bgserve

I am about to lease a new S4 and cannot decide which packages are necessary. I live in Los Angeles and do a lot of driving, most of it in traffic, but enjoy a fast car and when the opportunity arises. I have a 2014 bmw 335i so I like the availability of V6 and 300+ horsepower. That being said, I'm not sure if I need the whole virtual cockpit since I mostly use navigation and think I could switch to that via my cell phone, etc. While I do like the larger screen with the tech pack, not sure it's a make or break. Also, I believe I would prefer the sports package since I like the idea of having the differential, 19" tires, etc. but not sure how much I would use it here in Los Angeles.

What is everyone's thoughts? Anything that is a must? Will the car still have drive select and the ability to customize individual drive settings without the tech pack?

jlarke

I have a B8 S4 with the sports diff and I'm extremely glad I have it. I agree with markincincinnati's oft-stated point that on a surface street, you won't be cornering nearly hard enough to require it. However, having the car "push off" from the outside rear wheel does wonders for the way the car feels. In other cars, I always felt the weight of the engine up front, resisting the motion of the wheels. With my S4 in comfort mode, I feel it less than on my old WRX, but it's there. With the car in dynamic, there's no sense of reluctance to turn at all. The car just goes where I want.

bgserve

Do you think I would notice a difference if most of my driving takes place on the streets/freeways without much cornering? I do drive pretty fast and occasionally take a couple corners on the street with some speed, but nothing to where I believe an S4 without the rear diff couldn't handle it

Spartan-S4

Nope. Not at all.

Also please read my S4 order thread and this post in particular if you want feedback (and not the majority view) on both packages...I wrote up a section on both.

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/s4-.../#post25022126

For me, the S4 as a base model has everything I would ever want/need. Everything else is just added $$$ and only you can answer that if it's a need/must have.

I only added the warm weather package to get the cooled seats for the DC/NOVA area since it gets really hot here during most months from spring to fall.

jlarke

I think you could feel the difference, but it would not such as to make you change the way you drove the car. It will stick at any plausible speed on surface streets, you'll just be more conscious of the car's weight distribution without the sports diff.

socialpro

To me the largest advantage of the sport package is the adaptive suspension. I think it does an absolute marvelous job in both comfort and dynamic setting - respectively. I'm not sure what the 'standard' suspension is like without the sport package. The car is just so well composed over all terrain with the adaptive suspension - and literally nothing you do will upset your drive quality. As far as sport differential - I'm not sure if that plays much effect in day to day normal driving vs having one without it.

The second thing to decide (and that might be one of the *most* important features of your driving experience) is if you want or don't want the dynamic steering - which you can ONLY get if you have the sport package.

We opted for our S4 without the dynamic steering but WITH the sport package. I have not driven an S4 with dynamic steering - but without it can say that a bit more 'weight' to the wheel (in dynamic setting) would be a great thing. The standard steering in the S4 IS very precise - but INCREDIBLY light. Much lighter (IMHO) then my standard steering in my B8.5 S4. That would be the only option I would have to rethink about IF we were to order the car again.

Drive both (with dynamic steering and without) and then make your decision - as steering is something you interact with literally every second you are behind the wheel of the car.

We got the Prestige Package - mainly for the heads up display (and the electronic gauges / larger screen are nice as well).

Are any of these 'musts' on this car? Absolutely not as even the base S4 is great value for the buck and offers so much in one package.

Good luck!

dbuxton13

There's a whole thread dedicated to the sport pack with detailed info here https://www.audiworld.com/forums/s4-...2933203/page2/

Is anything "necessary?" No. If looking at it that way, the sensible thing to do is buy a 4 year old Honda Civic.

I advocate, however, that if you are buying a car in this price range what you really want is the driving experience as delivered by these wonderful Audi engineers... and you really should get the "whole" car the way it was designed to be, meaning Prestige with all the options ticked. Also, if you look at the last post on the link you will see all the tech background showing how the sport differential, adaptive damping, and dynamic steering were designed to all work in concert together.

seven-six-two

In LA, or the Bay area, or many other benighted places where enjoyable driving doesn't exist most of the day, you really, really want driver assist.

Traffic jam assist and the adaptive cruise control is worth it. Get it.

Everything else is maybe a "nice to have", but in the US, DAP puts you in a Prestige and then you might as well just load it up.

Adaptive suspension is great and unless you really have to have the anemic ventilated seats, the nappa is comfy.

Just my 2 cents.

superswiss

Some thoughts here. I'm living in the Bay Area and have done my fair share of driving in LA, which I try to avoid like the pest. My primary vehicle is an RS5. I don't commute, so most of my driving is errands during the week, fun canyon runs on weekends and road trips. I do most of my driving outside of commute hours, so I rarely get stuck in traffic.

But still on a daily driver like my RS5, I would no longer opt out of the driver assistance package. I use adaptive cruise control all the time on the highway when I don't have much choice other than following everybody else or if I just wanna relax. It's also great for long road trips and the times I do find myself in dense traffic. I like the virtual cockpit in the S/RS models purely for the sport view that puts the rev counter front and center with the current gear and de-emphasizes the speed and the left and right side is there for other information like navigation etc. On A models I find the virtual cockpit rather dull and pointless, unless you navigate and minimize the rev counter and speedo to get the beautiful full screen map, especially with Google Earth enabled. But the regular gauge view is rather dull and cheap looking.

Having driven in LA as I said, the sport differential will be of very little use, unless you plan trips to the gorgeous canyons on the weekends. I still wonder what all these folks in Beverly Hills do with their Lambos etc. other than showing off that they have more money than common sense. But creeping along in LA is some of the most frustrating driving I have ever done. The Bay Area traffic is bad, too, but not as bad as LA and the canyon and back-roads are a lot closer and faster to reach than from LA, but the LA area has some beautiful canyons for driving. I sometimes make a day trip down there just for some canyon driving. Ends up being a 12 hour road trip in one day. Fun stuff.

Sport view, the primary reason for which I would get the virtual cockpit, even if I didn't use the nav.





R8/RS example with direct TPMS info and G-meter:

rsilvers129

For me, adaptive cruise control would be a must have in LA. Hard to say though, as I know so many people who wouldn't bother to learn how to use it.

I am completely closed minded when it comes to dynamic steering. It is the dumbest/worst idea I can imagine - a ratio that changes on you.