98ttsupra

Looking at getting a 2011 S4 and saw this. Hope it's not a re-post, as it looks like it was released today.

http://cnettv.cnet.com/2010-audi-s4/...-50086182.html

redrocker55

Great review...again...very consistent. Everyone seems to LOVE the S4! Thanks for sharing. I had not seen this one yet.

NWS4Guy

Beige and black interior? This is meant to answer the M and AMG class?

How uninformed can you get?

He talks about the nVidia MMI, then doesn't touch on the building renderings. Isn't impressed with the interior room, yet is much larger than the prior S4 model. Almost nothing on the handling numbers or speed.

While they like it overall, I give the reviewer a "meh" overall.

redrocker55

I think these guys at CNET focus more on the technology side of the vehicle and not as much on the 'driving dynamics' of the car. They try to throw in some driving comments here and there...but from what I understand they focus more on the technology stuff. (i might be wrong).

I only watched it once...but the interview opened talking about MMI and the B and O. He did mention the nvidia and the clarity of the screen, 3D renderings and showed some of the MMI screens...but he must have been in the country for this review...because he totally missed building renderings, he could have showed how accurate the voice commands are, more details on phone and ipod syncing, etc. But to me, it was one of the better clips on the MMI...most of the time you don't get to see any of the screens...there's just SO MUCH more there to cover.

I don't think they are true 'car guys' so their point of reference is not as good as the inside line / edmunds folks...let along the magazines R and T, C and D, etc.

To me...this shows a huge gap in 'car reviews'. Nobody out there will give you a solid review and in depth look at the subsystems in cars. Someone could easily do 60 minutes on the MMI and I'd be glued to the screen.

PhilH

I appreciated the review of the MMI. They spent more time on it than any other review has.

trigoe

Glad he mentioned the absurdity of the speedometer design. It is completely dumb and barely moves with normal speeds.

I'm surprised he didn't touch on the second info screen in the dash and how it's graphics processor is woefully under powered and slow when switching modes.

I appreciate the other deserved and glowing reviews of the S4, but he made some interesting points that came from a non "Let's see how FAST this car can go!" point of view. He was right on several points; the back seat room if there are taller drivers in the front, for example— (when my kids get bigger we're going to have problems, but I'm hoping I can get by the next 3 years).

NWS4Guy

He was dead over downtown San Fran when moving the MMI map around, no excuse there.

redrocker55

No doubt!!! He totally blew that one! Completely agree. I loved the birds eye view of the Infiniti Navi system...the building rendering was def a factor for me in the S4 and the elevation details were just an added bonus...but building details really help a ton!

I use my Navi about 5 - 10 times a day. So this feature is an important one for me.

big windy

Interesting how MMI organizes and scrolls through songs on the iPod. I hadn't actually thumbed through the selections when I did a test drive, but I have a feeling that could be pretty annoying.

NWS4Guy

It's decidedly inconsistent and for no real reason other than lack of oversight or different people coding this aspect.

Example:

Playing songs from the SD in slot 1 or 2, all music is organized alphabetically by song title. Even though it was not placed on the SD card in this fashion, it's apparent that the MMI can still choose to show it in this state.

Playing the same songs from the Juke after importing from the SD card, the metadata is pulled and the songs are organized (by for default view) in alpha by Artist name - drilling down a level to the artist shows album titles by alpha, then another level down, the album folder has the songs from that album in alpha. The view is changable to view by genre, albums, etc. No love for this type organization while on the SD card though.