03 Jun 03
I'd love to be a fly on the wall in some VW Group planning meetings. Just to hear someone say: 'Shall we buy Lamborghini? Well, we already have the Bugatti name, but, hell, why not.' Or: 'This new Bugatti then. 600bhp? No, 700. No, sod it, let's give it a nice-round 1,000bhp.' And finally, the discussion about the latest S4: 'What about the S4's engine? We could use our 3.0 V6, a turbocharged 2.7, the 3.7 V8 or, er, how about the 4.2 V8?'
There was only ever going to be one outcome really, which is how we come to be testing the S4, powered by the biggest engine ever to sit under the bonnet of Audi's compact executive car. But it's not the heaviest - Audi's well chuffed with itself for making this V8 (similar to that found in the A8) extremely compact and pared-down. Its overall length is 464mm and, at 195kg, it weighs as little as the previous S4's twin-turbocharged 2.7-litre V6.
