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| 2011 Audi S4 |
Leather sport seats with heated power front seats and driver and passenger lumbar support make riding in the Audi S4 both stylish and comfortable. In terms of safety, the Audi S4 features 4 wheel anti-lock brakes, front, side, and curtain airbags, tire pressure monitoring, rear child locks, and rear LATCH provisions for child seats to name a few.
Overall, the new S4 is a well performing vehicle with pretty good fuel economy for its class. What is unique to the 2011 Audi S4 model is that for the first time in Audi history a smaller engine was introduced in USA with better performance, lower fuel consumption, and lower price than its predecessor. For those of you who want to rebadge those pesky V6T badges, Audi provides Supercharged ones for a small price.
The numbers from the specs, although impressive, hardly give justice to how much potential the S4 3.0 supercharged engine has. Out of the factory it outputs 333hp but with a small ECU tune the engine produces more than 400hp which steps into the BMW’s M3 territory.
What is really interesting about this engine is that it has a great torque numbers available very early in the RPM range (2000 rpm) and it accelerates in an impressive manner. A candidate for another engine of the year this marvel of German engineering has tons of potential which seem to have been contained by Audi for the sake of consistent model ranges and marketing.
The car sits lower than the Audi A4 with sportier suspension; it has Audi’s S4 badges on the grill and back as well as Audi’s S line design elements – the quad exhaust and the S line trim (including the matt aluminum mirror covers). Audi is notorious in its attention to detail, design, and execution of high quality interiors and the B8 S4 is by no means different. Sometimes it feels like someone with Steve Jobs passion for simplicity, elegance and design did the quality control for Audi, because every single piece of the Audi S4 interior is designed, manufactured, and placed perfectly. The optional Audi MMI (Multi Media Interface) although expensive adds a very nice set of features and plugs in seamlessly with Audi Park Assist as well as Audi Side Assist optional features. Although current prices are quite high for any of the standard performance moods (ECU, Intake, Exhaust) due to the novelty and the limited time the tuner brands have had to play with the S4, we think that in the very near future things will change drastically.
The choices of aftermarket intakes for the B8 platform are quite limited and news about upcoming designs and concepts are just now starting to appear. With hot competition performance mid-size luxury sedan ranks, the 2011 Audi S4 has some of the toughest competition around, but manages to come away with solid place among the best driver's cars on the market. Motor Authority rates the 2011 Audi S4 8 out of 10 overall.
It's a weakness that's increasingly common in all cars, including the high-performance sedan segment: artificial-feeling power steering. Unique elements for the Audi S4's interior include a black headliner, aluminum trim, a unique steering wheel, and a choice of walnut, gray birch, or woven stainless steel for the console and door trim.
