Test Drove and RS4 B7
Finally got the keys from my brother and had a nice long spirited test drive, and in summary was dissapointed and a car that didn't live up to my expectations.
In fairness it was a rag top version I test drove which is even heavier than the saloon. On a posative the interior cabin space was a very nice place to be and very grown up, but even that didn't blow me away TBH.
As far as the drive was concerned, on a positive the gearbox and clutch was fanastic, light and short throw unlike a E46 M3. And the grunt for a 4.2ltr V8 an no turbo is a joy but did feel it was at its best just on light throttle blapping about without driving it like you stole it. The V8 sound track is nice if not a little muted even for me who likes a quiet car these days
The suspension felt dissapointingly very firm and not that compliant as a daily driver, and didn't inspire confidence to push on hard. But once brave enough to throw a heavy car about it does do the job and I feel sure could do the business both on track and on the road. But you would need to take brave pills, and trust the cars capabilities if you really wanted to push the limits. If the car was more compliant and more comfortable you could forgive the handling, but it nither inspired confidence to press on, or waft you along in comfort when you wanted to drive like miss diasy.
Best way I could describe power is NICE. Quick enough, and does like to rev and picks up a little more after about 6K revs, which all feels odd in a heavy 4.2ltr V8. But to get the best out of it, it did need to be spanked and the gear ratios were great at just keeping you in the hot zone of 6K. But it didn't set my world on fire or push my buttons half as much as I was expecting and all in all a fairly OK experience.
All in all dissapointed for what is regarded as once of the best saloon's money can buy, and no longer on my must own one day list.
My older Modded S4 twin turbo running circa 380/400 bhp felt quicker and suspension was nicer and more compliant with its coilovers. And my previous S4 running 450bhp felt much, much quicker, and feel sure a lightly modded scoob would be on the tails of on an RS4 very easily, but would start to loose out on a high speed run.
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