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From YourSITE.com Reviews & Road Tests 1490 miles
No big road trips loomed though, so it was off to a large local parking lot to play with our 2007 S4’s 40:60 rear bias torsen differential. As you might know, Audi has been fitting the new rear-bias differential since mid 2005 in manually-equipped S4s and it’s been steadily proliferating into the range ever since. Sampling any parking lot with pure driven snow we could locate, we found the S4 to be balanced and easily controllable via throttle. Whereas in the dry you’d need to manhandle and pendulum-shift the car’s weight to the opposite side one time to get the S4 to swing out, you almost have to be trying to understeer to not to bring on nicely controllable oversteer in such slippery conditions. 24-Hours later, the local Volvo dealer was fitting the Contis to our stock 18-inch wheels. We’d have preferred to be at the Audi dealer, but scheduling was still tight and snow was falling. Volvo dealers knowing low-profile tires thanks to S60 and V70R models, we figured they’d do it without damaging a rim and were pleased when we found the assumption to be correct.
Back at that same unplowed parking lot, we were making the driven snow even more driven. This time, the S4 was harder to break loose, but much more easily controlled, including stopping – a welcome side effect on real world snowy roads when the cell-phone-talker in front of you panic stops at the sound of their barely clinging snow/ice upper coating ripping from their rooftop. Dodge the flying ice and slow to miss the tipping SUV… the S4 shod with Contis does it with little drama. -George Achorn (Managing Editor, Fourtitude)
2198 miles When FedEx comes to your door and the return address is Tire Rack, there’s always reason to celebrate. Several days earlier, we’d ordered some new OZ wheels this time around from the Indiana based purveyor of things rolling. The aforementioned alloys and AvonTech rubber arrived post haste. Knowing the trend for the OEM look amongst Audi owners, we decided to follow that with a bit of a twist. Rather than an OEM wheel or OEM replica, we went instead with a design from OZ closest to those wheels fitted on the R10 TDI and DTM A4 racecars. Not an all-new design, the Superturismo GT from OZ has only recently been available in 19-inch diameters. The look is factory, but more Audi Sport “factory” than quattro GmbH “factory”.
Making our decision for wheels easier was Tire Rack’s Upgrade Garage. Plugging in our make and model of car, as well as color, the Upgrade Garage quite accurately shows a mockup profile view of our car, making us confident the wheels would look the part on our ’07 S4. Happy with the combination of value and performance, we opted for the same AvonTechs we’d fitted on last year’s 4 Season S4 Cabriolet.
Snow was still in the five-day forecast, so a brief 24-hour fitment of the wheels had to be enough to satiate our curiosity for what the car would look like with the new setup before the Contis were again re-fitted for a few more weeks. -George Achorn (Managing Editor, Fourtitude) 2622 miles We HATE parking lots. Why? If you’ve ever seen some knucklehead fling his door open and smack it into a neighboring car, simply to walk away without even looking for damage, and you find it as infuriating, then you’re of like mind. We weren’t around at just such an occurrence, but unfortunately our ’07 S4 with not-even 3,000 miles on the odometer was. Probably thanks to an SUV, we’ve found a small creased dent square on the shoulder of the rear right passenger door. With luck, a paintless dent repair shop might be able to fix it at a later date. -George Achorn (Managing Editor, Fourtitude) 2801 miles The B7 has a plethora of settings that can easily be changed with a VAG-COM. For roughly $300, the device will allow you to troubleshoot, take logs, and recode modules in your car. Be careful when making changes, because if you aren’t careful, you can cause a lot of problems. All the changes explained below were done with a Hex+Can USB interface and Vag-Com Release 607 software. Usually the first thing an Audi owner wants to do is set the windows to roll up and down via the remote. This is done by selecting the Central Convenience module (#46), going to Coding and changing the code from 11820 to 11884. As always, make sure you write down your default codes before making any changes, just in case you need to revert back at a later time. Another annoyance is the seat belt chime that constantly reminds you that your seatbelt is unfastened. While I’m not suggesting driving without your seatbelt, the chime is annoying if you are just moving the car around, or are in the driver’s seat taking some logs with your VAG-COM. To disable the seatbelt chime, go to Instruments (17), Coding, and change the code from 23261 to 23259.
Many people would like to be able to run the fog lights with only the city lights on, but unfortunately this is not an option. However, you can change it so the amber turn signals don’t illuminate when the city lights are on, and so that the fog lights stay on when the high-beams are activated. To make this change, go to Central Electronics (09), Coding, and change the default of 1023 to 1021. This may or may not pass your state laws though, so check accordingly as we make no suggestion that this is legal for road use in all places. And finally, one that is of help to all people with TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System), you can disable the system with only a few clicks. This is a benefit for those who run a dedicated set of winter wheels/tires, as you no longer need to purchase sensors for those wheels. To do this, go to Instruments (17), Adaptation, Channel 61, and recode from the default of 3843 to 3331. Our S4 was ordered without TPMS, but we’ve found the code useful in other cases so include it here for reference. If you ever want to remove these settings, simply follow the instructions listed above and enter the default codes. The above is just touching the tip of the iceberg for what you can do with a VAG-COM, but from what I have found, these are some of the most common changes. - Anthony Garbis (Fourtitude Contributing Writer, Forum Administrator)
2932 miles to 3055 miles I had been driving Swedespeed.com's Project V70R for the past year and was excited to finally get some time with Fourtitude’s 2007 4 Season S4. It didn't take long to realize that the S4 was designed with a little different mission than the Volvo. The ride quality was stiffer, which was fine but what I found surprising was the aggressiveness of the exhaust note at 65-mph. The tone and sound level is more like an aftermarket exhaust system than something from the factory. This may or may not be a bad thing, depending on your tastes. While Volvo may make some of the most comfortable seats in the industry, Recaro does a fantastic job with grippy alcantara seat centers and leather bolsters. The seats are firm, like most German sports sedans and the bolsters are supportive without interfering with the driving experience. The red instrument cluster lighting is easy on the eyes and the adaptive xenon lights work well on dark country roads. Power is impressive when punching the throttle around 4000 rpm. The push into the seat just brought a smile to my face, so I had to do it again and again. While finding the fuel door release isn’t exactly user friendly (confounding actually), I can really appreciate the stereo "wheel" control on the multi-function steering wheel; very simple to change a channel or volume. The switch gear, textures and material quality is top notch and, given I’m not in an Audi daily anymore, I’m quickly reminded of how well Audi can design an interior. I also found that it was easy to make friends driving the S4. One person in particular was so impressed that he or she, took the time to leave a note on the windshield when it was double parked in a parking garage. Go figure. - Chris Stewart (Editor, Swedespeed.com) MORE INFORMATION: 4 Season S4 Sedan Main Page Tire Rack Upgrade Garage
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