markcincinnati

Coming from a 2014 S4, which although supercharged, had less torque and that torque came in at a much higher RPM, I find this S4 to be "virtually" lag free. I always drive in S mode which does goose the RPM's a couple hundred and I also use the paddles (to get to a gear lower) when I know I'm going to "punch it," thus no discernible lag.

When I drive the car in D, it's another matter -- the car feels like I'm towing something and it is very unsatisfying.

It does seem to me that the behavior you describe has more in common with driving in D than in S. Of course, you have not mentioned D, S or paddles, so I am speculating.

I'm sorry to hear you're unhappiness and dissatisfaction with the S4 is not subsiding, just the opposite in fact.

ibu11et

I find it highly dubious you have no lag. Take your car out and maintain 45 mph in D or S. Whack the throttle. How long until the car actually goes? I guarantee it isn't instant. Enter a turn going at speed, apply throttle approaching the apex. How long until the throttle applies? Again, I guarantee it isn't instant. The S vs D argument holds no water for me other than the car hangs 500-700 rpm above where it should be. The issue is the transmission programming takes too long to recognize it needs to drop gears and to perform said gear change.

I know it's an apples to rare steak comparison, but the R8 doesn't have this problem in D, S or any other driving mode. You wack the throttle at any speed and the transmission drops gears and goes.

Jhbrew

I have to agree with the OP, although one of the thing that I personally am happiest about is the dynamic steering. I labored over the decision because I had never driven a car with such technology, nor could I drive an S4 or S5 (or any Audi for that matter) with it equipped unless I wanted to go to a dealer hundreds of miles away. I decided to add it, and boy I'm glad I did. It's amusing to find out that driving a car with prodigious speed makes me giggle when I'm driving it in parking lots. It feels like a tiny go cart, in all the right ways. But also amazingly stable at 90mph as well. In dynamic mode (constant ratio) it feels light, but tight and responsive yet not squirrelly at speed. I recommend it, but everyone is different so drive one of you can before you add that option. Of course to add it, you also need to add the sport package so factor that into your decision.

Talbot

I'm going to try the first one this afternoon on my way home. Can you try to make a video of the turn maneuver?

ibu11et

I'll try and capture both tomorrow. The safest way will be with a GoPro.

Spartan-S4

Just my 2 centS4

The VC is just a very expensive luxury add-on and I'm glad I did my research on it and used it a bunch on test drives/in the dealer/car shows before ordering to realize what you just said after the fact...that you really don't use it much at all. The majority of the time it's just set and leave it for most options and add into what you said about no options for gear/tach/etc and you just have 2 views in the VC and that's a lot of $$$ when you can get the standard gauges and all the rest of the VC goodies in the new center screen (minus nav). I do want to ask what did you think you'd be using the VC cockpit all the time for that you'd feel would be worth the $$?

I think a lot of people probably don't take into account the things you just brought up about the HD/VC & if they did they prob could save themselves a nice chunk of change...then again this is a luxury item in a way.

12 mpg...you must be in S all the time and using that pedal to the floor a lot! Hope you are at least enjoying that but it sounds like you aren't. I didn't notice much lag at all in D and none in S when I did test drives other then what is expected for a turbo. Sounds crazy but do you think you could have a bad turbo with one of them and only one of them is working?

Someone else mentioned the HUD....I don't find the HUD a must have feature at all...on my test drives with the prestige I found it honestly distracting and again to just display a few extra features for roads I already know the directions/speed, it's just another luxury feature I didn't need to tack on to an already awesome vehicle. I mean honestly what information do you need displayed on a HUD that you just can't glance down for that takes probably less then a 1/10 of a second to go down and back up...speed? directions? I just don't agree it's a must have and should be on all cars.

Same with the acoustic glass...there's a point where you pull the driver out of the road too much. That glass might make it so you can't hear a siren or horn or something and I think there was an article or video about this where making cars too outside sound proof is dangerous to a point. I found the standard S+ pretty damn quiet as it was.

Sept 18th is just around the corner for mine to get built!

markcincinnati

The dual pane glass is NOT a "need to have" it is a (for me) "want to have." The HUD, on the other hand is very valuable and I maintain will be in more and more cars of all classes not just Prestige versions and certainly not just Audis, of course. I would like to be able (via the MMI rather than a "hack") to pick and choose what is shown on the HUD, too. My wife wants to see the gear she's in regardless of mode, D, M or S. I believe she wants to see that in the HUD.

At 88 feet per second, if it takes 1/10th of a second to glance down at the dashboard, you will travel nearly 9 feet. 88 feet per second is 60MPH. Most folks in greater Cincinnati cruise at least at 75MPH. I am often passed when I'm going 80. The point is it is very possible to be travelling more than 100 feet per second and if you can glance down and back up in 1/10th of a second (I'd wager its more like 2/10ths of a second) that's an easy 10 feet, or perhaps 20 feet. Things can happen in 20 feet (or even 10) that you might not want to happen when you're not looking. The HUD, in this regard, provides (or can) that margin of distance and safety. My wife was of the "this is a novelty" persuasion, now when she drives a car without it, she feels there is "danger Will Robinson, danger!" because she has to take her eyes off the road.

I have to believe that there must be a slight drop in fuel mileage by driving 100% of the time in "S" as I do. I can't drive the SQ5 in S all of the time because it will NOT upshift to 8th gear in S and the final drive ratio is lower and a 100 mile Interstate highway trip at 80+ MPH in 7th gear sucks gas.

The S4, however will upshift all the way to 8th even in S and has a taller final drive ratio giving me, regularly an indicated 30+ MPG on my twice weekly drive to/from Columbus Ohio from Cincinnati.

Rarely do I drive at 45MPH and have a need (or even a want) to mash the accelerator to the floor (regardless of being in D or S.)

When I have "pressed" the car for speed (but NOT floored the accelerator pedal), I am 98% of the time in "S" and 2% of the time using the paddle shifters. The rare time (early in my ownership) I had the car in D was simply because I had come from 53,000 miles in a 2014 S4 supercharged with the 7-spd DSG (which I always drove in S for the 53,000 miles I had it). I had wondered if the 8-spd would "feel right" in D or S and did some experimentation early on only to conclude I didn't care -- at all -- for the turbo engine with the selector in D.

In short, I find in S "virtually" no lag -- and if I am "having some fun," I use the paddle shifters which means I pull on the left paddle simultaneously (or an instant before) I "whack" the throttle -- which yields a downshift and a "massive" surge of acceleration in sequence (a fraction of a fraction of a second in that order) -- and again NO discernible lag.

Much as I enjoyed the 2014 Supercharged engine, it actually could feel less responsive than the Turbo because, even though the super-charger was "instantaneous," the 325 lb ft of torque didn't come on until much higher RPMs than the turbo-charger produces its 369 lb ft of torque from the 2018's 3.0T.

What I am thinking is that if I were in D or S at 45MPH, there is a fairly good chance both modes would be, at that speed, in the same gear and mashing the throttle causes two things to happen:

1. Kick down and
2. The turbo to spool

When I want aggressive, lag free, acceleration, I flick the left paddle a split second before I "punch it" which means the turbo is already spooling a "moment" before it would spool if I were simply in D or S -- that is the only way I can conceive of the possibility for discernible lag -- meaning that I "force" there to be NO lag by my fraction of a second before flooring the accelerator downshifting with the paddle. My perception is that is quicker than waiting for kick down to occur.

Every article I've read (in C&D, Motor Trend, Road & Track, etc.) says the 3.0T engine used in the S4, S5 and SQ5 is "virtually lag free" -- or remarks will be made in the review that talk about the "hot V" turbo placement and the fact that "FULL" torque is available below 1,400RPM. I need to see what my RPMs are at 45MPH on a flat highway (no grade) -- assuming they are 1,400+, I would assume FULL torque would be available when mashing the accelerator, which, when coupled with the downshift that will happen (kickdown) ought to mean "virtually" no lag.

There seems to be two schools of thought here in this thread or here on AW:

1. Are you kidding? No lag, this thing has lag that drives me crazy; and,
2. Are you kidding? What lag? I don't notice any lag at all.

As Dire Straits says in Industrial Disease:

"Two men say they're Jesus one of them must be wrong."

I represent the school of thought that there is "no discernible lag" -- but that does not mean I don't believe the other school of thought is false, it just means, I've not noticed it.

ibu11et

Drive like you live Mark.

There is a ton of lag, hesitation. If you are a person who has always taken advantage of all a car has to offer, then you'll notice it significantly. If throwing caution to the wind and passing someone at 70 in a 65 is your idea of a Saturday night on the town. This car is a maniac.

The fact remains that in the scenario I described, the car displays an unacceptable amount of hesitation from pedal to go that just doesn’t exist in other cars in its class. There are plenty of reasons to do what I described, both exiting a turn and in a straight. Downshifting manually really defeats the purpose of having an S mode. My M235i was ridiculous quick in downshifting to the correct gear and going. That car is also a twin scroll turbo mated to a six cylinder (albeit i6 vs v6, but the setup on the S4 should show better performance. It doesn’t).

I still believe the lag is not turbo lag, but a fundamental problem in the transmission tuning. I can tell you the car is not fun to drive if you are a sporty driver. I’m not going to argue with you about the characteristics of the car, Mark. You drive fundamentally different than I do. To say the car has “virtually no lag” and then say that you don’t find cause to use the car in a manner that exhibits the behavior in question is a bit obtuse.

If you have no plans to take your car to a track day or use it in a manner that would push it to its limits; if you haven’t purchased the sport features with the intention of using them; if the extent of your letting the dogs loose is taking a 35 mile an hour curve at 50, you’re probably not in a position to refute the condition.

Drive like YOU live.

stanj

As an owner of every S4 model made, I agree. This is the laggiest of them all, and it very well may be the tranny. YMMV, but I am angry at the car all the time, usually when I'm the first at a red light, and not just because I (mostly) drive an EV.

markcincinnati

OK, here is what I have done in the past 45 minutes. I took the car on Interstate 275 East and found the highway with light traffic. I got to "about 45" (maybe 46 or 47) and moved the selector to M and found the car was in M5. I moved the selector back to my normal (driven the way I live) S mode and made sure no further down or upshift had occurred.

The road ahead was "sort of" clear, I moved over one lane (4 lanes, I was now in lane 2, assuming lane 1 is the furthest left). Glanced in the rearview mirror to see if there were any state troopers and floored the car as fast as my right foot would go.

Before my foot could reach the floor the transmission downshifted (at least one, possibly more, gears) and the car "lept" forward with a huge burst of acceleration. I counted to three -- and let up on the accelerator. I was going about 82.

Again, I slowed and repeated the "check" and found that now, at 45, the gear the thing thought I needed was "4th" -- my expectations were now that my acceleration would be even more aggressive than my first attempt. I did all of the things I mentioned to make this "jump to ludicrous"speed as safe as possible. This time I had to move another lane to the left, placing me in lane 1. I floored the car again and the acceleration was even more violent and instantaneous than before, I was pressed back into the seat as I watched the tach go to red line, blat from the exhaust system, one mississippi, two mississippi, three mississppi -- I was, this time, now at 86MPH which dropped to 85 then a quicker drop as I was coasting down to a "cop friendly" 72MPH.

The sound of the engine, the second time was better as there was an additional "red line" shfit and an additional "fart sound" from the tail pipe. The engine sound inside the car was at full cry for those three to four seconds from "initiation to 3 mississipi count" to release.

I've driven and had a lot of cars -- most of them Audis, most of them turbos, over the years -- I'd say this one has the least lag of any of them.

And so I am happily able to drive it like I live and hope you are able to drive it like you live.

Considering the plain, clear and obvious lag you are feeling, I can only conclude there is at least the possibility your particular car has some issue. My impression this very evening was "OMG" this thing has "relentless and immediate" responsiveness to my right foot -- darn near violent it was so strong and so quick.

It is possible that both of our cars are behaving as we have reported -- I certainly believe what you're saying. It is unfortunate, for it seems to me this is the most potent Audi (with respect to acceleration) I've had since my manual transmission 5-cylinder 20V turbo which has always been my sentimental favorite Audi of all time. This one, however, blows the S6 away.