Oh, is it? Huh. Am really behind.

Now the A4 is DCT and the S4 is slush box.

Yeah the shifts are really fast plus I have to tell you this car is really solid, my daughters 2017 got slammed REALLY hard in the drivers side rear door by a pick up truck that ran a red light which then sent her into another car and while the car got totaled the interior looked perfect. You would never know a big truck hit it if you were sitting inside the car plus the smashed in door worked perfectly after the accident.

It is a really great car which is why I got her the same exact car though different color.


Btw for 2018 they are all S lines.

Curious- did you lease or buy it? In the past, I've noticed that, in general, Audi leases are not favorable compared to BMW and Mercedes. Overall though, I think they generally make the most appealing cars in the segments in which they compete with the other big 2. The new A6 looks great inside and out. Looking forward to trying out the new A4 this summer with Silvercar (they actually had the best deal on a week long rental)

Both the totaled car and new car are leased ... I did a 3 yr on the first one and a 2 yr on the new one. If you want the figures I paid send me a pm and I’ll be happy to give you the details.

The lease deal on both are decent ... not amazing but not horrible.

Btw the new A6 looks appealing I love my current one and did a 2 yr lease on it and it comes up at the end of this year ... I hope the new one is out in time though I’m pretty sure the lease will be ridiculous being that the car will be just coming out.

Yes- the new A6 will likely have terrible lease deals for a while (my guess is 800+/month . Starting to see some deals on 540s so that could be an option for you as well (also seems like a very nice car but not as striking inside/out as the new a6).

I’m currently paying I think either $810 or $818 for my current A6 so I’d be ok with that number but keep in mind i do 2 year leases which is why the figure is on the higher side.

I will definitely be looking at the 540 as well as the 550 next ... at first I wasn’t into the 5er redesign but the style is growing on me.

ah ok- guessing you have a fairly loaded A6 then. New 5 series is starting to grow on me as well. Saw an M550 in person the other day and really liked it. Seems like the new 540 is roughly as quick as the old 550. If I decided to go down that route for my next car, I think I"d also seriously consider the new X3 M40i (seems like the overall best of the current crop of "performance" CUvs. Very similar interior/space as the 5 series but am starting to appreciate the SUV form factor for family use. (I have to eat crow on that one cause i vaguely remember you explaining how you started to appreciate SUVs when you had kids in car seats and not having to bend down all the time. Didn't understand at the time...I'm also realizing that the more upright seating position is more comfortable and my lower back doesn't hurt now even on long drives :) )

Rented a new a4 via Silvercar this past weekend in LA. Atleast at LAX, they now pick you up/ drop you off via Lyft. That's nice, although I had the bad luck of getting newbie Lyft drivers (in both directions) who took a long time to arrive since they got lost. Other than that dealing w/ Silvercar themselves was pretty seamless.

As for the car, it definitely feels very solid, and the interior is definitely a cut above the 3 series or even C class. The DSG shifted seamlessly even in stop and go traffic, so no issues there. Steering wheel felt nice and was wrapped the type of smooth leather BMW only offers when you get their "M sport" wheel. Seats were also very comfortable- just the right blend of comfort and support. And these were the base seats-- I think they're a big improvement over the last gen ones. All the buttons/ knobs felt great (the climate control knobs in particular feel like something off of a high end stereo). Even the key fob feels high-end!

As for performance, the handling and brakes seemed good. The steering seemed way too light in regular mode. Dynamic mode was a bit better. On a positive note, the car remembers the last mode selected when you start it (unlike BMWs), although you have to manually cancel start/stop each time.

My main complaint was that the drivetrain seems to take too long to respond if you quickly need power. Also seems geared very high (will loaf along at around 1K RPMs on the highway) which might be part of the issue. Dynamic mode was a bit better in that respect, but there still seemed to be noticeable lag. For better or worse (depending on your perspective) there's no attempt at engine sound augmentation, and it doesn't sound very inspiring.

I think BMW is a bit ahead in terms of ergonomics and functionality especially when it comes to MMI vs i-drive. (That being said, the Audi UI definitely looks nicer). Some examples:
1. The voice recognition in the Audi was pretty clunky and failed to recognize the first time on most occasions. It was more akin to the experience in the last gen BMW idrive. I couldn't just say "Navigate to xxxx" and have it work. First had to say "online search" (or something similar). And even then, it didn't work.
2. It did have CarPlay, but it was very glitchy (started flipping back and forth randomly between the Audi media player and carplay a few times). Also controlling it via the MMI wheel was clunky. It was clunky and glitchy enough that I gave up using it after a few attempts.
3. The cluster has a built-in map which looks cool at first. But there didn't appear to be any way to configure it to just show simple arrows and the next turn you're making. Instead, buried on the map it shows the current street name which changes to the next street you'll be turning onto when you get close (and a little dot appears). Kind of hard to parse when you're driving. Maybe if you get the HUD there's a more glance-able view of the next turn.
4. The driving mode selector is on a bank of switches that are recessed under the climate control area. Not as easy to change modes as w/ BMW's rocker switch next to the gear shift.
5. Though it looks and feels much nicer than BMW's, I found it harder to reliably engage Reverse. And, I know most VAG products are like this, but I'm not sure why they insist on having you tip the shifter away from you to go into manual mode (and why you bump it forward instead of back to shift up).

One thing I think they did well in terms of ergonomics was placing the volume knob and MMI presets right next to the knob itself.

Overall, my wife really liked the car (primarily for the seats and the really nice interior). She'd definitely get one over a 3 series. I'm not so sure--think i'd probably get a 330 over an A4 despite the inferior interior quality. That being said, I'm intrigued enough to want to test drive the new S4 at some point.