B8 S4 Ownership

Author
Discussion

bungle

1,874 posts

239 months

Monday 10th August 2015
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gizlaroc said:
Whisperbars are the only roof bars to go for these days, well if you want to leave them on the car for more than the occasional journey.
A: I'll probably get used to it!
B: good excuse to crank the B&O up (kids wanted AC/DC on loud "to scare the rain away", who am I to say no!)
C: OEM are sooooo easy/quick to put on/off that I don't need to leave them on if not going to use for a while
D: was passing Audi so just easy to buy them, and I like a good in-person haggle smile

But the whistling was a good excuse for a moan, and we all like one of those...!

LocoBlade

7,621 posts

255 months

Tuesday 11th August 2015
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If they're aluminium ones with a channel down the middle, make sure the rubber seal fits perfectly with no small gaps anywhere. We bought Atera aluminium "aero" style roof bars for our Leon and they were quite noisy initially, but a couple of small adjustments to the rubbers to stretch out and close the gaps made the world of difference. If you can't do that it would be worth using some silicone or even black tape to fill any gaps.

LocoBlade

7,621 posts

255 months

Tuesday 11th August 2015
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Sounds like you need my car in Avant form then haha. I've got 18's as well and will probably be looking for some 19" blades at some point to complete the black edition look I prefer, so keep me in mind smile

nomank said:
LocoBlade - Will keep you in mind about the seat swap! Personally I also only like the standard 18" S4 wheels so these too will be up for swaps smile

Edited by nomank on Monday 10th August 20:10

SBN

1,025 posts

151 months

Wednesday 12th August 2015
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Good info about the seats thanks for this

Is anyone in a b8.5 s4 suffering from the notchy steering going straight ahead and mainly at motorway speed. I'm specially looking at a 2015 and may purchase this tomorrow but have read a lot of horrors about this outside the UK eg in the USA mainly. Can anyone provide some reassurance with 2013 or newer?

LocoBlade

7,621 posts

255 months

Wednesday 12th August 2015
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Having read loads of S4 threads/forums over the past 2 months doing the research to buy mine, this is the first I've heard about it! Certainly not noticed anything on mine which must be one of the first B8.5 / facelift S4s registered March 2012. I have ADS and dynamic steering, not sure if that makes a difference.

SBN

1,025 posts

151 months

Wednesday 12th August 2015
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The USA thread was 55 pages long....

Good to hear yours is ok

FUBAR

17,062 posts

237 months

Thursday 13th August 2015
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No notchy steering on my 8.5 driving

SBN

1,025 posts

151 months

Thursday 13th August 2015
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Drove an s5 today. Really liked it, the dsg is a lot better than the one in my octavia vrs... However the deal with BMW on a new updated 340i touring was too good. I also felt more comfortable and impressed with the f31 BMW. Don't know why but the BMW just felt more wrapped around me than the Audi. I have no doubt that the newer s4 will be a huge step forward on a platform over 6years old but that's not available today and work require me to order a car this month. Maybe in three years time...

So I took a gamble beings the 340i isn't out yet but that is the exciting part...

lemonslap

960 posts

154 months

Thursday 13th August 2015
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Last update from me, I have sold mine and it is being collected in the morning..

I have a few bits which I will be putting on ebay winter wheels and thule feet for the roof bars.

If anyone would like a dipstick for their S4, I have removed it and replaced the blanking plug.. I will gladly send the now redundant dipstick free to a fellow forum member.

LocoBlade

7,621 posts

255 months

Thursday 13th August 2015
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Yeh did a bit of digging after seeing your post, the thread I found seemed to die out about 18 months ago which is probably why I didn't spot it, there were mentions of a software update dealer fix?

Anyway needless to say as soon as I thought about it on the drive this morning I was feeling every single bumps and movement thinking "hmm maybe thats what they mean", but really it's fine.

SBN said:
The USA thread was 55 pages long....

Good to hear yours is ok

LocoBlade

7,621 posts

255 months

Thursday 13th August 2015
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Not a bad choice at all, I'm sure it will be epic. The M135 with the same engine was the other option for me second hand (F3x 335's were still too new/expensive for me on a sub £23k budget budget), it's a great engine and gearbox (assuming 8 sp auto?) but having come from an older 130i there were too many similarities / pitfalls with the M135 whereas the S4 ticked a few more boxes being a bit bigger, having better all-year-round performance and winter tyres being far less essential. An XDrive 335i / 340i would be a very credible alternative but I dont think it's been an option on the petrol engine until recently so even less likely to get near my budget!

Was the Jag XE Supercharged not an option? I love the look and as with the S4, comes with a 3L supercharged V6 with almost identical power.

SBN said:
Drove an s5 today. Really liked it, the dsg is a lot better than the one in my octavia vrs... However the deal with BMW on a new updated 340i touring was too good. I also felt more comfortable and impressed with the f31 BMW. Don't know why but the BMW just felt more wrapped around me than the Audi. I have no doubt that the newer s4 will be a huge step forward on a platform over 6years old but that's not available today and work require me to order a car this month. Maybe in three years time...

So I took a gamble beings the 340i isn't out yet but that is the exciting part...
Edited by LocoBlade on Thursday 13th August 20:22


Edited by LocoBlade on Thursday 13th August 20:23

SBN

1,025 posts

151 months

Thursday 13th August 2015
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Needed to be an estate and the jag isn't yet.

A set of winter tyres would soon sort out the poor weather on the BMW as its only rwd. Is a bit of a faff having to change them every year. however whilst a Quattro is exceptional all year round a set of winters on rwd against a Quattro with summers would have a clear edge in snow, cold wet weather. It is a faff though and east Anglia hardly ever gets snow... In fact for the last two years I had winters on my m3 and did it snow ... NOPE!!! In fact it was warm and mild and those tyres lost traction a lot. I may just take a gamble this winter... Maybe wink

Also I'm hopeful (that whilst the jag appeared to beat a non m sport 340i with the rubbish variable steering rack and adaptive non m sport suspension... ) My 340i with normal but redesigned steering and re designed m sport suspension will be give the f31 the edge it should have had from the start

Edited by SBN on Thursday 13th August 21:02

bungle

1,874 posts

239 months

Thursday 13th August 2015
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lemonslap said:
Last update from me, I have sold mine and it is being collected in the morning..
How come? Your issues with clutch/ pushing to the floor? General niggles? Bored with it?

lemonslap

960 posts

154 months

Thursday 13th August 2015
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bungle said:
lemonslap said:
Last update from me, I have sold mine and it is being collected in the morning..
How come? Your issues with clutch/ pushing to the floor? General niggles? Bored with it?
No issues atm. I am changing roles at work and losing my car allowance, this bit may sound abit sad.... I looked at both the S4 and my Focus ST170, one had to go and I couldn't bring myself to sell the Focus.. The Focus has been with us 9 years and never misses a beat, I have spent about £3.5k on the Audi in repairs and general maintenance this year for something that spends most of its life on school run having idiots opening their doors into it. I have sold it to a trader so it will be appearing on a forecourt in Kent shortly.

LocoBlade

7,621 posts

255 months

Thursday 13th August 2015
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Yep I've had winter tyres for the past 5 years with the 123d then 130i having got well and truly stranded the first snowy year in 2009 or so. Agreed that a RWD winter tyred car will still outperform a summer tyre'd quattro as I did some proper back laning in 6-8" of snow with the winters on going up icy slopes I couldn't walk up, but even with front wheel drive let alone 4wd) snow is manageable at much reduced speed wheras in the Beemer on summers it was impossible to get off the drive on a couple of occasions!

A second set of wheels is faff though, unless it's properly snowy I always found winters inferior in cold/wet winter to regular tyres despite what some claim so were loathed to fit them and storing them is a pain. Its more those more normal winter conditions where the S4 appealed to me, the wet/cold/slippery days which the Beemer could cope with but mae it feel like it was on spacesaver spares with the comparative lack of grip compared to dry. The Audi feels a lot more planted and surefooted, yet its still good fun in the twisties.

SBN said:
Needed to be an estate and the jag isn't yet.

A set of winter tyres would soon sort out the poor weather on the BMW as its only rwd. Is a bit of a faff having to change them every year. however whilst a Quattro is exceptional all year round a set of winters on rwd against a Quattro with summers would have a clear edge in snow, cold wet weather. It is a faff though and east Anglia hardly ever gets snow... In fact for the last two years I had winters on my m3 and did it snow ... NOPE!!! In fact it was warm and mild and those tyres lost traction a lot. I may just take a gamble this winter... Maybe wink

Also I'm hopeful (that whilst the jag appeared to beat a non m sport 340i with the rubbish variable steering rack and adaptive non m sport suspension... ) My 340i with normal but redesigned steering and re designed m sport suspension will be give the f31 the edge it should have had from the start

Edited by SBN on Thursday 13th August 21:02

Chiefbadger

417 posts

197 months

Friday 14th August 2015
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Is anyone else still waiting on an S4 order? Mine is now in the country and will be collecting early September. Just wondering how many are still to be built?

theboyfold

10,910 posts

225 months

Friday 14th August 2015
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Chiefbadger said:
Is anyone else still waiting on an S4 order? Mine is now in the country and will be collecting early September. Just wondering how many are still to be built?
Mine turned up early, still getting used to it. Very happy so far

Edited by theboyfold on Saturday 15th August 17:43

Adrian E

3,248 posts

175 months

Saturday 15th August 2015
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160 mile journey with a full load - did the majority in comfort mode and was keeping pace in busy traffic, but not hanging about either. Filled up again at destination and it'd done 26.6mpg which is about as good as we've ever seen in our ownership. Might do return journey in auto and see how it varies.

bungle

1,874 posts

239 months

Saturday 15th August 2015
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On a run I find that's possible, even with a full load (which doesn't seem to make a huge difference really) - but even if there's an element of stop/start then it seems to drop like a stone (I'm manual not auto).

silentbrown

8,793 posts

115 months

Saturday 15th August 2015
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Adrian E said:
26.6mpg which is about as good as we've ever seen in our ownership
26.9 overall at the moment in the first 1700 miles, with almost zero urban driving.

However I think it's not going to get better as I just discovered there's an inch more throttle travel than I realized. frown

The more I drive it, the more I love it - but also, the more I wish it was manual. It's bloody sad that nobody seems to make a 300+ BHP estate with a manual 'box.