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YAATDT: Finally Test Drove an S4.

amdhunter

amdhunter

Lifer
(yet another amdhunter test drive thread)

Finally got around to test driving an S4 yesterday - DSG, fully loaded. Good car, but a few things killed me about it.

First the Bad:

From the second I got into the car, I was instantly annoyed by the steering wheel. It has a slight dead zone before the tires respond. For example, you turn the wheel and it doesn't respond for maybe a 3rd of a second, and on top of that, it feels like someone buttered the mechanics on the wheel itself. It feels like it is turning freely...no feedback whatsoever.

Second -- the DSG transmission is awful. Trying to get the car to go to first is a mission. From the second I left the dealership, it went right into 2nd gear...which is ok, but I had pressed the gas pedal hardish. I didn't expect it to simply roll with so much pressure on the pedal. Actual driving was a pain in the ass too, it would constantly upshift early. I was constantly wondering what gear the car was in. Also, the gearbox clunked during normal shifts, with only 87 miles, that is a BIG WTF.

Third -- Supercharger lag. WTF? I thought superchargers had little to no lag? The car felt sorely underpowered when you wanted to gun it in 3rd or 4th. It would not downshift on it's own and would waste time revving up to gain momentum. My fathers SRT8 would downshift on a dime when needed -- not simply rev up and hope for the best.

Fourth -- The lights on the dash blinked off twice. Sign of bad electronics already?

Of course, the DSG could be fixed with a manual -- which I have set up for a test drive this Saturday. 😉

Now the good:

Acceleration from 1st -- Holy crap. When you do manage to get the car into 1st gear -- WOW. With 4 people in the car, this thing accelerated like a bat out of hell. My two friends were with me just said "holy shit" when I took off. It was pretty freaking nice. Didn't feel as torque-y as my fathers SRT8, but it definitely felt better than my brothers Evo X.

Shifting -- What could I say, the DSG is freaking fast. Instant upshifts and its smooth as hell. What really got me was the downshifts. When you downshift, you feel absolutely NO jerking motion whatsoever. No clunking, no nothing. Don't know why it clunked so much during normal driving.

Interior -- Interior is really nice. Only thing that kind of got me, was it really looked like an upgraded version of my GLi interior. You could really see the VW-esque hints in the interior.

With Tax, Title, Fees (Roughly $5000) it would have been $800/mo for a 36 month lease. That is a bit steep, imo. I am not sure it is worth the extra $250/mo over a fully loaded 335i. 🙁

Nice car though. Maybe the manual will change my mind.
 
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One of the auto rags was writing up the summary of their long term Lexus IS-F and said that after 40k miles the car felt the same as it did when new, tight, fast, and furious. They also noted that the same could not be said of their long term M3, in fact, tired was a term that was thrown around, especially when it came to the DSG. I honestly don't think those things are great for daily driven street cars...they just don't seem to last or at least be trouble free.
 
JulesMaximus said:
One of the auto rags was writing up the summary of their long term Lexus IS-F and said that after 40k miles the car felt the same as it did when new, tight, fast, and furious. They also noted that the same could not be said of their long term M3, in fact, tired was a term that was thrown around, especially when it came to the DSG. I honestly don't think those things are great for daily driven street cars...they just don't seem to last or at least be trouble free.
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Yeah, I've read tons of DSG horror stories on the vwvortex forums. My brothers Evo seems funky at moments also. I've ridden in an SMG M3 a few times, and it also clunked from time to time, but not nearly as much as the S4 I was driving.

I could imagine a lot of damage could occur quickly after a bit of rough driving, or driving in bad weather.
 
I agree with Jules, I just cannot seriously consider a DSG type tranny until the gremlins are worked out, which at this pace seems to be never.

Whether it's weird lurching from a stop, questionable reliability, the fact that no one outside of your dealership knows a damn thing about them, etc.

Weird that you were experiencing lag, all the reviews I've read said that the new S4's throttle response is awesome and far superior to the 335i - which isn't so shabby to begin with.

Last comment - leasing - meh. Why not just stick with a car you can afford? Whether it's $650 or $800 a month, you're just throwing it away.
 
I'm not happy they took the tried and true 4.8 liter V8 out and put a new 3.0 V6 in it. Shoulda just plunked a supercharger on the V8! Hell, the kit is out there!!!
 
Gand1 said:
I'm not happy they took the tried and true 4.8 liter V8 out and put a new 3.0 V6 in it. Shoulda just plunked a supercharger on the V8! Hell, the kit is out there!!!
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I would be interested in seeing what the new weight distribution and handling characteristics are like with the switch to the 3.0.

I'm not aware of the 4.8L you're talking about, but the 4.2L RS4s were quite nose heavy, IIRC 58.5/41.5 F/R weight distribution which, along with AWD contributed to more under steer than its competitors. It still handled well, but it didn't have as neutral a driving attitude as the M3.

Audi also tends to hang almost the entire engine out in front of the axle (at least historically, not sure with the latest gen, I might have read a press release about Audi pushing the engine further back this gen to better weight distribution), to gain more cabin room, which further caused issues with weight distribution. IIRC the M3 E46 was 50.1/49.9 FR and the E92 was 51/49.
 
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They're killing the V-8 due to mileage IIRC, it's gone from the S5 next year as well.

If that makes you sad, well if some sources are to be believed, BMW won't be making inline 6's for much longer either, welcome to our new turbo-fourbanger overlords.
 
4.2.. .4.8...yeah I'm tired...4 hours sleep with interruptions ever 15 minutes or so...and I even was able to convince the wife on a S5 after I get rid of my TT after a few years... DAMN!!! 🙁
 
mwmorph said:
I would be interested in seeing what the new weight distribution and handling characteristics are like with the switch to the 3.0.

I'm not aware of the 4.8L you're talking about, but the 4.2L RS4s were quite nose heavy, IIRC 58.5/41.5 F/R weight distribution which, along with AWD contributed to more under steer than its competitors. It still handled well, but it didn't have as neutral a driving attitude as the M3.

Audi also tends to hang almost the entire engine out in front of the axle (at least historically, not sure with the latest gen, I might have read a press release about Audi pushing the engine further back this gen to better weight distribution), to gain more cabin room, which further caused issues with weight distribution. IIRC the M3 E46 was 50.1/49.9 FR and the E92 was 51/49.
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There was a recent Top Gear where Clarkson drove an RS4 and was raving about how they had moved the engine back.
 
ayabe said:
Last comment - leasing - meh. Why not just stick with a car you can afford? Whether it's $650 or $800 a month, you're just throwing it away.
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I like having new cars every so often. I don't mind it really. I am sure I'll regret it in the future when I am old and broke though. 😉
 
ayabe said:
Weird that you were experiencing lag, all the reviews I've read said that the new S4's throttle response is awesome and far superior to the 335i - which isn't so shabby to begin with.
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I guess it was an effect from the DSG. It just wouldn't downshift when I gassed it hard. Instead it would build up revs and then you'd feel the supercharger kick in.

The only time the car felt fast was when you started from 0.
 
amdhunter said:
I guess it was an effect from the DSG. It just wouldn't downshift when I gassed it hard. Instead it would build up revs and then you'd feel the supercharger kick in.

The only time the car felt fast was when you started from 0.
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My GTI does this too, all DSG transmissions are programmed for "Efficiency" in D, if you shift to "S" it behaves like a totally different animal.
 
PhoKingGuy said:
My GTI does this too, all DSG transmissions are programmed for "Efficiency" in D, if you shift to "S" it behaves like a totally different animal.
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The S4 I had tested had the "Audi drive select" option, and it was set to sports mode. I am wondering if it acted retarded since it hadn't passed the break-in period yet.
 
amdhunter said:
The S4 I had tested had the "Audi drive select" option, and it was set to sports mode. I am wondering if it acted retarded since it hadn't passed the break-in period yet.
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Mine does that when its cold, but once its warmed up its fine. I don't recall any jerkiness at all when I first got mine. I've driven at least 10 different DSGs and haven't encountered those problems at all. It might be possible that you drove a dealer demo car and the techs already had "fun" with it. My dealer connection told me when they first got the DSG GTIs that a tech screwed up one pretty badly by launching it repeatedly.
 
amdhunter said:
I like having new cars every so often. I don't mind it really. I am sure I'll regret it in the future when I am old and broke though. 😉
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I hear ya, it's just the whole perpetual car payments forever thing that gives me heartburn.

That and I don't think they'll let me lease an S63 AMG 😛
 
It seems that right now, a 335i of lease is a great deal. Save some money over buying new, throw in a LSD, up the boost, and you have a awesome ride.
 
KentState said:
It seems that right now, a 335i of lease is a great deal. Save some money over buying new, throw in a LSD, up the boost, and you have a awesome ride.
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I also agree with the 335i. It is a better car all around than the S4.

-From the first comment, about the steering....its an Audi/VW thing. You either like it or you don't. If you've read some of my reviews, you'll see that I like it. Nobody else does steering with the middle spot, then the ramp up effect like VW does.

-You got a broken DSG, not all that uncommon....especially in fleet duty. I assume a normally driven one will hold up just fine. Also, it may be that they are new, needs a few miles before it smooths out.

-And back to the 335....SRT8>335>S4. Just my preference.
 
caspur said:
I also agree with the 335i. It is a better car all around than the S4.

-From the first comment, about the steering....its an Audi/VW thing. You either like it or you don't. If you've read some of my reviews, you'll see that I like it. Nobody else does steering with the middle spot, then the ramp up effect like VW does.

-You got a broken DSG, not all that uncommon....especially in fleet duty. I assume a normally driven one will hold up just fine. Also, it may be that they are new, needs a few miles before it smooths out.

-And back to the 335....SRT8>335>S4. Just my preference.
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It could have been abused. The salesman was actually telling to go ahead and drive the hell out of it. 🙂

Yeah, I think a 335 might be the way to go. I really want a 135i though, and will give that serious consideration.

I have been leaving the BMW test drives for last.
 
caspur said:
I also agree with the 335i. It is a better car all around than the S4.

-From the first comment, about the steering....its an Audi/VW thing. You either like it or you don't. If you've read some of my reviews, you'll see that I like it. Nobody else does steering with the middle spot, then the ramp up effect like VW does.

-You got a broken DSG, not all that uncommon....especially in fleet duty. I assume a normally driven one will hold up just fine. Also, it may be that they are new, needs a few miles before it smooths out.

-And back to the 335....SRT8>335>S4. Just my preference.
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Cheaper?, yes, better performance per dollar? Yes. Better all around car? Not even a chance. Not one review has the 335i on top, and not one review has the 335i beating the Audi in performance, handling, luxury, technology or safety. The S4 is definitely the more complete car, the only complaint is the pricetag when fully loaded.
 
335i for me vs the S4, even with the problems.

My reasons :

(1)- 4,000lbs is too heavy for the smallish range we're talking about. I just have a preference for lighter cars.

(2)- Vague, overboosted power steering. Again, not cool for me.

(3)- AWD is cool, but I really prefer a classic FR layout, so no S4 or 335xi for me.

(4)- Audi 🙁 A coworker already has had significant failures on his 2009 A4, which carries a lot more tech than this. I very rarely hear of trouble-free Audi experiences. When you have a warranty and get a new car every two years that's no biggie but for those who have a longer plan in mind, that's not cool.
 
bigdog1218 said:
Cheaper?, yes, better performance per dollar? Yes. Better all around car? Not even a chance. Not one review has the 335i on top, and not one review has the 335i beating the Audi in performance, handling, luxury, technology or safety. The S4 is definitely the more complete car, the only complaint is the pricetag when fully loaded.
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Yeah, the as-tested price of the S4 in the Car and Driver article was $59k+. That is poking around the area of C6, Cayman, Evora, M3, CTS-V, etc, etc. Any of which I would prefer to the S4.
 
Arkaign said:
Yeah, the as-tested price of the S4 in the Car and Driver article was $59k+. That is poking around the area of C6, Cayman, Evora, M3, CTS-V, etc, etc. Any of which I would prefer to the S4.
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that's the only thing I don't get about an S4.. you can option them up basically to RS4 price points. Same thing happened optioning an A4 up to almost S4 price levels.

Damn nice cars, though I'd want to keep my A4/S4 as low price as possible. No crazy options for me 😛
 
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