S4 Buyers Guide?

[Miles]

Hello there, I'm about to take the plunge into S4 ownership and I'm after some advice/experiences. Got a budget of the mid-twenties in terms of K and the local Audi dealer has an '04 plate S4 saloon in red for £25K. Unfortunately I can't give the spec as they didn't take a note before it went for prep.

Is there anything I should stay from? What are the servicing intervals like? Anything to watch for with regard to the expensive oily bits? Any words of wisdom about ownership in general?

In the past I drove an Impreza Turbo for 5+ plus years and am now coming out of a Saab 9-5 Aero, hankering for a return to the security of 4wd and an end to scrabbling for grip!

I know the B5 RS4 and S4 relatively well, but I'm a little lost with the newer V8 models! A couple of guys at work have the big brother RS4 and seem to be delighted with them.

[BlingBling]

You won't be disappointed but it will feel strange going from turbo charged engines to a N/A. The power is delivered so differently. I went from a remapped S3 to a S4 and at first I thought the S3 was quicker but that was purely down to the turbo kick. In reality the S4 is much quicker.

In terms of things to look out for or problems:

The auxiliary radiators are known to corrode and fail
Belt tensioner whining noise on start up between 1500 and 2500 revs IIRC. There is actaully a TB issued on this. Search this forum for a link

I have not had either problem to date but I know of others who have so I suppose it is a lottery. Ensure you get some form of warranty of the dealer as if you do get either problem they will be expensive. Especially the belt tensioner, engine out jobby.

[Miles]

Thanks for the reply. I'm aware that NA power delivery will be different, looking forward to the change in fact!

[Mike_K]

hi Miles, welcome ! The S4 B6 is now becoming increasingly common as a 2nd hand buy (3-4 year old cars coming on the market) and there are now a few similar threads on this forum (so have a really good browse down the topics list..). The picture I get is that there seem to be very few serious systematic issues with this car, and not many people afterwards think they've made a mistake.

The only 'complaints' that are common are:
1) the mileage. Plenty of figures on the site to get a feel for this, but if its going to be a concern dont buy a V8 !
2) the slightly heavy nose in cornering. Drive the car yourself to se if its a prob for you

Personally.............
........... I love the car

[DaveM]

Hi Miles - don't think you'll be disappointed by an S4 in any way. We've had our avant for just over 2 years and it's been great, (bit heavy on the juice and tyres tho').
To the point - I'm selling soon and to be honest I've not been too pleased with any of the service from the local dealers so I don't particularly want to give them easy money. If there's a forum member who'll give me around the trade in price that the dealer will then I would rather it went there (and of course I might be able to haggle myself a bit of discount off the new one). In short it's Nov 04 black, tip, fsh, very high spec, only 17k miles (it's my wife's car) and I'm hoping for around the £24-25k mark for it. Let me know if you're interested and I'll let you have full spec. Cheers, Dave