2004 Audi S4 Cabriolet Road Test

As Much Fun as an F16 and a Whole Lot Cheaper

Wrap your head around this: 340-horsepower, 6-speed manual, all-wheel drive, seating for four, roofless. Sound like something

A convertible with 340-horsepower, 6-speed manual, all-wheel drive, and seating for four? Where do I sign? (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press)

only experienced in automania dreamland? Think again - think Audi S4 Cabriolet.

With the sun melting the pavement I climbed into my S4 Cab tester, fired up its venomous 4.2-liter V8, dropped the top - its top, not mine - found first gear and left it all behind. With the S4's absolute power and tenacious traction, the ability to "leave it all behind" is both real and surreal.

Audi juiced-up the perfectly good, or should I say great, former S4 by wedging its small but potent V8 into the slender gap

The bigger V8 engine of the 2004 S4 will propel the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press)

beneath the hood. Doing so morphed the family ragtop into the family raging-top. Thanks to a wave of Audi's magic wand, the 40-valve V8 weighs no more than the 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6 used in the previous S4. With a twenty-five percent increase in the number of cylinders and much greater displacement came a substantial boost in power. Car and Driver Magazine achieved a 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) time of only 5.8 seconds. Still, naysayers in the crowd will no doubt comment that the BMW M3 Convertible (5.4 seconds) and Mercedes-Benz CLK55 AMG Convertible (5.3) both outperform the S4 Cab, but really folks, it's splitting hairs. In reality, each of these drop-tops offers acceleration levels that'd better have you tying down Mom's bonnet and the kids' toques tighter than Uncle Ebenezer when the collection plate comes around.