DTUK Pedal Box
There's seems to be two types of S4 drivers, drivers that feel like the car has lag and drivers that think they are crazy. I will officially admit, I am with the crazies. In my own driving experience there have been many times where I felt like I was hitting the gas but the car did not accelerate to match how much I pressed down on the pedal. In situations like this I felt that I had to press the pedal further for the vehicle to respond the way I wanted it to which caused it to 'spring' into action. For me, that's where the sensation of lag comes in - it's the attempt to accelerate the car and not feeling like it's moving as you anticipate, only to accelerate more which causing the car to launch forward. That delay in not moving to moving makes it feel like the car suffers from lag. In reality, this is likely the ECU controlling the vehicle's fuel efficiency and our ability to keep the car under control. This was more noticeable in Comfort D mode which I would expect given that Audi has a lot of ingenuity invested to make Comfort D a comfortable driving experience. However, one can not always predict the road ahead when they'll need a more responsive experience on demand. Even when I could predict what's next, like making a left hand turn onto a street between opposing cars, I felt the sensation of "no go... oh, you want to go? then GO!" too many times.
At the end of the day, if you're one with the "drivers of lag" then you already understand; and if your not, please feel free to skip this write up (unless you are completely bored)!
Now, when I first sought out to destroy this lag monster I tried to do it by adding raw power - the DTUK Tuner. In it's own right, the tuner is an amazing piggy that changes the driving experience and almost virtually eliminates the lag mentioned above. Yet there seemed to be something left to be desired in Comfort D that drove me mad. While I was beating the lag monster in the head with a power stick, it would keep popping back up just to let me know that I haven't won yet. Speaking with Aaron at DT Power about my experiences, he insisted that adding a Pedal Box would resolve what frustrated me and gave me a gaurentee that if I didn't have noticeable improvement within 14-days I could send it back for a refund. Feeling like I had nothing to lose, I charged ahead and decided to make purchase.
The Pedal Box arrived in about three business days and I immediately cracked the box open to marvel at the controllers simplicity. Essentially, the Pedal Box is a wired remote control that has three buttons and LED indicators. The buttons are used to change the different modes of the box which include a circle button (for changing modes) and two additional buttons (plus, minus). The Pedal Box has four base modes; OEM, City, Sport, and Sport+. Each mode becomes more responsive to how quickly the car accelerates based on how hard you touch the pedal. In addition, each mode has the ability to be more aggressive by pressing the plus button or less aggressive by pressing the minus button (both up to three times). To share an example, if you want the vehicle to launch into high speed without mashing the gas, set the box to Sport+/+3 and you'll be lightning in a bottle. In stop and go traffic? That's where the City mode comes in. You can change modes while driving and can experiment with each setting to find one that you like. For me, Sport/0 gave me everything I was looking for in a way that felt comfortable for every day driving. Want to compare your new setting with your pedal response prior to the pedal box? No problem, that's where the OEM option comes in. Switch to it to recall what the stock pedal experience is like then switch back to your new setting and compare the difference. Trust me, you'll notice.
To determine what mode you are at use the following cheat sheet;
OEM = White Circle
City = Green Circle
Sport = Orange Circle
Sport+ = Red Circle
Easy way to remember, the more aggressive the mode the more aggressive the color.
Installation
On the opposite end of the remote there are two plugs; one to connect into your driver's pedal and one to connect in place of the driver's pedal. The plug for the driver's pedal is next to the acceleration pedal (near the top of the pedal). The biggest challenge of installing the Pedal Box is disconnecting the OEM plug and inserting the new plug in its place. The reason or this is that there is a stiff plastic trim that sits almost on top of the OEM port where the plugs connect to. It took me about 15-minutes to finagle the OEM plug out and put the Pedal Box plug into it's place. It required a lot of patience and carefully pushing the plastic out of the way while trying to seat the plug in a tight spot with almost no room to maneuver. If you take your time and keep at it you'll eventually get it. Just remember, the OEM plug has a little gray clip that needs to be released before you can disconnect it. It's the same style locking clip that the boost plugs have in the engine bay. They need to be pulled back and pressed in (down) to release the plug.
Once you have the cable connected, you need to connect the pedal's cable into the pedal box. This is a trivial exercise which needs no explanation. The rest is up to you on how you want to route the cable and where you want the Pedal Box to reside. Manufacture's recommendation is to mount the remote to the right of the steering wheel on the open space to the right of your dashboard. They provide two-way non-abrasive tape and a remote holder which you install first and then simply slide the remote into the holder. For me, I opted for an alternative install. I ran the cables down the side of the center console and brought the remote up by the side of my driver's seat. To allow the remote to stay without using two-sided tape on the plastic trim, I used magnets. By putting 3M adhesive on the magnet, I slid a magnet up the inside of the plastic trim and stuck it in place. On the remote, I used the same adhesive and adhered a magnet on the back of the remote. To prevent scratching I used a piece of velcro that I adhered to the magnet to give it a soft touch to the plastic when it "clicks" into place. Eventually I'd like to clean up the back of the remote but I haven't determined how I am going to tackle it yet. In the end, I have what I would call a "stealth" install of the Pedal Box. The magnet works great as I can easily access the remote while driving and "snap" it back to place without taking my eyes off the road. For visuals, check out the picture below.
Conclusion
Aaron was right. There is something beautiful that happens when you complement the S4 with the Pedal Box. I feel like my foot, the accelerator, and the engine are one. If I want power, I have it. If I want to let it up a bit, it does it. If I say jump it doesn't say "how high", it jumps before I finish given the command. It's almost like the car and I are connected. It knows what I want, when I want it, and it never says no. While the Tune Box brought the S4 to a whole different level of driving experience, the Pedal Box cleaned everything up and made it the perfect car. Honestly, I can't imagine wanting a different experience then what I feel with the two boxes combined. In summary, I would say that the Tune Box makes the car faster while the Pedal Box makes the car
feel faster - and together they are an amazing combination of pure driving brilliance.
For those of you wanting a little more, try the Pedal Box by it's self. I've experimented with disabling the Tune Box and the car was still very responsive (just not as
fast with the piggy off). As for the purchase, I'd do it again and I kick myself for waiting as long as I did. Honestly, I didn't believe it would make much of a difference and it certainly did. I am glad to say that not only am I crazy, but I was wrong.
Lessons learned:
Do
not start out in Sport or Sport+ mode until you experience City mode. My recommendation is to drive with the OEM mode and switch to City for a while. Try upping City to +2 and get comfortable with it before going to more aggressive settings.
Seriously take your time with disconnecting and connecting the OEM pedal cable. It's very easy to cut or pinch yourself with the close quarters between the plug and the hard plastic trim.
Finally, your cell phone's camera light works as a great flashlight when installing the pedal box. It rests nicely behind the break and gas pedals and can be positioned to shine light exactly where you need it to be. Plus it takes up little space in what is already a cramped area to work in.
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Originally Posted by S4_Pedro
, but having a square cut out in the trunk and being left with an empty hole bothered me to no end! Thankfully I stubbled across a gentlemen named Eric, "ekyp" on the AudiWorld forums, who sells a high-quality kit that allows you to piggyback off the OEM trunk light with no wire splicing or factory modification.
My YouTube Car Channel: 
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