Take a 2 day test drive with me.
08-13-2009, 06:02 AM
#1
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Take a 2 day test drive with me.
My A4 is having the new control arms put on and the reattachment (and re-gluing) of the door seal, so it remains at the dealer’s service department for yet another day.
Not to fear, not to complain, though – I have a perfectly fine replacement, an ’09 A4 2.0T Prestige with the nav package and the interior wood trim. It is riding on 18” 245 x 40 H rated all-seasons and has south of 7,000 miles on the clock.
So, you see, I have the perfect opportunity to compare and contrast my A4 (which is also Prestige, but is equipped with the 19” sport package, rear window shade and Audi Drive Select in addition to the nav and wood options) with the “loaner.”
Note: Both cars are tiptronic transmission equipped and both are motivated by “stock” 2.0T engines (at least I assume the loaner has not been modified in any way – as mine, too, has not been.)
The loaner is Brilliant Black with a black interior, mine is Ibis White with a beige interior.
As you would expect there is not a whole lot of difference upon approaching the two cars – mine is lower, less gap between the fender and the top of the tire, and with 35 series 19” tires the wheel on mine does seem to fill up the space with apparently a tighter tolerance or a more hunkered down look. If you approve of the hunkered down look, go with the sport package. If not, the 18” wheels on my loaner are good looking, but the car appears slightly less sleek. I attribute this to the fact that the car equipped with the sport package is lower and has a very small fender-tire gap. Who knows, perhaps the color effects the eye’s perception, too.
At this point, the contest between the two is cosmetic. I prefer the sport package look and the 19” wheels, so personally, I put a “+” in the column representing the white A4 and a “ “(neutral) under the black one.
Opening the door, the black interior of the black A4 appears smaller, more confining and even after 24 hours seems to be covered in a fine dust – admission, you couldn’t pay me to have a black interior – however, other than my personal distaste of a black on black interior, there is very little visually that differentiates the Ibis white/beige A4 interior from the Brilliant black/black A4’s insides. They are both, er, “stunningly beautiful” representations of the best of the best interiors in any car at any price, period.
Yet, when I slide behind the four-spoke steering wheel of the loaner, I do notice that “slide” is the correct word – I slide across the seat and only stop when my butt encounters the console. Hmm, a glimpse of what’s coming, sans sport seats, I guess.
So, color aside, there is, now a – for me – significant negative about the black A4: no sport seats. Now, the contest between the two stops being cosmetic, and I haven’t even pushed the starter button. I put a “+” in the column for seating under the white A4 and this time a definite “-“ under the black A4. Audi should offer sport seats as a stand-alone option, for, I’d say, about $600. The standard seats are beautiful to behold and as flat and unsupportive as can be.
If for no other reason than the sport seats, get the sport package or SLine – the sport seats are that good and the stock seats are that bad. You’ve been duly cautioned and sworn.
Starting up the car, everything seems “normal” between the loaner and my own version. Sounds, sound-system, control layout (other than the slight difference between the three and four spoke steering wheel), virtually everything is comfortable and familiar. At this point, I haven’t actually comprehended what the lack of the paddle shifters will mean, so I put the tiptronic in “D” and take off.
The first turn I come to – on a very familiar to me street and intersection – I literally have to look to see if I am wearing my seat belt. I thought I was going to slide out of the car. The standard seats are completely ill-suited to even the non sport suspension equipped A4’s handling capabilities. My seat was both unsupportive and unrestrictive. Instead of holding me in position by being bolstered, I had become a free range white knuckled driver, using the steering wheel to hang on for dear life.
Get me outta this thing I said to my wife, in the passenger seat beside me, apparently now willing to take back her comment that my sport package equipped A4 was “all yak and no and shack” (a technical phrase, if ever I did hear one.) “I guess the sport package isn’t just for show, huh?”
DOH!
If you order one of these A4’s and you don’t have the money or don’t see the merits in the SLine option (which do have a cosmetic component, to be honest), at least get the sport package – again, the seats alone are worth the money, to say nothing of the tires, wheels and more buttoned down feeling that the standard suspension equipped A4 can’t even fake when compared to the sport suspension version.
Here too, is another difference – going around the above mentioned turn, the body roll was noticeable. Apparently, in an effort to make the ride compliant, the standard suspension A4 errs on the side of “a brush with floatyness.”
Maybe it is the H rated, 40 series, all seasons, too, that contribute to this sensation of being on the verge of coming unglued. Whatever it is, the differences have now, officially ceased to even remotely be subtle – get the sport package, do it for the children!
Sorry, I got carried away.
Yep, I missed the paddle shifters, too – here’s when and why. The 2.0T is a major nice engine, but it has some audible characteristics at part throttle in one gear too high that are a bit, gulp, “droning.” Immediately fixable with a quick flick of a finger on your left hand – ta da, you are one gear lower, the rpm’s go up, the droning is banished and you have more power too.
Again, you must be getting the message: the 19” (and probably the 18”) sport package transforms this car from Camry to Carerra. It’s an Audi for pity’s sake – the non sport A4 has been emasculated!
“She’s a witch! Burn the witch!”
“How do you know?”
“Well – she turned me into a newt – uh, I got better.”
Other than these characteristics pointed out above, they’re pretty much the same.
Not to fear, not to complain, though – I have a perfectly fine replacement, an ’09 A4 2.0T Prestige with the nav package and the interior wood trim. It is riding on 18” 245 x 40 H rated all-seasons and has south of 7,000 miles on the clock.
So, you see, I have the perfect opportunity to compare and contrast my A4 (which is also Prestige, but is equipped with the 19” sport package, rear window shade and Audi Drive Select in addition to the nav and wood options) with the “loaner.”
Note: Both cars are tiptronic transmission equipped and both are motivated by “stock” 2.0T engines (at least I assume the loaner has not been modified in any way – as mine, too, has not been.)
The loaner is Brilliant Black with a black interior, mine is Ibis White with a beige interior.
As you would expect there is not a whole lot of difference upon approaching the two cars – mine is lower, less gap between the fender and the top of the tire, and with 35 series 19” tires the wheel on mine does seem to fill up the space with apparently a tighter tolerance or a more hunkered down look. If you approve of the hunkered down look, go with the sport package. If not, the 18” wheels on my loaner are good looking, but the car appears slightly less sleek. I attribute this to the fact that the car equipped with the sport package is lower and has a very small fender-tire gap. Who knows, perhaps the color effects the eye’s perception, too.
At this point, the contest between the two is cosmetic. I prefer the sport package look and the 19” wheels, so personally, I put a “+” in the column representing the white A4 and a “ “(neutral) under the black one.
Opening the door, the black interior of the black A4 appears smaller, more confining and even after 24 hours seems to be covered in a fine dust – admission, you couldn’t pay me to have a black interior – however, other than my personal distaste of a black on black interior, there is very little visually that differentiates the Ibis white/beige A4 interior from the Brilliant black/black A4’s insides. They are both, er, “stunningly beautiful” representations of the best of the best interiors in any car at any price, period.
Yet, when I slide behind the four-spoke steering wheel of the loaner, I do notice that “slide” is the correct word – I slide across the seat and only stop when my butt encounters the console. Hmm, a glimpse of what’s coming, sans sport seats, I guess.
So, color aside, there is, now a – for me – significant negative about the black A4: no sport seats. Now, the contest between the two stops being cosmetic, and I haven’t even pushed the starter button. I put a “+” in the column for seating under the white A4 and this time a definite “-“ under the black A4. Audi should offer sport seats as a stand-alone option, for, I’d say, about $600. The standard seats are beautiful to behold and as flat and unsupportive as can be.
If for no other reason than the sport seats, get the sport package or SLine – the sport seats are that good and the stock seats are that bad. You’ve been duly cautioned and sworn.
Starting up the car, everything seems “normal” between the loaner and my own version. Sounds, sound-system, control layout (other than the slight difference between the three and four spoke steering wheel), virtually everything is comfortable and familiar. At this point, I haven’t actually comprehended what the lack of the paddle shifters will mean, so I put the tiptronic in “D” and take off.
The first turn I come to – on a very familiar to me street and intersection – I literally have to look to see if I am wearing my seat belt. I thought I was going to slide out of the car. The standard seats are completely ill-suited to even the non sport suspension equipped A4’s handling capabilities. My seat was both unsupportive and unrestrictive. Instead of holding me in position by being bolstered, I had become a free range white knuckled driver, using the steering wheel to hang on for dear life.
Get me outta this thing I said to my wife, in the passenger seat beside me, apparently now willing to take back her comment that my sport package equipped A4 was “all yak and no and shack” (a technical phrase, if ever I did hear one.) “I guess the sport package isn’t just for show, huh?”
DOH!
If you order one of these A4’s and you don’t have the money or don’t see the merits in the SLine option (which do have a cosmetic component, to be honest), at least get the sport package – again, the seats alone are worth the money, to say nothing of the tires, wheels and more buttoned down feeling that the standard suspension equipped A4 can’t even fake when compared to the sport suspension version.
Here too, is another difference – going around the above mentioned turn, the body roll was noticeable. Apparently, in an effort to make the ride compliant, the standard suspension A4 errs on the side of “a brush with floatyness.”
Maybe it is the H rated, 40 series, all seasons, too, that contribute to this sensation of being on the verge of coming unglued. Whatever it is, the differences have now, officially ceased to even remotely be subtle – get the sport package, do it for the children!
Sorry, I got carried away.
Yep, I missed the paddle shifters, too – here’s when and why. The 2.0T is a major nice engine, but it has some audible characteristics at part throttle in one gear too high that are a bit, gulp, “droning.” Immediately fixable with a quick flick of a finger on your left hand – ta da, you are one gear lower, the rpm’s go up, the droning is banished and you have more power too.
Again, you must be getting the message: the 19” (and probably the 18”) sport package transforms this car from Camry to Carerra. It’s an Audi for pity’s sake – the non sport A4 has been emasculated!
“She’s a witch! Burn the witch!”
“How do you know?”
“Well – she turned me into a newt – uh, I got better.”
Other than these characteristics pointed out above, they’re pretty much the same.
08-13-2009, 06:53 AM
#2
AudiWorld Senior Member
Nice write up, this debate has gone on in other threads but I still personally am glad I got a non-sport B8 A4. I have since driven both a 2009 SLine and a 2009 P+ w/sports. While they are blast to drive they are NOT realistic for me in day to day driving. My wife is very sensitive to ride compliance and the sports/SLine is not her cup of tea. Also although people keep telling me they have the same or it's not an issue, the area I live in has perhaps some of the worst roads in the world. Thanks to Obama there are repairs happening but there's still massive potholes that would destroy a car with sports/sline especially with larger wheels and/or lowered.
This is not just hypothetical either, a friend has a G35 with sports and another a 3series with sports and they both have to avoid potholes like the plague to both keep their bones from rattling and their rims from being bent among other things.
If I lived somewhere where the roads were smoother and more forgiving, I'd have totally gone for Sports/SLine...it wasn't a matter of money but a matter of comfort. At the end of the day, hearing my wife complain about the ride for 3 years is not worth the few mins of fun I would get out of sports when I was alone.
Just my 2 cents.
This is not just hypothetical either, a friend has a G35 with sports and another a 3series with sports and they both have to avoid potholes like the plague to both keep their bones from rattling and their rims from being bent among other things.
If I lived somewhere where the roads were smoother and more forgiving, I'd have totally gone for Sports/SLine...it wasn't a matter of money but a matter of comfort. At the end of the day, hearing my wife complain about the ride for 3 years is not worth the few mins of fun I would get out of sports when I was alone.
Just my 2 cents.
08-13-2009, 07:21 AM
#3
Audiworld Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: NJ
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Very nice write up. Sports Package is the way to go. Too many benefits to pass up. And couldn't agree more with the Camry to Carerra reference. To each their own, but IMHO the A4 was designed for performance/handling and the stock setup strips that away.
I live in NJ and drive through Hoboken/JCity all the time. And while the roads aren't great they're not awful. I can't say the sports suspension isn't suitable for everyday driving. I mean I've seen plenty of cars with lower rides and bigger rims that get by just fine. My wife is 8 months pregnant and outside of the, "damn this thing is low and hard to get into" mind you she drives a suv. She thinks the A4 rides and handles beautifully everything one would expect out of an A4. What it comes down to is personal preference, but everytime I see or park next to a B8 A4 w/o sport package (I've seen NONE w/sport package) I first smile to myself then shake my head thinking man they don't know what they're missing!!
I live in NJ and drive through Hoboken/JCity all the time. And while the roads aren't great they're not awful. I can't say the sports suspension isn't suitable for everyday driving. I mean I've seen plenty of cars with lower rides and bigger rims that get by just fine. My wife is 8 months pregnant and outside of the, "damn this thing is low and hard to get into" mind you she drives a suv. She thinks the A4 rides and handles beautifully everything one would expect out of an A4. What it comes down to is personal preference, but everytime I see or park next to a B8 A4 w/o sport package (I've seen NONE w/sport package) I first smile to myself then shake my head thinking man they don't know what they're missing!!
08-13-2009, 07:42 AM
#4
AudiWorld Senior Member
Very nice write up. Sports Package is the way to go. Too many benefits to pass up. And couldn't agree more with the Camry to Carerra reference. To each their own, but IMHO the A4 was designed for performance/handling and the stock setup strips that away.
I live in NJ and drive through Hoboken/JCity all the time. And while the roads aren't great they're not awful. I can't say the sports suspension isn't suitable for everyday driving. I mean I've seen plenty of cars with lower rides and bigger rims that get by just fine. My wife is 8 months pregnant and outside of the, "damn this thing is low and hard to get into" mind you she drives a suv. She thinks the A4 rides and handles beautifully everything one would expect out of an A4. What it comes down to is personal preference, but everytime I see or park next to a B8 A4 w/o sport package (I've seen NONE w/sport package) I first smile to myself then shake my head thinking man they don't know what they're missing!!
I live in NJ and drive through Hoboken/JCity all the time. And while the roads aren't great they're not awful. I can't say the sports suspension isn't suitable for everyday driving. I mean I've seen plenty of cars with lower rides and bigger rims that get by just fine. My wife is 8 months pregnant and outside of the, "damn this thing is low and hard to get into" mind you she drives a suv. She thinks the A4 rides and handles beautifully everything one would expect out of an A4. What it comes down to is personal preference, but everytime I see or park next to a B8 A4 w/o sport package (I've seen NONE w/sport package) I first smile to myself then shake my head thinking man they don't know what they're missing!!
08-13-2009, 07:45 AM
#5
AudiWorld Senior Member
Coming from a similarly equipped sports package car, I actually preferred the regular old A4. In my case I didn't have much of a choice as I bought used but I wasn't really crazy about the sports package. 1. It comes with summer tires, a big no-no here in NJ and I wasn't exactly keen on buying another set of expensive all seasons or winter wheels. 2. Those sports seats look nice new, but they don't age very gracefully. Unless you are extremely careful the side bolsters will start to wear, in extreme cases the bolsters on the seat bottom will get smushed flat. The regular A4's seats aren't horrible either, there are much, much worse seats out there. 3. Sports suspensions can be rough. I never realized how stiff the GLI's suspension was compared to the regular Jetta (never drove one for an A/B comparison), the regular B8 A4's setup is a lot smoother but still responsive in the handling department. 4. 18+ inch rims and NJ roads are a bad combination, Tonnelle Ave. in Jersey City... 'nough said. I can deal with 17s, the slightly taller sidewall tires on the Audi are a nice plus (245/45R17 on the A4 vs. 225/45R17 on the GLI)
08-13-2009, 07:51 AM
#6
AudiWorld Senior Member
Coming from a similarly equipped sports package car, I actually preferred the regular old A4. In my case I didn't have much of a choice as I bought used but I wasn't really crazy about the sports package. 1. It comes with summer tires, a big no-no here in NJ and I wasn't exactly keen on buying another set of expensive all seasons or winter wheels. 2. Those sports seats look nice new, but they don't age very gracefully. Unless you are extremely careful the side bolsters will start to wear, in extreme cases the bolsters on the seat bottom will get smushed flat. The regular A4's seats aren't horrible either, there are much, much worse seats out there. 3. Sports suspensions can be rough. I never realized how stiff the GLI's suspension was compared to the regular Jetta (never drove one for an A/B comparison), the regular B8 A4's setup is a lot smoother but still responsive in the handling department. 4. 18+ inch rims and NJ roads are a bad combination, Tonnelle Ave. in Jersey City... 'nough said. I can deal with 17s, the slightly taller sidewall tires on the Audi are a nice plus (245/45R17 on the A4 vs. 225/45R17 on the GLI)
Recently I was treated to a birthday present and got to drive a Ferrari F430, F360, Lamborghini Gallardo and Murcielago all in one day all over NJ. While it was one of the best days of my life after I got back into my non-sports A4, it felt so good and comforting. Driving a true sports supercar makes you truly appreciate having a non-sports daily driver IMHO.
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08-13-2009, 08:03 AM
#8
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Due to the price, this is perhaps an unfair comment: "perhaps the best of both worlds (other than the sport seats, which, for me are non negotiable) would be a stock suspension with ADS. But, the $3000 up charge may be a bit too much to swallow.
08-13-2009, 08:12 AM
#9
AudiWorld Senior Member
Recently I was treated to a birthday present and got to drive a Ferrari F430, F360, Lamborghini Gallardo and Murcielago all in one day all over NJ. While it was one of the best days of my life after I got back into my non-sports A4, it felt so good and comforting. Driving a true sports supercar makes you truly appreciate having a non-sports daily driver IMHO.
08-13-2009, 08:12 AM
#10
AudiWorld Senior Member
I would have LOVED to get ADS but would have cost me close to $7k+ more than I paid since I'd have to get Prestige and then add on the ADS. If they offered ADS as an option for P+, I would have totally considered it.