A car for everyday use?

[stu]

Mine too is my daily drive. Well, five days out of seven. The other two I park in a terrible car park so I drive another car to take the bumps and scratches.

I'm in my forth year of ownership and with the exception of brakes I've only had to get my oil cooler replaced (the one that corrodes as petroldave says). For peace of mind and curiosity I also got my DRC pressure checked, flushed and repressurised - it was the picture of health and still within recommended pressures after five years which I thought was mighty impressive. The wheels needed refurbishing from time to time because I'm a picky bastard and I had a scratch on the rear bumper - which was taken off and completely redone by a true craftsman. The car also is given to a friend who details cars twice a year, and I suppose that adds up. He knows every inch of my car now. But that's what it takes to let me have my year round fun and keep it all in good shape.

The big expenditure is the petrol but I simply don't care. And like many people on here, I highly recommend a rainy day / slush / sludge fund for the inevitable wear and tear and other future surprises. It would be painful having to cancel a holiday or two just because you have to buy a clutch!

I forgot to mention the servicing - yes, that adds up too especially if you keep going back to Audi (as I do). Tax isn't cheap. The insurance is okay.

p.s. I can't comment on extreme weather but I see no harm coming to my car outdoors. Its probably more important to drive it frequently and hard. The engine will thank you for it!

[PetrolDave]

Should i store the car in the garage during the 3 worst months? (december - feb)

You almost answer your own question...

Ever heard of "the land of quattro"?

[drmanhattan]

I've had mine for about 7 months and have covered about 4,000 miles in it. I'd not only say it can be used every day but would go as far as to say it is a car that needs to be driven that often - I should drive mine more than I do. 100km per day sounds okay but it depends what type of driving you will be doing - if it's urban the fuel costs will crush you

Not sure if you're aware but these cars start to suffer with carbon build up from about 40,000 miles and it's not a cheap problem to properly remedy - it also costs you power and responsiveness and also made mine quite jerky. If I could do it all over again I would ask the dealer to give it a dyno run and let me see the readouts before committing - or at least the documents to see if a de-coke has been performed by a previous owner. Or you could just risk it and hope it's not affected. Either way, it's something to be aware of.

Maybe I was a bit fortunate as I'm only the second owner but 14 owners sounds like a lot regardless of where you live. I'd be wary of this kind of car with more than 6 or 7 - but apparently I'm risk averse.

It's an incredible car though and one that you won't get tired of very quickly so good luck with your purchase!

[Cecilthesausage]

If you don't mind sticking about 100 bar in the tank every week I can't think of anything better for everyday use...

[victor2vt]

Audi will have built your car to cope with the extreme weather conditions in your country, so don't worry and YES it's def an everyday driver, you'll discover why when you buy one

[harding]

Should i store the car in the garage during the 3 worst months? (december - feb)

You almost answer your own question...

Ever heard of "the land of quattro"?

Touché!!

100km per day sounds okay but it depends what type of driving you will be doing - if it's urban the fuel costs will crush you

Highway all the way! Speed limit 110km/h, but not with the RS4

Not sure if you're aware but these cars start to suffer with carbon build up from about 40,000 miles and it's not a cheap problem to properly remedy

I have been told the de-coke can be done in around 15 hours (or a weeks work), and be done by someone (like me) with just limited knowledge about engines. Please correct me if im totally wrong, but i have already counted that in. Kinda looking forward using my best friends car wash garage for it
Isnt there a step-by-step tutorial on how to de-coke the RS4 on here somewhere?
Edit: I found one, but sadly not an RS4.. But perhaps the method is pretty much the same.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.p ... e-Cleaning

Audi will have built your car to cope with the extreme weather conditions in your country, so don't worry and YES it's def an everyday driver, you'll discover why when you buy one

Youre right i guess! I was just abit worried about the car standing in the cold, then getting started up and driven warm - then i park it at work and its getting cold again for a few hours, and then i start it up again etc. In long term - i hope it will still be Vorsprung durch Technik!

Also i would like to take this time to thank you all for your comments! I'm really getting to know the car and its weaknesses, and this forum makes my life alot easier!

Anyone have any suggestions how to check the condition of the clutch? As im reading all these threads about spongy and sticky clutches. Worst nightmare is to buy an coked RS4 with an broken clutch and oil-leaking suspension. These parts i really need to look closely at, so ive learned these last couple of days in here

[PetrolDave]

Not sure if you're aware but these cars start to suffer with carbon build up from about 40,000 miles and it's not a cheap problem to properly remedy - it also costs you power and responsiveness and also made mine quite jerky.

I have to disagree with you there, I've done 65k+ miles and never had a carbon de-coke. When my car was on the dyno at MRC in the Summer it made 397bhp after an MRC Stage 2 remap, and they told me that similar mileage cars that had a de-coke (and a Stage 2 remaps) were making approx. 430bhp. So carbon does NOT cause a large power loss - and neither is mine jerky or unresponsive to drive. BTW the most common cause of jerkiness is a faulty clutch switch - which costs less than £20 and takes less than 15 minutes to fix yourself.

Carbon causing large power loss = urban myth.

[adsgreen]

Also the car is very sensitive to vacuum issues and in order to decoke the car, the vacuum system is messed about with. There's a 10p one way valve under the intake manifold that most independents replace as a matter of course during the clean. As such this can have a huge impact to any car.
I had it done as my manifold broke (the flaps got well and truly stuck) so thought might as well. It's not something that I'm going to stress about too much.

[drmanhattan]

Not sure if you're aware but these cars start to suffer with carbon build up from about 40,000 miles and it's not a cheap problem to properly remedy - it also costs you power and responsiveness and also made mine quite jerky.

I have to disagree with you there, I've done 65k+ miles and never had a carbon de-coke. When my car was on the dyno at MRC in the Summer it made 397bhp after an MRC Stage 2 remap, and they told me that similar mileage cars that had a de-coke (and a Stage 2 remaps) were making approx. 430bhp. So carbon does NOT cause a large power loss - and neither is mine jerky or unresponsive to drive. BTW the most common cause of jerkiness is a faulty clutch switch - which costs less than £20 and takes less than 15 minutes to fix yourself.

Carbon causing large power loss = urban myth.

Congratulations on your dyno results PetrolDave.

I don't recall saying anything about a "large" power loss they seem to be your words. All I was saying is that it is a common issue, that it affected mine (but that does not necessarily mean all) and that I would have checked it a bit more closely if buying again. Just trying to be helpful. It's just as bigger step for you to imply that because you car hasn't suffered from carbon build up none do, so there's no RS4 issues with it at all. Surely carbon build-up is caused by a number of different variables and the extent to which it affects the power output is a result of a combination of those variables.

[PetrolDave]

Not sure if you're aware but these cars start to suffer with carbon build up from about 40,000 miles and it's not a cheap problem to properly remedy - it also costs you power and responsiveness and also made mine quite jerky.

I have to disagree with you there, I've done 65k+ miles and never had a carbon de-coke. When my car was on the dyno at MRC in the Summer it made 397bhp after an MRC Stage 2 remap, and they told me that similar mileage cars that had a de-coke (and a Stage 2 remaps) were making approx. 430bhp. So carbon does NOT cause a large power loss - and neither is mine jerky or unresponsive to drive. BTW the most common cause of jerkiness is a faulty clutch switch - which costs less than £20 and takes less than 15 minutes to fix yourself.

Carbon causing large power loss = urban myth.

Congratulations on your dyno results PetrolDave.

I don't recall saying anything about a "large" power loss they seem to be your words. All I was saying is that it is a common issue, that it affected mine (but that does not necessarily mean all) and that I would have checked it a bit more closely if buying again. Just trying to be helpful. It's just as bigger step for you to imply that because you car hasn't suffered from carbon build up none do, so there's no RS4 issues with it at all. Surely carbon build-up is caused by a number of different variables and the extent to which it affects the power output is a result of a combination of those variables.

Your words:

these cars start to suffer with carbon build up from about 40,000 miles and it's not a cheap problem to properly remedy - it also costs you power and responsiveness and also made mine quite jerky

Imply several things that if you read widely on here, and didn't just spread the "urban myth" doom sayers, are not true in the experience of most owners:
1) that it's a problem that needs to be dealt with and is expensive - neither of which is true. The power loss from carbon is approximately 30bhp, can you detect the difference on the road between 400bhp and 430bhp? I very much doubt it.
2) power loss - see 1)
3) responsiveness - you're the first person I can recall linking responsiveness and carbon (and I've been a member here since before I bought my RS4 in July 2006).
4) jerky - I notice you ignored my comment re the clutch switch

[harding]

At witch milestone (for example, how many KM) before the decoke is crucial? If i go look at a car with 100.000km on the meter - should the decoke already have been done? What about cars at 14 - 150.000km?
I can imagine, these cars would soon suffer from different decoke, clutch and suspension problems - if the required work is not already done? Please correct me if im wrong. Thanks.

[drmanhattan]

Harding don't worry about the de-coke. It's something I, and dare I say some other owners (yes PetrolDave we know you haven't had any issues with it) have experienced, but the whole conversation has been blown a little out of proportion in this thread. If you really are worried about it then just search the forums and read what others who are more knowledgeable than me say about it. Just buy it and enjoy it!

PetrolDave I have no beef with you but I do maintain that my experience with my car was very noticeable in that it felt like a different car after the decoke. As you suggest I don't think I would notice 30bhp so it must have been more than that but I didn't put it on a dyno before / after so can't verify. One question - do you do track days? I have a suspicion my car was underexercised for 55,000 miles before I got it, which I think may have made it worse.

[Jonah]

How could you buy such a beast and not drive it everyday!
I got mine in August 2010 with 25k miles, 3 years later and just gone over 60k miles, its a joy to drive daily.

[Jonah]

Forgot to add its totally standard, no de-coke and its just as quick as the day I got it

[PetrolDave]

PetrolDave I have no beef with you but I do maintain that my experience with my car was very noticeable in that it felt like a different car after the decoke. As you suggest I don't think I would notice 30bhp so it must have been more than that but I didn't put it on a dyno before / after so can't verify.

30bhp is the figure for carbon power loss quoted earlier this week by Doug of MRC, so I reckon that's as accurate a figure we're going to get.
Over the 7+ years I've owned my RS4 and been active on here I can't think of a single case where a greater power loss was not traced to another issue, often a vacuum leak (which causes the inlet flaps to stay in the closed position).

One question - do you do track days? I have a suspicion my car was underexercised for 55,000 miles before I got it, which I think may have made it worse.

No track days, just regular 'Italian tunes' and occasional 'drive it like ya stole it' days