S4 vs. M5 ... sort of (long)
05-22-2000, 08:58 PM
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S4 vs. M5 ... sort of (long)
A buddy at work just returned today from his cross-country drive in his brand new (purchased in Boston area) LeMans blue '00 M5. Nice car. Very nice. Personally, I wouldn't spend the money, but more on that soon...
So we're talking about going somewhere for lunch and decide to take both cars from the north end of San Jose to Pleasanton (CA), should be about a 20 minute ride on the freeway, with a few curves and hills thrown in for good measure. We playeed around on the road on the way there, hitting speeds of up to 95 or so, when traffic cleared enough. His card seemed to have slightly better acceleration than mine, I guess since mine is stock he has the edge in HP and torque. We had a good lunch, and discussed going back a longer route with lots of tight corners, etc. (Calaveras Road, for those of you familiar with the area) After coming to the conclusion that it would take too long and we really needed to get back to work, we had one of those 'moments' when fate made our mind up for us.
Just before the turnoff to Calaveras Road from 680, traffic came to a near stop. Both of us immediately took the exit and headed off for our fun drive! I had absolutely no trouble staying with him (he was in front), and eventually he pulled over and I led the remainder of the way. I immediately lost sight of him in the mirror, and easily left him behind. Neither one of us was pushing our cars to the limit (it is a public road, after all), but I just pulled away again every time I waited for him to catch up. It's amazing the confidence I have in this car. The handling, the quattro, the engine ...
Afterwards, he said he thought that his car was too long for the (very) tight corners on this road and my car could negotiate the curves better. I'm not so sure, and maybe he just wasn't as aggressive as me. I think the S4 low-end torque and Quattro are the real reason. We will have a \nother drive one of these days on a road with a little more room and fewer 20 mph corners, and he may get me then. But in the meantime, I am VERY content that my car cost less than than half what his did, and still performs as well and looks as good or better.
ChrisD
Stock Nogaro (with the Pirelli's)
So we're talking about going somewhere for lunch and decide to take both cars from the north end of San Jose to Pleasanton (CA), should be about a 20 minute ride on the freeway, with a few curves and hills thrown in for good measure. We playeed around on the road on the way there, hitting speeds of up to 95 or so, when traffic cleared enough. His card seemed to have slightly better acceleration than mine, I guess since mine is stock he has the edge in HP and torque. We had a good lunch, and discussed going back a longer route with lots of tight corners, etc. (Calaveras Road, for those of you familiar with the area) After coming to the conclusion that it would take too long and we really needed to get back to work, we had one of those 'moments' when fate made our mind up for us.
Just before the turnoff to Calaveras Road from 680, traffic came to a near stop. Both of us immediately took the exit and headed off for our fun drive! I had absolutely no trouble staying with him (he was in front), and eventually he pulled over and I led the remainder of the way. I immediately lost sight of him in the mirror, and easily left him behind. Neither one of us was pushing our cars to the limit (it is a public road, after all), but I just pulled away again every time I waited for him to catch up. It's amazing the confidence I have in this car. The handling, the quattro, the engine ...
Afterwards, he said he thought that his car was too long for the (very) tight corners on this road and my car could negotiate the curves better. I'm not so sure, and maybe he just wasn't as aggressive as me. I think the S4 low-end torque and Quattro are the real reason. We will have a \nother drive one of these days on a road with a little more room and fewer 20 mph corners, and he may get me then. But in the meantime, I am VERY content that my car cost less than than half what his did, and still performs as well and looks as good or better.
ChrisD
Stock Nogaro (with the Pirelli's)
05-22-2000, 09:11 PM
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I drive Calaveras 2 or 3 times a week
Just visiting from the A6 board...
But I have to make that commute San Ramon/Mountain View 4x per week anytime after 9:30am or so, and if traffic gets below 40 before Calaveras, I'm all over it. The difference between my 2.7t and my '86 325e is like night and day. But the amazing thing is that I'm not even pushing the car, and I still manage to "take down" (meaning the car in front of me pulls over) pretty much any car. Only hit one Audi an A6 2.8.
Today for example, I had a BMW 540i and in front of that a MB CLK Kompressor, both were pulling over soon enough- the twin turbos and the Quattro had them every time.
For those who want to have a beautiful, but intense drive, Calaveras is the way, just pull over if you have a trail of cars behind you... LOL.
ERT
2000 A6 2.7t 6M Ebony Pearl
But I have to make that commute San Ramon/Mountain View 4x per week anytime after 9:30am or so, and if traffic gets below 40 before Calaveras, I'm all over it. The difference between my 2.7t and my '86 325e is like night and day. But the amazing thing is that I'm not even pushing the car, and I still manage to "take down" (meaning the car in front of me pulls over) pretty much any car. Only hit one Audi an A6 2.8.
Today for example, I had a BMW 540i and in front of that a MB CLK Kompressor, both were pulling over soon enough- the twin turbos and the Quattro had them every time.
For those who want to have a beautiful, but intense drive, Calaveras is the way, just pull over if you have a trail of cars behind you... LOL.
ERT
2000 A6 2.7t 6M Ebony Pearl
05-22-2000, 09:18 PM
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Automobile magazine named the M5 the #1 sports sedan, with the S4 in 2nd place
And the GS400 in 3rd....
Well, i'll settle for #2 in automobile magazine as long as it's to that 400hp monster that cost's 70k+.......
We have equal torque with chips though!!! right?....right????<p>-Cheng Kwan
Silver.Onyx
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Well, i'll settle for #2 in automobile magazine as long as it's to that 400hp monster that cost's 70k+.......
We have equal torque with chips though!!! right?....right????<p>-Cheng Kwan
Silver.Onyx
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Vm1 uuc
05-22-2000, 09:26 PM
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By the way, on my friend's cross-country drive, he used a V1 plus a device
called a Bear Tracker that he said was actually more useful than the V1. It is a multi-band scanner than gives warnings based on the amount of dispatch radio traffic it picks up. It also has the audio from dispatchers and police. At one point in Wyoming, he actually heard police talking about his car and could be alerted to the fact that he had been spotted or reported on.
Does anyone have any knowledge of this device?
ChrisD
Does anyone have any knowledge of this device?
ChrisD
05-23-2000, 02:39 AM
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Bear Tracker is much more useful... I probably would've saved my ***... [more]
if I had it when I was at the northeast audi bar-b-cue a few weeks ago.
They actually do two things -- one is lock onto police bands in the state you tell it you're in. The second (and more useful) is that it knows the frequencies that the police use for their radio extenders, which they use to transmit from their person back to their car, and it gets retransmitted at a higher power to the world. Its those transmissions that trigger the alarm on it.
Its a handy device, but hard to find. Its also illegal in a significant part of the country because of local laws banning police scanners in cars.
They actually do two things -- one is lock onto police bands in the state you tell it you're in. The second (and more useful) is that it knows the frequencies that the police use for their radio extenders, which they use to transmit from their person back to their car, and it gets retransmitted at a higher power to the world. Its those transmissions that trigger the alarm on it.
Its a handy device, but hard to find. Its also illegal in a significant part of the country because of local laws banning police scanners in cars.
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<p>-Chicago Joe
05-23-2000, 05:59 AM
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Site that sells the Bear Tracker: http://www.phenry.com/gray/hpad.html
You can buy them at:
http://www.phenry.com/gray/hpad.html<ul><li><a href="http://www.phenry.com/gray/hpad.html">http://www.phenry.com/gray/hpad.html</a</li></ul>
http://www.phenry.com/gray/hpad.html<ul><li><a href="http://www.phenry.com/gray/hpad.html">http://www.phenry.com/gray/hpad.html</a</li></ul>