In Your Mind Is Audi On Track To Replace BMW As The Ultimate Driving Machine?

All the sports-sedan action is below a $50,000 base price, we’re told by Audi’s marketers. Think of it as the Hugo Boss class of cars, where respected labels adorn quality goods that look swish but still fall within a stretch for wage earners. Go over 50 large and a psychological trigger trips. That’s the realm of the luxury seeker, a rare air where sporty drivers don’t dwell en masse. Even in normal times, go above $50,000 and the dealership traffic trickles.

Audi’s old S4 sedan, last seen in 2008, flew over that ceiling. It started at $51,085 and chased BMW’s somewhat pricier M3—indeed, caught and passed the E46 iteration in our May 2003 comparo—with a 340-hp, 4.2-liter V-8 and a suspension that loved to sprint. “A big V-8 changes everything,” we wrote in 2003. Audi’s eight-cylinder was indeed a rumbling, tach-twisting revelation in its size class. We loved it and will miss it now that Audi has rebooted the S4 with a smaller engine.


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