Test Drive: Audi S4 takes auto tech to a new level
In her hit song “Single Ladies,” Beyoncé famously shamed an ex-lover with the phrase “you should have put a ring on in.”
Audi automobiles are so good the manufacturer puts four rings on them, forming a corporate emblem that has become synonymous with the marriage of cutting-edge automotive technology and design refinement.
After a week in Audi’s S4 compact luxury sedan, it’s easy to see why lots of single ladies (and single ‘laddies,’ too) aspire to own the S4 and its more down-market sibling the A4. If you are familiar with Audi nomenclature, you know that the S in S4 marks the car as a performance version of the A4 sedan.
For 2018, Audi has given the S4 a tweaked powertrain and some new sheetmetal tailoring to keep it sleek and sophisticated. Audi Chattanooga, on International Drive, listed one S4, like our tester, and several (two-door) S5s in digital inventory this week.
The S4 competes in a segment that also includes the Cadillac ATS-4, the BMW 340i and the Mercedes-Benz AMG C43. The sticker price on our Navarra Blue Metallic tester, provided by the manufacturer, is $65,050.
Mountain dwellers in the Chattanooga area will appreciate the S4’s full-time, all-wheel drive system which makes mountain driving more fun in the summer and safer in the winter.
STYLING AND COMFORT
The focal point of contemporary Audi styling is the bold Single-form grille, home of those aforementioned overlapping rings. The grille is bold without being over-powering. It does for the Audi brand what Lexus had hoped its overwrought Spindle grille design would do for the Japanese luxury brand — form a chrome, ID badge.
What Audi does especially well is juggle multiple design themes at once,
as evidenced by a grille design that is bold but not garish. Meanwhile, the crisp body lines of the S4 are modern and sophisticated.
Our S4 tester’s design is punched up with five-spoke, V-design 19-inch wheels, an $800 upgrade. Bright red brake calipers, meanwhile, are part of the $2,500 S sport Package, which also includes special suspension dampers and an amped-up rear differential with torque vectoring. Full LED lighting is standard on the S4.
If the S4’s exterior is classically elegant, the interior is almost futuristic. Oh, there are old-school amenities, like the fine Nappa leather upholstery ($800). But the carbon fiber accents ($500) and virtual cockpit (part of the $4,900 Prestige package) represent the future of automotive design.
That virtual cockpit, which includes a 12.3-inch info cluster that channels Google Earth, looks like something out of a Star Wars movie. Seeing the road ahead of you unfold in perfect, shot-fromspace detail makes driving feel like piloting an aircraft. The Prestige Package also includes dualpane windows (for better cabin isolation), a head-up display, an array of LED interior lights, a top view camera and Audi’s excellent MMI navigation system.
DRIVING IMPRESSIONS
When it comes to S4 engines, one size fits all. And it’s a doozy: a 3.0-liter, turbocharged V-6 that makes 345 horsepower and vaults the little S4 from zero-to-60 mph in just a shade over four seconds.
The S4 has a throaty exhaust note that belies its origins as a thrifty little import. In that way, the S4 is like a 12-year-old boy whose voice has changed prematurely. The growl, though, is an honest representation of the power emanating from under the hood as the S4 leaps off the line and rockets down the road.
Owners can select from four driving modes: Comfort, automatic, dynamic and individual (which can be fine-tuned to personal tastes). The S4 includes fuel-saving start-stop technology that kills and restarts the engine during prolonged idling.
The all-wheel-drive system automatically sends power to the wheels with the most grip, which helps you carve-up twisting back-roads.
The government estimates you’ll get 30 mpg highway, and 21 mpg city in the S5.
BOTTOM LINE
The base price of the S5 is $50,900 and the options in our tester push its MRSP to $65,050. For that, you get one of the world’s most refined compact luxury sedans, with a host of high-tech amenities that feel ahead of their time.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST. Subscribe to his Facebook updates at www.facebook.com/ mkennedycolumnist.