While Audi’s SUVs and crossovers are top sellers, Audi also has a fine stable of luxury sedans. One of which is their S4 quattro compact luxury sedan, which is a spin-off of their popular A4 sedan. The S4 differs as it comes with added performance, sporty handling and racy trim.
S4 resembles the entire Audi line with its suave, slippery exterior design that’s coupled to a luxurious interior that boasts diamond-stitched heated leather front seats with extended under thigh support and massage function, faux carbon fiber trim, brushed aluminum pedals and vivid digital instrumentation. The faux carbon fiber trim alone adds a sporty classy touch that differs from the A4 and even competitive sedans.
This sexy sedan is offered in Premium, Premium Plus and Prestige models. We tested the latter.
A 10.1-inch touchscreen serves a host of applications like Apple CarPlay, Android Auto plus functions such as rearview camera, 3D navigation and more. All of which are easy to use. And ease of use continues to the HVAC controls below the infotainment display that, all combined, replicate a Virtual Cockpit. When selecting a drive mode of Comfort, Auto, Dynamic and Individual, they display on the infotainment screen as well.
S4’s stubby gear selector controls the 8-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission that uses a “P” for park gear switch. This is supplemented with paddle shifters for those who want to shift for themselves. They’re a helpful feature when descending steep grades which allows downshifting a gear to slow the S4 and to prevent riding the brakes.
A wireless phone charging pad resides on the console box but the top must be opened to access the phone. And for your listening enjoyment, the test car had a premier Bang & Olufsen audio system.
S4’s heated back seats are a tad firm and tall folks need to do a head duck as the roofline slopes sharply for a sporty appearance and aerodynamics. The rear seat can accommodate two adults, with respectable leg room, even for tall folks. But since the transaxle hump is high, only a short-legged youngster can fit in the middle seat.
Trunk space isn’t bad for a compact sports sedan. With the rear seats upright, the trunk offers 42 inches of cargo loading depth. Flip the rear seatbacks and space expands to 70 inches. Beneath the trunk floor is a space saver spare tire and tools, but there’s no appreciable space around it to stow items of any size.
Under the hood resides a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 that really feels like a small V8 under hard acceleration and highway passing. The effect is a sweet garble emanating from the exhaust tips which is music to a car-lover’s ears. The potent V6 produces 349-hp and 369 lb/ft of torque for EPA mileage estimates of 21 city, 29-highway mpg along with the standard 8-speed automatic transmission. Switch to Sport mode and the trans holds shifts a little longer and shifts are lightning quick. You know you’re driving a sports car when going through the gear set. It’s an exhilarating ride. And the quattro AWD system maintains excellent traction and doubles when there’s snow on the roadways.
Shod with 19-inch low-profile tires (not the best for winter driving in snow), S4 rides smoothly and can be tossed in the turns with confidence. It’s a compliant and planted ride.
The base price of the S4 is $53,800 exceptionally loaded with such niceties as heated steering wheel and outside mirrors, sunroof, adaptive cruise control w/traffic jam and lane assist, Audi front collision and avoidance system, tire pressure monitoring, lane departure warning, electronic stabilization control and many more.
On the options side, Daytona grey pearl effect paint adds $595 while the Prestige package ($7,300) adds an extremely long list of essentials like park assist, Bang & Olufsen audio, Sirius radio, Audi Connect Nav, Audi side assist and 20 more. Tacking on the Sport package ($2,500) adds sport adaptive damping system, sport rear differential w/red brake calipers then dynamic steering added $1,150, Nappa leather seats another $1,000), Black Optic package for $1,000, and the Audi Sport interior package took the bottom line to $69,340 with delivery.
For those who own an SUV/crossover and want a second car with sporty handling and performance and can afford the very finest, S4 fills all desires.
S4 comes with a 4 year/50K mile limited warranty, 12-year corrosion protection and 4 years roadside assistance coverage.
As of this review, S4 was only government tested for rollover that awarded it four stars out of five.
