I have been considering cars to buy this year as its not long to go before I finally get he money I have been waiting for, and I looked at Cossies, I have looked at Nissans, looked at BMW's, but for some reason I keep getting drawn back to the 10 year old Audi S4 and Audi S6 2.7 bi-tubo cars.

More power than a cossie, more luxuries, 4WD and they look brilliant. I look at cossies now and just think they look old!!!

Maybe its fords fuck up for not producing serious performance cars (IMO) for about 20 years, but has Audi taken up the gauntlet that Ford has dropped after all those years of complacency?

 

Drive one, I bought an M3. Faster, handles way better, better built etc. I wouldn’t say the Audi S4 from that period is the new Cosworth, no way.

 

What's your budget?

Since selling my Saff, I never had a car that I really liked until I bought a supercharged VXR8.

Shanny

 

Awesome car, awesome engine.

 

I'm looking at Audi S4s of the same type awesome cars. Get one with the RS4 turbo and you'll be into the 400+ barrier. BMW M series is a better car but I just find them unappealing.

 

Search on YouTube for "stage 3 s4"
Seriously fast

 

I think S4's are awesome. So much car for the money. I had one last year, was only mapped to 310bhp but went properly well and sounded mega.

 

I love audi rs4's they are mint. I will get one when i win the lotto. Ive seen them on ebay going for 25k. a hell of a lot of car for the money.

 

I think he's talking about the B5 platform with the 2.7 V6 bi-turbo motor. These can be had from about Ł12k

Yummy

 

are we talking RS4 or S4 ???

also the parts and servicing costs of them makes me wanna cry on the rs6 so i am interested in if the S4 is much cheeper

id LOVE to own a RS6,,,,, apart from the auto box everything about the car is perfect for me

 

S4's aren't too bad service cost wise, not for a car of that type anyway. If turbos go it is an engine out job which is a fucker.



It's a lot of car and they can be had from Ł4k. WOuld rather spend some more and get something that's been loved and had some cash spent on the right bits. Think Martyn on here has a silver one with not a million miles shy of the 500bhp mark

 

ill admit they are a great car for the cash,,,,, just they might start getting into the "is it worth fixing" bracket of prices even more if the engine has to come out for a new turbo

bit like my impreza,,,, they aint worth a wank due to the price of running them ( and aint bothered looking at prices now the fuels gone up to see what my car might be worth )

 

Fantastic engine, good ride given their age, but a million miles away from being sporty or involving.

 

My budget is looking at about 4-6k and there are not many many S4's out there for that money, but some of the specs are quite impressive with sat navs, cruise control and other gizmos. A lot of them in the 4-5k range have huge miles on them (100k +) so I think the trick is being patient and waiting for the right one to come along.

 

as per title....NO, as audis have style, sierras dont.

 

If its backed up with service history and reciepts then 100K+ aint an issue, its jut a number stuck in peoples heads.


mine when i sold it was @ 120K and in the 30k i had it for, nothing really went wrong with it, no mega expense

 

i brought one last October for 3.4K, awesome bit of kit for the price, its 310bhp and does go well and done 150,000 miles now. Oversteers a fair bit to start with but a bit of power and its back in line. Worth the purchase but for a drivers car, i'd have to go for an m3 although its an extra 8k on top for a e46 in good knick.

 

Yeah I think it is mainly because 4 cylinder cars which get abused end up wearing out their engines.

But if your saying that a 100+ shouldn't be a problem, maybe I should look at them more closely.

 

Stu mate, my 1.8 4 pot has rolled past the 140k mark now. It's a car that's survived 60k miles of my driving. And you've seen my steady and fuel efficient driving style

 

I love mine, they are not cheap to run but a good fun car, really do not like M5's dont like the look of them or the appeal.





Mike

 

Yeah that only thing thats broken on yours was the suspension... but that was just your fault

 

Thats a beautiful car!

 

Why thank you, it is a nice spec, bucket seats sat nav etc

Mike

 

that really is a stunning car,love the colour, how bad are they for running costs, ive been considering one of these for a year now but still cant decide, just a bit scared of 2-3k repair bills, heard of some real big bills for the drc going wrong, manifold flaps packing up and the engines carboning up! but every car ive looked up theres always some horror stories on the net, ive heard of some big bills for mk1 frs's, bought one and its never really cost me anything more than any other car ive had, i have noticed that they really seam to hold there value

 

My kind of thread!

Someone mentioned the M3 being faster.... mine eats them for breakfast and goes back for 2nds (e46, e36 isnt worth even bothering with!)

Why is it as soon as S4/RS4's get mentioned, the same old sentence crops up: "You've got to remove the engine!"

Well, yes, if you want to/need to replace/upgrade the turbos then yes you do have to pull the engine. BUT, its not exactly something you do every day is it? How often do you replace your turbo on a Ford RS? Not that often!

Their biggest weakness is if they are still running the original factory K03's with high mileage (140k+) and there have been (or still are) boost leaks.
This causes the turbos to over work to compensate and eventually kills them.
Ideal time to stick some K04's on!

A few figures (all approx):
Stock S4: 265bhp
Generic remap: 330bhp
Custom remap/Exhaust: 350bhp

Then you have reached the limit for the K03's, put on some K04's and revelant mods (exhaust/filter/fuel pump/injectors/intercoolers - most of which can be standard RS4 spec) and you are looking at 420-450bhp depending on mods.
Start adding other bits like water injection/FMIC etc and you can clear 500bhp RELIABLY on stock internals and heads!

Mine is currently running 482bhp last time it was on the rollers in Decemeber, I just need to get the map tweeked and it will clear 500 no problem. I drive it everyday and it is no less reliable or driveable than any other car. So far, nothing I have come across on the road has caused any concern!

A few pics I took on Monday...














And one from Decemeber

 

Not sure on the becoming the new taxi's, not over here anyway, although Audi as a marque have taken off in the past 5 years down under so quite a few Audi's now floating around. Very few S4's overall.

Have had my S4 for just over a year and has been very good. It has all options except Sat Nav which by most accounts wasn't great with the Australian maps. Mine is the V8 and stock but wouldn't mind doing a couple of bits to it. Availability and choice isn't huge here.

I don't drive it much but it is superb when I do. Has been faultless and sounds superb. Few pics anyway:

 

500bhp http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2589818.htm

 

Thats a good one, was a member on audisrs that built it

 

Totally Off topic sorry but were you the chap on here who had the imaculate cav 4x4 turbo? if so what happened to that? hope it went to a good home

 

Yeah that was me mate, it got sold to someone who saw it in Total Vauxhall and rang Jamsport to get my number. I told him it wasnt for sale, then he made me a crazy offer for it I couldnt refuse!

 

Im not suprised TBH Martyn Was a cracking car

Hope the new owner looks after it, rare as hens teeth in that condition

Nice Audi you have BTW

 

Cheers, yeah it was a good one!
Not a touch on the S4 though

 

Martyn, stop posting pics of my car lol.

 

Twins
There are a few silver saloons on AudiSRS with B6's

 

Love the look of the R4s.

 

We have a audi a4 1.8t s line and its a excellent car, very nice to drive and built very very well . Dont go to bad and being the 1.8t dont cost the earth to run



Here it is fitted with full leather a few years ago from audi and a votex kit

Today i drove the 3 door and now i realise how nice the audi is

 

in the 4yrs i had a s4 2.7 all i replaced (under warranty) was the water temp sensor.

i would buy another asap if they did it them again, now moved on to the rs6 v10 as i got a kid now and large dogs.

 

i take it these are the same engines as the rs4 then, jst smaller turbos and a different cooling system?

is it really an engine out job to change turbos, no access underneath etc

whats the transmission like in them, what are brakes like etc, as ive been looking at a few since reading this thread and tempted to sell a few things and go buy one

as they seem to be 3k upwards now for a resonable one

 

There are loads of differences between the S4 and RS4 engine.
They are both based on the same one, but thats about it.
The RS4 has different:

Turbos
MAF
Throttle body
Airbox
Boost pipework
Intercoolers
Oil cooler
Manifolds
Exhaust
Cams
Heads
Bottom end is stronger (not by much though)
Cooling system is the same.

Mine has got RS4 everything apart from the bottom end, its easy enough swapping over the basic bits for proven upgrades.

Yes, it is engine out for the turbos, but as already said, its not exactly something you do often!

Stock S4 brakes are ok, but once remapped you will want more. Again, RS4 brakes bolt straight on. Ive got them front and rear on mine and they are plenty good enough for my power.
Transmission is very good, Ive got an RS4 clutch and copes fine. You can do hard launches no problem as long as you dont do them over and over repeatedly.
You need 600+ to brake something.

Im only the other side of Kettering if you fancy finding out what one goes like

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Rt9mB2tpM