Audi S4 vs. Evo VIII

[Steiner]

I originally came here last night to post this story, but it was late and I was getting tired, so better late then never.

Driving home from a buddy's house last night on the freeway I noticed a new Audi S4 that was driving in a somewhat spirited fashion. My sister-in-law has the same car and, although I've never driven it, it's definately not cheap or slow. What I know about the new S4 is that it has a 4.2L V8 that revs for days and pulls hard down low too. The BBC's Top Gear even called it a "masterpiece" after it beat an E46 M3 around their track. Needless to say that, as I caught up to him and tried to get his attention, I was fully prepared to get my ass handed to me.

I pulled up next to him on the driver's side and I think at first he thought I was a cop or something because he almost jumped in his seat and let off the gas when he looked over at me pacing him. LOL. Looked like a guy in his late 30's. It was dark but I could see he had a bluetooth on his left ear that was lit up. He was talking to somebody on it too and started smiling right away when he looked over at me. He flicked his dome light on twice and then just took off. That thing was fucking quick and sounded bad ass and all...I dunno...technically advanced I guess you could say.

We were doing about 80mph when he took off. I did the same and by about 110mph he had lifted so I did too. It didn't seem like I made up any of the ground. I was probably a good 50 feet back. When I got up next to him again he sorta raised his eyebrows and I could see him talking again to whoever was on the other end that cell phone call. This time I flashed the dome light twice (no easy feat in an RS) and took off in 5th gear at about 85mph. I let off at about 115mph and he was about the same...50 feet...behind me. He pulls up next to me once more (the light on the bluetooth earpiece is off now) and he gives me a thumbs up...I think...it was dark. I wasn't done yet so I paced him in 4th gear, side by side, at about 65mph lurching every now and then to see if he'll bite. Finally he took the bait!

I couldn't hear his car this time because at 65mph in 4th gear my car is at about 3.8k RPM's and my exhaust is loud. But needless to say turbo lag is not an issue at that RPM. His quick jump had put about a car length in between us but my the time I ran 4th gear out at about 115mph I had pulled even. When I shifted to 5th I lost a few feet and then when I started pulling again he let off. That was probably a good idea as we were doing almost 125mph. :22yikes:

I have no idea what, if anything, had been done to the Audi. My guess is nothing. My '05 Evo VIII RS has a full TBE (70mm Tanabe DP, 3" HFC, 3" RSR ExMag exhaust), JDM MR BOV, K&N drop-in and an EcuTek flash and dyno tune from Gruppe-S in Hayward, CA. Oh yeah...it's been unusually cold around here lately (29 degrees last night) and it feels like the intercooler loves it on the open road - atleast when it comes to the initial throttle response.

[TatII]

wow you barely beat a car that only traps 103mph? hmmm that doesn't seem right. plus the car that jermey clarkson drove was a RS4 not a S4, the RS4 has over 400hp. thats why he said its better then the M3.

plus why were you in 4th at 64mph when you raced him? isn't that 1 gear too high?

[Steiner]

I was in the correct gear. That S4 moved pretty good too. Trapping 103mph is not bad at all, plus that's just one magazine's numbers. It pulled more like an E46 M3, which I believe traps higher than that. Did you clink on the Top Gear hyperlink I posted? That WAS NOT an RS4. They featured an S4. Here's a Best Motoring bit where they compared the M3, S4, STi Spec C and AMG55...

http://www.mysubprofile.com/mbworld/...%20vs%20M3.wmv

[TatII]

oh that was the older video. i thought you were talkin about the video where he raced the speed climber up a cliff with a RS4.

well the S4 still lost to the M3 but i've seen repeated magazine mph in the 100-103mph range. i've never seen it trap any higher.

with the mods that you got you should be trapping close to 112-115mph. it shouldn't even be close.

[Steiner]

Originally Posted by TatII

...with the mods that you got you should be trapping close to 112-115mph. it shouldn't even be close...

Not quite that fast. Some of the newer Evo IX models have trapped over 110mph with a flash and full TBE. They have a bigger turbo, better fuel pump, stronger factory BOV and variable valve timing (MIVEC) though. An '05 VIII with my mods, a Walbro 255, some 272/272 cams and a fresh tune should get close to that 112-115mph trap range though...even with our crappy 91 octane swill out here in CA.

[TatII]

yeah which is what i said, you should be killing the crap out of that S4. btw i saw that BMI and its great, very surprised at the result.

[DinanM3_S2]

Good kill, but not unexpected, especially since your car is modified. The S4 is a bit on the heavy side, so the 344hp V8 is moving alot more weight around then your turbo 4.

A stock evo should be doing a 1/4 in the mid 13s, the S4 does mid to high 13s. The car makes for a great luxury sport sedan, but its 1/4 mile times generally arn't as good as the M3 or the C55 (its real competition).

Any idea how much power your car is putting down?

[DinanM3_S2]

Regarding the BMI video, did he really call SMG an automatic and Audi's automatic a sequential? Hopefully that was just a translation issue, because there is a huge difference between the two transmissions.

I enjoy the BMI videos, but is it just me, or do the Japanese cars always win? They seem to be even more biased towards Japanese cars then Top Gear is towards British cars, just an observation. I wish they would have used manuals on the S4 and the M3 just to keep the cars as similar as possible. I'm not sure how old that video is, but the ZCP/CS M3 would have been a smarter choice for the comparison because it is to the regular M3 what the Spec-C is to the regular STI. But then again I might just be bitter that the M3 lost.

I can't wait for the E90/E92 M3 to come out.

[Steiner]

TatII...I'm still on stock cams so I'm not in that 112-115mph range yet.

DinanM3_S2...on most dynos I'd be around 290whp/310wtq. On the stingy Mustang dyno over at Gruppe-S that translates to about 250whp/270wtq. It's a real ball buster. They've only had one VIII go over 300whp on the stock turbo. Stock Evos dyno between 210-220whp over there. Their dyno is very consistent though and makes for a reliable baseline so you can really mark the good/bad improvements in your mod path. It's just not that great for people in love with telling people what kind of numbers they put down.

[TatII]

so even if you trap at like 108-110mph your still blowing that S4 out of the water.

but damn those EVO's are putting down almost no power with those mods. but i haven't been on evolutionm.net in a long time but with all that you still can't break 300whp? hmmmm it has to be the gas you guys have around here.

i know its not good to magazine race but i remember a few years back when SCC had a evo challenge and vishnu's customer's EVO had just a exede reflash, fuel pump, full turbo back and he made 350whp and trapped 112mph.

you have more stuff then he does and you have a 04 which has a slightly bigger turbine then the 03's which that car was. but i guess he was running race gas at the moment and was running a high octane map.

[Steiner]

Originally Posted by TatII

so even if you trap at like 108-110mph your still blowing that S4 out of the water.

but damn those EVO's are putting down almost no power with those mods. but i haven't been on evolutionm.net in a long time but with all that you still can't break 300whp? hmmmm it has to be the gas you guys have around here.

i know its not good to magazine race but i remember a few years back when SCC had a evo challenge and vishnu's customer's EVO had just a exede reflash, fuel pump, full turbo back and he made 350whp and trapped 112mph.

you have more stuff then he does and you have a 04 which has a slightly bigger turbine then the 03's which that car was. but i guess he was running race gas at the moment and was running a high octane map.

Well he did get the jump at freeway speeds and I caught up. That S4 was fast and it pulled hard. Weight differences are not nearly as pronounced at freeway speeds. That car was built to cruise the autobahn and mine was built to go from 0-100mph. He was in his element and I was not.

You're putting me in the awkward situation of talking down my car. LOL. I'm very familair with the Vishnu ringer Evo that put down 350whp on their "moon" dyno. IIRC, it did those numbers with a race tune, C16, and a test pipe.

With some race gas, a race tune, and a test pipe I would put down better numbers than that because my car (an '05, not an '04) has the bigger 10.5cm^2 hotside. Anyways looking at peak numbers is only half the equation. Power under the curve is what makes a car fun. I'll gladly trade 5-10 peak whp for another 20whp/30wtq between 3.5k and 7.2k RPM's. My car is also tuned to last with a safe AFR and boost levels appropriate for 91 octane pee-pee. This is a mid 12 second car on pump. With cams it'll be a low 12 second car.

[RACER D12]

Both of their runs were high speed +100mph pulls. Which would defiantly play more to the S4s advantage so its not that surprising.

[rice(er)]

Originally Posted by Steiner

it's been unusually cold around here lately (29 degrees last night)

wow, i wish it was 29 right now....yesterday was -9 and today was like 10 degrees, and no.....its not a typo before the 9, its a NEGATIVE

[Steiner]

Originally Posted by rice(er)

wow, i wish it was 29 right now....yesterday was -9 and today was like 10 degrees, and no.....its not a typo before the 9, its a NEGATIVE

Hehe. Yeah we're spoiled out here. I remember negative temperature readings when I lived in Iowa. No way Jose! I'm done with that. BTW...last week it got up to 75 during the day. That's about 12 degrees higher than the normal temps this time of year. Then it got cold all of a sudden. 29 degrees is way unusual around here. It's especially bad for all the fruit and veggie crops in the central valley.

[2000LS1Z28]

Originally Posted by TatII

so even if you trap at like 108-110mph your still blowing that S4 out of the water.

but damn those EVO's are putting down almost no power with those mods. but i haven't been on evolutionm.net in a long time but with all that you still can't break 300whp? hmmmm it has to be the gas you guys have around here.

i know its not good to magazine race but i remember a few years back when SCC had a evo challenge and vishnu's customer's EVO had just a exede reflash, fuel pump, full turbo back and he made 350whp and trapped 112mph.

you have more stuff then he does and you have a 04 which has a slightly bigger turbine then the 03's which that car was. but i guess he was running race gas at the moment and was running a high octane map.

My former 03 Evo was tuned by Shiv himself. It had a catback exh., K&N drop in, and the XEDE piggyback in it. It only dynoed 228whp. Dunno how he saw 300whp. I saw a guy at his shop with a cam, cam gears, turboback exh., CAI, BOV of some sort, and the ecu flash. He only saw 280whp. Shiv's dyno reads really low numbers though.

Steiner you should have Shiv look at your car. He is very knowledgeable about cars. Whatever you do, avoid the dynoflash.

Gosh, I still miss my Evo. Oh well