Upgrading to new S4 from S3 ? Thoughts?

TheWusMan

TheWusMan

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Hi Guys,

I've had my S3 since June 2007 and since then our family needs have grown.

Our first born arrived last week and somehow, even though my wife has the new Freelander II, I really want us to have a second vehicle that has 5 doors and large boot space, and will still give me a grin like the S3 does.

So, a sporty daddy saloon for want of a better description.

I'm strongly leaning towards the new S4 3.0T with the active sport diff option and the whole drive select set-up.

Yes - my S3 has some great mods and is pushing out 211KW at the wheels in rarified high altitude air, but, it's not a daddy saloon. You get behind the wheel and somehow always end up driving the #@$@% out of it. That's what it is. An awesome little rocket.

I'd like a more refined ride, with oodles of torque and I also set my heart on the new 7 Speed S-Tronic box - so somehow the S4 is ticking all the right boxes so far.

Plus, although it's not a turbo endowed engine, I'm reading reports of diesel-esque torque response and superb handling coupled with some future modding potential. (Am thinking cold air intake, software remap for throttle response and fueling adjustments, and decatted downpipe to release some growl and free up some ponies).

What you guys think ? A worthy successor to my S3 and a logical step up into a decent daddy fun mobile ?

Also - should I go with sprint blue or white ?

audis4configuratorcopy-1.jpg


Cheers

Wusman (sipping his third Nespresso for the day and currently mulling over the dealer OTP brochure and order form for delivery in August/September 2009)
 
edition said:
Avant.....
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Lol. South Africa is not hugely popular Avant country ... resales tend to suffer a bit more on them as well.

Still not sold on how big the A4 looks in current Avant shape. Kind of like it's been "supersized". Although having said that - the panoramic roof option sounds appealing.

Decisions decisions. Another Nespresso me'thinks.
 
I would say it is a ****** good choice!

What a nice prediciment to find your self in. You own an S3, just had your first kid, and can STILL afford to upgrade to an S4. Well done sir.... well done:applaus:

I would go for a black one tho, not a fan of the blue, and I recon white will be back out of vogue before too long.
 
Also needs to be spec'd with the buckets hmmmmmmmmmmmmm :cool:
 
I was talking to a pal of mine who is a sales manager at Audi about the new S4, fantastic and understated was his response, I plan to take a look at one in a year or so's time, waiting usually equals more of a discount or good ex demo.

The supercharged 6 cyl is supposed to be excellent.

Thumbs up and a natural progression from the S3.
 
Wonder how these will depreciate..........


Quite fancy one in a yr or so..........
 
go watch the film Taken, pretty sure thats a new S4 towards the end of the film, makes me wanna get one, looks so nice in the grey, deffo a nice choice
 
Go for it. Got good reviews from what I have read and its a cracking looking car.

Cant go wrong with either Sprint Blue or Ibis White. Have fun deciding!
 
APL TDi said:
I would say it is a ****** good choice!

What a nice prediciment to find your self in. You own an S3, just had your first kid, and can STILL afford to upgrade to an S4. Well done sir.... well done:applaus:
Click to expand...

Lol - edit : barely afford. Small little nest egg I've been saving to put a large deposit down to minimize any impact on my monthly income. Rest of my disposable cash is going into diapers, paed visits, and anything else my wife points to and says "we need that for Michael" ...

Plus he's the first grandchild to both our sets of parents who have not stopped buying things or offering to buy things for the past 9 months ! Love them to bits I do ...

Depreciation aside - this one will be a keeper for the next 4 years - so it's not going to be a quick "in and out" car, instead, it must be something that still manages to put a smile on my face when not being driven with the "baby on board sticker" in mind.

I also decided to have an in depth discussion about this with my one week old son - he decidedly gave it a huge thumbs up and voiced his approval by burping ...

IMG_0782.JPG


Thanks for the input guys .... am leaning towards another S car in sprint blue.
 
klauster said:
go watch the film Taken, pretty sure thats a new S4 towards the end of the film, makes me wanna get one, looks so nice in the grey, deffo a nice choice
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im sure thats an s8 in taken for sure..... But nice choice in car mate but like APLtdi says about the colours im with black or even grey would look lovely But if its a choice out of them 2 it would be white .......

attachment.php
 
Great car yes mate. Looks the biz. I'd go for Sprint Blue myself. It's a very satifying colour, looks amazing on the S5 so should look equally as good on an S4.
 
I love that colour as well come to think of it - seen it on the web a few times but not sure what it's like in reflective sunshine ie. not in the shade / cloudy lighting...

Is that lava grey or meteor grey by any chance ?

S5 mags (I think?) look the part as well ...

S4 definitely needs another inch in wheel size to fill the gaping arches which seem to be more prominent in the B8 A4 shape than in A5 form.
 
its black the a4 i posted it was just for an idea but black with chrome round the windows is stunning .... or like you say meteor grey you cant go wrong with these colours they look awesome and never go out of fashion
 
I've just changed from a B6 S4 to a B8 Avant S-line 2.0T. I didn't go for an S4 as I found I wasn't able to use my S4 (AMD stage 3) fully. With a 3 year old, a new kid due in June and my fairly recent passion for motorbikes I just couldn't justify it. My days of two trips a year to the 'ring see to have gone by for now. The £5k or so I've saved will go on a replacement m/bike.

The S4's a great car but it doesn't look any different to the S-line (that's a common thing now with Audi's I guess) and you hardly get an extras. You're paying a lot for the engine/brakes/lighting pack and electric seats. I've been told it's gonna depreciate like the S6 (not good) but they may be somewhat balanced out if the rumours are true about the RS4 not coming out for the B8 model.

Since my order was screwed up (they forgot quattro) I'm about to order again but this time it'll be a 2010 model :D I've therefore been through all the options again and again and have found I still can't justify the S4. More initial cost, more depreciation, more fuel, more insuruance, more tax etc for a car I'd rarely be able to exploit anymore than the 2.0T I intend to order. I don't see the 3.2 or the 3.0TDI being worth it as they take the price close enough to the S4 to make that the default decision.

It's all down to the individual's requirements ultimately though. I've had the B6 S4 for 5 years (3.5 with a kiddy) and apart from the full Milltek system on the V8 making it a bit loud, it was fine ...although quite a firm ride. It fact I bought it as a sensible family car as I did have a TT.

Perhaps I'm getting old and going sensible :ohmy:
 
S4 eh? Good choice. I've been thinking the same for a while now, especially since my son arrived a year ago... Will have to wait a little while for a second hand one in a few years time though. Will be going for a test drive in the coming weeks when my dealer gets his act together.
 
10blazin said:
im sure thats an s8 in taken for sure..... But nice choice in car mate but like APLtdi says about the colours im with black or even grey would look lovely But if its a choice out of them 2 it would be white .......

attachment.php
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ah, I hadn't thought it was that big, lovely car tho :thumbsup:
 
Thats some sort of A5/S5/A4 love child thats been posted above
 
audi upgrades
That S4 has a V8 badge on??

I think they are stunning, and look equally as nice in avant shape. I got my name down at my local stealership to have the S4 avant as a demo, see if it will fit in my garage.
 
mattfinn said:
That S4 has a V8 badge on??

I think they are stunning, and look equally as nice in avant shape. I got my name down at my local stealership to have the S4 avant as a demo, see if it will fit in my garage.
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I think that pic is a photoshop of what it would look like from ages ago before it was released when everyone assumed it would be a V8

As for having an S4, Sure they are great but do you really want to drive so quickly with kids in the car? And if your only going to drive it quickly when the kids are not in the car, you might aswell buy a TT! Depreciation would be huge so just get a 2.0T A4 and spec it up nicely instead.
 
Lee_R said:
I think that pic is a photoshop of what it would look like from ages ago before it was released when everyone assumed it would be a V8

As for having an S4, Sure they are great but do you really want to drive so quickly with kids in the car? And if your only going to drive it quickly when the kids are not in the car, you might aswell buy a TT! Depreciation would be huge so just get a 2.0T A4 and spec it up nicely instead.
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Driving fast with kids in the car ? no - I think not.

Trying to get the kid inside the TT with ease - again - I think not.

It's more about practicality,in other words having the flexibility when I need it, together with a refined B8 S4 platform which to me seems to be the logical next step up from my S3 ...

I had a limited edition B7 A4 DTM edition and really miss that car to bits.

At 6 foot 5 - I'm over feeling totally claustrophobic in my S3 cabin - TT is much of the same if not worse...
 
Lee_R said:
Depreciation would be huge so just get a 2.0T A4 and spec it up nicely instead.
Click to expand...
Exactly what I've done.....and now you can get 3G MMI in it ;)

With regards the V8 badge - yep it's obviously wrong but it's no weirder than the real S4 wheel arch badge. That says 3.0T :rolleyes:
 
audi upgrades
I was very tempted when I was ordering my S3 Sportback.

The S4 was just released for ordering when I was ordering my S3.

I took a look into changing the order, but echo what Scotty said, as when you start adding options I was over £40k, which I could not justify.

I could have afforded a poverty spec S4 or a highly specced S3 sportback, so chose the S3.

I'm in a similar boat with the kids ( a 3 year old and an 18 month old) and manage Ok with the sportback. They tend to boot the back of the bucket seats on occasion, but found that the distance between the seats inthe S4 and the S3 where very similar if not the same, so it wouldnt have made much difference to me.

I do prefer the look of the S4 over the S3 though - so it may be on the agenda when I come to change in 3 year.
 
I actually sat in the S4 other day, wasnt that excited, exterior is ok but doesnt really push the boat out again for audi, are they losing there way in styling the S cars cause they dont seem to be seperating the styling aswell as the engine etc, as already noted the S4 isnt that much different from the SLine as per my B6 S4 avant, didnt look much different to a well spec'd A4 tbh, starting to get little bored with the same styling in all the cars, need something new from audi, dont get me wrong its better than most others you see these days but new cars dont seem much different from eachother, S cars dont have any distinctive differences from a well spec'd standard car on that chassis if you get my drift.

Another thing that bothers me is the fronts for the new facelift A3 & B8 A4 are same as the VW Tiguan, that for me is just plain crappy laziness by designers, not impressed at all.
 
I think that subtletly is what Audi were going for in the new S4. Previous models were always touted as range toppers completely separate from the A4 range, but now because of the 335i and RS4 the S4 seems to have taken on a different role. It's in direct competition with the 335i whereas before it would be seen as an M3 challenger. That's why an S-Line is difficult to distinguish from an S4 now as Audi seem to have 'downgraded' (for want of a better word) the S4 and tarted up the S-Lines. It was all so simple in the days of the B5 S4...

We were thinking of chopping in the A5 for a new S4, but the Audi dealers want crazy money for any cars they have. Didn't even let us drive it!
wave_smiley.gif
It did look good with the optional 19's and quad exhaust but they were looking for close to £50k, so we're stuck with the A5 for a while yet. The V6T badges on the wings of the S4 look a bit **** though and the standard equipment is pretty sparse all things considered
icon_uhoh.gif
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