Does anyone know what changes will be new on the 2006 S4?

I recently placed my order, but the car will not be here until October.

The dealer told me that there would be some interesting changes, but funny as it is, he couldn’t be certain and had no photos:
The wheels will be 14 spoke (Avus is not an option).
The trunk will display a “V8” badge in the rear opposite the S4 badge.
Here is the big one – He has heard that the 06 S4 will have a 40/60 front/rear ratio to enable better performance.

The 14 spoke wheels show on my order guide, so we are sure about that one, but only that one.

Does anyone know more about the changes and where I can find a photo of the 14 spoke wheels?

Thanks

 

This is what the wheel will look like, its the same one that comes as an option on this A3

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40/60 isn't suppose to be released until the RS4 comes out is what I heard. The V8 badge is underneath the turnsignals on the sides.


here's a list of options:

http://kenjihosoda.com/2006_Retail_Prices.pdf

 

Seems according to that list that the blue tooth will come with voice recognition?

There was also an option for a 4 spoke steering wheel, i hope that isn't standard, i much prefer 3 spokes.. I don't know why, i just do.

Can someone tell me what the purpose/benefit is of the 60/40 is?

 

I don't like the 4 spoke multifuction wheel either, and that is why I did not pay 500 dollars to get it as an option. Our other car has all of that stuff on the wheel and I feel like it gets in the way quite a bit if you are really driving the car. It is good for cruising down the highway though.

I was told that the blue tooth will have voice recognition and I did order that option.

The 60/40 allows more (60%) of the power to be dedicated to the rear wheels, thereby making the car perform more like a rear wheel drive car. Rear wheel drive cars, unarguably they say, give the "best" handling for a sports car. Something about more push from the rear wheels makes the car handle more desirably than an equal distribution betwwen push from rear and pull from front. I don't know exactly, but I guess you can get the rear a little more lively and dynamic through turns, which many people want. Also, it is supposed to provide more fun through the launch, maybe it would let the tires slip a little if you had ESP off.?

Well, anyhow I can't explain it all.

 

I guess my question about the 60/40 is if it decreases the safety of the car *at all* ??

Also, my reason for not liking the 4 spoke steering wheel hsa nothing to do with the functionality on it, but rather I don't like the shape of 4 spokes. What stuff in terms of functionality does the 4 spoke wheel have that the 3 spoke does not?

 

My thinking is that Audi has spent more than a few dollars perfecting the Quattro system and for max functionality in all weather conditions the 50/50 is likely the best. I assume that if it did not sacrifice some all weather drivability/"safety" then they would make all Quattros to drive 40/60 in order to better compete with RWd cars. That makes sense right? Does it really matter? I have, for the past 2 winters, been amazed when we have gotten large snow storms in Indianapolis and northern Indiana. I have Blizzak LM-22s for my 2001 S4 and I feel confident in the car, but I will always find myself on the road with M3 drivers with high performance tires who don't seem worried at all... They'll even try to pass me! Ofcourse I never let'em, 'cause once the weather gets warmer you know they won't let me pass them.

 

From Audi USA's marketing guy: Most people will never notice the difference between 50/50 and 40/60 split. It may have done this to be more competitive with BMW, because they will be able to say quattro now has a rear wheel drive bias.

 

O.K. I went to the Audi website and looked at the rims mentioned above. Those are 16 spoke rims and I would that they would not put rims that are available on a lesser model on a $50,000+ car. We went to the Audi dealer here in Italy to see what they had to say and indeed they have a picture of the 14-spokers. Unfortunately, I can not access the Italian Audi website to get you a picture. However, they are very similar in design to a BBS wheel. I'll try and get a picture when I can. We were told our S4 would have the 14-spokers as well.

Dan

 

I finally got the Italian brochure from my wife, sheants her car. It shows the 14 spoke rim, that the American brochure does not. I hope this helps with the questions. Can someone photshop this onto a Dolphin Grey S4 so she can see what it looks like? Thanks.

Dan

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