By Mark Atkinson
Fans of understated Q-cars should be celebrating because Audi’s latest S4 rocketship is all new for 2010, and not to spoil the plot at all, but it’s very, very good. It takes a modern view to performance and does away with all that’s wasteful. A pure Audi? It does exist.
Audi gets all German when it comes to the art of going fast – meaning it throws lots of technology at the problem. The most notable change over the outgoing S4 is a new powerplant efficiently thumping underhood. Gone is the sonorous but fuel-sucking 4.2-litre V8, replaced by a new 333-hp 3.0-litre supercharged V6. While that’s down a few ponies compared to the old car, the new engine is lighter, and produces more torque – 325 lb-ft – at a lower rpm. It’s also a throwback to the old boosted S cars from the ‘80s and ‘90s, and more keeping in the S4’s character.