About to buy S4

[Dippy]

I'm an ex-Scoob owner too. I'd say you'd find a stock S4 slower than a 300bhp STi, because of the weight. The S4 really does benefit from a stage 1 remap, and then you should find it more satisfying than the scooby. The reason for this is the useable torque - no more having to get the revs up - boot it in any gear and it goes. Then when you enjoy the comfort of a quality built car you'll wonder why you ever drove that toy car!

There won't be much difference in fuel economy between the two.

[arS4]

Agreed. Just chopped my MY99 Scoby (UK with mods) for an S4 Avant. The car is as quick, it just doesn't have that "push back in the seat" that the Impreza has.

It's called Turbo Lag

The 2.0L Sport is dog slow. Whack on the turbo, and hey presto! A laggy turbo-charged Impreza!! (semi tongue-in-cheek)

The S4 just has BAGS of torque, and I'm looking forward to getting my Milltek and chip
The other great thing being that the whilst the back/shoulder-support in the Scooby was gripping (I'm rather broad chested - not FAT though! :p ), the bases were AWFUL. After the 180 mile trip to chop my Scoob, I wasn't sorry to see it go. And the suprised me.

Great drive back home though

Also getting about 24/25 mpg - about the same tbh.

Dan

[oneye]

if your not afraid of a high miler mines for sale in the classifieds
http://www.rs246.com/index.php?name=PNp ... ic&t=52597
allready had the mrc magic treatment and the head unit and changer were replaced last year
ignore the price , needs to go so i'm up for offers .
cheers
carl

[Richspec]

Been to see another S4 Avant this weekend and thought I'd post up a little report on what i found, apologies to older members if this bores you, but i found this sort of post informative during my research here, and am sure other prospective buyers will too.
Okay this is info i had beforehand
1999 S4 Avant 100,000 miles, SCHWARTZ BLACK. FULL GREY RECARO LEATHER, FULL SERVICE HISTORY, AIR CON ,FULL S4 OPTIONS, MATURE OWNER, VERY GENUINE CAR THROUGHOUT, MASSIVE POWER FROM THE 2.7 BI TURBO POWER PLANT WITH WORLD RENOWNED QUATTRO HANDLING. On the dealer website it had 'very very clean' in there somewhere too.

So i rang up and arranged to go have a look. (250 mile round trip)
First off the car was filthy, the garage explained they'd just got it in and hadn't had time to clean it - fair enough. Looking round showed no marks, or dents, apart from two major ones, which were a large scratch/dent on the bonnet, maybe 4 inches long and through the paint, described to me as made by a stone, yes, maybe a brick sized one


the other mark was a large scratch on the front bumper, not your average parking scrape.



The interior was leather, but not grey, more of a light colour, clean apart from one wear mark in the back. The only visible option to me was the centre armrest, which to me, just seemed a nuisance during gear changes. The dash warning lights were lit up like a christmas tree, with abs plus others on. the dis wasn't working properly either.
The dealer claimed a jump start after flat battery had upset it all and it needed resetting - does this sound right.
both front tyres were illegal, worn to the minimum in my view. rears were ok.
Service history was all there, just the stamps, no additional info, mileage was 98 thou with cambelt at 81.
Would come with yrs mot, service, valet and 6 months warrenty. Price was 7995, no offers.

Sorry for long post, but gives a good idea what you can for your money.

[dazzer]

And then you walked away never to return.....correct

[jfeb]

Sounds like it needs some TLC but it is cheaper than all the Avants I have been flogging round to see for the last month.

Also, from the photo, those don't look like Recaros to me.

[saf]

ITs not a bad price mate, but make sure its afacelift youre3 getting with those problems.

Id say the scratches arent a big deal. Would cost you to have them done but it depends how fussy you are about paintwork. Some people want there cars gleeming with not one scratch. In the real world unless you can afford to touch your car up once evey few weeks youll always find scratches appearing here and there if even light ones.

You may be able to sort out the bumper and bonnett for about £300 to £400 for a good spray. So they should knock that off at least.

As far as the fault on dash go mate, get someone with vag com to fault code it. Also get a audi specialist to have a look at the car before you buy it. Is it an indepenant dealer selling the car? or is it an audi specialist dealer?

~To behonest mate, Id worry about buying from them though. YOu got to make sure they will honour their warranty as well. At the end of the day id didnt look like thwy went to much effort sorting the car out. Especially if they knew you were making a 250 miles round trip. Just out of general courtesy i would have ran the car through a car wash befor you came. Takes 5 mins.



Also they should change those tyres before they sell you the car. ITs not road worth at the end of the day. looks really bad too. Thats also a sign the cars been abused and pushed to the extreme. Any Sensible S4 owner would have those tyres changed a long time ago. Didnt pay too much attention parking either.

Id pay £6500 for that if it wasnt a face lift. Looks like you need to put another£1500 on it to get it sorted.

[rolskii]

It needs some serious tlc.... good project if you got the go ...... but i side with dazzer

[jfeb]

Looking at the bonnet, it is a facelift.

[saf]

looking at the headlamp i cant really tell if its one piece or two pieces. Kinds looks like one piece.

Didnt know you could tell by the bonnet.

Also bear in mind if buying, cars done 100 k miles. Some stuff may and most probably need changing. Suck as breaks discs, pads all round (£350) maybe aux water pump (£220 - £350) and other things should be checked. like MAF, Exhaust gas temperature probe and Lamdas. Those are some common faults that S4's get during their life span. Im sure others can name another few. You seriously need to check a car out as in depth as possible. Car could cost you £3500 more putting it right, including the paintwork you need to get done, new tyres all roun, lamdas, breaks all round, tem sensors, MAF, bushes, suspension etc. Also another thing to check for is wipers working properly. Spray water using jet washers and see how well wipers work. Sometimes they get seized when not used for a while especially at that age. Could cost £140 quid to sort that out).

Seriously dont pay 8,000 for it unless they sort it out properly. I suppose with 6 months warranty they should sort anything out with it. BEst thing if you decide to take it and they give it to you cheaper. Take it down to Audi, who will check it over properly (When i say properly, theyll give you a long list of all the faults, even the minor ones) with a big bill. You may have to pay for the check, but you can habd it over to the dealer and say, Audi said this list needs to be done. Bear in mind some things wont be covered under warrantym so check what things are covered etc. like turbos, general mechanics eyc. Wear and tear things like break discs arent usually covered.
Also check to see how tight gear box feels.

[maxxximus]

At the price hes asking id walk away from it. If something dont feel right then it usually isnt right. It does show sign of abuse certainly neglect and probably an owner who wanted shot of it.

Forget about the warranty as well - usually worth Nada. Ask for a discount for no warranty and get a comprehensive aftermarket. With this vehicle your close to mileage limit with most warranties so ask around if your really want it.

Id say offer no more than £6.5k but if i were you id walk.

[ronaldmacdonald]

Didnt know you could tell by the bonnet.

I think reference is being made to the fact that on pre-facelift models the washer jets were prominent on the bonnet, whereas post-facelift the washer jets had mysteriously been removed from the bonnet!

[jeffw]

The seats arn't Recaros

[mikeyquattro]

It cant be a full face lift as the dis isn't working properly and the headlight washers aren't flush.

You can have mine for 9.5k

[arS4]

There are better examples (IMHO) - I'm not even looking to buy, and my "walk away" alarm is going off. Regardless of price. there's just too much to justify that type of money.
You could do far worse than look at some of the examples on here - at least they've been VERY well looked after.....


Dan