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OK, it's official guys...

Having negotiated the biggest hurdle (explaining to MrsH the "essential maintenance" required to the car this year ), the task will soon be in hand.

I thought long and hard about "moving up" to an RS4 and whilst I accept all the arguments about the rarity of the model and it being a true RS, at the end of the day I don't want an avant and I'll end up with more power than a stock RS4 whilst costing only around half of trading up.

Having already fitted AWE intercoolers, custom exhaust, and RS4 y-pipe and boots, the main items will be :-

K04s
RS4 clutch
uprated fuel pump and injectors
RS4 airbox & MAF
MRC remap

With the "little extras" over and above the standard MRC400 spec, I'm hoping for at least 420bhp - but watch this space...

Nice one Sir Clive - you know it makes sense ... (and will easily be payed for by the tithe taxes extracted from the peasants of Wakefield for living on your land )

So I guess that means david will be living rent free for the next couple of months then

ChipHazzard wrote:So I guess that means david will be living rent free for the next couple of months then

Something like that Mike

Cool, I think you have made a good decision Clive. I feel the same about avants, as impressive as the RS4 is over the S4.

Will be interesting to see what power you get, they seem to make less that reported, but they are still pretty quick.

You coming on the ring trip this time ?

S4TAN wrote: the peasants of Wakefield for living on your land

I dont tolerate such insolence!

Hi Jules I have to say that little ride in your car helped me make up my mind...

DavidT wrote: You coming on the ring trip this time ?

Not sure yet David.

Slight hijack of your thread Clive, but I'm interested in your "I thought long and hard about "moving up" to an RS4" comment. I had never thought about this, but unlike you I already have an Avant so the B5 RS4 would be fine for me. I guess you have done the 'calculations' so how do you think they'd affect me?

I had a quick look on Audi UK and could see two B5 RS4s there. Both about 24 grand and both about the same age and mileage as my S4. Now since a remap would be needed (how can you not stage 1 an RS4?), that's 25K for what should be better (?) than an MRC400, minus whatever the trade-in value of my car would be. Any ideas?

Hi Dippy,

Not a hijack at all - it's totally relevant.

The avant bit was not a major issue, but simply that my preferred body style is saloon or coupe, and as you say you already have an avant so not an issue for you at all.

The "long and hard thinking" basically covered the following areas :-

1. the status, rarity, road presence, etc of the RS4;
2. the costs of the "move-up";
3. how about an RS6?

I have to accept that by going my chosen route, the modified S4 (even with RS4 front bumper and other "cosmetics") will never be as planted on the road as the RS4 and nowhere near as rare.

The cost exercise was fairly simple. Your car must have similar mileage to mine as £22k to £25k was the sort of range for a stock or stage 1 RS4 for a similar mileage car to my S4. As for selling or trading in mine, I felt £10k was about the top end of the range given the decline in S4 prices in the last year or so.

So I thought "hmmm, I could do an awful lot with the S4 with £12k to £15k"... Looking at higher mileage 2000 models, normally stock, you can pick them up in the £16k to £18k range, but even then that's still a £6k to £8k trade-up cost. Then, as you say, it would be rude not to go to at least stage 1, then there's the stock brakes and suspension....etc,etc...and before you know it, the real cost of the trade-up is well over £10k.

As you will know, the MRC400/450 route will cost in the region of £3,500 to £6,000, depending on how far you want to go. In my case, I have already done some of this (AWE ICs, exhaust, RS4 y-pipe) so this was another factor in the cost consideration for me (and those mods already on the car increasing its resale value by about £3.50!)

The only other thing that got in the way was an RS6, as these can now be picked up for sub-£25k, and there's not much I would want/need to do with that other than fix the DRC, plus the appeal (for me at least) of an RS saloon, but that's back on the back burner for now...

So I guess the calcs would affect you in pretty much the same way as me, assuming you put a similar value on your S4.

As regards a stage 1 RS4 being "better" than an MRC400 - yes, in terms of looks, road presence, rarity, etc, but as far as power is concerned, a stage 1 RS4 would typically pull about 420bhp/580Nm, but I'm expecting mine to do a little bit better than that.

Hope this helps.

The problem is Dippy, if and when you do the upgrade you will kick yourself for not doing it before.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the cost of insurance for a modified S4 compared with a remapped RS4. I reckon is costs me £200ish extra per year to run a S4 rather than a RS4.

jeffw wrote: I reckon is costs me £200ish extra per year to run a S4 rather than a RS4.

That's interesting - so the insurers consider a stage 3 S4 to be more of a risk than a stage 1 RS4...?

Certainly not more "nickable", unless the robber knows the car (under the bonnet), so they must be putting it down to the extra power

Clive, i think you have made the right decision............................I had a stage 3 S4 and "if I knew then what I know now".............................however I would not swap my current RS4.

But you know the car and what has been done..

Good luck!

would it not be fair to say that any modified car would attract an insurance premium because they can't be sure of the standard the work is carried out to. i think we've all seen some pretty dire attempts at modding cars.

fortunately it seems most people on here tend to go the "suspension, brakes, power" route so i don't see that as a big problem. unfortunately the insurance companies would rather insure a factory standard car at 380bhp than a homebrew special with the same power

dace wrote:Clive, i think you have made the right decision............................I had a stage 3 S4 and "if I knew then what I know now".............................however I would not swap my current RS4.

But you know the car and what has been done..

Good luck!

Thanks Dave

Yes, I do indeed and it would be a tough decision between the two, and I think you know which I'd choose....

shineydave wrote:would it not be fair to say that any modified car would attract an insurance premium because they can't be sure of the standard the work is carried out to. i think we've all seen some pretty dire attempts at modding cars.

fortunately it seems most people on here tend to go the "suspension, brakes, power" route so i don't see that as a big problem. unfortunately the insurance companies would rather insure a factory standard car at 380bhp than a homebrew special with the same power

Yea, fair comments Dave, and I'm sure you're right.