Tuned super-sedans Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 and Audi S4

It's always great when you're a car enthusiast, but nothing beats the feeling when your best friend is a car enthusiast too. Here’s a story about two friends, more like brothers, who put their money where their minds were and built powerful sleeper cars to use as their dailies, but also to take to car meets and be a part of the community.

In early 2023, Gautam and Dhruv acquired their dream purchases – the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 and the Audi S4. Gautam is a Mercedes-AMG fanatic, with a particular interest in the late 2000s, when Mercedes-AMG made very desirable cars like the C 63, E 63, and ML 63. Dhruv, being a family man keeps comfort as his top priority. He has previously owned an Audi A3 and knows how Audi can marry performance with comfort. While the market is flooded with pre-owned Audi A4s, you really need a hawk’s eye to find an S4. Sometimes S4s are even listed as A4s because a dealer might not pay attention and confuse the two. The S4 is as subtle as subtle gets, because the only visual difference between the A4 and the S4 are the silver wing mirrors and quad-exhaust tail pipes. Similar is the case with the AMG CLA 45 and Mercedes-Benz CLA 200, with the AMG grille, different wheels and quad-exhaust tail pipes. However, these sleepers have a charm of their own. They easily blend into traffic, and as soon as the lights go green, you can engage launch control and leave the cars next to you eating dust.

This Audi S4 gets plenty of mods but doesn’t change its sleeper personality. It houses a 3-litre supercharged V6 mill that runs a Stage 2 ECU and TCU remap by APR.

This increases power tremendously, and the car now pushes 460bhp (+132bhp) and 550Nm (+110Nm), with 0 to 100kmph coming up in 4 flying seconds. The car gets an Audi RS4 honeycomb grille, an RS4 bumper with a front splitter, a sweet-looking Midnight Purple colour, a Borla catback exhaust system and Lenso wheels on 18-inch Pirelli P Zero tyres with 3mm spacers. The rear fascia really elevates this S4 as it gets a carbonfibre lip spoiler, quad-exhaust tail pipes and a custom rear diffuser with a brake light.

Moving on to Gautam’s AMG CLA 45, which houses a 2-litre four-cyl engine that pushes 375bhp and 475Nm. The car previously ran a stage 1 tune, but with modifications arise problems, and that’s what happened here. The engine started jerking after 3000rpm and the tune didn’t seem to work well with the machine. In a few days, an engine check light appeared and that was it for Gautam. He immediately went to the tuner and removed the tune, because no performance mod should come at the expense of reliability.

Breathability was still a key factor, especially in the kind of weather and environment Mumbai has, so Gautam got a 5-inch intake by CTS Turbo which makes the intake noise heavenly. In terms of design, the front gets a Panamericana grille, the wheels have been painted black and the car has been completely dechromed. The rear is the interesting bit with a carbonfibre diffuser with a brake light (inspired by F1 cars) and a carbonfibre lip spoiler.

Coming to the interior, the S4’s cabin’s first visual mod is the carbonfibre and Alcantara steering wheel – this steering wheel makes me want to drive the car faster. The seats come with Alcantara as stock, and the Audi MMI has been replaced with an aftermarket 10.1-inch digital info screen that supports Android Auto relay and also gets a sport display. The AMG CLA 45’s interior remains stock apart from some red accents, but it gets such a good interior from the factory, that it doesn’t really need upgrades.

These two school friends never would have thought that they would grow up and purchase cars that are similar to each other but still miles apart. Only car enthusiasts can share the same moments of happiness or sorrow – they find joy when their friend’s car runs great as well as feel the pain when their friend’s car breaks down. This is the power of automobiles and how they truly instil the concepts of friendship and trust. Enthusiasts can never settle on one car and always have the bug to keep on upgrading. When that bug bites these two boys hard again, I’m keen to know which cars they acquire next and what build they plan with it. Because friends who drive together, stay together.