Just returned from the Streets of Tomorrow. The waiting list was more than two pages long so with that many people in line, it took a good three hours until our turn came up. There were a lot of enthusiastic people at the event and it seemed to be very successful. It was definitely done right by Audi. Here in San Diego, it was hosted at the Four Seasons Resort. The service was great, the appetizers were excellent, and they had Macs and Ipods at one corner, the S8, R8, and Q7 in the showroom, a home theater area, presentation stage, and an area for back massages.

The RS4 that we drove was Imola on black. The fenders are accentuated in this color and it looked incredible in the bright San Diego sunlight. I would probably choose the dark grey so that I could enjoy the car without getting too many tickets. The 'S' button makes a big difference in the exhuast note and ride setting. I would definitely leave that on permanently. The course consisted of some stop and go city driving and a freeway on ramp and two mile stretch of straight away. Your can definitely feel the seriousness and purpose of the RS4 over the standard S4. With an S4 in the family already, I am used to the V8 power delivery but the RS4 just takes it two steps further. The upper RPM power is STRONG. There is no absence of torque anywhere and it feels even stronger and more responsive than the S4 at part throttle. Full throttle is completely different. The High RPM thrust to 8200 RPM is crazy. The car pulls and pulls harder as you near 8 grand. The engine sound is perfect and really compliments the performance and purpose of this car. I had a chance to get on the brakes and they did not dissapoint anywhere. The shift action felt very Audi-like but seemed to slide into the gears with more precision and almost psychic movement. It's almost like the shifter knew where it was going before I could put it in it's place. It was a long wait to get to the car, but there was enough food and entertainment to make the time fly. I think I will have to make the RS4 will my next car uafter this. It exceeded my expectations everywhere; well except for the deletion of the flat bottom steering wheel...

If you don't think audi isn't searching for reviews of their event you're retarded. Seriously.

which rep was riding along with quatrro, as they already know who quattro is. they know what people are going to do during these drives; you dont develop a car than goes 0-60 in 4.5 secs if you are never going to use that power. thats what a test drive is all about. stop being such a pussy.

event, they were teching two of the rs4s. The german engineers were so excited they almost ran over a customer ripping out of the dealership. They were driving the rs4s on the streets just as irresponsibly. How the hell else are you supposed to drive the car?

They specifically allowed the rs4s to be driven on the streets during this event to "see what would happen." You really think they thought a bunch of audi enthusiasts were going to show up and drive them like grandpa?

Who's the retard?

In the future, before you call someone dumb and retarded in a post, I suggest you choose a topic that you're not clueless on.

That way you won't look like the retard newbie.

sure you would have babied a 420hp stock car lol please.

I don't care if you drive fast. Granted 145 on the 5 freeway during the day is a little much, but at no point in what I said did I ever say "Don't drive Fast" "Drive nice" anything like that. Yes it is a performance vehicle and it is meant to be driven. Yes, I drive my car fast and if you search for past posts I've even talked about my own races. What I am saying and is apparently so hard to understand is... When you drive THIS car at over double the speed limit and brag about it, it is not just your butt on the line. That nice dude sitting next to you (who very politely kept his mouth shut while you had your fun at Audi's expense) is now jeopardized by your bragging about how fast you drove the car while under his watch. LIABILITY! Thats all the Audi people see when reading your posts about driving their car like that.

OH and Here is the kicker... PAY ATTENTION...the reason I didn't elaborate before. I WAS SITTING NEXT TO THE AUDI REPS WHEN THEY FOUND THIS POST AND WERE DISCUSSING THE IMPLICATIONS AND CONSEQUESES OF THEIR PERSONEL ALLOWING PEOPLE TO DRIVE "A BUCK 45!!!!" THANKS COOL GUYS. You think they cant figure out who the co-drivers involved were? Give me a break, I heard them narrowing down the possibilities. I just hope that these guys don't get reprimanded too bad, since the show and the reviews on the cars seemed to be going so well.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: Brag all you want when its only your butt on the line, but return the favor to the dude for not speaking up when you passed 130 by KEEPING YOURS SHUT on a public forum!!!!

NOTE: To all the AUDI USA people reviewing this thread at your next meeting... I am not condoning the act of flagrant speeding and I understand what could happen if an accident occurred at 145mph while on your watch, I simply am pleading with my fellow audiworld members to use some commonsense about what they choose to post. The event I feel went really well. Thanks for throwing such a sweet party where AUDI enthusiasts can come out and have a great time, driving sweet rides on your dime.

Also, that RS4 is awesome. thanks for the opportunity to drive one before public release.

which I say that it probably is. Barely under 100 the whole time, top speed of a buck-forty-five during the middle of the day. It would take at least a mile to get up to 145. So that means they were going over 100 for quite a while.

First, I doubt even to most stoic of German engineers is going to keep his trap shut during all of that. Second, getting nailed at 145 is not a traffic school violation - it is reckless driving, getting arrested, loss of your license, and impounding of the vehicle. Third it's Audi's car and I am sure that if you crashed the car, anyone who was even so much as scratched would line up to sue AoA, since this was their event. So 145 is possible, just not likely. Go ahead and call me old, but 145 belongs at the track, not a U.S. freeway.

I'll believe the stories of going to the gas station and being allowed to stretch the legs of the car a bit, but this one I'm calling bull**** on. Flame away.

Check the California Vehicle Code. Speed in excess of 100mph is 2 points and in the same category as a DUI, etc. Do you really want that on your record?

I can understand attempting this in the middle of the desert, but not in Carlsbad with weekend traffic, etc. Go ahead and kill yourself when you have a blowout after hitting some road debris, but unfortunately you'd probably kill someone else in the process too.

By the way, I was at the event this morning (Sunday) and an Audi Exec. mentioned the German engineer and some "unlawful abuses" by one or two drivers. Maybe Audi will give you a call??

And I drove the exact same route they drove and with a 1/4 mi downhill onramp + 2 miles of strait freeway, 145 was very much realistic given an opening in traffic. I think its dumb to do that, I personaly drove briskly, but never like that.

However, the point of my message was to inform people making these claims, true or otherwise, that they could unknowingly get real people in real trouble. Thats all.

I hope you aren't including me in the "you guys are dumb" comment. I can't speak for others but I considered it a privilege to drive the RS4. I was extremely careful with Audi of America's cars and treated them both better than I do my own. I don't find it necessary to defend my post because never did I drive the vehicle in a way that endangered my passengers, myself, others around us, or their car. Does this mean I didn't test the brakes, steering, or use a freeway onramp to experience the acceleration to match the flow of traffic? Of course not, this is what the drive was for. Using the experience is one thing, abusing it is another. The ride along Audi representative (and my girlfriend) would back up my story. Hopefully Audi considers the event a success and doesn't make a decision to cancel future events due to your post.

I was at this event for much of the day on Sunday. I drove all the cars including the RS4 (twice).

The RS4 engine is nothing short of spectacular. If you happen to own a M3, be afraid; be very afraid.

I went once with one of the two German engineers (who I had a long conversation with at Hoehn about a week earlier when they were tuning the cars just after arirval). The cars were here early because the automtive press was flown out and run through the cars the week before the public event.

And as an FYI, the German engineers didn't say much because they speak no English. The German ex-pat sales rep at Hoehn was translating for them when I spoke with them. It was clear that they understood only a few words of English at best.

And I also went once in the RS4 with one of the professional race drivers.

I drove the car pretty hard, but nothing like 145 (I live here and know that would not be possible with any safety given the route used). The straight down La Costa road by the lagoon was the best place to hammer it a bit. And the other was the freeway, but weekend traffic on the five is not conducive to 145.

I also know that the race drivers personally removed several people from behind the wheel during their test drives and drove them back for being too agressive (or in their words too much of a dumbass).

And they were having problems with all the wanna-be race drivers burning up the clutches (the RS4s have sensors that automatically shut the engine off if the tranny temps rise too far). The yellow RS4 had some pretty serious trouble due to the morons trying to "test" the car.

They had several people get tickets in the RS4s as well. My understanding from the company reps hosting the event is that based on the experience, the RS4s may not be available to drive at the remaining Streets of Tomorrow events.

So for those of you who tried to dog the cars (on public roads with lots of traffic), I'm guessing your brethren are not too happy that you were at Audi's first event with the RS4s. Not to mention, Audi will likely think twice before bringing any more of their hot cars out for people to drive. You more than likely just assured the fact that there will be no RS6 event. Congratulations.

for some.

I went last spring and since one of my coworkers told me that he was super pissed at what went on down there. High speeds, public roads, joeschmoe drivers- rediculous and dangerous.

I went there a bit later and told them up front i wasnt going to have any of that crap and they listened.

I dont think all 'Audi People' are the same.

RB

After reading your post (which I did before seeing quattro s d's), I felt that you very accurately described the event as well as the experience of driving the RS4. In fact all I have to add to your post is how impressed I was with just how light and smooth the clutch engagement / gear shifts were. The RS4 clutch needs maybe 50% of the effort vs a stock B5 S4 clutch. That surprised me the most.

Anyways, after hearing the Audi personel discuss possible courses of action, then reading his post independently (I acutally assumed that they were talking about AW and I searched for this post they were talking about) I wanted to make sure this didn't become the inevitable internet pissing match of who can claim they drove the car the fastest or hardest. As SoCalA6 mentioned above, there were too many people abusing the cars and with all of this, Audi is unlikely to feature the RS4s again. I wanted to keep this AW thread from adding fuel to the fire by reminding people that the things they say on here may have consequenses. Anyways, I'm sorry if "you guys" seemed dirrected at you. Note that I did reply to his thread.

Also, for the record, I am confident that nothing I have said in these posts has in anyway jeopardized the RS4 driving experience. That damage was done by all the Ricky Racers who have no concept of responsibility or privilage.

can dictate the future policies at Audi events which will inevitably affect many of it's most loyal customers. It is a fact though and possibly a sensible action in a world of countless frivolous lawsuits.

I agree with your addition of the clutch pedal feel and action. It was very effortless compared to what I have been used to with previous manual transmission Audis.

I hope that the RS4 blemish is overshadowed by how successful the rest of the event was for the company. I know that we care about the well-being of the Audi marque and I for one would really hope that events such as the Streets of Tomorrow are offered again in the future.

Thanks 'quattro s d' and the other a-holes that were oblivious to the potential consequences of their actions in San Diego. Brav-o.

I too was at Hoehn when the cars were there and some of the engineers did require translators. The tech I was with spoke broken english. Afterwords, he pulled another tech over and told him about the speed I had reached and complimented my driving compared to the other "jerks" I drove briskly on La Costa because after I made a right turn it was empty until just before the freeway.

I ran with the techs while they were out testing the RS4s ... they were driving like maniacs, even I backed off. As I mentioned in other posts, they almost ran over a customer at Hoehn.

Did I drive irresponsibly, yes. Would I do it again yes.

Did I jeopardize events like this ... you've got to be kidding me. You obviously havent been to many Audi events.

If there are no more RS4s at the events it's because it detracted from what was to be a Q7 event.

Your post spreads nothing but ignorance.

supposed to be a Q7 event.

little to no traffic on my drive. LOL, there will be no phone calls.

was driving the q7's on saturday. Everyone wanted to drive the RS4. It was supposed to be an event showing off the Q7.

I am not speaking of you...of the others. Damn shame.