New to Audi - B8 vs B8.5 differences and general questions

[ngerasimatos]

I just recently purchased my first Audi, a 2015 S4 Prestige. I am coming from a BMW F10 550i so this is a dramatic change for me.

I am a little confused though between the B8 and B8.5 chassis naming convention.

What qualifies as a B8? What qualifies as a B8.5? What does the 2015 model fall under? What parts (aftermarket) work on the 2015 model?

Has anyone started to tinker with the new 2015 yet? I can't really seem to find any aftermarket items which I assume is due to the car being newly released.

Also, I met another Audi S4 owner with a 2013 S4 and he said the chip reprogramming does not work properly on the newer models? Is this true? I really hope I didnt buy a car that I cannot modify. The whole point of moving away from the BMW was to get AWD and a car that could be modified.

[SwankPeRFection]

All of this info is available if you spend a bit of time around here and do some reading. Makes good bathroom material.

As for just a few of your questions. B8 = 2010-2012 B8.5=2013-current model year. Yours is a B8.5.

Some people have had issues with power output on 2014+ models from some of the tuners. Nothing concrete has come out of the discussions because you know, the tuners are too good to provide the general public with explanations on problems if they exist. One says there's no issues, another says they've seen some problems and are working on it on the hush hush, while another doesn't say anything. Take your pick on who you want to believe.

Good luck on the rest of your research. BTW, I hope you bought an S4 that has Sport Diff... otherwise you'll be hating yourself. lol

[IanVr6]

All of this info is available if you spend a bit of time around here and do some reading. Makes good bathroom material.

As for just a few of your questions. B8 = 2010-2012 B8.5=2013-current model year. Yours is a B8.5.

Some people have had issues with power output on 2014+ models from some of the tuners. Nothing concrete has come out of the discussions because you know, the tuners are too good to provide the general public with explanations on problems if they exist. One says there's no issues, another says they've seen some problems and are working on it on the hush hush, while another doesn't say anything. Take your pick on who you want to believe.

Good luck on the rest of your research. BTW, I hope you bought an S4 that has Sport Diff... otherwise you'll be hating yourself. lol

^this

[raudiace4]

Smh

[Pworld]

All my B8 suspension parts fit on my B8.5 Intake didnt, getting that taken care of this week.

Other than the tune issues (dont have one yet, so not complaining). I love EVERYTHING improved about the B8.5 compared to the B8. FOR ME, keyword, the things that annoyed me about the B8 were addressed. Surprisingly

[Dr GP]

I would imagine that parts for the 2014 model will work on the 2015 as well seeing there were only minor changes, In fact, most of the 2013 parts and most of the 2010-2013 parts are the same, But there can be differences in some cases. Basically there is very little difference between a 2010 model and a 2015.

[ngerasimatos]

All of this info is available if you spend a bit of time around here and do some reading. Makes good bathroom material.

As for just a few of your questions. B8 = 2010-2012 B8.5=2013-current model year. Yours is a B8.5.

Some people have had issues with power output on 2014+ models from some of the tuners. Nothing concrete has come out of the discussions because you know, the tuners are too good to provide the general public with explanations on problems if they exist. One says there's no issues, another says they've seen some problems and are working on it on the hush hush, while another doesn't say anything. Take your pick on who you want to believe.

Good luck on the rest of your research. BTW, I hope you bought an S4 that has Sport Diff... otherwise you'll be hating yourself. lol

I did buy the sport diff. In fact, I have every available option.

[ngerasimatos]

All my B8 suspension parts fit on my B8.5 Intake didnt, getting that taken care of this week.

Other than the tune issues (dont have one yet, so not complaining). I love EVERYTHING improved about the B8.5 compared to the B8. FOR ME, keyword, the things that annoyed me about the B8 were addressed. Surprisingly

What on the intake did not fit? I found a local store that has intakes in stock for the 2014 model, so that should fit. Right?

[S4$Bill]

I did buy the sport diff. In fact, I have every available option.

You can't have every available option. Some preclude others.

[SwankPeRFection]

I did buy the sport diff. In fact, I have every available option.

Adaptive Cruise can be a PITA unless you drive like a grandpa 6 car lengths behind someone while on the highway.

[S4tranquility]

Face palm.

[ngerasimatos]

You can't have every available option. Some preclude others.

I did the following:

2015 Audi S4 Prestige
Glacier White metallic
Black Fine Nappa leather seating surfaces
Carbon Atlas inlay
Driver Assistance package
Sport differential
Adaptive damping suspension
Rear-passenger thorax side airbags
19" 5-segment-spoke-design alloy wheel with 255/35 summer tires

This was the only car they had in stock in the color I wanted so I didn't have much of a choice. Sticker was around 64K but I got it for 59K.

[ngerasimatos]

Adaptive Cruise can be a PITA unless you drive like a grandpa 6 car lengths behind someone while on the highway.

I doubt I will ever use it. I drive less than 6K miles a year and mostly within a 3 mile radius.

[milk242]

I just recently purchased my first Audi, a 2015 S4 Prestige. I am coming from a BMW F10 550i so this is a dramatic change for me.

I am a little confused though between the B8 and B8.5 chassis naming convention.

What qualifies as a B8? What qualifies as a B8.5? What does the 2015 model fall under? What parts (aftermarket) work on the 2015 model?

Has anyone started to tinker with the new 2015 yet? I can't really seem to find any aftermarket items which I assume is due to the car being newly released.

Also, I met another Audi S4 owner with a 2013 S4 and he said the chip reprogramming does not work properly on the newer models? Is this true? I really hope I didnt buy a car that I cannot modify. The whole point of moving away from the BMW was to get AWD and a car that could be modified.

Any B8.5 (2013+) parts should fit your car. Things like spring and coil overs I wouldn't think there would be any difference between the B8 and B8.5 generation.

[SwankPeRFection]

I doubt I will ever use it. I drive less than 6K miles a year and mostly within a 3 mile radius.

Oh, your engine will certainly love that abuse. Yes, I'm being sarcastic.... because if you don't drive a car enough to bring the engine up to temp constantly, you will have some issues in the long term, more so with this car because of DI and carbon buildup if you don't ring it out sometimes and drive enough to cycle max heat into the engine. Good luck with it.

[ngerasimatos]

Oh, your engine will certainly love that abuse. Yes, I'm being sarcastic.... because if you don't drive a car enough to bring the engine up to temp constantly, you will have some issues in the long term, more so with this car because of DI and carbon buildup if you don't ring it out sometimes and drive enough to cycle max heat into the engine. Good luck with it.

It will get some time at the track on a few weekends a month, so I am not too worried. Also, I tend to drive aggressive so I don't worry too much about carbon buildup. Thanks for your concerns though :)

[Ze_Nardo6]

Post pics! Welcome to AWD

[anerbe]

I just recently purchased my first Audi, a 2015 S4 Prestige. I am coming from a BMW F10 550i so this is a dramatic change for me.

I am a little confused though between the B8 and B8.5 chassis naming convention.

What qualifies as a B8? What qualifies as a B8.5? What does the 2015 model fall under? What parts (aftermarket) work on the 2015 model?

Has anyone started to tinker with the new 2015 yet? I can't really seem to find any aftermarket items which I assume is due to the car being newly released.

Also, I met another Audi S4 owner with a 2013 S4 and he said the chip reprogramming does not work properly on the newer models? Is this true? I really hope I didnt buy a car that I cannot modify. The whole point of moving away from the BMW was to get AWD and a car that could be modified.

From a history of RWD BMW's, I went for this S4 for one reason - AWD w/ Sports Diff. For the past 4 months in the warm weather, there is enough rotation in the car to not get bored (so far).

With the last nasty winter in Michigan, I wanted to try AWD for a few years to see if I would miss RWD. I didn't like the 550i XDrive M-Sport I took for a 2 day test drive. Very large / boaty, and the X-drive was very boring dynamically. Just felt like a faster 535 X-drive. Great on straights, but boring at the limit.

[purelife]

Interested to know your comments on your 550i vs the S4 :)

[MrFunk]

I doubt I will ever use it. I drive less than 6K miles a year and mostly within a 3 mile radius.

If I were you I'd save the 60k, buy a scooter or beater car and spend the rest seeing some of the world. 3k radius can't be good for the soul...

[MrFunk]

Interested to know your comments on your 550i vs the S4 :)

I've spent some good time behind the wheel of the 550i.
It's an entirely different car. It's soft, quiet, "comfortable"... does not turn well or stop well... just feels like a big heavy car compared to the S4... Entirely generic and uninspiring to drive.

[MarcWinkman]

Surprised that this hasn't come up, but if you do any suspension mods beyond lowering springs, you'll lose the Adaptive Suspension capabilities.

[The.Wizard]

Just for the record, this year I did a 7 day, 2700 mile round trip across the EU continent including Switzerland, Austria and northern Italy and found the S4 an extremely capable car whether on Autobahns or repeating hairpin bends in the mountains. If the choice options were selected on order of the S4 then really modifications to the car I consider unnecessary apart from say the visual side of things. Some will contradict this for specific reasons like track days but overall it's not worth making big mods to a B8.5, it's pretty well sorted straight out of the box and it will have to be a change of driving style compared to driving a RWD.