Buying at the 'wrong' end of the market- tips?

[chunky79]

looks like bumper has dropped

[pDkALO]

looks like bumper has dropped

+1

Probably had the aux rads done at some point (common work, nothing to worry about) and bumper didn't go back quite right - even dealers struggle with getting this right first time.

[Ranger Rico]

Just took this image from google, there does seem to be a larger gap on the other avant

[sakimano]

22mpg is a sensible overall average for your proposed usage but this will only go up to 30+/-2 on long motorway stints depending on speed. Not sure about the B8 S4 but 22 seems low for such a small engine??

average MPG for the hundreds upon hundreds of B8 S4 owners who track their fillups (over a million miles) on fuelly is 19.5 MPG (that's US gallons...Imperial gallons that would translate to 23.4)

average MPG for RS4 owners I've seen polled on forums is about 17.5 MPG US (21 MPG imperial)

Difference is about 2.4 MPG imperial. For someone doing 15,000 miles/year, that means they're buying an extra 330 litres of fuel per year.

a.k.a. about 450 pounds per year

Not worth changing your mind over if your heart is pushing you in one direction.

[kmpowell]

Thought I'd post a few observations and thoughts about my experiences so far. These apply to Avants priced £16-25k...

I'm not in a position to buy private (due to having a px), but ive noticed good and low milage (sub 50k) private sale cars get snapped up by Authorised dealers. I've seen 3 go from PH over the past 3 weeks, and then appear on the approved Audi website a few days later at a substantial (circa £7k) markup. Leggy or dogs simply don't sell. Examples of the latter include the white wrapped car, and the full black one, which have been hanging around like bad smells. The private market is tough and cars just aren't selling by the looks of it, as the same cars appear time and time again in all my searches every day.

Cars circa £16-19k at indi dealers, have much higher milage, and invariably they'll be due a service, and/or need tyres, pads etc in the very near future. This makes them more of a punt, yeah you could get a good one, but you could also end up with a huge bill, so I think it's financially sensible to instead consider a car circa £20-£22k. But there's the rub, these cars don't really exist as its the tipping point for a good one and when they do appear they sell very quickly (unless its black or silver!).

Cars circa £25k, again seem to have been hanging around for a while. No consistent themes here, apart from price. £20-21k really is the selling point for a 56/07 car. Most popular colours are Daytona and Sprint. Least popular are black or silver.

My conclusion is the bottom end of the market probably isn't for me, so I've upped the budget.

[nij]

I would agree with you apart from the black cars being less popular. From what I have seen, the least popular is Silver then Red. The main reason people are putting off buying black cars is that they gets dirty very quickly, but a black cars do look good when it's shiny and there’s plenty of forum members on here owns black RS4s.

I do think mint, low mileage, good spec cars are worth circa £25k, it just take that little longer to shift due to the fact that not everyone is willing to pay for the privilege when there are cars out there that has slightly higher mileage, but just as good and save a few thousand in the process.

I’m sure you’ll find the right car soon, good luck with your search.