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Right, the time is now, I have decided to buy an s4 avant! (looks like a b6 80-100,000 miles for no more than £8000)

Never owned one although I have owned loads of Audis, so.....

What do I need to look for? So far, I think I need to watch out for timing chain rattle on a cold start up, anything else?

(P.S. does the b7 have better chain tensioners, and would be preferable.)

Any advise much appreciated!

Check history for Coil packs, aux radiator pipes and the rads themselves, I had a problem with my steering rack for a while, but it was down the oil used according to Audi.
I had a 2005 B5 Avant, awesome car, only topped by my RS4.

Good luck.

Officially the B6 B7 engines are the same including camchains and tensioners.

Regular oil changes are the key, the 2 year / 20,000 mile interval is a joke for a V8 with camchains that revs to 7400 rpm

The main thing I'd suggest buying in that mileage bracket is the clutch. Lots of cars will have had them done by that mileage (mine was done at 63k) but if it hasn't you need to budget for replacement. Its 2k to do properly including an OEM dual mass flywheel. Wouldn't buy a car that's had the clutch done but the original flywheel left untouched

Cheers guys, thats good info on the clutch. I wasn't aware of that. Drove one where the biting point was quite high so lucky escape?!

I have my eye on an auto at the moment, they're ok then? This has been on long life service though

When you say look for the coil packs in the service history, do you mean to ensure its done, or as a sign of a problem?

Rad pipes - not alot of space to peek down from above and a panel underneath, so pretty well hidden, how do I check these?