Hey gang, bought my 1st Audi recently, 05 S4 sedan w/ 6-speed manual. It’s got 143,000 miles, and I bought it for next to nothing knowing that it needed the timing chains replaced. And the only reason I bought it with that many miles was that it was meticulously maintained up until the timing chain issue. All that insanity aside, I just got it in the road in the last month and I have a concern/question... when I’m cruising down the highway at 70-75mph in 6th gear, the engine is at 2750-3000rpm. I’ve had my fair share of 4 cylinder Honda’s,
and I know that’s where they are rpm-wise at that speed, but a V8!!??. I’m assuming that’s how the car was engineered/designed. Is this normal?

Those rpms are very high. Should be around 1800. At 3,000 rpms the car is doing 120 mph in 6th.

Thats what I thought...... Even going 65mph in 6th gear the engine is spinning @2500RPM. But this HAS to be how the car was from the factory, I mean, I’ve never heard of a cars gearing changing during the duration of its lifespan..... and like I said, I bought the car/rebuilt the engine @ 140k miles, so it had to be this way the entire time. Which seems utterly strange to me. A V8 engine should “putt” down the highway @ 2000-2200 RPM in top gear when doing about 70mph. It just makes me scratch my head and WORRY myself sick at the same time. Was this car/engine designed to run at a high RPM like this??

It has 4 timing chains. Yes, 4!