petrashevsky

Hello everyone, this is my first post here and I would really appreciate your thoughts on the following:
I test drove an S4 with a manual transmission and Sport Diff today and... it was not quite what I expected.
While an absolutely beautiful car inside and out and plenty fast, I was hoping for more acceleration.
The car I drove was a corporate vehicle with over 9,000 km on it, so must have been already well broken in.
I am looking to replace a 2007 Mazdaspeed 6 which has a turbo four cylinder 2.3L engine and a manual transmission with AWD. The only mod is a cold air intake, so it doesn't have much more power than the stock 270 hp/280 lb-ft.
An S4 is easily 1 to 1.5 sec faster car in the quarter mile, but it didn't feel much faster than mine.
From a stoplight its hard to get a perfect start with a manual tranny when you drive a car for the first time, but I did a few highway pulls from 90 km/h up to 130 in 4th, 5th and 6th gears and while the speedo needle was moving up quickly, I was not pressed in my seat like I thought I would be.

Maybe the problem is that I'm so used to driving mine, and this was something new and I need to get used to it first. Maybe I've set expectations too high after reading posts on this forum from guys who have a tune (car I drove was completely stock).
Or is it just that this car's power delivery is so smooth that it is faster than it feels? I've read other members describing their S4 as "deceptively fast".

Has anyone had experience with a mazdaspeed6 before getting an S4 and is able to compare? Or just your memories from your initial impression after you first drove an S4?

Any input would be very helpful!!

P.S. I do plan on getting a tune if I end up getting an S4 and it is still #1 on the list of cars I'm considering.

EF99

Well if you're after a thrilling level of acceleration and you're not feeling it, I can't see where asking others to convince you that it's really there will result in being satisfied with your expensive purchase.

Whirly

I'll hazard a guess that what you're experiencing is the difference in power delivery between a turbocharged and supercharged car.

I have a B5 S4, also turbo, and have driven a friend's speed 6. While my car has quite a bit more power, the delivery felt similar between the two. That is, it comes on with a rush at about (in my case) 3k rpms, and builds quickly from there. In your case I think you have a single K04, which might make it more pronounced.

When I test drove the B8 prior to ordering, one of the first things I noticed was that the power delivery felt much more linear, building steadily from much lower rpm. Anyway, my $0.02

k1speederS4

I did notice some initial things about my S4 that are similar to what you are talking about. At first, the car seemed quick but I never thought it could run against the E63 that my family has. After about 6 months of breaking the car in and getting the TCU to learn how I drive, I have to say that I am much more satisfied. I now can take the E63 from a dig and run with it for a while. The only performance mod I have is an intake and I don't think that made a power difference at all.

I did get a chance to drive another member's Stasis car that wasn't totally broken in yet and I did not see a huge difference between that and my car. That said, I think that breaking in the engine and getting the car to respond to how you want is important and you will realize how fast it is. It is easy to look down after taking off from a stop light and realize you are going 70. I have some experience with SPEED3 and those really feel fast because of the stiff suspension and lack of luxury. The S4 is faster but is also much smoother.

FatalBert

I was just going to say that. He might be used to the turbo lag instead of the instant response we get from the supercharger. Its a much more linear pull than an exponential one that you would feel with a turbo.

helix139

It definitely is sneaky fast, with a continuous, linear build of power and a flat torque curve. Also, did you put it in Dynamic? Makes a big difference in throttle response.

legbend

I've had a run in with a lightly modded Speed6. S4 was faster. I think the quietness of the S4 is also deceptive.

CanadianQtip

I came over to the S4 from a Speed3 and I left my first test drive also feeling that the car was actually slower than my Mazda, but that's thanks to the instant response of the super charger and the linear power delivery.

Next time you're in the S4, try flooring it and see how quickly you hit 100km/h.

DrGP

One of the issues with a luxury/sports sedan is that it really doesn't give you the impression of speed even when it is going like hell. AN old Top Gear episode pitted an E46 M3(333 hp) Vs a B6 S4(340HP). The 335i felt like a race car. The S4 felt like a refined sports sedan. The 0-60 and lap time were within .1 secs of each other. You can't use the "seat of your pants dyno" to tell how fast you are going with these cars. So you can either feel fast or BE fast. Perhaps you might be better served driving a car that feels as fast as it is. Have you considered an M3? That feels more like driving a race car because that is what it is. But, IMHO, the S4 and 335i are better daily drivers than the M3. Not better or faster cars, but better suited for daily driving. Also be aware that the impressions that you get on your first test drive are not always an acurate represntation of how the car feels or behaves . Its just a small impression. Kind of like a first date.

81bear

I have a slightly modded S4, if it would help we can do a few runs so you can see the performance difference.