A car for everyday use?

[harding]

Hello everyone,
newcomer from sweden here!

Im about selling my A3 and finally getting my long wished RS4.
What strikes me tho, is in sweden, almost every RS4 has had ALOT of different owners. The ones ive looked up, some of them even had 14 - 15 owners since 2009 (most of the RS4's in sweden are imported from germany, italy or poland, owners from back then are still unknown). Is it the same in the UK? And if so, anyone have a clue to why this is? Someone told me this car is not really made for everyday use, and people realize it after just a few months with expensive parts failing. They take it to an oil change, and then puts them out for sale with "freshly serviced on audi", when in reality they should have been changing alot of parts in that particular service.

Is there anywhere i can find the service schedule for the RS4 in here? What im most curious to know is what kind of service comes around 100.000km. Alot of the cars for sale in sweden are in and around the 100.000km marker. So i would also be grateful to get some overall service-knowledge from you. What else do i need to know? When is the biggest service coming up, and what parts are being replaced etc.

Edit:
Oh, and the million dollar question: is this car designed for everyday use? I drive aprox 100km everyday to and from work.

Thanks!

[PetrolDave]

What strikes me tho, is in sweden, almost every RS4 has had ALOT of different owners. The ones ive looked up, some of them even had 14 - 15 owners since 2009 (most of the RS4's in sweden are imported from germany, italy or poland, owners from back then are still unknown). Is it the same in the UK? And if so, anyone have a clue to why this is? Someone told me this car is not really made for everyday use, and people realize it after just a few months with expensive parts failing. They take it to an oil change, and then puts them out for sale with "freshly serviced on audi", when in reality they should have been changing alot of parts in that particular service.

Edit:
Oh, and the million dollar question: is this car designed for everyday use? I drive aprox 100km everyday to and from work.

I've owned my RS4 from new in July 2006 but AFAIK most RS4s in the UK have certainly had nothing like 14-15 owners, more like 3-4 I would guess (other owners correct me here).

Until 3 years ago I used my RS4 every day for the commute to work, and only changed because I wanted to reduce the mileage so that I could own it for longer!

IMHO it's very much an everyday car (I'd love to still be driving it every day), but having said that it IS a 4.2 litre V8 so it will have running costs commensurate with that, and anyone who thinks it will cost the same to run as a 2.0TDi A4 is in for a surprise. Apart from regular servicing and maintenance the only unexpected bills I've had in 7+ years are for an auxiliary radiator replacement (something that also affects the S4), an oil cooler replacement (a bad design by Audi that places dissimilar metals in contact with each other) and to replace the DRC valve block & a shock absorber - all the other bills have been wear and tear (front brake pads at 33k miles, front brake discs and pads at 50k+ miles) and servicing every 10k miles.

[Firestarter]

Drive it everyday....Drive it like ya stole it

I've had mine 2 months and already done over 3k.....Its my everyday car and will always be driven daily but as Dave says its not for the faint hearted when it comes to fuel costs, maintenance and those unexpected bills. You'll need deep pockets and like many of us on here have a sludge fund set aside for the inevitable!!

[coldo]

I'd agree with 3, 4, 5 previous owners for UK cars. Mine has had 4 if i remember correctly.

RS4's are most definitely useable every day without issue.. however as said... fuel costs are heavy, hence why people may get fed up shelling out and decide to go for something more economical!

As for repair costs... a clutch (for example) is going to a good few hundred quid on any car, on an RS4, yes parts are more expensive but lets be honest, you don't NEED to take the car to Audi to have this done - if you do you should expect to be shafted price wise and understand you're paying over the odds to have a nice receipt in your history folder.

Any mechanic worth his salt can change a clutch in a day whilst not charging north of £100/h labour like Audi tend do so don't let audi repair costs put you off too much.

[C17LJR]

I've had mine 4 months and added 6k miles to it, the whole point of me getting a low mileage example was to keep the miles down

My client have on site parking so I've decided to do the 50 mile drive each day instead of having to put myself through the train drama,

[rob-s]

I think because I live in Finland I can somehow relate to your questions. I have been looking for a low mileage RS4 in as mind condition as possible for several years till I found the one I bought.

Most of the RS4's for sale here have 100-150 kkm on the tacho and have had several owners. One of the reasons why they have had so many owners is that many of us have dreamed about owner a RS4..when using it notice that it costs a fortune to keep it running (fuel consumption and service costs).

I drive with my RS4 daily and have summer/winter tires..and oh yes you can use it all year round!

[harding]

Thanks for all the replys!
Glad to hear the RS4 will run for everyday matters

Im used to have high fuel bills every month, so that will be no surprise for me. Also the V6 that ive been driving for the last 3 years also have a (pretty) high rate of service costs, and i still have a pretty solid margin - so economically i think i will be okay. However, what i couldnt afford is having the car standing in the workshop for days or weeks at a time. Im really scared about having a gearbox breakdown, clutch failure or something major to have to deal with.
Ive got an second car aswell, an old peugeot 205 cab 1990 - but its not really reliable either So i need to count on the RS4 to be there for me, every cold winterday, warm summer evening or rainy autumn day, when getting called in on standby and have to be on the airport within the hour.

Anyone got a service schedule on the RS4s? When is it recommended to change different parts etc, something i can have as a checklist when looking into the RS4's service books.
Thanks again for all the replies!

[edge]

mines a daily driver also and has been for the last 3 years and dont plan on changin her!!

[toyneg]

Mines a daily driver, have put 19k miles on it since I got it Sept 2012. I am thinking of getting a little runaround for the shorter journeys and commute to work because lately it's just start stop traffic on the motorway and is a waste of fuel and miles, but it's certainly capable of it if required. It literally is such a multi purpose car, I've done European road trips, track days, commutes and short trios to the shops! All with ease!

[harding]

Sounds like a charm!
Cannot wait until i get it!

[PJC]

Drive it everyday....Drive it like ya stole it

I've had mine 2 months and already done over 3k.....Its my everyday car and will always be driven daily but as Dave says its not for the faint hearted when it comes to fuel costs, maintenance and those unexpected bills. You'll need deep pockets and like many of us on here have a sludge fund set aside for the inevitable!!

"SLUSH" come on Louie.

[topgun35]

Had mine about 8 months, and it's a daily driver. Don't underestimate the running costs. I had a 3.2 FSI quattro sport before, and i would estimate so far that the RS has cost about twice as much to run.

£2k for a clutch thanks to a track day, and its down at MRC right now for a service, carbon clean, and aux rad. Thats another £2k.

Worth every penny, even though i have not had it up to VNE yet!

[gareth_oau]

we do around 10,000kms per year in ours and its our daily.

Actually its now the only car we own, and typically the wife uses it to take kids to school, go shopping etc.

and thats with the milltek, retune, shortshifter and front lip on.

So far in almost 3 years we havent had any unexpected maintenance issues and it does get bounced off the rev limitier.

Yes its a very livable daily.

[j1sgo]

we do around 10,000kms per year in ours and its our daily.

Actually its now the only car we own, and typically the wife uses it to take kids to school, go shopping etc.

and thats with the milltek, retune, shortshifter and front lip on.

So far in almost 3 years we havent had any unexpected maintenance issues and it does get bounced off the rev limitier.

Yes its a very livable daily.

+1 for me, our only car too, we do about 9k miles a year, had no issues except 1nr rear shock in 2.5years.

Cracking every day car except for the fuel costs but worth it IMO

[harding]

How about having it standing outside year around? I have always been really pedantic by washing my cars at least once a week (by hand there is), even tho slushy winter weather. Some in sweden say its best having the car stored during winter time due to salty slushy roads. I recently moved to another location without the chance of a garage. I could however drive my old peugeot 205 during winter time and store the car at my parents place. But thats not fun... not fun at all. (Ever heard of "the land of quattro"? )

So does it withstand the harsh winter conditions? I live in the middle of sweden, so temperature falls to aprox -25 C in winter time. Thoughts? Should i store the car in the garage during the 3 worst months? (december - feb)