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buntybull · 06-26-2008, 01:07 PM

I did not buy my S4 new. It was a demo, I guess, with about 6k km in it. The salesman who was driving it said he could not get a reliable, smooth 1-2 shift out of the manual, and that is true if you don't run up the revs enough in gear 1.

I traded an A4 B6 with 1.8T for my S4, so I knew a lot about blipping the throttle to get off the line, and about living life over 3,000 rpm just to be near the turbo kick-in.

I thought at the time that living life with a German V8 could require fewer rpm (like north american V8's), but it is happiest in the same higher rpm ranges as the little turbo I had before it. Although it is normally aspirated, the variable valve timing gives a nice turbo-like kick right through the torque peak at 3500.

So really all I gave up with the A4 is the blipping off the line. I can dump the clutch on the S4 and it will grunt away, and very quickly be racing through 4000 rpm.

The best thing about the 4.2 though is the 5-4-3-2 downshift from dizzyingly fast speeds. I save a lot of brake leather with this, and the sound is out of this world.

All in all this car is happiest when changing speed or direction, the more quickly the changes the better. Nothing is more boring than a constant speed on a straight road in 6th gear.

06-26-2008, 01:07 PM	#6 (permalink)
buntybull Newbie Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 3 Gallery: (0)	S4 B7 owner since Jan 2006 I did not buy my S4 new. It was a demo, I guess, with about 6k km in it. The salesman who was driving it said he could not get a reliable, smooth 1-2 shift out of the manual, and that is true if you don't run up the revs enough in gear 1. I traded an A4 B6 with 1.8T for my S4, so I knew a lot about blipping the throttle to get off the line, and about living life over 3,000 rpm just to be near the turbo kick-in. I thought at the time that living life with a German V8 could require fewer rpm (like north american V8's), but it is happiest in the same higher rpm ranges as the little turbo I had before it. Although it is normally aspirated, the variable valve timing gives a nice turbo-like kick right through the torque peak at 3500. So really all I gave up with the A4 is the blipping off the line. I can dump the clutch on the S4 and it will grunt away, and very quickly be racing through 4000 rpm. The best thing about the 4.2 though is the 5-4-3-2 downshift from dizzyingly fast speeds. I save a lot of brake leather with this, and the sound is out of this world. All in all this car is happiest when changing speed or direction, the more quickly the changes the better. Nothing is more boring than a constant speed on a straight road in 6th gear.