Reviews & Road Tests
4 Season S4 Cabriolet: Report 9
By by: George Achorn
Mar 25, 2006, 14:39

February – Report 9, 17,965 – 19,243 miles

Time trudges on slowly during the cold months. Washington, D.C. area winters aren’t completely frigid, but we’re in the heart of it now. With semi-regular snow on the ground, we appreciate the sure-footedness that our choice to go with a winter tire has bestowed on the S4.

The well-insulated top doesn’t seem any worse for wear when exposed to ice and salt. Our S4 is a driver, not a garage queen and as such, the top has had plenty of exposure time, particularly last month at the hands of contributing editor Anthony Garbis when he took off for northerly Canadian provinces, leaving key and a salt-stained (in and out) and rather tough-looking S4 at the Fourtitude office following his return.



18,008 – A road trip to Western Pennsylvania is no problem for the S4. Even when the gratuitous snow squalls appear as we climb into the Laurel Highlands on the PA turnpike, we slow little. There’s some sort of giggly satisfaction that you get when you pass SUVs on a snow-covered highway in a convertible as you climb a windy pass up the side of a mountain, tucked warmly inside listening to satellite radio.

- George Achorn

18,229 – Sometimes snow tires aren’t fun. Usually a delight in rallying thrills, encountering a semi-large snow-covered parking lot outside of Monroeville, PA isn’t all that fun. Even with ESP disabled, the car is more sure-footed than our hooligan intentions appreciate.

- George Achorn




19,042 – The sun is out and the temperatures not that frigid, it’s time to put the top down if just for a moment. Crank the heat and throw on a scull cap. If it’s limited time you’ve got in the car, you’ll take what you can get. Now, where the heck did we store the rear windscreen. That would have helped.

- David Herlihy

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