Rolanday

I just recently traded-in my B7 S4 for an RS4. The idea of trading-up to an RS4 was an idea I had been toying with but I wasn't convinced the difference in performance between the two cars would be worth the extra money. When a car became available at my local dealer, I took it for a test drive and I became convinced.

I don't think the RS4 is 1000x better or even 2x better than an S4 but it's definitely better in every respect and well worth the extra $20k. One exception is the engine which is glorious and a huge improvement over the S4 motor which is essentially just a remapped version of the same 4.2L motor you'll find in the A6 and A8. Peak torque on the RS4 isn't much higher than the S4 but it's flatter so it just keeps on pullin' whereas the S4 has a pretty narrow sweet spot. Even with the Milltek downpipes and catback installed on my S4, the stock RS4 motor and exhaust sound much better. Engine response when downshifting is also noticeably improved (it's great actually).

There's a nice onramp to the 520 highway near where I live coming out of Redmond. The road snakes up a hill and has a decreasing radius turn at the top leading onto the final straight that is "supposed" to serve as the acceleration lane for the merge. Needless to say, it's a hoot to drive unless you get bitten as some people do. (I knew a guy who totaled his car there.) Anyway, with the S4 I'd have to back out of the throttle near the top in order to get a little more bite out of the front tires - a real buzz kill. I had a fat swaybar installed on the rear which helped, but still didn't make it right. With the RS4, on the other hand, I can keep the power on all the way up the hill and there is only mild understeer. This pretty impressive when you consider the RS4 out-accelerates the S4 and thus is going through the turns faster than the S4 was.

Brakes provide noticeably better stopping power but I cannot quantify. No doubt they provide superior fade resistance thanks to the cooling ducts and larger calipers but I haven't been to the track yet so I haven't really had a chance to work the brakes hard.

Finally, overall the RS4 is more exciting to drive than the S4, even if you're just driving around town. Again, this is difficult to quantify but it's safe to say that if you like the S4, you'll love the RS4. It gives you quite a bit more without taking anything away and, again, well worth the $20k.

Silver Fun

The handling on the RS4 might save you from some of the trouble, except the speed traps.

ski35off

Too bad I usually drive it during morning rush hour :-(

raptorduck

Well, I have never driven an S4. But I can tell you this, for some reason S4's love to pick battles with my CLK55, probably a half dozen times in the past 3 years. I responded 3 of those times when conditions were safe enough (i.e. pretty empty daylight dry road) to have some fun. All three times, it was not even close. My automatic CLK55 spanked the S4 with little bother. The third was just a month ago.

But my RS4 is a whole other ball game. I bought it BECAUSE it is faster than the CLK55, and it handles A LOT better. So, yes, if my CLK55 is any indication, the RS4 appears to be quite an improvement over the S4. It is marginally faster than my CLK55 (which is more than marginally faster than an S4), but a whole other world in handling (I suspect the S4 handles at least as well as my CLK55).