sakimano

throttle trickery is one thing, but I'd be more interested in a proper tune. You guys will have a couple of options probably by September 2012. Until then though...wow. This car has been out since late 2008. So far

MTM - piggyback that works sometimes, but gets over-ridden by the ECU most times
ABT - same deal since they're not dealing with the security
APR - boost but not much else since the security is hard to work around
Stasis - APR 91 rebadged

Pretty wild how slow this stuff is in coming. Just shows how low volume these cars really are. There are already a couple of tunes out for the V8 Turbo BMWs...and the engine has been around less than a year.

My sneaking suspicion is that APR will have a few more tricks up their sleeves...so that when brand X tune comes out and beats the APR tune, APR will revise theirs to keep up/nudge ahead. As I said though the security on the ECU is driving everyone, including APR, nuts.

BaLLZDeePNYC

My car seems to be a factory freak (as I have stated before) My car always feels like it wants ***** to the walls motion. I had to really get used to its feel and after the dynamic mode mod it really had me feeling tuned. My guys at the shop I used told me it feels tuned or better. (another reason I havent tuned my car as Im worried it may be slower hahahah) but then again I havent driven a tuned one yet. Ill be waiting for the competition and bigger moves toward Stage 3+ like larger SC etc

Brandonb

On DSG cars without sports diff you can get the same boost in throttle response by knocking the shifter over to the Sport position.

On manual cars without sports diff you have to do the VAGCOM mod to permanently put it in dynamic. But seriously, who gets this car with the 6MT and not sports diff?!?

CircuitTested

How slow what is coming? We picked up our car in March of this year and in less than 6 months turned it into one of the most track capable sport sedans out there. At our last event at Watkins Glen a few weeks ago we were running lap times quicker than 911s and the 2 RS4s that showed up didn't stand a chance in either the corners or on the straights.

And what does low volume have to do with anything? I certainly get economies of scale but it really has to do with the aftermarket culture more than the raw number of cars sold. Audi hasn't experienced as strong of an aftermarket desire as, let's say, BMW and thats why our options are more limited. If you're an assembly level programmer capable of cracking into ECUs and Turner Motorsports offers you $25k/yr more than APR what would you do? Look at the Lotus Exige...they literally had years where they made less than 25 units yet aftermarket parts for these cars are abundant. Talk about low volume.

sakimano

As for the aftermarket not being so good for Audi, that's pretty simple again - sales volumes. While entry level audis do well in europe (and there are a dozen or more tuners for them, mostly diesel) the petrol powered S cars get very little attention, especially when the box is a nightmare.

Looking at past S4s vs the b8 s4, the tune development cycle for this car is easily the slowest/worst ever. We are now seeing the FOURTH model year of the car show up and there is still only ONE viable tune that is not a scam, and its very simplified. Maybe you're new to Audi or S4s in general?

P.S. Congratulations on your lap times. I don't see how they're at all relevant to this discussion point that you quoted? In any event your tests are riddled with holes. Fun for you but certainly not 'proving' anything, other than the fact that people don't set a very high bar for 'research' or proof on new platform car parts anymore.

CircuitTested

What? As I already stated above, units sold is not the main driving factor. What is your point about entry level models? Sales volumes for the entry level model is almost always higher for every manufacturer. Neither of our cars are entry level models.

We know...we all know. You even said it yourself in a previous post...the new ECU is difficult. Again, we already stated that it obviously takes talented engineers and developers to crack new encryption methods, etc. And what do those talented people want in exchange for their services? Money. Who can pay them the most? Probably not an Audi tuner so they go elsewhere and Audi guys end up contracting out work or spreading their in-house guys thin. Not sure why you're upset about the whole thing.

We've been driving Audis for over 10 years and this is our 5th S4.

We mentioned our lap times because there obviously are enough aftermarket performance products for this car that are available RIGHT NOW if we can take a luxury sports sedan and turn it into a car that can beat a 911 around a road circuit while carrying a pair of skis. Your initial post was about the "slowness" of tuners to bring out performance parts for the B8 S4. I was simply refuting your statement.

We're always open to suggestions on how we can improve our testing methods so if you have an idea on how we can become more effective then please feel free to share.

terminal nonchalance

Why do all of your threads devolve into you coming off as a dick?

Not saying you do not provide good info at times... But seriously stay in the B7 section unless you can at least be costructive.

I'm sure you are a cool guy off of the interwebs.

Mike

clochner

Nah, I enjoy Sak's posts. Bottom line: a thread is ALWAYS worth reading when sakimano joins in Ya, he's blunt - but his posts are constructive.

81bear

If I may, before and after dyno result would be of great benefit. As Keith from APR said, it reduces more of the variables you experience in comparison testing. I know the manufacturer does, or usually does, provide before/after dyno results on their product offering but I believe we can all agree that we would rather see independent dyno results that have NO bias.

Thanks.

David

terminal nonchalance

Ok - good point... He is really entertaining at times. Can't always agree on the constructive part though ;-)

Mike