Tested! The 2024 Audi S4 Is Still Here, Doing Its Uniquely S4 Thing

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This iteration of the Audi S4 sedan arrived in 2017, powered by a 349-hp, 369-lb-ft direct-injected turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 with an eight-speed automatic and standard all-wheel drive. It received a mild refresh in 2020—when we last tested it—and has remained essentially the same aesthetically and mechanically since. By most standards, the seven-year old S4 (and the regular-grade A4 on which it’s based) is due for replacement. Until that day, the S4 gets a handful of useful, new tech features for 2024.

The ironically labeled Premium (base) trim, mid-grade Premium Plus, and top-level Prestige now all have adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, active lane assist, front and rear parking sensors, a heated steering wheel with hands-on detection, and remote engine start via the myAudi app. The navigation package (optional on Premium Plus and standard on Prestige) now has traffic sign recognition/display that also informs predictive cruise control. These updates are not exactly a of technological tour-de-force, but relevant and useful to be sure.

Our otherwise loaded S4 Prestige test car ($62,895) added variable-ratio steering ($1,150), driver-adjustable adaptive dampers, sport rear differential, and red brake calipers within the S Sport package ($2,500). The Black Optic Plus package ($1,000) blacks out various exterior trim and adds summer tires to unique wheels, while red Nappa leather seats added $1,000 to the total.

Luxury Compact Sedan: Check

Driving the S4 in Comfort or Auto drive modes in traffic or on the highway, there’s little to insinuate the performance this sedan is capable of. The automatic transmission upshifts imperceptibly, early and often. The tachometer barely budges over 2,000 rpm and the throttle response is “next-day,” doing its best to ensure the 21 mpg EPA-estimated city fuel economy. (The single twin-scroll turbocharger doesn’t wake up until revs approach 3,000 rpm.) Adaptive dampers gladly round off road imperfections with a distant thump despite its summer tires with 35-aspect-ratio sidewalls. Coddled by rich leather seats and steering wheel, its mission as a luxury-branded compact sedan is secure.

The driver can wake the car from its fuel-sipping, turbo-lag lethargy by pulling the shifter from D to S, at which point shifts become purposeful and useful, even in bumper-to-bumper traffic where upshifts are delayed and downshifts are hastened reducing the urge to cover the brake pedal. Thumb the drive mode selector to Dynamic and the throttle response sharpens, the exhaust note grows aggressive, and road feel increases dramatically. The S4 is ready for fun – or instrumented testing. Many cars now feature varying drive modes, but few are as distinct-feeling as the S4’s. It’s also worth noting that the system remains in the last mode selected (including the customizable Individual mode) rather than defaulting to the most efficient one after cycling the ignition.

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Audi S4 Grip and Handling

With a full tank of premium fuel, our 3,931-pound S4 is no lightweight. And nearly 60 percent of that weight perching on its nose doesn’t bode well for our figure-eight all-around performance test. Indeed, with an elapsed time of 25.5 seconds, there are many sport sedans—and even some sporty SUVS—with better lap times. From the driver’s seat in Dynamic mode and with ESC deactivated, the S4 feels eager and responsive to driver input, but nowhere close to “Wow!”

The optional rear differential and variable-rate steering do their jobs of resisting infamous Audi understeer, turning the S4 on demand, especially on the brakes, and powering out of the skidpad portion of the course onto to the straight bits. The summer tires certainly help scrub speed and contribute to a 0.92 g average lateral acceleration figure.

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Audi S4 Acceleration

With the same drive settings, the S4 leaves the start line with a rush of AWD acceleration, leaping from 0 to 30 mph in just 1.8 seconds. That’s quick. Three seconds and a couple smooth shifts later (at 4.8 seconds total), it reaches 60 mph with subdued enthusiasm, sounding and feeling satisfying to the test driver. It crosses the quarter-mile finish line at just over 106 mph in 13.3 seconds. That “13-seconds at 100 mph” quarter-mile performance was once a milestone for muscle cars, but now is fairly routine. The S4’s best stop from 60 mph in 112 feet is another good-not-great result. The short-travel brake pedal withstood several more stops under 115 feet, and multiple laps of the figure-eight without fail or fade.

Is the Audi S4 a Luxury Sedan, or Sport Sedan? Both?

While many luxury sport sedans sacrifice the first half of that proposition for the latter, the S4 does not. It does the opposite, and for many that would be the better bargain. The S4 is a well-appointed compact luxury sedan with an attractive interior featuring actual knobs and buttons even on the steering wheel, bucking the haptic-touch trend. It also has excellent highway manners and admirable fuel economy, but is also able to satisfy a driving enthusiast at the touch of a button. We can only wish-cast Audi had shipped the more aggressive (and more handsome long-roof) RS4 Avant wagon to our shores.

In a segment where some are relying on outrageous exterior styling, tech overload inside, or performance at the cost of drivability to woo enthusiasts, the subtle-but-satisfying Audi S4 goes about its business almost without notice, which is too bad. It just might be one of the last cars left that satisfies both sides of the luxury performance sedan equation.