<ul><li><a href="http://www.germancarblog.com/2008/02/audi-s4-spy-shots-from-germany.html">http://www.germancarblog.com/2008/02/audi-s4-spy-shots-from-germany.html</a</li></ul>

The twin turbo goes against the 335 and the S4 get a higher output V8 versus the M3. Makes sense... so it's probably not true!

Relevant comments in second section.<ul><li><a href="http://www.eurocarblog.com/post/591/the-new-audi-s4-in-the-snows-of-sweden#continua">Eurocarblog article</a></li></ul>

equivalent M car.

Audi seems to be using the RS line to compete with the M and AMG lines of BMW and Mercedes? Wouldn't they be duplicating if they pushed HP up to 420 on the S4 when they have an RS4 in that space? How does the highest A4 3.0 stack up against the 335xi? It seems as though the A4 line is competitive with the BMW lines below the 335. The S4 matches up with the 335 and the RS4 with the M3. Am I off here?

audi released the b7 rs4 and BMW kicked the new m3 up to a new level to compete with the rs4, but I don't think the prior generation m3 would be much competition for the b7 rs4. and i can't think of a direct competitor from bmw for the b5 rs4

the 1.8t/2.0t and 2.8/3.0 were competitive with the 325/328 and the 328/330.

b7 was more of a refresh than a new model, so I'm very disappointed that with the b8 it seems that audi is going to pit the s4 against the 335 rather than the M, since historically that wasn't what was done. The rs series were ultra exclusive models, way more rare than M series or AMG's.

just my $0.02 looking at the historic matchups.