urS4guy

Did I mention that I got to drive the new RS4? I was leaving our church this evening in downtown Golden, when who should I run into but Frank Amoroso. He was, of course, driving the new RS4. We pulled over to talk shop when he made me an offer I just couldn't refuse. "You wanna drive it?" he says. "OK" says I, and I offer him a drive in my car. We jump in the cars and head north out of Golden on Hwy 93. Now this does happen to be one of the MOST heavily patrolled roads in all of Colorado but we're both packin V1s so we are able to play a little ;&gt

Basically, I was very disappointed in the new one. The interior did smell absolutely wonderful and the seats were very nice and the lights are neat with a complicated and good sounding audio system but the rest of the car was disappointing. It felt rather disconnected from the driver. The transmission
was notchy and I was never very confident which gear I was in. My Apikol short shift kit CRB tranny feels oh so much better. The brakes were not linear at all. You pushed down with not much happening and then all of a sudden it started to decelerate. My car is very linear and my brake pedal is nice and high which makes for excellent heel and toeing. Frank even mentioned that this was the best urS4/6 he's ever felt. The suspension wasn't even close but this is a stock vehicle. My car turned in much better and cornered far better. Suspension tuning will close the gap with little problem.

And then there is the issue of the GO pedal. The performance was very unimpressive. Now we are at a mile high and it was a balmy 88 degree evening in Golden but those 425 hp were just lacking in effort. I'd put it better than an E-46 M3 and on par with the E-39 M5. My car is still limited to 12 lbs of boost and is making near 400 hp ATW and Frank's statement was that you just can't beat forced induction at altitude. The off the line feel of the new car is very good but even with just 12 lbs I could smoke that car anytime or anywhere. It wouldn't even be very close. I really didn't get to hear the engine on the new one because Frank was on the throttle really heavy with my car and my car is just plain nasty sounding from the 3 1/2" turbo-back exhaust to the mushroom air cleaner at the turbo inlet to the HKS Type II Racing BOV. My car is just a cacophony of nasty WRC type noises.

After 13 years and 171,000 miles of service my car is a little shabby compared to a new $77,000 vehicle. But, driving them both the old girl feels much tighter and much more in tune with the driver. I don't think that with any amount of reasonable tuning you could get that new RS4 to come close to my car in any performance category at sea level or at altitude. That's all for now. Maybe Frank will chime in with his observations.

Hap, wit dakine real RS4 not from Evahboost, Maguire

Matt Daniels

someones going to have a highly modified 2007 RS4 making 1200 HP, then your car will look stupid. :-)

urS4guy

In 13 more years I'll be makin over 1600 hp and then we'll see who makes who look stoopoid ;&gt

Hap, wit dakine mod list that goes on and on not from Evahboost, Maguire

Uncle Kraut

I wondered about that. I played with a new rs4 on I-70 a couple weeks back, and although it was clearly amazing, it sounded like it was breathing hard! Another interesting example is my good friends new 330xi. At Steamboat's altitude, it has a tough time keeping up with my 2.0t! I'm convinced that a MTM supercharger on a s4 is the ultimate mountain sedan! However, it probably costs more than a new RS4

Phantom RS

Supposedly 500hp (at the crank), and with similar torque, on the S4 engine. Not sure how long it will be to do a S/C on the RS, given it has direct injection.

Phantom RS

<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/s4b6/msgs/361104.phtml">AWE S/C Thread</a></li></ul>

TANMAN

How much money do you have into your car?

AudiRS4ever

On second thought, nah, I like my over-complicated stereo and disconnected feeling DRC suspension. It sure seems to get the job done for me. ;o)

urS4guy

That's classified Officer ;&gt

TANMAN

If you put the money that you have in your car into a new RS4 how evil would that be. Oh yeah, I'd also love a ride in your car. :-)