Just picked up my B8 S4 - A few questions

[DaveLinger]

Hi everyone!

I just picked up my S4. A 2011 Premium Plus with pushbutton start, navigation, backup camera, sport diff, adjustable suspension, etc.

I have a few questions, and Google didn't help much.

First, when I picked up the car, the gauge was reading half a tank of gas. But it went down relatively quickly, and after I filled up the car, the needle reads way above the full mark, maybe a quarter tank or more over the full mark. What's going on here? Is this normal? Could the cluster be coded wrong? Broken?

Next, the headlight lenses are pretty beat up, making the DRLs look kind of crappy/hazy. Does anyone make replacement lenses for the headlights, or should I start my search for cheap housing replacements to swap the lenses from?

Finally, in the CAR menu, if I go to Audi Drive Select, it has 4 selections - Engine/Gearbox, Dyn. Steering, Suspension, and sport differential. It seems I can select between Auto, Dynamic, and Comfort for each. Is it asking me how I want each of these setup FOR THE CURRENT ENGAGED MODE? Or is this for the "individual" mode - and the comfort and dynamic modes can't be altered?

I'm sure I will come up with some more questions, but thanks in advance for helping me out! The car is great so far.

[DaveLinger]

Oh, one more. It seems like the driver side in-dash speaker is crackly. To replace it, please tell me the whole dash doesn't have to come out?

[crazyquik22023]

The speaker cover just unclips. Use plastic trim removal tools then the speaker will unscrew from there. The headlights you will probably have good luck using a cleaner such a 3M headlight restorer, or other similar brands. And as far as the gas gauge reading off try a calibration first using VCDS.

[jimrobbington]

Correct, when you are adjusting the ADS settings, you are adjusting "individual" mode. Otherwise, if you put it on dynamic, that puts everything into dynamic.

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[jimrobbington]

Gas gauge also sounds normal. All previous cars I owned allow the gauge to go above full. This car falls down from full very fast, whereas other cars I've had wouldn't drop below full for at least 40 miles.

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[Sudz]

OP enjoy your new ride, I love mine, especially on rode trips in the mountains.
When i start my 2011, the first thing I do is switch to Dynamic, then drive it in manual mode.

[EHesh14]

I found a set of new lenses from eBay. Forgot the listing, but just search "b8 Audi A4 headlight covers." You can get them from either china or Germany...got the ones from germany and compared to my old ones they look and fit exactly the same for $330 + shipping

[blackjak]

Where are the pics of your new ride...I'm sad.

[DaveLinger]

Since you asked

http://i.imgur.com/c34UQeo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KXkOX1v.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IoGeqhJ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uiPeiLq.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XfRUhqx.jpg

No interior pics yet, but it's your standard black leather interior for the moment. Going to install my BFI shifter in a few days.

QUESTION: According to the MFI, my fuel mileage is awful. I know the EPA estimated mileage on the DSG models is 28 highway and 18 city... but on my all-highway trip back from picking the car up (about 80 miles), I averaged just 24mpg with the car on cruise control. And since then, I've been averaging 17-18 (again according to the MFI).

I reset the trip odometer when I filled up, so I will be checking the actual mileage next time I fill up, but is there something I am missing? I pulled the intake air filter, and it looked pretty okay. Also changed the oil today. The only other "economy" tune up items I can think of would be like, spark plugs? Coils? The car drives 100% fine.

[eightamrock]

Since you asked

http://i.imgur.com/c34UQeo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KXkOX1v.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IoGeqhJ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uiPeiLq.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XfRUhqx.jpg

No interior pics yet, but it's your standard black leather interior for the moment. Going to install my BFI shifter in a few days.

QUESTION: According to the MFI, my fuel mileage is awful. I know the EPA estimated mileage on the DSG models is 28 highway and 18 city... but on my all-highway trip back from picking the car up (about 80 miles), I averaged just 24mpg with the car on cruise control. And since then, I've been averaging 17-18 (again according to the MFI).

I reset the trip odometer when I filled up, so I will be checking the actual mileage next time I fill up, but is there something I am missing? I pulled the intake air filter, and it looked pretty okay. Also changed the oil today. The only other "economy" tune up items I can think of would be like, spark plugs? Coils? The car drives 100% fine.

That is typical mileage for the 3.0t engine. My B8.5 gets 23/24 on trips with over 40 highway miles, and about 16-18 around town. My wife's Q7 is about the same.




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[14S4GWM]

Your snow filter might be really clogged with dirt and grime. They need cleaned a good bit. Take the radiator shroud off and it's right in front of those holes in the intake scoop. Get rid of those v6t badges too.

[DaveLinger]

So I removed the snow filter (although it was pretty clean), and ran through the rest of this tank of gas today (93 octane). Got only about 270 miles before I had to fill up (under 20 miles to empty based on DIS). That seems really poor for 70% highway driving. I barely averaged better than the 18MPG that the car is rated for for CITY driving. On most other cars, you can easily beat the EPA estimated highway mileage with a casual all-highway trip.

Even after filling up with a fresh tank of 93 and turning off AC and doing a 100% highway trip in 40 degree F weather, running cruise control at 70, it could barely keep up 26mpg.

Again, seems really poor for a car that is supposed to get 28MPG highway.

I suppose an intake and a tune will help a little bit. I'm just kind of disappointed considering my 5.2l V10 S6 got the same highway mileage as this S4.

[chrisucf99]

Should have bought an A4 if you're concerned about gas mileage ;)

[14S4GWM]

An intake and tune won't help your case because you will be keeping your right foot down more. I do no highway driving and average 17, I use a gas tracker app and have never gotten better then 18.5.

[DaveLinger]

@chrisucf99 If it was rated for 14 city and 20 highway, then fine. My last car was a V10 that averaged 14-15MPG on a tank, so it's not that I need incredible mileage, I am just wondering why this car is falling so short of what it is supposed to be getting. I want to make sure nothing is wrong.

[chrisucf99]

Manufacturer mileage ratings are always over inflated. You would need to be going downhill with a tail wind to get 28 MPG in an S4, hha

[DaveLinger]

I dunno, it was accurate on my S6. EPA says 13 city, 19 highway. I'd average 14-15 on mixed tanks, and could beat 19 on all-highway tanks. And there are people here on Audizine saying they get better than 28 on their S4.

[14S4GWM]

I noticed your location, isnt that a very hilly/mountain area?

[DaveLinger]

It's hilly, yes. I don't doubt I could squeak out 28MPG on a totally flat plane - I'm just saying every other car I've ever owned has met/exceeded the EPA estimated highway mileage when driving on the highway - and this one doesn't come close. So although I'm sure my terrain negatively affects my mileage, I don't see why it would negatively affect this car more than any other.

[demark]

Congrats on your purchase. I just picked up a manual 2013. I too was surprised to see the fuel gauge drop from full so quickly but as others have noted, this is just the way our cars gauge works. I used the fuelly app to track my mileage from purchase, just to get a feel for where I was going to average. I've tried all different drive select modes and don't see more than a 1mpg difference from auto, comfort, to dynamic, the latter of which I leave on most of the time. I'm roughly 600 feet above sea level, and do mostly back road and highway driving (around 70-75mph). I've logged 1329 miles since getting the car, and saw 22.1 as my best mileage, 18.8 as my worst, and averaged 20.4mpg over this period. Ignore the MFI as it's almost always wrong (noting higher mpg).

You should expect 21mpg overall for an auto, and 20 for a manual in normal driving. A heavier foot will drop that down a few mpg. Not the high 20's advertised, but much better than the 15mpg I was averaging in my B6 4.2. Anyone telling you they're averaging 27mpg must be driving 55mph in cruise control on a flat road. And if you're going to do that, you might as well have just bought an A4 :)

Hope that helps.

[tahoedrew]

I noticed your location, isnt that a very hilly/mountain area?

Not even close! I run Reno -> San Francisco -> Reno (that's 4,000ft up to 7,100 ft then down to sea level and the return is sea level to 7,100ft then down to 4,100ft) and still make 26-27 or more MPG. Driving around town I still can get 17MPG on my 2011 6MT. I don't remember if the OP said he was DSG or 6MT but I'd be disappointed in either!

What are the red and green wires on the right side of your engine bay that look like they go through the firewall? I'm away from home so can't check my engine bay, but that doesn't look stock to me for some reason.

[sacandagaD]

I always fill up and calculate true mileage off of that instead of computer, and never get more than 22-24 mpg. and am mostly on the low end of that range.

[bayonet14]

Nice - now clean it good - hit that paint w/a DA and some CP Essence to make the paint pop - look like you could swim in it!

[s4]