B8 S4 Ownership
Discussion
Yoof said:
Yup - I fitted a genuine (Westfalia) towbar and electronics to my 10MY Avant and it tows like a champ. Coded using VCDS all works as per factory.
Get about 25mpg cruising along at 60mph too.
If you read Audizine, they'll tell you you're mad, and need a 4.5T SUV to tow a Jet-ski, the S4 manages fine and is plated to tow 2100kg.
Cheers Yoof, I'd be guessing the weight of that set up (trailer and car) must be around 1500kgs? Is yours a DSG or manual, as I 'm interested to know if it hunts up and down the box when towing the additional weight.Get about 25mpg cruising along at 60mph too.
If you read Audizine, they'll tell you you're mad, and need a 4.5T SUV to tow a Jet-ski, the S4 manages fine and is plated to tow 2100kg.
Thanks
Matt
Hi Matt,
Trailer is plated at 1300kg MAM (trailer itself is 300kg, so can take a 1000kg payload) - I mostly tow around old Polos, which are circa 750kg, so about 1050kg including the trailer.
Mine is a DSG, with some MRC tweaks. Gearbox is fine, if anything it hangs onto gears a little longer when towing, doesn't jump around - it's very well behaved! It won't come as a surprise that more modern cars (B8 S4 included) have various calibrations in all/most control modules when towing, so you also code the ABS Control Unit to let it know the car has the ability to tow- detection is presumably done when a trailer is plugged in.
Surprisingly its also smooth for low speed manoeuvres , which I thought might be an issue with a trailer (when a torque convertor is at it's best, and anything with a clutch isn't) but it's honestly great.
My only gripe is the suspension height, which even with the correct nose load on the trailer drops a little more than I'd like if the boot is full of tools, my old B6 was similar, although only FWD so made leaving slippy inclines interesting- S4 doesn't have this problem but, I'm hoping a set of KWs will solve the suspension height in a few weeks.
Cheers
Pete
Trailer is plated at 1300kg MAM (trailer itself is 300kg, so can take a 1000kg payload) - I mostly tow around old Polos, which are circa 750kg, so about 1050kg including the trailer.
Mine is a DSG, with some MRC tweaks. Gearbox is fine, if anything it hangs onto gears a little longer when towing, doesn't jump around - it's very well behaved! It won't come as a surprise that more modern cars (B8 S4 included) have various calibrations in all/most control modules when towing, so you also code the ABS Control Unit to let it know the car has the ability to tow- detection is presumably done when a trailer is plugged in.
Surprisingly its also smooth for low speed manoeuvres , which I thought might be an issue with a trailer (when a torque convertor is at it's best, and anything with a clutch isn't) but it's honestly great.
My only gripe is the suspension height, which even with the correct nose load on the trailer drops a little more than I'd like if the boot is full of tools, my old B6 was similar, although only FWD so made leaving slippy inclines interesting- S4 doesn't have this problem but, I'm hoping a set of KWs will solve the suspension height in a few weeks.
Cheers
Pete
Hi all,
Just a few questions if I may please....
1) How do I tell from a photo if a car has B&O, I know it's written on the speakers at the back but from a distance shot, is it that the speakers have a silver outer rim?
2) I assume changing the wheels for some better factory ones would be highly expensive/hard to find secondhand ones?
3) In terms of Remap, is there one which can be switched, i.e the car easily flashed back to standard to make it more difficult for a dealer to detect it's been mapped? I know the REVO can now be detected but I wondered if you flash it back to standard it wouldn't be flagged up unless they really looked hard for it.
I'm really struggling to find the right car, as I'm specific on colour, B&), DSG and the right car price for the miles/age (i'm at the entry level of the budget for these). Some seem to not sell for months so must surely be over-priced. Well priced ones in the right spec/colour do seem to sell ok.
Thanks all
Just a few questions if I may please....
1) How do I tell from a photo if a car has B&O, I know it's written on the speakers at the back but from a distance shot, is it that the speakers have a silver outer rim?
2) I assume changing the wheels for some better factory ones would be highly expensive/hard to find secondhand ones?
3) In terms of Remap, is there one which can be switched, i.e the car easily flashed back to standard to make it more difficult for a dealer to detect it's been mapped? I know the REVO can now be detected but I wondered if you flash it back to standard it wouldn't be flagged up unless they really looked hard for it.
I'm really struggling to find the right car, as I'm specific on colour, B&), DSG and the right car price for the miles/age (i'm at the entry level of the budget for these). Some seem to not sell for months so must surely be over-priced. Well priced ones in the right spec/colour do seem to sell ok.
Thanks all
mrdanbartlett said:
Hi all,
Just a few questions if I may please....
1) How do I tell from a photo if a car has B&O, I know it's written on the speakers at the back but from a distance shot, is it that the speakers have a silver outer rim?
2) I assume changing the wheels for some better factory ones would be highly expensive/hard to find secondhand ones?
3) In terms of Remap, is there one which can be switched, i.e the car easily flashed back to standard to make it more difficult for a dealer to detect it's been mapped? I know the REVO can now be detected but I wondered if you flash it back to standard it wouldn't be flagged up unless they really looked hard for it.
I'm really struggling to find the right car, as I'm specific on colour, B&), DSG and the right car price for the miles/age (i'm at the entry level of the budget for these). Some seem to not sell for months so must surely be over-priced. Well priced ones in the right spec/colour do seem to sell ok.
Thanks all
HiyaJust a few questions if I may please....
1) How do I tell from a photo if a car has B&O, I know it's written on the speakers at the back but from a distance shot, is it that the speakers have a silver outer rim?
2) I assume changing the wheels for some better factory ones would be highly expensive/hard to find secondhand ones?
3) In terms of Remap, is there one which can be switched, i.e the car easily flashed back to standard to make it more difficult for a dealer to detect it's been mapped? I know the REVO can now be detected but I wondered if you flash it back to standard it wouldn't be flagged up unless they really looked hard for it.
I'm really struggling to find the right car, as I'm specific on colour, B&), DSG and the right car price for the miles/age (i'm at the entry level of the budget for these). Some seem to not sell for months so must surely be over-priced. Well priced ones in the right spec/colour do seem to sell ok.
Thanks all
1 - B&O easy to spot from pics. Door speakers get silver rings on them. Dash tweeters with silver rings another giveaway, as they're not there at all on non-B&O cars (the dash ones have B&O written on them too)
2 - if you're prepared to shop around in Europe you can find wheels quite easily and not at mental prices. Just make sure they're for the B8 S4 platform - offsets on A/S5 are quite different and make the wheels stick out too far. Don't look at B7 wheels as the centre bore is too small.
3 - don't know precisely, but in general terms dealers aren't going looking for remaps unless you're trying to push for a major warranty claim. Even then it varies by dealership. The bigger concern should be over logging within control units. You can remove a remap, but if your gearbox ECU has multiple 'over-torque' logs as a result of more power going through the box than the engine was factory rated to deliver, it'll still invalidate your warranty (and result in a black flag for future warranty claims for any owner).
Ref your requirements, if price is the limiting factor then more flexibility on colour will open the market up for you. B&O is fairly ubiquitous, so ignoring all cars without it won't limit your search much. ADS options, if desirable to you, will have a much bigger influence on choices.
Prices are all over the place - there's S5s still for sale now from when we bought last summer! It depends what you're basing your values on as well - a well specced car could be worth thousands more to the right buyer
Adrian thank you so much, that is a superb reply.
You are right, the cars seem very spec-sensitive when being sold, I will hold out for the right car as I plan to keep it for 3-5 years, that and I do enjoy my current car....just need something 'practical' now.
Red seems to be the worst colour for residual value, grey the strongest.
You are right, the cars seem very spec-sensitive when being sold, I will hold out for the right car as I plan to keep it for 3-5 years, that and I do enjoy my current car....just need something 'practical' now.
Red seems to be the worst colour for residual value, grey the strongest.
Yoof said:
MattS3 said:
I see the B8's are type approved for towing, whereas the B6 and B7 never were.
Anybody tow with there car? Would DSG be ok to pull 1500kgs in reality?
Yup - I fitted a genuine (Westfalia) towbar and electronics to my 10MY Avant and it tows like a champ. Coded using VCDS all works as per factory. Anybody tow with there car? Would DSG be ok to pull 1500kgs in reality?
Get about 25mpg cruising along at 60mph too.
If you read Audizine, they'll tell you you're mad, and need a 4.5T SUV to tow a Jet-ski, the S4 manages fine and is plated to tow 2100kg.
Adrian E said:
3 - don't know precisely, but in general terms dealers aren't going looking for remaps unless you're trying to push for a major warranty claim. Even then it varies by dealership. The bigger concern should be over logging within control units. You can remove a remap, but if your gearbox ECU has multiple 'over-torque' logs as a result of more power going through the box than the engine was factory rated to deliver, it'll still invalidate your warranty (and result in a black flag for future warranty claims for any owner).
I'm sure it was posted on this forum a while back; it was a bulletin from Audi USA to dealers about ECUs logging events re. OTT fuel/air/boost/timing to detect this. Someone on Vortex had got hold of it after having a gearbox warranty claim for his TTRS thrown out as it was mapped.I think you've got to work on the basis that any power modification will void your warranty; plan for the worst, hope for the best etc.
lemonslap said:
After contacting Koni, it starting to look like they are the wrong shocks with the wrong part code sticker in the wrong box... Should hopefully get an update on what Koni want to do tomorrow... not good
Just to update all of you on this, it turns out Koni has made a batch of shocks with the wrong pistons in! Bilstein B8's on order!Yoof said:
Hi Matt,
Trailer is plated at 1300kg MAM (trailer itself is 300kg, so can take a 1000kg payload) - I mostly tow around old Polos, which are circa 750kg, so about 1050kg including the trailer.
Mine is a DSG, with some MRC tweaks. Gearbox is fine, if anything it hangs onto gears a little longer when towing, doesn't jump around - it's very well behaved! It won't come as a surprise that more modern cars (B8 S4 included) have various calibrations in all/most control modules when towing, so you also code the ABS Control Unit to let it know the car has the ability to tow- detection is presumably done when a trailer is plugged in.
Surprisingly its also smooth for low speed manoeuvres , which I thought might be an issue with a trailer (when a torque convertor is at it's best, and anything with a clutch isn't) but it's honestly great.
My only gripe is the suspension height, which even with the correct nose load on the trailer drops a little more than I'd like if the boot is full of tools, my old B6 was similar, although only FWD so made leaving slippy inclines interesting- S4 doesn't have this problem but, I'm hoping a set of KWs will solve the suspension height in a few weeks.
Cheers
Pete
Cheers Pete, very insightful, thank you. Trailer is plated at 1300kg MAM (trailer itself is 300kg, so can take a 1000kg payload) - I mostly tow around old Polos, which are circa 750kg, so about 1050kg including the trailer.
Mine is a DSG, with some MRC tweaks. Gearbox is fine, if anything it hangs onto gears a little longer when towing, doesn't jump around - it's very well behaved! It won't come as a surprise that more modern cars (B8 S4 included) have various calibrations in all/most control modules when towing, so you also code the ABS Control Unit to let it know the car has the ability to tow- detection is presumably done when a trailer is plugged in.
Surprisingly its also smooth for low speed manoeuvres , which I thought might be an issue with a trailer (when a torque convertor is at it's best, and anything with a clutch isn't) but it's honestly great.
My only gripe is the suspension height, which even with the correct nose load on the trailer drops a little more than I'd like if the boot is full of tools, my old B6 was similar, although only FWD so made leaving slippy inclines interesting- S4 doesn't have this problem but, I'm hoping a set of KWs will solve the suspension height in a few weeks.
Cheers
Pete
Has anyone updated their 4-digit satnav postcode entry to 7-digit? Even though I have 3G MMI HDD, I am told by Audi it isn't possible on my 2010 car as Audi didn't buy 7-digit licences from the post office for that model year (??!!).
4-digit isn't the end of the world, but can be a little frustrating at times, when places don't give street names, just "village name, postcode".
4-digit isn't the end of the world, but can be a little frustrating at times, when places don't give street names, just "village name, postcode".
It can be done but isn't an 'official' upgrade; if you install new maps you just get new maps.
http://www.hazzydayz.com/mmi-3g-high-full-postcode...
http://www.hazzydayz.com/mmi-3g-high-full-postcode...
Aahh, interesting, thanks. Presumably if I did this, and the MMI then decided to stop working one day (completely unrelated to the upgrade above), then Audi warranty would say you've modified it so f
k off??!!
Do others offer this upgrade as well? I guess Hazzydayz are not the only one.
k off??!!Do others offer this upgrade as well? I guess Hazzydayz are not the only one.
I don't know of anyone else that does it but I haven't really looked either; Hazzydayz do a little bit of work for me now and then and they're fairly local.
They're pretty helpful guys up there; I'm sure if you got in a fix they could write the unit back to standard for you. Worst case scenario Audi install an update that overwrites their software (but they shouldn't do this without asking/telling you first).
They're pretty helpful guys up there; I'm sure if you got in a fix they could write the unit back to standard for you. Worst case scenario Audi install an update that overwrites their software (but they shouldn't do this without asking/telling you first).
After weeks of procrastinating I pulled the trigger on an S4 today!
Kept the spec fairly basic but with the my16 changes I get the HDD nav thrown in which is nice!
Gone for:
Black edition Avant
Sepang blue
Folding mirrors
F & R parking sensors
ADS & DC
Sports Diff
Storage pack
Only thing I really wanted but couldn't stretch to were the SS seats. Couldn't justify an extra £35 a month for seats!
Looking at bw28 as things stand. Got a cracking deal through carwow too, can't wait!
Kept the spec fairly basic but with the my16 changes I get the HDD nav thrown in which is nice!
Gone for:
Black edition Avant
Sepang blue
Folding mirrors
F & R parking sensors
ADS & DC
Sports Diff
Storage pack
Only thing I really wanted but couldn't stretch to were the SS seats. Couldn't justify an extra £35 a month for seats!
Looking at bw28 as things stand. Got a cracking deal through carwow too, can't wait!
lemonslap said:
lemonslap said:
After contacting Koni, it starting to look like they are the wrong shocks with the wrong part code sticker in the wrong box... Should hopefully get an update on what Koni want to do tomorrow... not good
Just to update all of you on this, it turns out Koni has made a batch of shocks with the wrong pistons in! Bilstein B8's on order!
Gassing Station | Audi, Seat, Skoda & VW | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff