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Audi S4 for when you outgrow the Focus RS?

14K views 70 replies 37 participants last post by  nicklulu 
#1 ·
Hi all,

My brother recently purchased a second-hand Audi S4 with the S sport package that has the sportier torque vectoring and stiffened shocks. He let me drive it on some good mountain roads, and its torque vectoring reminded me of the Focus RS in Track mode. That is to say that the S4 is very neutral and true to your steering inputs while you are flinging it around corners.

While the S4 doesn't have the party piece Drift mode, it seems to me to be a nice move for Focus RS owners that tire of the RS's tight seats, flinty ride, or economy car roots. Obviously, being an Audi, the S4 has an impeccable interior with some cool current tech. The S4's seats are some of the cushiest and most comfortable I've sat in (and they have a rudimentary massage function too). And the S sport adaptive suspension can be used in full stiff mode without shaking your fillings loose. (It also has good body control in comfort mode.)

I go into a lot more details about the S4 here on my blog.

Certainly the Focus RS is rawer and rowdier, and more fun when flung about, but I could see owners moving to the S4 when they get cranky with the RS's compromises.

Anyone here make the move to the Audi S4 or S5? How was that for you?
 
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#53 ·
But then you have to drive a panamera, which is in my opinion, one of the ugliest porches' in existence.....
 
#55 ·
There will never be another car in our household with ridiculous lug bolts, rather than simple, reliable, convienent lug studs. This includes all idiot German maintenance queens with stud conversions. The only "German engineering" that has happened in the last two decades is the realization that tiny engines are not drivable, and copying what the others had for an age. Buy an Audi if you can afford to spend the sell price in maintenance every five years, or want to buy a dealership's worth of equipment and get another degree in service.
 
#59 · (Edited)
#60 ·
That's probably about where our RS would have been if it had a DSG, coilover suspension, and tune out of the box. But then it would have had an MSRP of $60k instead of around $40k, and it would have been nearly impossible for Ford to sell as many as they did.
 
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#64 ·
Those same owners who mod their RS, would also mod their RS3. No performance minded enthusiast is going to leave their RS3 completely stock. I know I wouldn't!
 
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#67 ·
Those drivers pushing the cars to the limits need the safety gear. I have no issues with them installing a cage and related equipment.

I do have issues with them putting them on special tires, or not running a stock alignment..etc.

For the safety thing, look to the Jim Mero the Hero videos where he flogs the Vettes at the Ring. He is MOVING in those videos and using every inch of available track.

I mean, Christ, every wheel on the ground here. I bet he had all 4 inches off the ground earlier.

Tire Wheel Car Vehicle Hood
 
#70 ·
Wouldn't that really be the RS3? In Europe you can even get that puppy in the hatch variety, which we stupidly do not get. It also has a DCT vs the S4's auto, which might be more fun as an alternative to rowing your own.

As an aside, I also wonder if the RS3 won't get the new Golf R drivetrain, which uses an essentially identical setup to our RS, complete with overdriving rear tires.
 
#71 ·
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