Spartan-S4

So I dropped the deposit down on a new S4 this weekend. Ordered on August 12th. Delivery possibly late Oct/early Nov if the dealer can swap one in the pipeline already (which he said he can possibly do tomorrow)

Ended up going with Daytona after all. I had the dealer pull out a Daytona and and Florett and had them park them side by side and I went over and looked at them both in various time of day (noon, evening, night) and the Daytona just stood out more then the Florett Silver.

Went with

• S4 P+
• Daytona Grey
• Warm Weather Package
• Rear Airbags
• 18" with All Season tires

And now the wait begins!

Current tracking is:

• Order Date: Aug 12th
• Build Date: Sept 1st (was Sept 18th)
• Route to Port of Emden: Sept 19th

ClemsonAudi

Awesome! I love the analysis and the conclusion reached! Here's how my timeline has gone just to give you an idea:


May 26th: Ordered
June 24th: Received "scheduled to be built" email from Audi
July 5th: Finished Production
August 1st: Arrived to Jacksonville, FL
August 11th: Dealer Invoiced from Audi
Arrival to Dealer and Delivery? Hopefully this week!

Spartan-S4

Thanks Clemson!

I had to make a new account to get my 'S4' tag when I first started on here was looking at an S5 lol...so no longer Spartan-S5 now Spartan-S4.

Thanks to everyone including yourself for helping me figure out certain parts of the car and what features I'd want.

The only thing I think I'll be doing (other then a few minor cosmetic mods I'll show later) is swapping rims out for another pair of 18's aftermarket that look like the 19's optional from Hartmann or another Audi optional rim in the EU

NHman

OP, congrats and welcome to the (B9 S4) club.

Did you consider the tech and/or sport package(s)?

Spartan-S5

Hey NHMan (replying on my other account), no I didn't...here was my thoughts/reasoning.

Tech Package: After really liking/wanting this thing, after doing test drives/and using it in person/at car shows, it's really to me a very expensive option that is not worth the cost at least to me.

For myself, I found it distracting while driving and after seeing that you'd probably just put it one display mode and leave it, and I'd never use the nav hardly at all it didn't make a lot of $$$ sense for this package. I have internet on my phone and nav on my phone and can use that or put it through Apple carplay. Factor in the cost of it, and who knows the reliability of it, I decided against it.

I also asked a bunch of YouTube reviewers their thoughts and about 50% of them came back saying that if it wasn't on the car to begin with they wouldn't have gotten it and some who had it said the novelty wore off.

I also really prefer the nice look of the analog gauges while getting the best of both worlds and having the digital screen between them that does everything the VC does other then the Nav/gauges. I like how the regular gauges/screens aren't as recessed and how it just feels like something is there & not flat. I think that bothered me that the VC just looks so flat. I also got to try it with the analog gauges/new nice color screen on the A5 so I really liked the combo of both digital and analog and I like how the analog gauges look when lit also and do their little rev up and back when you start the car.




Sport Package: This was another that a lot of people on here chimed in on and I took their input, especially Mark's.

For the majority of S4 owner's they are never going to the limits to use the sport's differential so for me, it didn't make sense to get it because I'm never going to track this car or take it to a road that I decide to risk my life/others while pushing it in corners etc. I got it more for the engine/straight line/handling in general and the sound of the V6.

The red calipers are nice, but that's an easy aftermarket swap.

In regards to the adaptive suspension, I took two out, one with, one without and in my area, I couldn't even remotely tell the difference. Factor in again the reliability/long term use of the suspension & replacement cost, it's something I didn't want to bother/deal with.

From what I've read, the suspension if it leaks/goes back has to be changed in pairs, so you are looking at a very expensive fix.

Bar none this forum is awesome and there is just so much good information on here that it really helped make factoring in things very easy.

ClemsonAudi

Arrived at the dealer this afternoon!

Sam Giancana

Good choice Spartan. I feel the same as you on the tech package.

Spartan-S4

Thanks Sam!

I think what many don't realize is you still get the majority of the VC features between the analogue gauges except the navigation map (which I don't care about) and the digital gauges.

I know that when I said I didn't want the VC, my sales guy thought it was a mistake and couldn't believe I didn't want the super cool feature and I asked him if he had any new 2018 A5's or A5SB on the lot (since only the '18s come with the newer center screen).

When I showed him the newer center screen vs the one on the '17 A4 and how it looked and all the same features pretty much, he actually was sorta caught off guard by it and didn't realize the '18s had this really nice new screen and set-up.

That's why I think it's the best of both worlds...

heisnuts

Congratulations. Now the fun of tracking your order begins.

My dealer has been awesome on keeping me up to date during the process, which has made the wait a little easier. If your dealer can find one exactly as you want it in the pipeline already, it should speed things up. In my case, my dealer took one of his existing allocations that was not frozen to changes and changed that order to my specs. He put the order in on 4/19, it was built on 7/11, arrived in Houston on 8/6 and is currently on a truck headed to my dealer. Mine is a S5 Coupe, which seemed to take a little longer because Audi seems to be cranking out a lot more S4 and S5 Sportback models.

Spartan-S4

Nice. Yah my dealer is doing the same...mine though is not a standard order (almost every S4 in the area has the tech package & almost none have the rear airbags) so it was a special order. I think the time for the S4s might be a bit shorter because they have shut down production of them in Germany due to that emission thing...so my dealer said late October is what they have estimated so far.