I believe the whole difference in philosophy is that it keeps your back dry, while blowing makes your sweaty back cold. There's no argument that blowing gives quicker relief, but I think the idea is that on a longer drive you are more comfortable with sucking.

I was reading about this also....the ventilated seats are actually superior to cooled because the ventilated seats will basically change with the temperature in the car and keep you dry where the cooled will sooner or later make your back cool and possibly uncomfortable. So it's more like a fan that will never get cold on your while keeping you dry.

The one thing I'm disappointed with is you lose the "S" symbol on the ventilated seats because they just use them across models...they should have at least an "S" version for the "S" cars.

Well I agree on both aspects of this statement in it's application of the S4 and that other naughty aspect of it lol.

LOL...I just can't even reply to this part..the first part was bad enough...

I had them in my last A6, found them damn near worthless so I didn't order them again. They were also sort of noisy in that application, and while they may be better in the S4 application I wasn't impressed enough with them before to check the box again.

Well, here's my counter to that.

When I'm get into that 120F furnace after it has been sitting in the sun, I want cold, dry air combating what ails me.

Conversely, the pull method is drawing in air that has already made it through the hot cabin, has already flowed across my hot, wet torso, and is now making its way out.

My wife's Macan has effectively the same type of ventilation. It just ain't all that. You know, if you get in with shorts on, there's a kinda pleasant "oooohhhh" you get, but it stops being noticeable in pretty short order.

Now, all of that to say... If I could have had vented seats (as they are) IN ADDITION to all of the other stuff on these seats... Stitching, sport seats, etc... I'da been ALL OVER IT.


Note the below description of the S8 Seats:
Valcona leather
22-way power front sport/comfort seats, including power lumbar adjustment, ventilation, massage function, memory and diamond stitching
Heated front seats
Front and rear comfort headrests

What more could one want?

Rare, the times I would compare a now extinct FoMoCo product to that of any German manufacturer. But a buddy of mine once owned a Lincoln LS. It had heated and cooled seats, and by damn, the cooling function was fantastic! It felt as if the AC refrigerant was coursing through the seat bottom and seat back. It was one of the few items which were actually nice in that car...

How is it that well over a decade later, premium German and Japanese cars still can't get "cooled" seats right?

Well, I guess you have to consider that Europeans are not quite as fond of A/C (or AirCon) as we are here across the pond. (No clue about Japanese)
I can see it being a real pain to duct conditioned air TO the seat vs just dumping whatever-you-manage-to-suck-through-it out the bottom.

Having test driven every single seat option in the A4/S4 line, and rented a couple 2017 A4 SilverCars for multi-day ski trips out of Denver that had the adjustable headrest seats, this is the single feature I wish my S4 diamond seats had the most.

For anyone who doesn't corner hard, like the diamond stitched looks, or otherwise require the substantial extra side bolstering that the diamond stitched "super sport" seats provide, trust me: the adjustable headrest you can have instead with the "regular sport/vented" seats is great.

I find the massage feature you'd lose by specing vented seats to be a novelty and would happily trade it for an adjustable headrest. However, I cannot give up the extra bolstering the super sports provide and I prefer the diamond look.

It was highly effective, but I'm not saying it was wise engineering...especially, when you consider the general malaise coming from that era of Ford/Lincoln/Jaguar/Rover/Aston.

Hardly their finest "hour".

I live in Texas and had the same debate about whether or not to get the ventilated seats. Ultimately I decided to get the grey Alcantara seats. I really like the feel of the sport seats and the way the bolsters tighten up when you start the engine and hold you in place. I also have become a big fan of the massaging feature in just one week of ownership. They have three different settings of intensity and frankly the third setting is a bit too much. After a long day at work driving home at night with the massage function is something I've enjoyed more than I expected. The Alcantara seats probably aren't nearly as cool as the ventilated seats, but they're cooler than unventilated leather. I'm very pleased with the choice, but appreciate that not everyone is a fan of the Alcantara. However, I find them much more comfortable than leather.

I have them and I'm happy. Okay, so you lose the gorgeous stitched S-seats and the massage function. That sucks. The headrest, as others have stated, is awesome.

The ventilation can really be felt on the high setting. It's loud, but when you turn it on, your AC is probably blasting as well, so you won't notice. If you continue to keep it on high when once the cabin has cooled, you'll hear it. At that point, I simply place it on low or turn it off.

I simply love getting in my car after a round of golf and turning these seats on.