5 is still my DD, and truth be told I enjoy driving it around town more than the CS, but for the track I would never go back to the S5. The Audi is really heavy, has lots of weight over the front end, and is not terribly track friendly (at least compared to P cars). For example: if you look in the wheel wells you will see that there is absolutely no venting of fresh air; consequently the brakes get VERY hot. If you stick with high performance street tires your plans of running XP8's and Motul RBF660 or RBF660 should work fine, but if you are inclined to run R-comp tires you will quickly find that the brakes aren't up to it (depending on the track of course - some are much harder on brakes than others). Secondly - unlike the P-car it's much more time consuming and just plain difficult to change brake pads and/or rotors than on the P-car, especially the rears. If you are into changing your own pads before/after track events, you will miss the ease of working on the Cayman. Finally, there are few cars that handle a track as well as the CS. You will have to get used to much more under-steer and slower steering response. At the very least I would suggest an upgrade from stock rear sway bar (makes a huge difference in under-steer) and consider lower/stiffer springs as well. I went with Stasis-Ohlins coil-over suspension when they were still in business, and it really improved the S5's handling at the track.

Happy to share more experiences between the two cars if you like. But in any event - welcome to the fold (again).

J. Patterson

Thanks for your observations Chip. Rest assured that I don't expect the S5 to be nearly as competent at a track event as was the Cayman S. To be honest I'm getting a bit anxious about the risk of track events. I've personally seen too many severe crashes in the past couple of years and I've heard about too many fatalities. (3 in the US last year I believe.) Granted there are lots more track events than there once were so the odds may be no worse. Still---- . I do however plan to continue to do a few each year. I've still got the old TT (Snoopy) for that and it is quicker than you might imagine. It just got a well deserved rest for a couple of seasons while the Cayman S was around. For me it was more fun to catch people in a car that they didn't expect to be quick. :-)