C55 vs Audi S4 2005
4 wheel drive might help the Audi launch (or would you still eat his lunch?).
Both Companies are going for small luxury 4 doors with a strong performance emphasis. It's hard to argue against the Audi's relative value. Fully loaded and with standard all wheel drive the Audi costs less than a base C55. And that includes free service for 4 years. I chose the C55 for styling reasons. The vaunted Audi interior just doesn't do it for me. The Recaros are excellent, but I like the AMG seats as well or better. And even though the Mercedes is no Civic Hybrid, I have not heard as many Gas Mileage blues being sung here. It is not atypical to get 200 miles a tank on the S4 with average City driving yielding 12-13 MPG.
Anybody else test drive the Audi? Impressions?
Just drove my colleague's 03 RS6 Estate in the UK. Rocketed to 140mph in no time (scared the ***** out of me), the stopping power of the Brembo BBKs was just perfect and handling round bends was excellent.....but I'd still go for an AMG but for styling, quality and resale value
4 wheel drive might help the Audi launch (or would you still eat his lunch?).
Both Companies are going for small luxury 4 doors with a strong performance emphasis. It's hard to argue against the Audi's relative value. Fully loaded and with standard all wheel drive the Audi costs less than a base C55. And that includes free service for 4 years. I chose the C55 for styling reasons. The vaunted Audi interior just doesn't do it for me. The Recaros are excellent, but I like the AMG seats as well or better. And even though the Mercedes is no Civic Hybrid, I have not heard as many Gas Mileage blues being sung here. It is not atypical to get 200 miles a tank on the S4 with average City driving yielding 12-13 MPG.
Anybody else test drive the Audi? Impressions?
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Jason
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
Hope this helps.
Put foot to floor and car goes as fast as it can. Is this something we need to learn over time? I hope not
.If it were a 6 speed the S4 would have the driver skill factor but autos on a roll on are SIMPLE. Foot down... car goes...
I can only assume you were addressing my post with your comment.
I have spent some time trying to find out where anybody said the race was a roll on. In fact, to the contrary, I see quite a few discussions about the launch.
That having been said, if this were a roll on, the driver still makes a difference, otherwise you could tie off the steering wheel, put a brick on the accelerator and get the same results. I don't buy it. Would the 1st and 2nd place finishers trade places? Probably not, but the distance between them could definitely change.
The main factors that come to the top of my head now are driver-adaptive transmission mode, and whether you self-shift or auto shift. Others exist.
I won't address the differences driver skill makes when starting from a complete stop since you really seem to be talking about roll ons.
I hope that explains my post.
Put foot to floor and car goes as fast as it can. Is this something we need to learn over time? I hope not
.If it were a 6 speed the S4 would have the driver skill factor but autos on a roll on are SIMPLE. Foot down... car goes...
I can only assume you were addressing my post with your comment.
I have spent some time trying to find out where anybody said the race was a roll on. In fact, to the contrary, I see quite a few discussions about the launch.
That having been said, if this were a roll on, the driver still makes a difference, otherwise you could tie off the steering wheel, put a brick on the accelerator and get the same results. I don't buy it. Would the 1st and 2nd place finishers trade places? Probably not, but the distance between them could definitely change.
The main factors that come to the top of my head now are driver-adaptive transmission mode, and whether you self-shift or auto shift. Others exist.
I won't address the differences driver skill makes when starting from a complete stop since you really seem to be talking about roll ons.
I hope that explains my post.
BUT a car with more power will walk away from a slower car after 1/2 a mile or maybe even a 1/4 mile.
Launching an auto S4 is a joke. Any fool could do it.
A c32 is mostly simple. Only 2x did my C32 spin its tires to the point where I could not get going well. But then again I don't care if a car beats me to 60. A C55 has more tq so then it does get harder from there. A modded C32 is equal to a stock C55 in tq so that car would have the same issue I guess.
But even if a C55 has a terrible launch, it will still leave the S4 after about 100 for it's a far faster car (auto to auto).
As for driver adaptive shifting... I think a point needs to be cleared up here. When the throttle is pressed into the kick down switch the car throws out that whole driver adaptive BS and just does what it has to do to get to speed as fast as possible. It may remember you using this feature and kick down faster next time but once you put your foot to the floor the car is not thinking about driver style when it shifts. That is why it has a kick down switch. I could get in an old ladies car and put my foot to the floor and it would go just as fast as a car driven my Mr. stop light drag king.
But how often do you race at a stoplight? Vroom....
A true test of power is a 50-140 run for it makes the car run through its gears and does not alow it to use 4wd to run away. A C32 and or C55 will leave a stock B6 S4 tip in its mirrors in this test every time regardless of drive adaptive transmissions or driver skill.
I am not disagreeing with you on which car should walk away as the winner in this comparo. The reason for asking was really to confirm how much faster the C55 is, not who would win or if the win was valid.
Honestly, they were simple questions that you dissected and made complex. The answers to my questions were not clear to me before, and being that this is a forum for the exchange of ideas, I thought I would try to learn the answer from someone who has first-hand experience. But, your data is only as good as the source and to trust numbers without explanation is foolish.
I really don't think this needs further discussion and is slowly slipping towards off topic status. Take care.
I really don't think this needs further discussion and is slowly slipping towards off topic status. Take care.
Is this not a thread about S4 vs C55 and tranny ECU's?As for the Kick down switch... the feature is there to induce max acceleration regardless of what the ecu has stored. I drive C240 loan vehicles often and no one drive a C240 like me. Funny thing is that when you get in the car and go to WOT the car shifts exactly at redline in first past redline in second and past redline in third (my normal departure from the dealership as I enter the freeway to go home). There is no 500-1000 rpm left in the car if driven slowly and then pushed hard.
I flog a C32 at the track all day long and it has the same shift points (when using the kick down switch) on the way home from the track as on the way to the track. Part throttle shifts are a completely different story for this is where the adaptive ECU comes into play.
Kick down switches are a safety feature to induce maximum acceleration when needed. If the car did not extract ever last rpm MB would open themselves to law suites that the system



