I've had a solid week (and one tank of gas) in the car and it just turned 75,000 miles today, so I figured a quick recap was in order. First off, this car not only fills, but overflows the hole I had left over from the S4 departure, and it's more fun than I ever imagined they were. It's not as light or nimble feeling as the S4 was, but we are talking apples and oranges a bit. The steering is deliberate yet somewhat heavy, although still lighter than the 02, yay hydraulics. I am still in love with Audi's interior from those years, so clean and simple, just don't you dare try to keep a drink in the car. I missed the build quality and solid feeling when you close a door since it's been all tin cans on wheels for a while. The headliner is alcantara and makes me feel all fancy when sitting in the back seat. Speaking of which, the heated rear seats are a favorite with the kids on the way to school, and there are two more stupid Audi cup holders that come out of the middle bench spot.
The brakes are amazing, I've never owned something with this much grab. 8 pot fronts?! I don't know what pads are in there currently, but they are super dusty.
![[Image: zuKKAIY.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/zuKKAIY.jpg)
We won't talk about the fact that a single front oem rotor is more than the last two e30 part cars i bought, combined.
As much as I am really, REALLY enjoying the car, it is proving to be tough to drive around town. From a stop light, I have two choices, get passed by every grandma in a Camry, or WARP 9.
Ok, maybe not that bad, but as soon as the turbos start to spool car just wants to go and it acts like you blue-balled it when you let off; no matter when you do.
I haven't found the happy place with the pedal that will allow me to gracefully pull away from a stop sign with out being a tool. but Rex was right on when he said it's not happy unless your at full boost. Maybe the happy place is touching the pedal to the carpet and I'll have to live with it.
I've driven a grand total of 3 of these cars, all in the past 2 weeks, and all tuned to various degrees, so I don't know how a stock transmission is but the tune makes shifting very smooth compared to what other say on the forums. It likes to hold rpm's higher even in the regular Drive gear. (sport doesn't seem to let it drop below 4k, and then there's full flappy and you can hold a gear until the nanny steps in.) I have gotten better at hitting it up a gear around town which keeps it cruising nicely but will take back over after a few min if you are in Drive.
I stopped into Mid Atlantic and Jason gave it a once over for me, there's a couple of vaccum lines to replace, the suspension bushings could benefit from a refresh, and of course, the DRC is leaking. The rear driver shock looks to be dripping hydraulic fluid so I called the dealer and they said if the system is faulty, it'd be covered by the recall warranty, but of course the closest one is in Charlottesville, so I need to find a half day to go down there for an evaluation. If it's not going to be fixed on their dime, I'll probably drive it till one actually goes then replace them with some Koni's
Gas Mileage: I got 14.02 MPG on this tank of gas. Not that I'm blaming Rex directly, I share in the results as well, but after filling up today I vowed I was going to use one tank and see how good of mileage I could eek out by keeping the gears up a bit around town. I made it exactly 2.1 miles before the intake noise induced dementia took over and now I have to wait for the next fill up. This may end up proving to be a fools errand.
The brakes are amazing, I've never owned something with this much grab. 8 pot fronts?! I don't know what pads are in there currently, but they are super dusty.
We won't talk about the fact that a single front oem rotor is more than the last two e30 part cars i bought, combined.
As much as I am really, REALLY enjoying the car, it is proving to be tough to drive around town. From a stop light, I have two choices, get passed by every grandma in a Camry, or WARP 9.
Ok, maybe not that bad, but as soon as the turbos start to spool car just wants to go and it acts like you blue-balled it when you let off; no matter when you do.
I haven't found the happy place with the pedal that will allow me to gracefully pull away from a stop sign with out being a tool. but Rex was right on when he said it's not happy unless your at full boost. Maybe the happy place is touching the pedal to the carpet and I'll have to live with it.
I've driven a grand total of 3 of these cars, all in the past 2 weeks, and all tuned to various degrees, so I don't know how a stock transmission is but the tune makes shifting very smooth compared to what other say on the forums. It likes to hold rpm's higher even in the regular Drive gear. (sport doesn't seem to let it drop below 4k, and then there's full flappy and you can hold a gear until the nanny steps in.) I have gotten better at hitting it up a gear around town which keeps it cruising nicely but will take back over after a few min if you are in Drive.
I stopped into Mid Atlantic and Jason gave it a once over for me, there's a couple of vaccum lines to replace, the suspension bushings could benefit from a refresh, and of course, the DRC is leaking. The rear driver shock looks to be dripping hydraulic fluid so I called the dealer and they said if the system is faulty, it'd be covered by the recall warranty, but of course the closest one is in Charlottesville, so I need to find a half day to go down there for an evaluation. If it's not going to be fixed on their dime, I'll probably drive it till one actually goes then replace them with some Koni's
Gas Mileage: I got 14.02 MPG on this tank of gas. Not that I'm blaming Rex directly, I share in the results as well, but after filling up today I vowed I was going to use one tank and see how good of mileage I could eek out by keeping the gears up a bit around town. I made it exactly 2.1 miles before the intake noise induced dementia took over and now I have to wait for the next fill up. This may end up proving to be a fools errand.