Audi S4: Driving report!

Here's a good driving report of the Audi S4 sedan AT6.

The car’s spirit has evolved ever-so-slightly to be more of a grand tourer, and that’s never more evident than in an S4 equipped with Audi’s 6-speed Tiptronic transmission.

Tiptronics have always been looked down upon by the most ardent performance enthusiasts. Manuals are faster, yes, and an enthusiast just doesn’t feel like an enthusiast when he or she can’t row his or her own gears. Still, move to a high-density population area, start getting serious with a girl who doesn't drive a stick and/or have a kid and your priorities might just change a bit. With less time or patience to dedicate to shifting, the torque and luxury-laden S4 Tiptronic becomes the best of all worlds. Strap junior in to a baby seat in the rear, preferably one made by Recaro, make sure the groceries are snug under the baggage net in the trunk and jam the throttle down so that the throaty growl of the S4 drowns out Elmo and his singing friends for a glorious moment as you break out into the HOV lane.

In all seriousness, you don’t need kids, traffic or groceries to justify an S4 with a slushbox anymore. Spend a week in one as we did and you might just fall in love. Sure, the most ardent performance guys will still grouse, but we found we liked the setup and, even better, it’s quite improved over previous Tiptronic-equipped S-cars we’ve driven.

Why better? Well for starters, the shifting is much faster these days. Memories of the Tiptronic-only C5 S6 that would go on for 1000 more RPM before shifting cogs are soon replaced. This box is a bit more snow than slush, shifting quickly after input is given.

Related news: GermanCarBlog, P4MR, Audi S4

Source: Fourtitude

Audi S4: Driving report!

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