Audi S4 Quattro conceals a sports car under styling of a sedan
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. -- Classify Audi's new S4 Quattro as a sporty muscle car tinged with precise German road manners and designed for serious driving fun by those who also may need the people-hauling practicality of a sedan's back seat.
Derived from the A4 compact sedan but rigged with a powerful engine and six-speed manual gearbox plus a taut sport suspension and traction for all wheels, the S4 superficially resembles a conventional sedan: A streamlined three-box format of compact dimensions with hood and trunk tacked to each end of the passenger compartment, four doors and four wheels plus lots of window glass.
Look closer, though, and you'll find subtle variations from the convention, like curt front and rear overhangs of a race car and over-sized tires taking up all space in the wheelwells, a blunt prow lined with massive below-bumper air intake ports and low ring of shapely moldings pinned below door panels.
To show it off, Audi adds several not-so-subtle paint selections, including vivid Nogaro Blue and our tester S4 coated in a screaming shade labeled Imola Yellow.
Powerful sports sedans appear rarely and always with pricy tags, but Audi's entry carries the concept further than others by applying high-tech mechanical hardware for strength, traction and safety.
And it's so quick: Zero to sixty in less than six seconds, with the top speed limited way up at 143 mph.
Motivation springs from a unique bi-turbo V6 which produces 250 hp.
Two turbo-chargers for only one engine?
The pair -- one for each cylinder bank -- take up less space than a single large unit and the small size of each turbine means faster response from accelerator pressure to firing time and higher torque at lower engine speeds, plus more overall efficiency.
An intercooler on each set of cylinders chills the incoming charge of air, which increases the air density and thus the quantity of oxygen needed for combustion. This process further extends the turbo efficiency.
Net effect: Virtually no detectable lag in the timing between throttle depression and actual acceleration -- punch it and the S4 rips to action.
All of the torque generated by this big engine translates through a six-speed manual transmission outfitted with sporty gear ratios or a five-speed automatic coupled to a Porsche-designed Tiptronic clutchless shifter.
To control tire traction on pavement, the S4 also comes with Audi's Quattro all-wheel-drive system, a permanently engaged device which distributes the engine's power to all four wheels.
A torsion-sensing center differential sends up to two-thirds of the power to whichever axle, front or rear, can maintain the best tire grip. On top of this effect, the S4's Quattro system also includes electronic locking for front and rear differentials in a process which senses and restrains individual wheel spin, then redistributes the driving torque from one side to the other, left or right, to achieve the best traction for any wheel.
As an ultimate safety system for maintaining traction, the Quattro mechanism results in superior grip at all times. Send the S4 too fast into the face of a broadly sweeping bend and the oversized performance tires never break tension with pavement, as the power flows not only to one set of wheels, front or rear, but to both or perhaps a single wheel through the sophisticated controller.
On dry city streets or clogged freeways, the S4 driver will perhaps never detect the Quattro system at work, but run quick-cut turns on wet or slick pavement and it holds a predictable course dictated by the steering input.
Then it shows off when steered through sets of curves draped over hilly terrain.
Our chance to play in a S4 coincided with a rare traffic-free romp on the convoluted Laureles Grade, which strings over coastal mountains to link California's Monterey-Salina Highway with Carmel Valley Road. We took it hard and fast, pushing beyond prudent driving and motion physics to define the car's physical limitations, although our nerve wilted before those limits were revealed.
However, the exercise demonstrated the uncanny rooting of car to pavement even at high speed through turns.
The S4 suspension, intensive in light-weight aluminum components, is independent at all corners with a compact double wishbone arrangement at the rear which takes up less cargo space in the trunk. It sets up a compliant and forgiving ride quality which, in European touring tradition, encourages an active style of driving. Yet it's stiff, in the German manner, and you feel undulating nuances of a road surface translated through suspension and steering mechanisms to driver's hands and body.
Stomp on the brake pedal and big brake calipers at every wheel clamp to discs and do their thing as the fully integrated four-wheel anti-lock system takes over in a measured manner to bring about the quickest stop possible, and without a single tire's telltale squeal.
Like all Audi models, the S4's rigid chassis integrates energy-absorbing crumple zones fore and aft of a steel safety cage wrapped around the passenger compartment. Dual frontal air bags and height-adjustable front three-point safety belts are in place, along with side-impact air bags mounted in outboard edges of front seatbacks. Then Audi overlays head protection of front riders with new air bags concealed in A pillars which deploy as large and thick air pillows spread over pillar and side window.
Inside, securely strapped in a body-hugging sport bucket, driver feels ensconced in ergonomic practicality, with every item you touch -- from the sport steering wheel and gear shift knob to climate controls -- seemingly placed strategically to become an extension of the self.
On-board analog gauges, from speedometer and tachometer to voltmeter, oil temperature and pressure dials, stand in the display for optimum viewing. At night, all glow with low-glare backlit red indicators.
Luxurious appointments encompass power equipment for everything and fine leather seat upholstery, with touches of birds-eye maple wood ringing the cockpit on doors and dash.
Front seats move ten ways by power controls. Rear seatbacks split 60/40 with trunk access and locks. Standards range from a leather-wrapped sport steering wheel to air conditioning keyed to automatic climate controls, electronic cruise control, and a stereo sound package with CD deck, with options limited to a power sunroof, navigation system, Bose premium sound and a hands-free cell phone.
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| 2000 AUDI S4 VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS |
| Description: |
Compact sports sedan
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| Model Options: |
Compact sports sedan
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| Wheelbase: |
102.6 inches
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| Overall Length: |
176.5 inches
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| Engine Size: |
DOHC 2.7-L V6 T
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| Transmission: |
Manual/6, Auto/5 Tiptronic
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| Drive: |
AWD Quattro
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| Braking: |
Power 4-disc/ABS
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| Airbags: |
2 (front) + 2 (side)
+ 2 (head)
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| Gas Mileage: |
M/6: 17/24 mpg
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| MSRP Price: |
$ 38,425 to $ 42,995 |
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