Ispeed

I had a rare chance to log a lot of seat time in Ernest's '91 GT as well as my '87 S4 5 speed on the 900 mile trip home from SITM to Boston. Both cars have the Lomas X. I have Bilstein/eibach and the GT has Koni/eibach.

Power: pretty evenly matched, but the S4 feels stronger through the low and mid. (thanks to Dave C's excellent work!) The GT does wail on the top end.

Gearing: here's where the cars are very different. The GT turns a lot of revs on the highway and you feel like you are pushing the car to do 80+ or 85+ mph. The S4 feels relaxed at speed and turns about 20% less revs in 5th gear. 80 to 90 mph feels like relaxed cruising, and there's still great power on tap. At 65-70 mph 5th feels a little sluggish, but a 4th gear blast back up to speed is easy.
On fast twisties I am happy with the S4's 3rd and 4th gear. I didn't drive the GT enough in the same stuff to comment on the differences.

Other: the GT has the newer dash with a knee bolster that actually gets in my way and keeps me from getting as close with the seat adjustment. Not a fan of that. The airbag steering wheel doesn't come with the raised hub and sits farther away, but lookss much more modern than the S4 steering wheel.
The digital dash is something I miss from my last car ('89 a/t) because of the 2 trip meters and range to empty info.
I also have sport seats, and I love the way they feel even for highway work over the comfort seats.

The GT had Konis and my car has Bilsteins, they feel very different there of course. Mine feels stiff and the GT felt softer and smoother.

I like my S4. I like being able to cruise at 80+ mph the way it does.
p.s. I wonder what a twin screwed S4 5m would feel like on the highway...more torque and able to cover a lot of ground in a hurry. I'm sure it doesn't suck!

ROG100

Carl why bother get a real car get an auto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ispeed

Had autos...they are great too.
My truck is an auto...I wish I had paddle shifters or tiptronic because it is always in too high of a gear.
p.s. isn't your sig in need of updating???

stealth

I am still getting used to the gearing and wailing 3000rpm to go 80 in the GT...much more seat time with the 2.20 rear end and the 6500rpm S3 engines makes it feel like the GT's winding up way too fast. OTOH the GT will accelerate from 20mph in 5th.

I had Bilsteins + Weltmeisters in my prior 86. They sure stuck in the curves (except with cold tires ) but the horrible Massachusetts streets were really too harsh a ride with them and even an expansion joint on 93 could make the rear end hop.

The Devek Koni+Hypercoil on the GT I have now stick well but don't ride as harshly as the Bilsteins . The Boges in the 86.5 ride much nicer than either so I am leaning toward keeping that one as a DD with Boge while I live in a place with such poor pavement.

pmotts

That ain't right.

Giovanni

You forgot to compare top speed on both cars :-)

ROG100

Just kidding Carl.
I will update my sig when I get time.
Thanks for the reminder.

Two great cars - not often you get the opportunity to compare side by side.

John Veninger

The GT w/ it's gear box is much nicer in the twists since redline shifts drops the RPM right at peak torque.

AO

My experience with the GT is that it feels like you need a 6th gear on the highway. At 85MPH I was doing a titch over 3200RPM. The car does not feel like it's being pushed at all, but it does feel like you need another gear there somewhere.

I averaged 19.6MPG on the way down, and 20.4 on the way back (with the SC installed). So the car really is not being pushed at all. The best part about the GT is that the show begins at 4k RPMs. It loves to rev from 4k to redline. The GT's power band is comparable to the S4 below 4k, but the S4's power band seems to drop off a bit before redline, whereas the GT just keeps going!

The knee bolster takes a whole to get used to (and not having those trays! Man I miss those trays! ). Steering wheel... I'm not a huge fan of the airbag wheel, but it is a safety improvement. Digital dash rocks!

I think you should TS your S4 and have an even faster car!

stealth

I heard that! I've got to get used to using the map pockets to store the Revos and what-not now, I like the trays.

mackmorrowjr

The supercharged version will only suck gas. man will it suck! I have an 02 Harley supercharged truck that really sucks. Will for sure get out of its own way but really sucks.

Chris

Andrew, your observation on the 4K+ characterstics of the GT are spot on. It seemed weird to me that a sports car should run out of breath as it approached 6K, fitting GT cams to the S4 solved that problem with no loss in response at lower revs. It is the best of both worlds but of course there is a catch .... $$$$.

Chris

Ispeed

I am not trying to knock GTs. They are what everybody wants if not a GTS.
SITM was my first real drive in the twisties with the 5 speed and I loved it. I am just relieved to see how my bargain S4 stacks up against a nice GT. I don't feel like I am missing anything and even though the GT's gears might be perfect for the track I am really just trying to have a great street car. Highway traveling is a factor, as SITM and Frenzy are a long trip. If not for those events, the GT would win the gearing comparison for my needs.
Andrew: every month that goes by makes the DR twin screw seem like the right way to go.
Chris: I have thought of doing '85-'86.5 cams as they are close to the GT's, but I would like to hear from someone who's done it besides Kibbort (his car is special anyway).

Chris

Carl, chat to the 928motorsport guys I have a feeling they have done this also.

One of the best mods I did was changing the cams..

Chris

heinrich

My S4 does not feel as if it loses anything approaching 6k. In fact I was with John yesterday and Godzilla pulles so hard I let him go to 6500, and he was still increasing in pull, so I just don't know that S4's lose anything approaching 6000