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Recently we went on a 2300 mile summer camping road trip through northern CA and all over OR. For the first time since my single days, the car of choice was an S4 again and not my wife's aging A6 Avant. Due to all the camping equipment I had to fit a coffin on the roof, and you may be pleased to hear that it held in place even when passing at 110mph. The S4 is a very competent cruiser that's super quiet yet has always enough power to pass a semi. I still hate the tranny and miss the linear acceleration of my electric cars. The average mileage over 2300 miles was 25mpg.
Could you call out some of those landmarks?? I'd swear that's Crater Lake, and Mount St. Helens -- but I've never visited either.
Looking at this thread reminds me how much I WISh I could be driving a B9 S4 AVANT.
And as for the trans, it is still the least favorite part of the B9 for me as well -- but I was puttering around town today in D - Comfort, and it really was shifting nicely, as long as I didn't demand anything of the gas pedal.
gr
Last edited by ghostrider990; 08-06-2018 at 11:34 AM.
A fellow roof coffin road tripper concurs: really cool car for cross country cruisin'. (How's that one for a tongue twister?)
A humble suggestion for next time: getting stuff in/out of the box is much easier if you place it offset instead of centered on the bars. Bonus, you can then carry a little rope and threaten to lash belligerent passengers to the unused space on your crossbars. Or throw something useful up there, like a bike, or an extra ski bag from a buddy who flies in to meet you.
Originally Posted by ghostrider990
Looking at this thread reminds me how much I WISh I could be driving a B9 S4 AVANT.
A humble suggestion for next time: getting stuff in/out of the box is much easier if you place it offset instead of centered on the bars.
That is true, and has been suggested by others at work. However, it goes completely against my Swiss upbringing of perfect symmetry and neatness, just as the flat bottom steering wheel does (that's why I got the heated one). Given that I'm 6'2", I can reach to the middle for pretty much everything, even the little bits.
The photos are from:
Lassen National Park, CA
Crater Lake, OR
Fort Klamath, OR (Crater Lake perimeter)
John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, OR (Painted Hills)
Ultra Car Wash, Redmond, OR
Three Sisters, OR
Heceta Head Lighthouse (Florence, OR)
Redwoods NP, CA
I completely agree that I would get an S4 Avant if one were offered. Every time I go home to Switzerland I get angry when I see all the A4 and even A6 Avants, with all their S and RS variants, and we have to get an A4 on stilts if we want a rear hatch... My S4 started its life as an Allroad order, before I switched it back to an S4 (5th in a row...)
Awesome pics! I feel your pain...whenever I go back home to Asia, I also see all the S/RS avants and it makes me soo jelly, that I almost want to buy one and keep one there for when I go back.
I also took a couple of before/after photos at places where earlier versions of Pot have been, namely Crater Lake and Lassen. Pot I has been to Crater Lake at least three times, maybe four, in the three years that I've owned him. I took some care putting the car in the same location as before, but because photos from 20 years ago don't have GPS data, it was hard...
Pot I (1998) and Pot VI at Crater Lake
Pot IV and Pot VI at Lassen National Park
Mini Me at the Redwoods
Photo being taken at almost the same spot (just around the bend, didn't pay attention).
08-05-2018, 11:39 AM
The road trip
