skm348

Placed my order yesterday for a '13 Prem Plus Quattro Tiptronic. Did not order the suspension pkg only because there were none available to test drive. Car is for my wife and our only interest would be for the seats, not the 3-spoke wheel or stiffer suspension etc.. I can still modify my order on Tues when they open up, or even delay it. My main concern is that if the ride is too firm my wife would not be happy! She is perfectly fine w/the stock seats; my only point is that if the sport seats are much better than the stk seats then I'd like to order them. Dlr has an S4 in stock but I believe those are too different to the stand A4 'sport' seat to make a judgement.?

Here 's my thought - if we tried the S4, with its even more aggressive suspension, and, my wife likes / doesn't mind it, would it be logical to conclude that the 'sport' option on the A4 would be even more acceptable? My assumption is that the S4 setup is even more aggressive than the A4 'sport' setup but if she's ok with it the A4 'sport' package would be fine. Is my logic correct?

Since this will be a '10 year car' for us I don't mind spending the additional $750 (or whatever we negotiate) if the seats are significantly more comfortable and the suspension is not too firm. Comments certainly welcome SAP as we need to make decision before order is turned in to factory on Tues morn. Reminder, she is not a hard driver and has NO interest the steering wheel or suspension.

Thanks for listening!

Alphatero

I didnt get the sport suspension in my 2011 A4 because a) I love the regular seats and was uncomfortable in the sport seats (big guy) and b) I had a sport suspension in my last car and the lowered front end scraped my driveway every time and I was sick of it!

I find the driving feel of the regular A4 to be perfect and I am an aggressive driver

But your logic about testing the S4 is correct. That will give you an idea of whether or not the difference in seats and suspension is a plus or minus for you and your wife. I think the shape of the seats is the same, but the upholstery may be different (someone else can comment on this for sure)

I too bought a "10 year car" and wanted it to be perfect, so I know exactly how you feel. Good luck!

gunsmoker

There have been multiple threads on that at Audiworld and Audizine and having read them all, I recall a single person out of dozens saying that the sport suspension is too firm. Everyone else would tell you the sport package is worth for the seats alone or that it's not firm enough or it's just great. I haven't driven the S4, but my guess is that the suspension cannot be much stiffer than the sport package one. It's probably just different since that is a heavier car.

The base for comparison I can offer is that compared to my wife's IS250, the sport suspension on my A4 absorbs the bumps better and the IS' standard suspension seems more aggressive. That is telling me that the standard A4 suspension is not aiming to match the 3-series or the C class performance, but accommodate drivers that are not looking for a sport sedan.

a5sport

See my reply on AZ.

skm348

Thanks everyone.

How much lower is the suspension and are there any specs (xx% stiffer etc) that are stated somewhere in the literature?- I couldn't find anything noted. BTW, the tires are still the same 18" as on the non-sport pack, right?

We just went to the local dealership and they have a new, white S4. My wife liked the look of the seats and is now considering the sports pkg. We'll stop by Tues night and test drive it and see what she thinks.

Thanks for all your helpful comments.

av_audi

It's a 20mm drop, so about 3/4" lower. I have never seen any numbers on the sport suspension spring and dampers for the B8. The tires are indeed the same 18" you get with the P+ package.

I am in the same boat. Sport suspensions to test drive are hard to find, and even when you find one, unless you check tire pressures to confirm they are right, your test drive may give you a very wrong impression. Seriously over-inflated or under-inflated tires are not uncommon for cars sitting on the lot. I can easily feel a 1psi difference in my front tires, so I can imagine how and extra 3-5psis may fool someone into thinking the sport pack is too harsh.

The 3 offers an adaptive dampers package (I think on all trims), but I am not sure it is a thing to get for a 10 year car.

equinox

I test drove both the standard car and the sport pkg and found the sport seats to be much more comfortable for me. My previous car was a Civic Si and compared to its harsh suspension, this was way more comfortable. However, a recent A3 loaner I drove had a much softer setup.

moonbow

I say don't get it. The B8 body is relatively flimsy and the sports suspension will feel great when you're test driving a brand new car, but over time the stiffness of the suspension will wear on the stiffness of the body to the point of road bumps being intrusive by 50k miles.

honestly, one of my big disappointments with the b8 is the relative flimsiness of its body as evinced by body creaks when pulling into driveways etc - i am willing to bet on weak torsional rigidity numbers.

moonbow

if there's any doubt see how poorly the b8 safety cage (which is supposed to hold up on impace) fairs in iihs offset collision videos compared with other competitors.

something tells me audi concentrates more on fit and finish than engineering (vs bmw)

JD15

Did you sign up for a new account to do anything other than troll the Audi forums?