B8 S4 Ownership
Discussion
Just bumping this one back up - anyone have any experiences to share?
GVLJ said:
Afternoon all - any advice on ARBs?
I'm running a non-sports diff avant, want to make a it little pointier and reckon a thicker rear ARB would make a difference. Does anyone have any experience of the variety of kits? Eibach vs H&R vs KW vs the fully adjustable Eurocode USS thing you can buy in the US?
Ta...
I'm running a non-sports diff avant, want to make a it little pointier and reckon a thicker rear ARB would make a difference. Does anyone have any experience of the variety of kits? Eibach vs H&R vs KW vs the fully adjustable Eurocode USS thing you can buy in the US?
Ta...
50% hike in insurance this year. Even after some comparison sites and haggling it's almost 40%. What's going on? Got an exhaust and roof bars/bike holders but never really made much difference before.
Either the market has moved up, S4's have, or mods are being frowned upon. Or all.
Even tried the broker I use for my modded other car and they were even more.
Anyone found the key to unlocking better value S4 insurance?!
Either the market has moved up, S4's have, or mods are being frowned upon. Or all.
Even tried the broker I use for my modded other car and they were even more.
Anyone found the key to unlocking better value S4 insurance?!
bungle said:
50% hike in insurance this year. Even after some comparison sites and haggling it's almost 40%. What's going on? Got an exhaust and roof bars/bike holders but never really made much difference before.
Either the market has moved up, S4's have, or mods are being frowned upon. Or all.
Even tried the broker I use for my modded other car and they were even more.
Anyone found the key to unlocking better value S4 insurance?!
Working for an insurance company helps!Either the market has moved up, S4's have, or mods are being frowned upon. Or all.
Even tried the broker I use for my modded other car and they were even more.
Anyone found the key to unlocking better value S4 insurance?!
My 16MY S5, 12k miles per year, garaged. Just under £250 per year, fully comp, protected no claims discount.
Got a B8.5 S4 Avant Black Edition and I'm really enjoying it but a few things bug me:
1. The offset driving position, particularly the foot rest in place of the clutch. I find that it's not high enough and really throws my hips out bumbling through town on low throttle; only when on the motorway can I stretch both legs equally.
2. DAB sometimes doesn't start with the car (not sure if it's when it's really cold or not) so I have to use FM until it sorts itself out.
3. The MMI functionality for music is rubbish compared to BMWs. Why do I have to plug the phone into a glove box miles away? and why can't it stream over bluetooth and give me the same functionality as the MMI? Annoying.
4. I don't rate the B&O sound system, the bass is fairly meh, the surround sound is fairly dubious and the tweeters seem to be made by children out of cardboard.
5. In Sport mode the noise Effecktor or 'fake exhaust noise generator' thingy seems to rattle against the bulkhead at high RPM. I'm assuming that they'd need to pull off the sound insulation to have a look so see if it was vibrating on its mounts or something so I've held off doing this. I have the Carista app and dongle to change certain functions so I'm tempted...but it does sound quite fun too.
6. The Audi roof bars whistle and are noisy from 30mph+ with a race bike rack on them. Disappointing as I could sit at 80mph in my old BMW E39 and not hear a thing and that had a sunroof and they seem like identical racks.
Apart from that, it's very fast, fairly discreet, carries lots of stuff (when you know how to stack it optimally) and gives more than acceptable MPG.
1. The offset driving position, particularly the foot rest in place of the clutch. I find that it's not high enough and really throws my hips out bumbling through town on low throttle; only when on the motorway can I stretch both legs equally.
2. DAB sometimes doesn't start with the car (not sure if it's when it's really cold or not) so I have to use FM until it sorts itself out.
3. The MMI functionality for music is rubbish compared to BMWs. Why do I have to plug the phone into a glove box miles away? and why can't it stream over bluetooth and give me the same functionality as the MMI? Annoying.
4. I don't rate the B&O sound system, the bass is fairly meh, the surround sound is fairly dubious and the tweeters seem to be made by children out of cardboard.
5. In Sport mode the noise Effecktor or 'fake exhaust noise generator' thingy seems to rattle against the bulkhead at high RPM. I'm assuming that they'd need to pull off the sound insulation to have a look so see if it was vibrating on its mounts or something so I've held off doing this. I have the Carista app and dongle to change certain functions so I'm tempted...but it does sound quite fun too.
6. The Audi roof bars whistle and are noisy from 30mph+ with a race bike rack on them. Disappointing as I could sit at 80mph in my old BMW E39 and not hear a thing and that had a sunroof and they seem like identical racks.
Apart from that, it's very fast, fairly discreet, carries lots of stuff (when you know how to stack it optimally) and gives more than acceptable MPG.
Interesting re OEM bars. Do you have the rubber strip in place down the middle channels? Without this in, mine (OEM) whistled a lot, but once that was in they don't whistle at all, whatever the speed.
Obviously with the bike holders (mine are Thule) on the bars, you will need to cut the rubber strips to the right length to fit between the bike holders (which is what I did), but if you do that you really shouldn't have any noise.
Never had an issue with DAB like you describe. There must be something wrong there I'd have thought, as my DAB comes on immediately when I start the car.
Obviously with the bike holders (mine are Thule) on the bars, you will need to cut the rubber strips to the right length to fit between the bike holders (which is what I did), but if you do that you really shouldn't have any noise.
Never had an issue with DAB like you describe. There must be something wrong there I'd have thought, as my DAB comes on immediately when I start the car.
catso said:
Set it at 0% and it sounds even better. If you don't have anything to alter it with you can simply take the fuse out.
I never had it in my previous 2011 MY and that sounded fab. I turned it off completely on the newer car I’ve now got and it didn’t sound as good as my last one, thus the 50% setting.
Maybe I’ll try it again.
bungle said:
Interesting re OEM bars. Do you have the rubber strip in place down the middle channels? Without this in, mine (OEM) whistled a lot, but once that was in they don't whistle at all, whatever the speed.
Obviously with the bike holders (mine are Thule) on the bars, you will need to cut the rubber strips to the right length to fit between the bike holders (which is what I did), but if you do that you really shouldn't have any noise.
Never had an issue with DAB like you describe. There must be something wrong there I'd have thought, as my DAB comes on immediately when I start the car.
No I haven't yet and I'm sure it will help but I didn't want to cut the rubber around the bike rack! Was just going to take the bike rack off and put the rubber in until I needed to carry a bike on top.Obviously with the bike holders (mine are Thule) on the bars, you will need to cut the rubber strips to the right length to fit between the bike holders (which is what I did), but if you do that you really shouldn't have any noise.
Never had an issue with DAB like you describe. There must be something wrong there I'd have thought, as my DAB comes on immediately when I start the car.
Will get Audi to have a look under warranty at the DAB as it does indeed seem odd. Probably get them to look at the fake noise generator too before I switch it off.
Cheers
The Stiglet said:
catso said:
I don't know. Why can't it stream over bluetooth, mine does?
Yes it streams but it doesn't provide menu functionality like the MMI set up does plugged into the iPod directly. I can only go forward or backward in the song queue via Bluetooth. I use the 'jukebox' plus USB & SD cards which have functionality although mostly I just leave it on random playback and skip a track if I don't fancy it.
As for the DAB, I've not had any problems other than the occasional 'chop' if reception is not good but I don't use it that often to comment further but the fake noise is truly crap and has no place on any car, let alone on a car that makes a decent real noise.
Edited by catso on Tuesday 20th March 21:01
catso said:
The Stiglet said:
catso said:
I don't know. Why can't it stream over bluetooth, mine does?
Yes it streams but it doesn't provide menu functionality like the MMI set up does plugged into the iPod directly. I can only go forward or backward in the song queue via Bluetooth. I use the 'jukebox' plus USB & SD cards which have functionality although mostly I just leave it on random playback and skip a track if I don't fancy it.
As for the DAB, I've not had any problems other than the occasional 'chop' if reception is not good but I don't use it that often to comment further but the fake noise is truly crap and has no place on any car, let alone on a car that makes a decent real noise.
Edited by catso on Tuesday 20th March 21:01
You can't pull up a track listing from the steering wheel controls though, and if you try, it messes up the display in the instrument binnacle - you have to change to a different source and back to clear it.
Hence jog from the center console volume button.
Newer models do (assuming phone supports it) but the B8 as an older model only gets a comparatively basic setup for bluetooth audio.
May well be a firmware update for the DAB issue; I've come across that a couple of times myself (had several different B8 chassis cars of similar ages).
B&O needs a really high quality source to get the best of it; I personally find using the equaliser for a subtle lift to bass (2 clicks forward of centre) and a drop to treble (one click back from centre) gives a nice warm, engaging sound. The treble is harsh at anything above this. I generally play high-bitrate audio from an SD card for best results.
May well be a firmware update for the DAB issue; I've come across that a couple of times myself (had several different B8 chassis cars of similar ages).
B&O needs a really high quality source to get the best of it; I personally find using the equaliser for a subtle lift to bass (2 clicks forward of centre) and a drop to treble (one click back from centre) gives a nice warm, engaging sound. The treble is harsh at anything above this. I generally play high-bitrate audio from an SD card for best results.
Random question (1st-world problems)...
I like having the traffic announcements on, but they always come on really loud!!! I've gone into the settings and set the volume for them really low (it plays the volume back to you when you adjust it), but then it still comes on really loud again next time.
Am I doing (or not doing) something wrong? It seems simple, but it just doesn't seem to keep my setting?!
I like having the traffic announcements on, but they always come on really loud!!! I've gone into the settings and set the volume for them really low (it plays the volume back to you when you adjust it), but then it still comes on really loud again next time.
Am I doing (or not doing) something wrong? It seems simple, but it just doesn't seem to keep my setting?!
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