As you can see from our list….
 

… our current garage is all S-Tronic 7-speeds (S4 and RS5). They have been bulletproof so far and in the previous S5 as well. Fun in the canyons - essential in the LA commute.

I am eager to be in an S9 - the motor is going to be a sweet beast - twin turbo and real torquey. The induction noise alone may be worth the ride. I am chatting with my friends at Eurocode to be a test bed for a new big brake kit for the B9, plus an exhaust. In the end, I believe the S4/S5 is a better sorted car than my RS5.

I stopped by the dealer today to consider swapping the lease… i will keep you posted. I just put new tires and brakes less than 100 miles ago, though.

Happy Motoring

Eric

I'm not surprised by your bulletproof DSG experience. Judging from your list of cars, looks like you are upgrading every couple years. DSG's tend to fail after the warranty runs out.

The manual in the S4 is great but you pay for it twice. The clutch/flywheel job was expensive for me but I knew what I was getting into with taking the car from 275 WHP to 365 WHP.

The Boxster's PDK is so amazing I would never get a Porsche in manual, particularly since the 6 speed ratios are incorrect for most of our driving in the USA (82 MPH in 2nd gear). I'm on the fence with the ZF 8 speed. The Mercedes C400 could have used a tranny like this, as whatever they have sucks. The BMW 328i seems to have a nice tranny but it's hard to tell since the 2.0 turbo engine is so downmarket - it is significantly rougher around the edges than a 1.8T or 2.0T from Audi/VW.

Hey slightly going off topic here, but it's been hard to find good information on the new car. Found these videos on an B9 A4 3.0 TDI -- so while it's no S4, it's somewhat representative. It's cool to see the car go from various perspectives. I like what I see.

2016 Audi A4 Acceleration Test with 3.0 TDI 272 HP Flagship Model - Video - autoevolution

The Audi site in Germany has the new B9 S4 posted: S4 Limousine > Audi Deutschland

The B9 S4 engine max torque occurs at only 1300RPM, which is far lower than the 2000rpm of the MB C450 AMG. If that is really true, the new B9 S4 should be pretty nice.

Yeah, definitely exciting. I actually don't really care about this, but the B8 S4 apparently goes from 0-60 in 4.4 seconds, which is 0.3 seconds faster than the B9 S4 ... or is it just marketing downplay. I would imagine a supercharger could be faster than a turbocharger.

Honestly, anything that does 0-60 in sub-5 seconds is a-ok with me, and that would be an excellent tradeoff for the much improved fuel economy.

Take a close read of the article...
 

… from those limited data, it appears the 7-speed DCT is being retired in favor of the 8-speed tiptronic on the S-cars. Hmmm.. my experience with the tiptronic is that it is a bit lethargic compared to the 7-speed. However, my hope is that this is all sorted out on the software and the tranny will prove robust enough and fun for sport driving.

Happy motoring

Eric

saw one in person last weekend, it does look better in person than in pictures and this was just an A4. The turn signals in the rear were progressive, pretty cool looking.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.aud...2b7fce3f36.jpg

Wow, impressive that someone in the US already has one here. Wonder how that happens :)

Looks like a special license Gov. plate. Maybe the EPA is running a road Smog test validation?