TeRRoRiFiC35

iTrader: (2)

I'm just curious why you wouldnt spring for the M3 sedan since they are somewhat near the same price? and I really dont see the purpose of AWD in Texas, it just cause more fuel to be eaten.

RX Law

My older brother is the proud owner of a brand new S4... he got it a week after I got my G37s, and smoked his little Z4 3.0

My best friend drives a 11' M3 (my g37 is starting to feel slow). We all got together last weekend and swapped around cars for awhile and went driving. I would take the S4 for interior alone. Beyond that, im not into the GTR look of the M3. Overstated. The S4 is classy and fast. Not to mention I see 3 M3's for every 1 S4.

On the highway, M3 won. For an extra 15K (over S4 sticker) it better!

Based on price, the S4 should be compared to the 335is, which it smokes. M3 should be compared to Audi's RS line.

‪Audi Smokes BMW? 2010 Audi S4 vs. 2009 BMW 335i‬‏ - YouTube

jran76

iTrader: (2)

First, I agree with your take on this forum. Most forums would bash any other car, but this one seems to appreciate other nice cars. The G37 is a great car in its own right, and that probably leads to owners feeling less insecure. The fact is, for the money, the G is as good as it gets.

As far as color, I am not a big silver fan. When I got the G37, it was so hard to find a 6MT without nav, that I had to settle for silver. I normally prefer, gray, white, and black cars. For the S4, I was really looking for the new Monsoon Gray or Ibis White, and I found both at the same dealer in Houston. Then I was able to find a dealer in DFW that was willing the trade a car with them to get it up here (this cost about $800). The local dealer paid the $800, took about another $1000 off MSRP, and is giving me $1000 off for an Audi Loyalty Bonus. This is not a bad deal for a 2012 S4. No other local dealer would come off the MSRP at all. They gave me $26.5k for my trade in which was the minimum I was willing to take.

I actually found a killer deal on a 2011 Ice Silver in New Orleans with the exact options I wanted (sticker was $53k+, and I could have got it for around $49k), but I really did not want to go with silver again.

So, that is really what it came down to for me. I was looking at slightly used M3's, or a new S4. I really wanted to stay around $50k. I found some good deals on 2009 M3's, but in the end it just came down to three things:
1. What I could find locally (all the M3's were at least 5 hours away)
2. Buying a new car versus a used car. Not knowing the history of something like a M3 was a negative, and I felt like the full warranty on the S4 would be a big advantage.
3. Ease and cost of tuning. The BMW has a lot of options, but everything is super expensive, and like the G, mods don't add a lot of power. The exhaust I wanted was $5k. The S4 as fewer options, but they are less expensive and add a lot of power for the money. I can do a tune, pulley, exhaust, intake, and coolant upgrade for that same $5k. The $5k on the BMW adds 10HP, it adds about 80HP on the S4 (about 400AWHP).

No doubt the M3 is an awesome RWD car, and is a better performer than the S4 out of the box. I just felt like I could make the S4 faster in the long run with less money invested and still have a newer car. There is something special about the M3 that the S4 won't have, but I think I can live with it.

eksigned

iTrader: (1)

you know what i LOVE about the S4? i was hunting down a few tuner mods after i saw your thread (i'd really love to have one as my next car)...simple chips throw those whp/wtq values way the heck up there! i love the fact that you can be almost near the 400whp/400wtq range with the S4. That alone justifies getting the S4 over the M3 (my other potential next vehicle). ahhhh any plans to mod? apr seems like the "cheap" way out. i wonder if you can get some sort of a protune, versus just off the self maps? talk to me jran!!! lol

jran76

iTrader: (2)

Oh, and to answer the other question about wheels, I went with the 18" wheels. I already have plans to go with some 19" wheels, and as I mentioned, coilovers and black out all the silver/gray trim (I am not sure what to do with the mirrors, but everything else is going to be blacked out).

I am looking at Avant Garde wheels which are a pretty nice (and cheap) option (basically a HRE P40 knockoff). I have spent a combined $6k on my last two sets of wheels, and I am just not going to do that any more... at least for now.



My other plans consist of all APR stuff. That will probably be 6 months to a year down the road. I plan to do a tune, smaller pulley, exhaust, maybe an intake, and their cooling mods (coolant separator and radiator, but not the larger pump). I will also see what else comes out between now and then, but that is the plan for now. For now it will have to be an off-the-shelf map because that is all anyone offers. They seem to work really well though.

G37CPA

Agreed on the grille - fugly. Don't know about the reliability. Buddy of mine has an '07 A5 sedan, and tells me audi is a four-letter word. Dealer wanted close to $10k for new tranny in his car, at 112,000 miles. Ugh.

madmax2k1

I really like the S4, I'm just surprised you didn't test drive the dual-clutch transmission before ordering the car.

jran76

iTrader: (2)

Looks are subjective, but I promise you will like the way the S4 looks when I am done with it. No doubt the G is a good looking car from the outside, probably better than the S4. Unfortunately, you spend most of your time inside your car, and the S4 is a few orders of magnitude better than the G in this area. The interior on the S4 (and most Audi's) is the most striking difference between Audi and Infiniti.

As far as reliability goes, it is not a huge concern for me on this car. In general, I don't think Infiniti's are the most reliable cars (this is my third), and Audi's are not much worse (I also have a Q7). I also don't keep my cars for more than 4-5 years and 50k miles. My last 3 cars have had 25k, 50k, and 16k miles on them when I got rid of them. If I do decide to keep the car for a while, I will consider an extended warranty. I had my last two Infiniti's in the shop for a total of 10-12 warranty repairs, and I can't imagine the Audi will be much worse (plus the Audi dealer is a couple minutes from my house, where as my Infiniti dealer was 30+ minutes away).

jran76

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, probably not the best decision I have ever made, but I have driven two VW's with it, and thought it was good in both of those. As long as it is on par with those, and I am expecting it will be better, I will be OK with it. In general I hate traditional automatic transmissions. I hated the 5/7 speed autos in the G. However, the M3 and the two VW's I have driven with the dual clutch were pretty nice. My complaint about auto is not the lack of interaction, but the delay in shifting. When I shift gears, I want it to shift instantly. The dual clutch really is fast. On most normal autos, there is a significant delay.... The launch control is an added bonus.

If I really don't like it for some reason when I test drive the car when it comes in later this week, I will walk away. I haven't signed anything yet. They do have a $1000 deposit, but I will deal with that one way or another if I really don't like it....

TeRRoRiFiC35

iTrader: (2)

I see someone wanted akropovic exhaust

G37x Driver

I just came over from the VW/Audi family two weeks ago after 11+ years of VW ownership. My last car was an 06 Passat VR6 that was pretty heavily modified including LED lights like the Audi's. There's something about German cars that are hard to replace, especially the interior. I'm missing my old ride but really like the G as well. Especially for the price.

I would spend sometime over at vwvortex.com or audizine.com for some great mods. Also, tmtuning.com, oemplus.com, and ecstuning.com have great products. AND I highly recommend a VCDS from ross-tech.com for access to your computer. You can really make some great upgrades to those cars.

Good luck!

jran76

iTrader: (2)

Haha. You got it. It is sick, but just really expensive. The problem is, once I get my mind made up that I want a particular part, cost goes out the window. I would not have been satisfied with anything but.

jran76

iTrader: (2)

Thanks. My brother has an 05 (I think) Passat (manual, 2.0T with 4motion AWD), and he really likes it.

I have been hanging out on audizine quite a bit over the last month trying to learn about the various mods, and I have been meaning to check out vwvortex. I am planning on picking up the VAG-COM (VCDS, or whatever it is called) pretty soon to make some coding changes. My brother has one for his Passat, and I need figure out if it will work. I have bought a couple things from OEMPlus for my Q7, and have plans to get the black grill and some other things from ECS already (the grill is on back order, but I am ordering it as soon as I pick up the car later this week). I'll check out tmttuning when I get a chance. I already have way too many things planned....

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

I like the Audi grills, In fact I like just about everything the company is doing right now. The designers just have a way of doing things that add nice classy touches throughout the vehicle. The interior materials are second to none at Auidis' price point and the fit & finish is tight, tight, tight. The exteriors are understated but hold up over time, so many cars look great when they're rolled out but seem out of place several years later, not Audis. You'll love that DCT, my friend has an 11 S4 and that AT just snaps off the shifts and is rarely anywhere but the juicy part of the power curve. Sure it's not a manual but it's SOOOO much better than our 7ATs. Can you tell I'm jealous???

jran76

iTrader: (2)

Thanks! Good feedback.