2014 Audi RS4 Avant

[epom]

Nice

[likesachange]

Awesome.
I currently have a c63 estate that I love but have to admit the current rs4 is the best looking estate ever made IMO.

Not seen one in red in the flesh but there's a couple of ones in the dealer round corner from me that look amazing (one white and one an "off white"?!)

Out of interest what's the life expectancy of those ceramics and what kind of cost would replacements be? Are they still 1000's for replacements?

[graeme4130]

likesachange said:

Awesome.
I currently have a c63 estate that I love but have to admit the current rs4 is the best looking estate ever made IMO.

Not seen one in red in the flesh but there's a couple of ones in the dealer round corner from me that look amazing (one white and one an "off white"?!)

Out of interest what's the life expectancy of those ceramics and what kind of cost would replacements be? Are they still 1000's for replacements?

It's decent still. Audi quote 150k miles and I know guys with RS6's that are up around 100k with no issues
Replacement isn't cheap though if you damage one. I think it's around £5k/pr

[copperband]

I've always viewed ceramics as an overpriced way of getting yellow callipers ;-)
However, if they last 4 times as long as steel and produce no dust then over the life of the car they must more than pay for themselves (in wheel cleaner alone!)

I might take you up on the offer to have a look Graeme, as I'm only a junction up from you :-)

[graeme4130]

coyft said:

graeme4130 said:

I'm sure I'm going to get shot down for this, but other than the steering feel, the B8 is hugely superior in every way over the B7 for what I want it for
I loved my B7, and I covered 40k miles in it, but for day to day driving and safely being able to have a blast, the B8 is miles better
I know a few other B8 owners, and they've largely all had B7's before, and they'd all agree wholeheartedly
However, I'm aware the B7 has some die hard fan boys who'll swear blind the b8's not for them, but I'm not sure any of them have tried living with a B8 for anything other than a short test drive or are just put off by the huge price difference between current market values

Hmmm I'm not so sure. I've had my B8 RS4 for 18 months and covered 30,000 miles, my previous car was the B7 which I did over 100,000 miles in.

I think the B8 has a few shortcomings, the steering feel is nowhere near as nice as the B7, even without the dynamic steering. Whilst the auto box is superb it does take away some of the pleasure of driving whilst pressing on. The ride is compromised because of the daft electronic settings, dynamic is unusable unless you are driving on the smoothest of surfaces and then what's the point?

The MMI buttons are in a stupid and dangerous place and have a horrible plastic feel to them. The footrest for the now redundant left foot is unusable as it's at the bottom of the footwell.

If you want the nice deep throaty sport exhaust note, you also have to put up with having the gears held for longer, if you put it in manual you can't select 7th gear.

All in all I preferred the simplicity of the B7. The B8 is a good car but imo the B7 was a great car.

Re the exhaust noise, if you have dynamic engine/exhaust selected in individual, you can have the exhaust valves open on D on the shifter. You will start with them closed, but select S to open them and deselect D to go and valves stay open
It sounds long winded and complicated, but it's actually just two tugs of the stick

Fwiw, I don't have an issue with the button positions, but would prefer them not to have been chrome

[graeme4130]

coyft said:

I want the valves open but not dynamic engine. Anyway to do that?

I'm not 100%, but I belive dynamic engine is only valves. Throttle response and shift speed is determined by D/S options on the gear selector

[graeme4130]

coyft said:

graeme4130 said:

coyft said:

I want the valves open but not dynamic engine. Anyway to do that?

I'm not 100%, but I belive dynamic engine is only valves. Throttle response and shift speed is determined by D/S options on the gear selector

I'll have a play, thanks. It was so simple before just press the s button on the steering wheel

I most admit I do miss the simplicity of the S button on my old B7
I never use dynamic suspension, so would prefer a 'one set up fits all' approach, although comfort works ok for me

[graeme4130]

coyft said:

graeme4130 said:

coyft said:

graeme4130 said:

coyft said:

I want the valves open but not dynamic engine. Anyway to do that?

I'm not 100%, but I belive dynamic engine is only valves. Throttle response and shift speed is determined by D/S options on the gear selector

I'll have a play, thanks. It was so simple before just press the s button on the steering wheel

I most admit I do miss the simplicity of the S button on my old B7
I never use dynamic suspension, so would prefer a 'one set up fits all' approach, although comfort works ok for me

I think car rides suffer when they have changeable suspension modes, manufacturers no longer need to find an optimum setting, they just give you a button instead.

I bet you miss the B7 just a tiny bit?

If I was pushing on, I'd miss the directness of the steering a bit
However, I'm sold on the DSG box, the looks of the new car (I find the b7's look very out of date now compared to the b8's)
I've dragged my b7's against a few b7's and the b8 leaves it standing too

Saying that, I do still see B7's on the road and think they were the best looking car of their generation

[JonnyxM]

Awesome, great bike hauler. Will look out for it if you're ever at any Northern trail centres.

[likesachange]

graeme4130 said:

It's decent still. Audi quote 150k miles and I know guys with RS6's that are up around 100k with no issues
Replacement isn't cheap though if you damage one. I think it's around £5k/pr

Wow 150k I was expecting 80-100 ... Do they use pads quicker or are they a similar compound?

By the time they need replaced they'll be so mass produced that they might only be a tenth of the price anyway!

Edited by likesachange on Tuesday 25th November 21:13

[graeme4130]

likesachange said:

graeme4130 said:

It's decent still. Audi quote 150k miles and I know guys with RS6's that are up around 100k with no issues
Replacement isn't cheap though if you damage one. I think it's around £5k/pr

Wow 150k I was expecting 80-100 ... Do they use pass quicker or are they a similar compound?

By the time they need replaced they'll be so mass produced that they might only be a tenth of the price anyway!

I think the pads, although a little more expensive to replace, last 40-60k
I'll keep the car a couple of years, which will be 40-50k miles, so hopefully I'll miss having to replace them

[beacons8575]

graeme4130 said:

Hubba, hubba.

Those ceramic stoppers probably cost more than my budget for a load-lugger.

Agree with the comments about road presence, it's impossible to mistake one for anything else.

Hope you enjoy.

[RemyMartin]

Oooffftt.

That is all.

[MancDan]

B U tiful and a great colour also (from the owner of a red Auto B8 2.0T Quattro Avant)

[graeme4130]

Just to give a bit of an update : I have winter wheels and tyres coming next week and will post up some pics

Knowing my normal luck, we'll have the mildest winter ever and it'll stay at min 10deg

In the meantime, here's some pics from my phone ;

Normal duties




Soon to be stable mates

Edited by graeme4130 on Friday 28th November 09:21

[graeme4130]

Just to bring the thread a bit more up to date, I fitted 265/30R20 Conti winter tyres today on new Rs4 rotor wheels
Bring on the snow

[graeme4130]

Just to bring this thread up to date a bit
The car's on nearly 8k miles now and is showing its first service due. Faultless motoring so far and the engine's loosened up nicely
Went to Surrey rolling road yesterday for an RS246 meet
The car made 421bhp, which considering it's on winter tyres, which rob about 20bhp at the wheels, makes it about right for the claimed 444bhp

Edited by graeme4130 on Sunday 18th January 13:48

[Lancia888]

Loving the YT, what model is it?

[Lancia888]

Loving the YT, what model is it?

[graeme4130]

Lancia888 said:

Loving the YT, what model is it?

It's a Capra pro. Had it about 8 months now, so it's pretty battered