thinking of buying an s4 please help

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hello iam new to this site and thinking of buying an audi s4 i have found a 1998 s4 in silver with silk napper leather its done 34000 miles and one owner from new and has FASH the last service tax and mot where done last month.

the car is priced at 6k any help or info would be great

thanks

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and if someone could put this as my pic underneath that would be great. thanks

like a sig along the bottom

[GrahamS4]

Half price! Buy it!

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would a 98 be pre face lift and what would i look for?

[ajsl]

That's a low milage for its age. Given we've had a few clocked examples here, perhaps do some digging on the car?

There are a lot of threads here about buying a pre-facelift. The biggest issue with them appears to be the loose manifolds.

But then again that price is very good and the mileage is low, you could pocket the difference between buying that one and a facelift model (which would probably have higher milage) and fix any issues with the pre-facelift.

[wombar]

Also probably worth checking the cambelt (plus tensioners) and water pump have been done, that's a fairly expensive bill. I know it's meant to be changed at 80K but I wouldn't want to leave a belt on for 10 years without being changed.

[GrahamS4]

'98 is def. prefacelift.

Cambelt and all associated pulleys, tensioners and sensibly the water pump is one thing to look out for. Nowhere close on mileage, but on age (4 years I believe), it could almost be coming up for it's second change. If it is on the original, it must be changed IMO.

I bought my '98 S4 at 28K and it now has 34.5K miles on it. It should be tight to drive, like new.

[ChrisS2]

That seems like a real bargain for that money. Where are you located, maybe someone from here with VAG COM maybe able to go look at the car with you. Car should be prety mint for that mileage.

Good luck,

[bobbler]

Thats almost dubiously cheap to my mind for that sort of mileage.
If its all kosher that would be a good buy.

[Ads4]

Nice low mileage...mine's got nearly 100k more miles

[JDB]

seems too cheap for that low millage...

[Blue_Thunder]

My mate went to look at an M5 with suspect mileage. Turned out the very low mileage was legit, but the car had been off the road for 4 years because it needed reshelled!

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well thanks for all the info been reading lots off post tonight looking for things to look out for, i spoke to the bloke again ton and he said its just been put through a 900 pound service and not sure whats been done(as he is quite old) and just put years tax and mot on it. he said he has all the bills for it so i can look though those and he remember them changing a boot on the diff and he has had a new battery put on the car but thats all the info he knew.. thinking of going to look at this sunday so if anyone has any bits they feel i should look out for that would be great.

gonna look to see if

Cambelt and all associated pulleys, tensioners and sensibly the water pump has been changed

listen to turbos i know these should be ok but i just read a big post on them.

manilfold (any ideas on the best way to check this)
and other things like the computer and the maf any thing on this i should be looking out for?

thanks.

[GrahamS4]

The thing is the book price for these (which they seem to always go for more than) is probably about the price considering the mileage adjustment.

It COULD be a honest and bargain of a sale.

Do as I did. Be very wary of the mileage. Double check the stamps in the book with an MOT, amking sure the mileages tally up year to year, service to MOT etc and call a dealer to make sure it also tallies up with their system. They were also able to advise me the car had had all recalls outstanding for the car.

There will be turbo spooling noise, but if there are rattles or screeches etc then seek further advise as some causes can be simple, some nasty.

Silly thing, but on the early cars, the heated mirrors were on all the time (with ignition on). Hence on a car that age they will be burnt out. If this one owner has never replaced them and they dont work, it could be a nice bargaining point to shave a little more off the price (£100 worth). Just a thought. If they have been repalced, it may have been with the updated thermostat version, so unless it's cold, dont expect them to work.

Best of luck.

[mattsimis]

Perhaps Im biased as Im selling my '98 S4 at the moment, but I wouldnt buy a pre-facelift without the manifolds being replaced. It seems like its a matter of time before they go (not "if") and when will almost certainly damage the turbos. Mine had to be replaced within 2mths of buying the S4 and the turbos about 1mth afterwards.

My car now has year 2000 manifolds and brand new K04s installed along with a host of other changes (well over £4000 worth, but who's counting?), so its a rather bargain IMO at £9900 Id consider for it especially since that price includes the mad £2500 Irish "on the road" VRT (tax) I had to fork out for the luxury of driving here.


If you do buy at that price, budget the cost of manifolds (and labour, its engine out!) into your yearly plan.