► 2016 Audi S4 spied in the Alps
► Debadged but no disguise
► Expect 340bhp, 339lb ft
We’ve seen the new 2016 Audi A4 range, sneaked in an early prototype drive – and now we’ve scooped the warmed-over S4 with barely any camouflage at all.
CAR’s spies have captured the upcoming S4 testing in the Alps hooked up to heavy trailers; it’s routine testing to put load on the engine, chassis and brakes, and follows our earlier spyshots testing at the Nordschleife, where it was worked pretty hard by the look of those tortured tyres.
What do we know about the new Audi S4?
The outgoing S4 packs 329bhp from its supercharged 3.0-litre V6. Its successor retains that unit but will step the power up to around 340bhp with a turbocharger instead of a mechanical compressor to swell torque to 339lb ft.There’ll be a hotter-still successor to the RS4 as well, with as much as 450bhp to play with.
While the S4’s overall dimensions won’t change much, it will be lighter than the outgoing one. The new Audi A4 family (type name B9) is built around a weight-slashing platform dubbed ‘MLB Evo’, helping towards uprated fuel economy and downsized emissions. Since it’ll also be stronger and stiffer than the current A4 underpinnings, it promises associated gains on the handling front too. Audi is keen to develop more of a reputation for building drivers’ cars, after all.
Click here to read CAR’s review of the outgoing Audi S4.
What will it look like?
We can now see bigger, hungrier air intakes in the front bumper than the more ordinary A4s we’ve seen previously, with the usual bulked-out sills and quad exhausts a further clue that this is an S model.
Don’t expect any seismic styling changes, either – this will be gentle, evolutionary step forward, in line with the general A4 conservatism. Since the S4 sits towards the top of the A4 tree it’ll get the techiest LED and matrix laser light set-ups, we understand.