Test drove a RS4 today, 167 mph still plenty of power available

[EuroDriver]

Today I drove a Avus Silver RS4 which had 26,000 miles on the clock. It had a chip from B&B (440 ps !) but was otherwise stock. Michelin Alpin's were mounted on the standard rims. I drove it on regular streets as well as on the German highway and reached a speed of 167 mph. I did not want to go any faster with winter tires on. My girlfriend drove the RS4 as well and took it up to 150. She drives a Porsche 911 quite often and has recently test driven a Wimmer chipped (a relatively mild boost chip) but otherwise stock 1998 S4 Avant with 38,000 on the clock. I test drove a Digit Power chipped (neck snapping), Porsche front brakes and exhaust replaced 1998 S4 Avant with 47,000 on the clock last July. Our joint impressions are as follows.

The Avus Silver color is gorgeous, a few tones deeper than the standard silver with a hint of blue/lavender

The body work looks fabulous, better than the pictures with just the right amount of aggressiveness except I has not crazy about the bulbous sill under the doors.

The Recaro leather seats are very comfortable with support in all the right places, carbon fibre trim looks good.

That's the end of the good news

Engine suffers from very noticeable turbo lag compared to S4's chipped or unchipped. With the B&B chip pushing the engine to the limit, I must conclude that the lag is due to the larger K04's compared to the K03's. In shorts bursts of acceleration I could not keep up with a M5 that was on the highway with me. The power is enormous but it takes a disappointingly long time to come on. I would estimate at least 1.5 seconds before the full push comes.

The stock RS4 exhaust note is much better than the stock S4 but not nearly as nice as the Digit Power S4 exhaust note.

The brakes were close to awful, completely inadequate for speeds in excess of 130 mph. They were a little bit better after they warmed up but an absolute joke compared to the brakes on the M5 and Porsche Turbo. The rotors looked ok but the brakes had a little vibration on application

Steering was a little skittish over 140 mph, but that could be due to the tires.

Ride not overly harsh but a little jumpy on rough surfaces bumps

In my overall enjoyment rating Porsche Turbo is 10, the Digit Power S4 rates 8.5, the US spec M5 rates 6 (engine surprisingly unrefined with disappointing low end torque), the B&B RS4 on winter tires only gets a 4 due to crappy brakes, indifferent steering and turbo lag.

I had been tempted to buy a RS4 as the prices were dropping so much, but no longer. I am going to get a S4 and put in a chip, exhaust, coilovers and brakes and forget about the gorgeous RS4 fenders. For everyday driving the two chipped S4's my girlfriend and I drove were simply more fun with more useable torque and flexibility at low RPM.

I now understand why Ferdinand Piech was so angry with the head of Audi, accused him of producing boring cars and had him removed. The old RS2 was apparently a fabulous car in its time, the same cannot be said for the RS4. Quattro GmbH missed the mark by a mile and has disappointed a lot of RS4 owners who paid a lot for car that really is not very satisfying nor exciting to drive and has depreciated like a rock !

[System_S4k]

K04ed S4 guys say they don't notice much more turbo lag over stock, what gives?

[P. Bauer]

[Kevin(100csq)]

I know my car on nokia hakkas and in the summer on toyo t1s' is night and day

[EuroDriver]

There was no indication that there was anything was wrong the the engine. The friend of a friend dealer who was selling the Digit Power S4 Avant told me that he had found the stock RS4 quite unexciting. I did not really believe him, but now I do.

I could be that the K04 motorsport turbos have lighter impellers that spool up faster. Another possibility is that the management of the waste gate is different. Gas is so expensive in Germany, it cost us $19 for 5 gallons of the super premium. It is possible that the engine mangement is somewhat biased towards better fuel consumption. The RS4 I drove had just been traded in for a new A4 Avant 2.5 TDI diesel !!!

[EuroDriver]

[ec-s4]

[System_S4k]

[EuroDriver]

but probably not all of them do RS4's

[motorwaffen]