superswiss

I'm guessing you haven't actually tried it. It's great for daily driving. I have it in my RS5. The ratio changes are very natural and it makes the steering very direct for parking maneuvers and indirect for great straight line stability on the highway. The result is less steering wheel turn necessary in regular driving and more relaxed highway driving. For sporty driving where a changing ratio makes things unpredictable, use Dynamic mode where the ratio stays fixed. Best of both worlds.

On a short test drive it may feel strange if you've never driven one. It does have a learning curve, but once it becomes second nature, driving a car w/o it will feel strange. A lot of car journalists despise it, because they never bother to fully understand all of its aspects, drive it long enough to see the benefits and actually learn how it behaves differently in each Drive Select mode.

Stankia

The virtual cockpit is like going from a flip phone to a smart phone, I could never go back. The Sport Package, well the car has to be pushed to a level way above what the law allows on public roads to be fully appreciated.

mplsbrian

I did test drives on both and bought the one with sport package. I agree with this statement. The adaptive shocks do a great job of managing lateral grip and reducing body roll -- stiffening the outside shocks when cornering (one of the inputs the system uses is a lateral G-meter), for example -- but I also think the system also pairs well with a sport differential really remove the plowing effect you feel in most front-heavy cars like the S4.

To OP, if you drive in a straight line most of the time, none of these systems are necessary. There is surely something else you could spend $2500 on to get a more substantial value increase... that's a very decent set of brand new winter wheels and tires, for example.

bgserve

And what about 19" tires vs 18" tires, without the sport package. Are the 19's worth it? I love the look of them, but have 19' currently on my bmw 335i and the rough ride can get old, rim problems, replacing tires, etc. Other than the look, would I be better off in LA with the 18's?

mplsbrian

If you can live without the look (I couldn't -- the 19" are sooo pretty imo), then yes, I think you will appreciate the more comfortable ride and with time the reduced tire costs of the 18" wheels -- especially if you dislike the 19s on your current vehicle. The ride is indeed quite harsh at times, even with an adaptive suspension set to comfort mode.

Don't get all-seasons, though: the A/S tires Audi provides are garbage (only an H speed rating, too). If you want all-seasons or longer-wearing tires, you are better off just ordering the car with summer tires and accepting that they won't last as many miles, and then just putting the shoes you really want on it once the OEM tires wear down after 10-15K miles. The two popular A/S tire options are the Continental DWS06 or Michelin AS3 -- both in the "ultra high performance all season" category.

bgserve

Yeah, all the practical reasons point to 18's, but the 19's just look so much better

rsilvers129

The original real reason for larger wheels was to clear larger brake calipers. When I see giant wheels with much smaller calipers, I think it is funny.

19 does look better. Personally I would only get 18 as I think it is the right balance. But there are lots of people who really want 20, and consider 19 to be the best tradeoff.

markcincinnati

Living in Cincinnati -- hell living in much of Ohio (and I presume IN, MI and PA) one is better off with the 18's for the reasons (especially cost with only a cosmetic improvement) you cite. I like the looks of the 18's -- but I would have paid for the 19's if they were offered in an 18" size. I have noted other companies have much better wheel programs than Audi offers. If Audi charges $800 for the "upgrade" to the 19's, perhaps they could offer the exact same look in 18's for $400 or $500. I might be willing -- for vanity -- to spring for great looking (I know it is subjective) wheels if I could have them in the size I wanted them in.

The 19's would certainly work well in Germany, but here in "the Middle," I've spent a fortune on up-sized wheels on most of my 33 Audis and 3 BMWs -- my experience is that they add a fragility to the experience that I'm not willing to spring for any more. Perhaps if our Governor can "fix" the three Interstates I frequently drive on along with the primary and secondary roads that seem to be covered with steel plates that are tire busters and wheel benders, well I might change my mind. The tire life of most of the 19's are measured in "oil change" intervals, too. Y'all must have a ton of money to go with the 19's just for looks, OR, you live somewhere that isn't moon-cratered like so much of the mid-west has become.

BTW, I was on a layover in LAX yesterday (Delta) -- the terminal looks like something from a third-world country. The bathrooms in the terminal, well, TMI, were awful. And, I swear I bought a Snicker's bar and it must've been damn near $5. I was thinking, "They'll probably charge $2 here at the airport" -- $5 geesh, if the roads in CA resemble the break-down and wear exhibited at LAX's infrastructure, yikes! I didn't even bother going into what used to be called "The Crown Room" for even it looked crappy. LAX is what our roads look like here in Ohio. I landed in CVG (which is in Kentucky, even though it is the Cincinnati International Airport) and it was like stepping out into the future compared to LAX.

If anyone from Audi reads what we go on about here, perhaps they'll realize "We don't need no 35 series tires here in much of the US, but some really attractive wheels with 40 series shoes would be very welcome."

rsilvers129

I didn’t think that the 18s were worse styled than the 19. Just smaller.

As for US infrastructure - if more Americans travelled it would be a huge wake up call. People in the US think that China is some primative dump. The fact is, there are cities there that make even the nicest city in the US look like it should be demolished and started over.

superswiss

LAX is a dump. SFO is much much nicer. As far as our roads are concerned it's a mixed bag. We don't have snow and snow plows destroying the roads every year, they've just gotten old, but there is a lot of repaving going on right now. Highways don't have potholes or anything. Most of them are quite smooth and the rest is being repaved as we speak. SF still has some bad roads, but suburbs are pretty smooth and surrounding cities like Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville have been getting their roads repaved. There are currently some big efforts in the works to get all the worst roads repaved. I drive around with 275/30-20 on my RS5 with no problems. I only had one bent wheel due to hitting a pothole that I saw too late on one of my canyon runs. I'm going to avoid that road in the future as it has suffered quite a bit during the last winter with all the rain and it's been patched haphazardly. 5-10 years ago the roads were much worse, but I've also lived in the Midwest (Chicago) for 4 years and compared to that, our roads are pristine :-). We also have sunshine most of the year, so keeping the car clean is mostly a matter of using a California Duster to get the dust off the car, occasional detail spray and a wash once in a while to get dirt off. Also don't have bug swarms that splatter everything. Combined with the many beautiful canyon and mountain roads it's a pretty good place for owning a nice sporty car with big wheels etc. and no need to worry about owning a dark colored car. My last three cars have all been various shades of black on black. Now if we could only get rid of about 50% of the drivers who clearly won their license in the lottery and have no clue how to drive. I'm talking to you slowpokes barley driving 25 mph on a curvy road that has a speed limit of 55 mph ;-).