HAPPY FRUSTRATION; Performance stifles the Audi critics.(News)

Byline: MATT DAVIS

We just got done tearing around Italy's northern Adriatic coast and the Autodromo Santa Monica near Misano in Audi's latest bits of , the new S4 sedan and wagon. Besides a few aesthetic bits and one or two technical questions-i.e., not out-and-out slams-the S4 is close to our best BMW M3 experience, only different. We can't put our drawers in a twist over anything Audi is doing. That can be so frustrating.

For instance, some say the new A8 design is just a bit off, vs. the chiseled handsomeness of the old one, but even there we don't find ourselves tempted to prefer the old one as we might, say, the 7 Series hailing from down the road in Munich. At this latest S4's first showoff in Paris in September, a few were overheard muttering Audi had missed an opportunity, that little had actually changed outside or in from the A4. And conversely, that losing the twin KKK turbos of the former version's 2.7-liter V6 was just plain wrong.

Buncha whiners. Has the A4 line ever been in need of sweeping cosmetic changes? The old 2.7-liter with its two little breathing devices was sure nice, but have you gunned up this new 4.2-liter V8 self-breather and tossed it around? All right then. Do so and then opine.

Just two visual ticks on these European-spec cars made us cock our heads like a dog: the protruding black rub strips running the length of the lower sill and the silvery sideview mirror housings that look a touch like those metallic shoes that only professional shoppers wear. We fussed enough about these things that you may not see them in the States when the car gets here this fall. Go, subtlety!

After these picky nits, the permanent grin wrapped around our heads. Especially when we started the engine. The biturbo S4 still sounds nice indeed, but its 250 horsepower, 258 lb-ft of torque and exhaust tune somewhat cower in comparison with the new car's 344 horses at 7000 rpm and 303 lb-ft of torque, all available between 3400 and 3800 revs. And whereas the M3 makes its loving noise through four exhaust tips, this S4 rumbles out its all-new lovelier noise through just two orifices. According to technicians, much time was spent on the all-important middle muffler element in the new exhaust path in order to hit this rollicking note. Even the sound it makes when we lift off the accelerator while barreling into a tight one at the end of a straight is great music.

Audi says 0 to 60 mph happens in just 5.5 seconds in the sedan, 5.7 in the Avant. The 2.7T S4 sedan did this in 5.9 seconds while today's M3 still flat-out crushes all comers in this respect with times ranging between 4.9 and 5.1 seconds. With the old motor, the S4 rated 17/24 mpg or 17/23 mpg over at the EPA depending on your gears, whereas the V8 drinks heavily in the city at about 12.1 mpg, yet maintains the 24 mpg on the highway. So, yes, if frat-party torque punch is your Holy Grail, then finding an M3 (16/23 EPA, by the way) may still be your quest. But if fast, super-smooth clutch takeup with plenty of hairy torque and four-wheel traction sound more right, then go S4. Whereas ``boy racer'' comes up in every M3 conversation, this S4 solicits ...