I went for the S-Tronic and yep if you want her to rev she'll rev. In Dynamic mode, flooring the throttle will drop down as many gears as it feels ready for and then reving to 7K. Brilliant but scary.
The sound. Yes this is certainlly an interesting one. It will never have that great V8 sound. If anything Audi have gone a bit overboard with the understatedness with this. Personally, I would have prefered a bit more throateness noise. For those wo can't live with factory componet, there are a few after market products such as;
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?359783-Imola-Yellow-fun-(aka-Lunch-with-Dr-Volkl)
At approx £1500, the Miltex exhaust is pretty expensive and I am still having a serious think of weather its worth changing a brand new exhaust for another brand new one just to benifit from the noise that, as a driver, you won't hear as well as the guys queing for a bus! (who don't care)
Cool, would want an S-Tronic / DSG as well. As good as the ZF auto is in my 330d, it is still a slush box, and the slip does annoy me. The 335i can come with a DSG, but only on the coupe, which is a shame.
Double kickdown then hitting 7k revs is where I need to be
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Ouch, that is expensive for replacing a brand new exchaust
Reading threads on the sports diff is really interesting as different people seem to have varying opinions on it.
I guess a lot depends on the individual's past experience of driving RWD/sporty cars and their driving style.
For me, during my daily gentle-ish cruise to and from work I only rarely push the car enough to notice the sports diff in action - but it is nice to have and makes things more 'interesting'
So I guess, although I don't always make full use of it (and knew I wouldn't before getting it) , for me it was an essential option.
I think you have a simialr approach to me - I know its there, so could use it when If I need to, but in everyday driving wont need it......
Similar to my 330d - I drive it like a fwd golf tdi in the daily grind, but all that power, torque and rwd fun if I need it
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One thing that i do find surprising about the thread (best in some time BTW) is that the S4 has so much mechanical grip that you really really do need to be making up some distance for it to break away, be it either under or over steer. Sports diff or not, the speed needed to loose the rear would make me loose my lunch way before the car let go
THis is a good thread yeah - impressed that we all have constructive views with no Audi vs BMW fanboys
Good point about general 4wd mechanical grip - I must admit on a public road my Scooby felt glued to corners and unless I really pushed it wouldnt break away. Only on a track did I readily find the break point (then it would just understeer
)
Suppose in the rain its more easy to push, yet more reassuring/safe.
Regarding engine noise, what we loose from the pipes we gain from the super charger. I love knocking the B&O off and listening to the supercharger whine away
I do need to sort out a test drive, see what the ol' beast sounds like! Wife had a Cooper S conv, and I did like the scharger whine , although at lower revs it did sounds a bit milk-float!
BTW, The 335i exhaust sounds like a whailing banshie when pushed hard, very nice. No idea why some people seem to want to make it louder....
....oh yes the revs and noise
