acruxksa

@Gregory_Topf

Curious to hear your thoughts on the switch from an A4 to S4 now that you've had the car for a few weeks. I just left the dealership and have spec'd an S4 to order, just sitting on it for a night or two before pulling the trigger. Actually going to order it in the exact same color as my current A4, but will be moving from Premium Plus to Prestige and getting the S Sport option for the rear diff, I'm skipping the dynamic steering package because I'm pretty happy with the current A4's steering and expect the sport diff to further improve steering.

For me, I rarely drive in traffic and at least %50 of my driving is on back country winding roads (I only average about 9K miles/yr). I absolutely love my A4 for this type of driving, I'm sure if I slapped a tune on it (have a couple piggybacks, still new in their boxes...long story), it would be almost perfect. However, there are many occasions (usually during the busy summer tourist season) where I find myself stuck behind several cars in areas where I can't pass........It might sound silly, but I'm trading my car in to get adaptive cruise control and HUD. HUD just because I want it, Adaptive Cruise because I find my stress levels go down when the car is automagically following the ridiculous 40-60mph snake of cars in front of me all slowing down for corners or wildlife/scenery and speeding up in the passing areas........ I figure since I'm trading it in anyway, I might as well step up to the S4. I'm going to take about a $6K hit (not bad really for 2yrs of fun) when it all washes out, but as my wife says, life is short, get what you want.

VipinLJ

acruxksa

Changed my mind. Now the happy owner of a 2016 S6

VipinLJ

TT-S4

So, a company selling a tune for the much greater volume selling, A4, creates their own "test race", where it shows their tune on their A4 beats an S4.
Oh, I'm sure the test was fully legit, and they did multiple runs and every time the tuned A4 beats the S4, and especially since the S4 can't even catch up.
Yeah, that's like a criminal doing his own investigation to the crime he is accused of committing, and his investigation results in no evidence to prove that he really did the crime.
And the judge then says, "Well then sir. You are free to go as clearly you are innocent. Thank you for investigating yourself." LOL!

I'd also like to add, now that I've had my S4 for a bit over 3 months, and having more experience with an A4, I now wish I had gone with the A4 w/sport package, and just put an APR tune on it.
Even in stock form the lower powered 2.0T A4 feels more responsive than my S4, and it's ultra lazy AT and always asleep throttle, coupled with very poor MPG even when just commuting with low to moderate throttle.
For at least 90% of my driving an A4 sport would have been the better buy.
And, with the lower weight up front with the smaller engine, the steering feel and steering response is better and feels nicer in the A4.
Audi failed with this S4 by ruining the ZF AT programming along with failed throttle response programming.
The suspension tuning is great, but it's also great on the A4 w/sport.

I don't see the S4 as "upgrade" from an A4 sport, especially with nice tunes available for the 2.0T,
And I know there are tunes for the 3.0 V6, but the S4 isn't wanting to power.
IT's wanting for much better throttle response and trans operation tuning.
We shouldn't have to pay hundreds or thousands more in order to correct Audi's poor tuning of the engine response and trans.

doady22

I guess I'm quite the opposite. I traded in a stage II+ ultracharged Audi S4 with tcu tune, upgraded intercooler etc, pretty much everything done besides a ported blower. I traded it in on a new S5 Sportback and I must say I'm quite impressed. I have the vehicle adjusted to individual settings with engine to dynamic and I always pull it back to sport mode as well. Obviously its not the power I had in my S4 but still really impressed. I drove an A5 sportback at my dealer because the S5 sportback wasn't available and it was just awful. I drove an SQ5 just to feel the motor and it felt great. I've heard mixed on people and the S5 so maybe I got one of the S5's that was built on a Wednesday not a Monday lol. I guess to each their own.

Slides

100% agree on the bad throttle response on the S5

India Whiskey Charlie

Very well said. The S4's three major weaknesses are slow revving engine, slow throttle response and poor auto trans operation. I did not feel this way with any of my previous S4's before.

will13k7

are you guys driving in auto or comfort mode with the trans in auto-mode most of the time? that eco programming is killing the fun for sure.

it's not bad in dynamic with sharp/quick throttle input. it's also not bad in auto if you put the trans in manaul mode and stay in a good rpm range. there's a split second to build boost, but once it kicks in, that torque surge is luxurious.

I still drive a stage-2 b8 s4 once in a while (wifie's car) and do notice the b9 s4 isn't as sharp off the line, but the b8 doesn't have that savory torque in the low and mid-rpm range.

I drove a b9 a4 a few times as a loaner, once for about 4 days in a row, below 40mph the power is good enough, after that meh, it's hardly adequate. tuning an a4 will help with the power, but if/once an ecu and tcu tune is available for the b9 s4, it will be more responsive and have gobs of power, I experienced that with the 8v s3, it had noticeable delays before the tunes, afterwards, not noticeable.

acruxksa

After about a month, I drove my B9 A4 exclusively in auto with the trans in sport. I got in the habit of manually downshifting 1 or 2 gears to pass other vehicles. I've now got an S6 and I use auto and shift the trans to S mode on occasion, but even with the S6, I frequently find myself manually downshifting to pass, although almost never 2 gears down and in individual or dynamic mode it's far more responsive. I've never driven any other dual clutch vehicles, but so far, it seems like a trait that all dual clutches share. Although, I've read that the Porsche version is better, but I'll have to reserve judgment on that one until I can see for myself.

**I should also add that despite the short hesitation, I found the A4 to be quite quick once it started moving and very nimble on twisting roads even with ice. However, the S6 is a whole different animal and more my style at this point in my life, the V8 growl is amazing. The S6 takes a bit more finesse entering corners than the A4 did, but once I get her around and liberally apply the throttle........... all smiles.