Well, here I am leaving work and I see this brand spankign new S4 thats in the lot leaving as well. Hes driving like a bat outta hell. So, I get in Mad Max quickly and try to catch up as Ive always wanted to try my hand with an S4 (which I almost bought instead of the Maxima.) Hes weaving in and out of cars exiting the Technology Park where we both work. I go about 50 mpg over the speed limit to catch him. And, what'dya know? We both catch the light exiting on to the main road at the same time. So, based on the way this guy was driving prior to that point, I figure its on! The light changes (we are both going left) and as soon as it straightens, I gun it making my intentions obvious (as if they werent already.) This fool wont bite! I go WOT past him making as much of a racket as possible, still nothing. He then proceeds to hang back about 200 yards for the next 2 or 3 miles. What a wimp! I guess his big bad twin turbo V6 wasnt up to the task of a little scuffle with a N/A V6

Maybe next time. Ill find this guy again........

 

I'm pretty sure an S4 would smoke all but a supercharged 5spd max like a fat summer sausage.

 

He probably knows you Larry. He's AHHH SCARED. He probably know's he's a non-driving fool. LOL.

 

If you find a S4 wanting to run with you, I would love to see the turn out. 14.3 1/4 mile...should be a good one but S4 does have that sub 6 sec 0-60,hence all wheel drive.

Mark

 

a friend of mine owns an S4 in SoCal. he's got a chip and a new exhaust system. stock s4=250hp? his, 355hp. i would NEVER go up against any S4. needless to say against my friend's. it's a nightmare waiting to happen. plus, he feeds it 100 Octane gas (crazy motha).

of course, his rocket cost more than 2 times what i paid... but i get more legroom (the's his envy of my Max)... then again, he gets GPS, AWD, Twin Turbo, Leather, and no creaks. who wins? who knows.

 

no offence dude .. but a fast car ... is a fast car ... yours seems pretty fast with watcha got ... but he's still faster ... LOL

 

If you're REALLY dying for a run with an S4, my brother would be more than willing to run with you. He has an AMS chip, APR test pipes, MTM cat-back. He's always willing to run...with anything. Be warned though, his car is FFAASSTT!! We live in Irvine. Although there must be hundreds of Tech. Dr. out there, I kinda have a feeling you're talking about the one around here. Sorry if I'm wrong.

 

Auto Maxima would get smoked by Auto A6 2.7T
Manual Maxima would get smoked by 6 speed A6 2.7T

Maxima would definately get smoked by lighter S4 WITH a GOOD driver.

 

Well, first off...no way Id want to run a modded S4. Id get smoked like a Swisher Sweet.

Plus, Im also in Tampa, FL. Irvine, CAL is a bit of a drive to get waxed by an Audi. But, Ive got a lil somethin'somethin' for that Audi by the name of 4SFED But, that wouldnt be a fair race.

 

Not from a roll they wont. The main advantage of AWD in a drag race is a standing start. After that, the AWD is a liability. Just how close the 2 are from a roll (or from a standing start if the S4 driver is a dope) remains to be seen. Ill find out one of these days......

I almost bought an S4, but the price to performance ratio was better in the Max. But, there no doubt the S4 is a superior car, and money being no object, would have been chosen over the Max.

 

I did seem to see some trepidation on his smirking and designed sunglassed face as I whipped by.......

 

It was probably more like, "I'm staying away from this crazy kid in a Maxima." A lot of people into fast cars and driving, aren't into straight line speed, or street racing. This sort of reminds me of the old western where the old gun fighter gets challenged by every punk kid.

 

I might agree with you if:

He wasnt driving like an absolute maniac prior and cutting off every car in sight,

I was actually a punk kid and not a 29 year old mechanical engineer,

He wasnt actually younger than me!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by madmax2k
[I][QUOTE]Originally posted by punkdork


I'm not understanding that at all.

 

I think it has to do with the fact that once the car is rolling, turning another set of wheels and losses through the drivetrain robs you of power (for little gain). From a start, you can use the AWD to push AND pull your car off of the line. It's kind of 4WD drive trucks getting lower MPG than those without, because you still are spinning the additional parts.

 

The guy was a real whimp and was driving an S4 with tiptronic. I am not sure of the published 0-60 times for a S4 auto, but if you have a 5 speed Maxima the Quattro and Tip should slow the S4 considerably.

Next time roll down the window and tell him you wanna race...


Speed

[Edited by speedracer3 on 02-01-2001 at 12:48 PM]

 

man...i was riding in my friend's brother's S4...with the mods....chips, coilovers, full cat-back exhaust, test pipe, and awesome looking 19incher rollingstocks..... that car is soooo fast...the first gear was pulling harder than any other car i've been into...
i can't even think of racing with a S4...i'll get my a$$ wupped sooo bad...

 

there's enough additional drag turning a driveshaft that's only 1 foot long to the front wheels. The quattro system doesn't use a transfer case like part time 4wd does. The power from the trans is divided between front and rear wheels, almost like having 4 wheels driven off one driveshaft.
If it takes, for arguements sake 20hp of parasitic drag from the engine to drive all 4 wheels (in the case of a 6 spd here) from an engine that produces say, 270 hp, for a net of approx 230 to the wheels, will that car lose to a car that makes 210 hp at the wheels. Not exactly.
No argueing that 4 wheels will sop up more HP than 2 wheels, but just because the car is rolling doesn't mean that you square or quadruple the losses

 

Well, dont get me wrong, the S4 is a great car. I wish I had one!

But, the driveline losses from an AWD system are HUGE. Even if we assumed that the crank hp was 270 (20 hp above the factory rating of 250 hp), 230 hp wont be making it to the wheels. A 40 hp loss would be less than a 15% parasitc drag, which isnt reasonable for an AWD, but is in the ballpark for a FWD.

URPD dynoed a stock S4 and it made 165 wheel hp. Granted, their absorption type of dyno reads less than an inertial type (like the more common Dynojet), but the driveline losses are there.

My comment about rolling didnt have anything to do with added losses. The losses are there no matter what. But, from a roll, the AWD advantage is gone, and the FWD now has the upper hand due to less of a driveline loss. So, more actual power is making it to the ground. This is why you almost always see AWD cars posting relatively low trap speeds for a given ET. Looking at your signature, your car and mine run almost identical ET's. But, the trap speeds are quite different. Check out the 60 fts as well. Im sure your 2.01 is driven quite easily, where as I had to concentrate heavily on the launch and beat the crap out of the car to get a 2.13.

The final thought I have is that an S4 weighs 3593 lb without driver. A Maxima comes in almost 400 lb below that.

So, all things considered, Ill bet a lightly modded Max can run with an S4 from a roll. Ive already raced a buddy's AWD Talon a few weeks ago. He run's 13.4's at the track and I actually pulled him from a 15 to about 70 mph roll. But, from a standinf start, I wouldnt even waste running him as Id be behind 5 cars before I even got out of 1st gear. (Damn 1.7 sec 60 foots!)

Ill find that S4 again and see how accurate all this conjecture is. I think it will be a dead heat. Heck, maybe it will be his lucky day and we'll meet at a light

 

from an older comparison of the same vehicle (2 Audi A6's) one with sport pkge and AWD, the other FWD without the sport pkge. The sport pkge had larger wheels and of course was heavier than the FWD version. The difference in acceleration was .3 from 0-100. Why? because the AWD weighed more obviously, and probably because of higher parasitic drag from the AWD system. But .3 isn't a HUGE difference when you consider the over 200lbs weight penalty. .3 of a second is more like 10-15 hp. I see your point, but I don't think theres a huge driveline loss from AWD setups.

 

Quote from Audi's web site:

<I>With 250 hp at 5800 rpm and 258 lb-ft of peak torque from a low of 1850 rpm through 3600 rpm, the S4 has power. Gobs of it. Where and when you need it. Forget about turbo lag. The S4's got pull-away power in every gear and 0-60 acceleration in a brisk 5.9 seconds. Wow.</I>

Unless you have a supercharged 5-speed against an auto s4 you're most likely toast. Unless the guy can't shift at all.

 

I hope you smoke him so I have something to tell my brother!!

 

5.9 isnt all the fast. Ill bet a properly driven Maxima 5 speed with a good launch is very close to that. And again, from a roll, this figure has little bearing on the outcome.

 

There are! An additional 5% at least...usually more. The AWD VW's over in Europe are 7% more than their FWD counterparts. That additional loss plus the added weight will slow down in-gear acceleration.

But, enough of this banter from a jealous non S4 owner (me)