[eric_spt]

2 years ago I drove the 235 when it first came out and really liked the car.

I ended up with an S4 for a variety of reasons. One I already had a 2014 Corvette so another 2 seater did not make much sense. I thought I needed a bigger car. They were hard to get and the deposit situation left a lot to be desired from the few local dealers.

I'm back to not needing a bigger car. We have an SQ5 and at the time our business I transported a lot of stuff myself. Now that we've invested in a vehicle for the business and hired some more staff my car does not need to be something bigger.

I supercharged my Corvette over the summer and now miss the power in the winter. The S4 is tuned to about 340whp. It is a piggy back box and I've never had mine dyno'd but others are around that number. Still the handling and steering is not the greatest even though its still fun to drive.

I cannot find anything else I truly want. I thought of an S6 or a Panamera Turbo(year old) but I'm not excited about it. Nothing else out there really interests me. The new S4 Audi screwed up and took out the DCT. A big reason for the S4 over the BMW was the DCT, the 3.0t and that transmission are one of the best powertrains I've ever driven....now they are taking away the uniqueness.

I thought of buying my S4 and making it what I want it to me. 420whp or there abouts seems to be the limit of the stock SC. I worry about the DCT taking the power and no one really has built a fast S4. There are bigger 1.7L SC's but then I'm getting into a field where hardly anyone has done it and I prefer to go with what works, not a shops on gong experiment. Most people go with a tune and leave it at that. The tunes have their own problem, boost drop between shifts sometimes and all of them are based on lying to the ECU about how much boost there is.

My other thought was a M235 again. I really enjoyed the car. Its AWD, fits my driving personality and it would make a perfect winter car for me and days I don't drive my other car.

I've seen good power output out of tuned cars but wonder about how they drive with the peaky power levels. Not crazy about the ZF 8 speed, yes everyone says its as fast but its not the same as a dual clutch.

But its small, pretty light weight, has good driving characteristics, can make decent power and since it has a traditional transmission should drive better tuned and have better longevity or at least cheaper to fix.

So with an xDrive car can you make a reliable 450-475whp? I do not want to run E85 or a mix, but I do not mind running meth. I run meth in my Corvette and it works great. 93 octane is all they sell around here.

I assume I need a new turbo, are there choices to make it not to so peaky and more area under the curve?

I'd rather it make 400ft lbs of torque from 2000 to 5000 than ramping up and hitting a peak at 450 for only a 1000 rpm range.

How much will the AWD system handle? I really need the AWD, it is primarily a winter car that will get driven in the summer.

The parts all seem pretty reasonably priced. Does anyone do custom tuning, or it all based off of piggy back systems?

The more and more I Think about it the more and more I'm leaning toward the 235. I can take the car and make it what I want it to be.

thanks

[Luminous]

Originally Posted by eric_spt

2 years ago I drove the 235 when it first came out and really liked the car.

I ended up with an S4 for a variety of reasons. One I already had a 2014 Corvette so another 2 seater did not make much sense. I thought I needed a bigger car. They were hard to get and the deposit situation left a lot to be desired from the few local dealers.

I'm back to not needing a bigger car. We have an SQ5 and at the time our business I transported a lot of stuff myself. Now that we've invested in a vehicle for the business and hired some more staff my car does not need to be something bigger.

I supercharged my Corvette over the summer and now miss the power in the winter. The S4 is tuned to about 340whp. It is a piggy back box and I've never had mine dyno'd but others are around that number. Still the handling and steering is not the greatest even though its still fun to drive.

I cannot find anything else I truly want. I thought of an S6 or a Panamera Turbo(year old) but I'm not excited about it. Nothing else out there really interests me. The new S4 Audi screwed up and took out the DCT. A big reason for the S4 over the BMW was the DCT, the 3.0t and that transmission are one of the best powertrains I've ever driven....now they are taking away the uniqueness.

I thought of buying my S4 and making it what I want it to me. 420whp or there abouts seems to be the limit of the stock SC. I worry about the DCT taking the power and no one really has built a fast S4. There are bigger 1.7L SC's but then I'm getting into a field where hardly anyone has done it and I prefer to go with what works, not a shops on gong experiment. Most people go with a tune and leave it at that. The tunes have their own problem, boost drop between shifts sometimes and all of them are based on lying to the ECU about how much boost there is.

My other thought was a M235 again. I really enjoyed the car. Its AWD, fits my driving personality and it would make a perfect winter car for me and days I don't drive my other car.

I've seen good power output out of tuned cars but wonder about how they drive with the peaky power levels. Not crazy about the ZF 8 speed, yes everyone says its as fast but its not the same as a dual clutch.

But its small, pretty light weight, has good driving characteristics, can make decent power and since it has a traditional transmission should drive better tuned and have better longevity or at least cheaper to fix.

So with an xDrive car can you make a reliable 450-475whp? I do not want to run E85 or a mix, but I do not mind running meth. I run meth in my Corvette and it works great. 93 octane is all they sell around here.

I assume I need a new turbo, are there choices to make it not to so peaky and more area under the curve?

I'd rather it make 400ft lbs of torque from 2000 to 5000 than ramping up and hitting a peak at 450 for only a 1000 rpm range.

How much will the AWD system handle? I really need the AWD, it is primarily a winter car that will get driven in the summer.

The parts all seem pretty reasonably priced. Does anyone do custom tuning, or it all based off of piggy back systems?

The more and more I Think about it the more and more I'm leaning toward the 235. I can take the car and make it what I want it to be.

thanks

I have a 235 xdrive and absolutely love it. To make the numbers you want you will need a new turbo, I would suggest the Pure Stage 2. In terms of tuning you can either go JB4 which is a piggyback, or an ECU flash like the Enzo tune.

[bobby66]

Originally Posted by Luminous

I have a 235 xdrive and absolutely love it. To make the numbers you want you will need a new turbo, I would suggest the Pure Stage 2. In terms of tuning you can either go JB4 which is a piggyback, or an ECU flash like the Enzo tune.

Just saw the post, amazing numbers man, with the xdrive do you have problems with wheel spin? is it able to fully push all that power into all 4 wheels? very impressive indeed.

[Luminous]

Originally Posted by bobby66

Just saw the post, amazing numbers man, with the xdrive do you have problems with wheel spin? is it able to fully push all that power into all 4 wheels? very impressive indeed.

Thanks man! I'm still on the tune for the stock turbo so I'm nowhere near 500hp yet, still waiting for Enzo to finalize the tune for the bigger turbo. As long as the road is dry and my tires aren't overinflated, I don't really have any issues with wheel spin, even with traction control completely off. That being said I wouldn't mind some wider tires, I'm still on 225s all around, I think 235 fronts and 255 rears would be ideal for all the extra torque.

[eric_spt]

Originally Posted by Luminous

Thanks man! I'm still on the tune for the stock turbo so I'm nowhere near 500hp yet, still waiting for Enzo to finalize the tune for the bigger turbo. As long as the road is dry and my tires aren't overinflated, I don't really have any issues with wheel spin, even with traction control completely off. That being said I wouldn't mind some wider tires, I'm still on 225s all around, I think 235 fronts and 255 rears would be ideal for all the extra torque.

Thanks for the reply.

These do not have front or rear diffs right?

Is it opposite 2 wheel drive(front left, rear right, vive versa) or is it true AWD drive or a mix?

If I have TC totally off I'll get some wheel spin, in the rain the car will go sideways even in sport mode which is not totally off.

I'm adding up what is needed and seems pretty reasonable to get to those power levels.

[x233]

eric_spt, if you are looking for mainly a wintertime car you may be looking in the wrong place, even if you are considering the xdrive version. it still behaves very much like a RWD, albeit with some help from the front wheels. nothing like the quattro system. not nearly as stable and reassuring under acceleration and braking, cornering and handling a bit challenging on slippery surfaces, missing a true limited slip differential and vectoring sorely. it simply won't matter how much power you get with this car. if quattro is your point of reference it's what you probably should get. if not audi, maybe think about that porsche again (bonus: PDK included).

[ronanz]

Originally Posted by Luminous

Thanks man! I'm still on the tune for the stock turbo so I'm nowhere near 500hp yet, still waiting for Enzo to finalize the tune for the bigger turbo. As long as the road is dry and my tires aren't overinflated, I don't really have any issues with wheel spin, even with traction control completely off. That being said I wouldn't mind some wider tires, I'm still on 225s all around, I think 235 fronts and 255 rears would be ideal for all the extra torque.

yet...


.

[Transfer]

I haven't driven mine on snow yet, but I can say with confidence this my favorite AWD car ever. The RWD bias and the near 50/50 weight balance really make it a hoot on wet roads. I've owned WRX, VW haldex, and currently also have an SQ5. I've test driven B8.5 S4s pretty aggressively too. I have performance winter tires in 225 front and 255 rear because you can't fit a wide square setup (and need to keep diameters the same), but I can get all the oversteer I want even with staggered tires.

I'm not tuned because I have no use for the power in my urban environment, but it sure seems like there is quite a bit of room to play with this motor.

I will say though that while this car drives light and feels nimble, it is a disturbingly heavy car for its dimensions. M235i xdrive is about 3700 lbs. I don't know what else you could go for though other than a B7 RS4 with an APR supercharger, but you've already got an S4. Maybe a used 911 Turbo?

My perfect car is 400 hp, V8, DCT, less than 3800 lbs, and rear biased AWD. Why this no exist?

[eric_spt]

Originally Posted by x233

eric_spt, if you are looking for mainly a wintertime car you may be looking in the wrong place, even if you are considering the xdrive version. it still behaves very much like a RWD, albeit with some help from the front wheels. nothing like the quattro system. not nearly as stable and reassuring under acceleration and braking, cornering and handling a bit challenging on slippery surfaces, missing a true limited slip differential and vectoring sorely. it simply won't matter how much power you get with this car. if quattro is your point of reference it's what you probably should get. if not audi, maybe think about that porsche again (bonus: PDK included).

I've considered a 911 Turbo but I don't think I would be happy with 1 car for everything. The cost is a partial consideration, have to sell my C7 and my S4 and I just dumped a bunch of money into my C7 which I really enjoy.

When her SQ5 is up we'll be getting a Macan, wish we had done it the first time around.

I'm not necessarily looking at the S4 as the benchmark for AWD. My old 2.7t tuned manual A6 with snow tires was still the best car I've ever driven in the snow, they put a lot more work into suspension tuning before they could rely on stability control.

I just need something that with snow tires will get me around if I happen to get stuck out in the snow. We have the other car with AWD/snow tires. We own our own business and work in the same office so on those rare 2-3 days per winter where its really bad just don't drive. I don't even buy snow tires for my S4, just her car for that same reason.

Besides the fact I like the car the price is very attractive. Everything else I was looking at was 2X the cost. I can get what I want in a car, small, fun to drive, make decent power without giving up too much else. I could even track it and saving a ton of money doesn't hurt either.

I like the idea of buying a car as a platform and doing what I want to do with it. It is the reason I've owned Corvettes, probably the best car in its class, but what you can do cost effectively on them is extensive. The new one really does sit at the top of the class. For 8K I put on a SC, meth, had it tuned and it made 645rwhp with zero negative effect. We just got back from a 5500 mile road trip with it back in October.

That is really what attracts me to the 235.

Originally Posted by Transfer

I haven't driven mine on snow yet, but I can say with confidence this my favorite AWD car ever. The RWD bias and the near 50/50 weight balance really make it a hoot on wet roads. I've owned WRX, VW haldex, and currently also have an SQ5. I've test driven B8.5 S4s pretty aggressively too. I have performance winter tires in 225 front and 255 rear because you can't fit a wide square setup (and need to keep diameters the same), but I can get all the oversteer I want even with staggered tires.

My perfect car is 400 hp, V8, DCT, less than 3800 lbs, and rear biased AWD. Why this no exist?

What do you think of your SQ5? Our transmission in Sport mode is horrible, Audi says its normal. Light throttle shifts are extremely harsh, not firm, but harsh with a lot of bucking back and forth. The brakes have poor feel also. Other than that we like it but when you buy the performance version those are 2 things you expect to work.

The Panamera does not get down to 3800lbs but the GTS model gets you what you want.

[BEM-S4]

Having driven the SQ5 for a few days I can whole heartedly agree with you that the Macan is the way to go. Drove from just outside Philly to Buffalo in 5 hours and did the same thing back the next. Really a phenomenal car.

[Transfer]

Originally Posted by eric_spt

What do you think of your SQ5? Our transmission in Sport mode is horrible, Audi says its normal. Light throttle shifts are extremely harsh, not firm, but harsh with a lot of bucking back and forth. The brakes have poor feel also. Other than that we like it but when you buy the performance version those are 2 things you expect to work.

The Panamera does not get down to 3800lbs but the GTS model gets you what you want.

I like our SQ5 for a fast 'ute, but agree the transmission tuning is not that great in D or S but I pretty much always control it manually. They tuned the shift pattern to up shift at like 2k rpms which is just stoooopid. If you drive it manually and keep it 3k-6k though, it's a real beast and a lot of fun. Brakes seem great to me although they're a little bitey at the top of the pedal compared to my M235i. I did have to turn off driver steering recommendation (DSR) via VAGCOM and this really improved steering twitchiness and feel. Overall I don't see the Macan S as worth the price increase but the Turbo is a different ball game.

SQ5 for skiing, mountain biking, paddle boarding, dog and friend hauling duties... and M235i for urban commuting/parking, fun runs, handling, and generally aggressive driving. I love this combo.