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For those following these things, I finally sold my RS4 today. I leave for a long holiday (God willing) on the 23rd and wanted it "off my books" before the doors of the plane closed. The stats for those that keep track of these things as is follows:

Purchased from Macclesfield Audi with 30k. miles for £31,000.
Sold (part ex) at £20,500 to Wimbledon Audi with 36k. miles.
It is March 2006 (after the tax change) Avus Silver with Recaros.

It had been for sale on here and PH for 5 months or so. In that time I had one thief ring up "What's your address", he asked, which I thought a bit unsubtle. I had a tentative offer over the phone at £25k. (should have taken it in hindsight) in September; a test drive a fortnight ago (he bought an M3); and on the same weekend I rang 10 main dealers and only SG Smith was interested in buying it in (and then only as a part ex). So all in all it has proved hard to shift.

Regrets? None. I have absolutely loved my few months of ownership and had some truly epic drives. Yes it has depreciated but I have made some good investment bets this year so all in all the loss there has been made up by gains elsewhere.

I feel privileged to have owned and used one of the finest cars ever made.

But circumstances change and now I have a weekend home many many miles from London and the RS4 is not the correct car for the round trip on the motorways. From April I will have a shiny new A4 TDIe Avant and when I get to the place, an Exige S2 is in the garage for "fun". I will decide whether or not to keep the T5.

So all in all a fantastic ownership experience but prospective buyers should go in with their eyes open re cost of ownership.

Have a wonderful Christmas all and enjoy your wonderful cars ... these things are there to be used.

BA

glad you finally got rid and your happy to have moved on.

have to say i'm shocked beyond belief as the final value of your car...thats the lowest i've seen an rs4 go for, and that includes Cat d cars.

good luck for the future.

probably combination of part ex, not a popular colour and the time of year.

you should have posted on here a final price prior to p/x of like £22k or £23k ... With the main dealer warranty it would have gone...

But anyway, what's done is done

Best of luck

I should add that the RS needed new tyres and pads all round (so they said it was true) and was due a service.

1500 quid straight away...

Well done on finally selling it. How long did you own the car for?

Bought March this year so not long.

Bought the house not long after (I had my eye on a few for several years and one of the ones I liked unexpectedly came up in April). Realised by mid-Summer that the RS4 was not the right car to do the weekend round trip (several hours on the motorway).

that level of depreciation just shows how little influence 24 mpg has on running costs. ( i get 24 on the 45 mile run to/from work)

I do circa 18k a year and have been using the wife's golf which returns 36-37,to keep the miles on the RS4 lowish.
so in effect for every 2 fills in the golf the beast needs a 3rd

Golf @ 36 mpg = £2,7k at 1.20/litre
RS4 @ 24mpg = £4.2k at 1.26 /litre (99Ron)

so 1500 quid extra if I use it all the time...plus tyres and service

makes you think...

.....sod it I'll drive it more

Indeed. I have built a spreadsheet to work out cost per mile and cost per annum of the various vehicles I own and have considered buying and as you say MPG is only one of the factors. Depreciation, servicing and insurance are also big ones.

The van gets quite poor MPG (26) but since insurance and servicing are so cheap, it actually does quite well overall.

the cars need to be used

Depreciation is the hidden running cost everyone forgets, but if uv done your fair share of miles, then its cost per mile reduces, easy really...

Depreciation is the biggest cost of ownership (for me at least). I certainly don't worry about MPG and use the car whenever I am doing a journey long enough for the oil to get properly warmed up. I take the wife's car for short journeys.

As aka dk says, the fixed costs of running a car (per mile) reduce the more you use it.

All the best fella. You will be back

To be honest, I think you've been unlucky; it has to be worth more than what you got for it.

If not for the fact that its not an avant I'd have been interested & I think you'd have shifted it a long time ago.

All the best anyhow

i look at depreciation as the only running costs if i'm honest..all the other costs are incidental as they are just necessary.

admittedly, the incidentals with rs seem to be monesterous, but you just have to take them on the chin.

depreciation is a key factor when i'm buying a new motor, having been stung in the past....