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decksurgeon
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The Adventures of "Argenta" - Audi S4 Avant with a Digital Clock that tells the time :-)

havent been posting much on watches lately. my apologies........this is because the last few months have been spent playing with a new toy.

Here is the roadtrip story of the Audi S4 Sportwagen. Delivered recently after a 5 month wait. She now has to be road tested properly in the real world environment to gain the owner's trust, prove its road manners and be bestowed with a user's stamp of approval that this is the probably the best all-rounded sportwagen on the market today.

She is the "Silver Arrow III" because this is 3rd silver Audi in a row on the driveway.

Audi S4 Avant  - In stock form 3.0L Supercharged and 333hp with 440nm.
Runs with ease to 250kmh (155mph) [Electonically Limited] and with a 0-60 time of slightly over 5 seconds.
The black tape you see is for stonechip protection and is removable.
The car was loaded up with a total of 3 persons and a full compliment of luggage in the load area.



The trip duration was 3 days and 2 nights and the route was ~1900km in total.

Just to give you an overview the adventure covered all the states of Malaysia. We blasted up from Singapore along the east coast going as far up north as Terengannu. Cut across from east to west using the roads around Lake Kenyir, Gua Musang itself and into the base of cameron highlands.

Then we went further north up the western coast into Penang (georgetown in the map)....and finally back into singapore.



Some of the  best driving roads were picked, the legendary Gua Musang highway being one of them......of course the ultimate would be Passo dello Stelvio in Italy, but that would take me 3 months to drive there.

Here's the detail of the East west cross over. There was a stretch of road in a disused palm oil plantation that was poorly paved. Other that that the roads were perfect for driving.




DAY ONE:
From Singapore, we crossed the border and headed up "highway 3". This long stretch of road is relatively quiet and scenic. it will bring you from the south of Malaysia all the way up north thru the towns of Mersing, Rompin & Pekan.

We avoided taking the usual north-south main highway run as it was the F1 weekend in Kuala Lumpur.....therefore avoid crowds and traffic.




Coconuts and Palms....purrrfecct



Some stretches were so clear and open and you could safely take the "racing line" into the corner



We set off at 2pm and by 7pm had covered a lot of ground. Ate dinner at a seafood place called "Pak Su" in Kuantan.


Stayed the night by heading further up north (past Club Med Chearting) into the Awana Kijal Resort.





DAY TWO:
Woke up the next morning, ate breakfast and time to hit the road again.
Today's agenda is to make the crossing from the east to the west coast of malaysia.


More open roads....goodie



Powerlines across the road in North Kuantan / Terengannu area.



We finally reach lake Kenyir - and that place is stunningly beautiful!






The car so far has performed flawlessly, the embodiment of pulling power and load lugging capability all rolled into one versatile stealthy sport wagon is appealing and understated.






We found a shop selling ice cream in the parking lot and that's all we had at lake Kenyir. great excuse to come back next time for an extended trip.
Silver Arrow will be back.....just like Arnie says.....

Silver Arrow III shows her quad pipe exhaust system while we eat ice cream......



Now this is where the fun really begins. where the roads get more and more empty and then you can let it rip......



The interior is cumulation of design art, tight quality control and functional ergonomics.  The layout of the control systems are very intuitive and one can comfortably cruise at high speed and enjoy the Smell of the Mustang Brown Nappa Silk leather, The B&O soundsystem, The carbon fiber inlays......and that not so sexy german woman voice from the MMI navigation system.............dont forget to add the S-sport seats as options, u will need them soon for added lateral grip......



Soon we skoot round the Lake and end up at the foothills of where the Gua Musang Highway in the highlands start.
A quick snap and off we gooooooooo...........



The is where the fun really begins, you can hit up to 180kmh on this mountain pass where the road is relatively clear



The most fun is actually the twisties. The grip of of the car's quattro all wheel drive system is prodigious. On this particular exmple it is also equipped with the latest "Sport Differential" where torque vectoring can be done across the rear axle. Put the car in "Dynamic" mode and one can attack the Gua Musang bends with and entry speed of 100-140kmh.

Understeer is taken car off by the sport differential. The most amazing thing is that you can be completely off the throttle while entering a high speed bend and the sport diff will still do its correction work by vectoring the torque even off throttle as you hit the limits and understeer in the approach.

One does not need to wait till after mid corner to pour back on the power - on some occasions way before the apex of the turn, you have so much confidence in the grip of the system to keep pusing that right pedal to put the power down early.

Twist right......


or Left.....


place you trust in quattro all wheel drive and the latest incarnation of "quattro Sport" ----> Sport Differential



Gotta look out for section(s) of the highway where these has been a landslide taking out part of the road



stopping off for petrol somewhere in the Gua Musang area.......for the entire 1900km trip, the car averaged 7km/Liter (~20MPG). this was inclusive of pretty hard driving and high speed runs.


More great roads leading to the west side of malaysia. next destination is near Cameron Highlands......





We finally made it past Ipoh and blasted up north to Penang (a small island off the west coast of North Malaysia). First choice was a top notch new boutique hotel called G-hotel........we had no prior booking and sadly G-hotel was fully booked up. Went down the street to the Evergreen Laurel.



Silver Arrow parked out front, tipped the valet to look after it well



Evergreen Laurel was along the main street called Gurney in Penang. This street is right next to the waterfront and we were given a nice room with a seaview.



The seaview from the room......




The same seaview from ground level outside of the hotel





Plaza Gurney is one of the main shopping malls along the street. pleanty of coffee places to get a piping hot coffee and relax




It's an absolute crime to drive so far and not partake in the local delights and food that Penang has to offer. They are famous for "white coffee" too in this town. We went to the local 'kopi tiam' to have lunch



The hawker here was deep frying prawns and anything you ordered off his selection. Everything deep fried - as the saying goes "if its taste darn good, it must be bad for your cholesterol".




In addition to the deep fry, lunch was 2 different types of noodles. actuall 2 helpings in total......ah what he heck. The food tastes a lot better than it looks in the photos.




Some shots of Penang town......




Time to hit the road again, Penang is small island joined to mainland Malaysia via a long bridge over the sea. This is a view of the bridge leaving Penang




Tropical shower was brewing too. A view from the bridge of the storm/rain clouds that were in the vicinity pouring buckets of rain into the sea



The it started to pour buckets! quattro All wheel drive to the rescue.
The car never put a wrong foot forward even in severe inclement weather




'Auto City' is a huge area just after the Penang bridge where a lot of the car dealers were. An obligatory visit of the local Audi dealer.



The main north south highway at night, heading South back to Singapore.
It was pretty dark already, this picture is taken with a very high ISO settting so it looks bright, but it actually isnt.




The S4 sportwagen has passed the test and joins the feet of other Audis at home. The vehicle chewed up tarmac at an incredible pace with total ease. The cabin was always tranquil and comfortable. As a package for sportiness and utility combined it was a sheer pleasure to spend 3 days with.
Signature Aluminium Optik effect S-mirrors looking back on 3 days of amazing driving.



S4 Avant  - Truth in Engineering and the epitome of "Vorsprung durch Technik". There is perhaps no other package short of the RS4 or RS6 Avant that could top it off as an all rounder sports wagon.


Next extended roadtrip she needs the work of a german tuner. a boost up to 435hp should be perfect with 515nm pulling power. Add a sporty exhaust to make her more acoustically involving. The stock car is just a tad too quiet at the moment.

Till the next time.......thank you for viewing and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed driving and creating it