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Seeing as quite a few of us on here have had their cars for a while, might be interesting to hear what costs/problems/pleasure everyone's experienced.

- Mine's approaching 50k miles
- 2 services (no additional work required)
- 2 sets of tyres, will be needing new set fairly soon, currently running Michelin Pilots (which I've been impressed with)
- 1 set front pads
- No major problems at all so far mechanically
- Found I've needed to top up oil between services with approx 1 litre oil
- Overall fuel consumption = 21.5 (lots of m/way cruising!)
- No problems with interior/equipment (have Sat Nav, though software seems very out of date, any updates available?). Leather shows no sign of wear at all.

Summary - still love the thing to death; flawless, safe performance; practical; subtle. Starting to look a little dated, and I really wish Audi had changed the Avus wheel design on this model

I got mine Easter 2003 with 5.5k miles on it. It's now at 18k. It's was used as an everyday car by my wife for her short work commute but now she's stopped work (due to our little 'un) so now it's just a family car ...oh and daddy's play thing.

It's done a Euro tour in which is was simply perfect. A great touring car but still sporty enough for me to have fun for a few days at the Nurburgring. I've done trackdaysat Bedford, Castle Combe and Snetterton in it which is probably why I've tried the Continental tyres, Mich PS2s and now I'm on Goodyear F1s. I finished the brakes at Snetterton and I replaced the discs with ECS disks. The fronts are 40% lighter than OEM and it appears to really help handling, pickup, the ride etc. The venting and two peice design should help them last better for tracks days and my next 'ring visit (only 3 weeks away).

One one service so far and the only problems I've had have been fixed under warranty (e.g. start up noise etc) although the storage tray under the drivers seat is still be be fixed (keeps coming open). It's been in four times for this!!

Consumption is 19.1 (on the DIS but I beleive this is optimistic). That's not too bad considering the life it has of round town or being used as a play thing...oh and it is stage 3 modified.

Oil consumption has been surprisingly low although 9 litres is painful come service times.

I'm still grinning with owning this car and I still haven't managed to kick the habit of over blipping it when changing down just to hear the exhaust!

I agree it looks a little dated now but I can't see the point of changing as I'm very happy with it. The other reason not to change is that the B7 seems to have a short live with an all new A4 line up in just a couple of years.

The only thing I'd like is a little less boot and a little more rear room. With regards the Avus wheels, I only have them on for track days. I find the RS6 replicas suit it very well. Since you can get them with F1 tyres for £850ish it seemed a sensible thing to do.

I still love mine too. Nothing else around at the moment that I'd swap it for with the same performance / practicality / quality.

With regards to the wheels I'm thinking about getting the New RS4 replicas, they are currently on ebay for £495.

Ebay link

Daz, can you post on here if you do indeed get them? Would be interested cos they're lovely looking rims, my only hesitation is that the RS6 reps that were on mine when I got the car have since buckled mildly(they're only cheap, about a ton a shot, the official Audi RS6 wheels are over £2k for a set); would like to hear if these RS4 reps suffer the same for the kind of dosh they're going for...

Hi,

14,000 miles from new. Just gone in for first service:

- Jumps out of second gear (into neutral) which is not much fun when engine breaking!

- New tyres on front only: GoodYear F1 - ACE! Rear tyres ready for change soon due to under inflation

- Nasty whine on start up from cold. Stealer refused to acknowledge TSB for this problem. Now I'm waiting to see if car comes back with or without modification.

- The aircon has never been as good as my previous B5. I have to fiddle with the temperature if the sun is shining, in order to maintain a cool cabin. At the service "inquisition" I complained about the sun light sensor but I have no idea what the problem really is. (OT: Why is it that my B6 A/C only goes to 18 degs before it switches to low and my other half's A3 goes all the way to 16 degs before switching to low?)

- Throttle has always been a bit too sensitive for easy "around town" motoring - again stealer refused to acknowledge the part number for software update - let's see if they manage to sort the car before it comes back.

The Stealer's Master Tech. saw the TSBs (thanks Scotty!) and complained about "those Internet Forums - grumble, grumble". The conversation became quite adversarial; in the end I told him that I didn't want an argument about the mods that were needed and that if he didn't know how to do them I'd find another stealer that was more helpful. I am waiting to name the stealer concerned in the event that they don't/can't do the right thing.

Apart from the gripes above (and sub 10 MPG) I LOVE MY CAR!

The only other things to note are the incident outside my office involving car jacking idiots and the subsequent mystery break in at my home (17:15 - broad daylight) by five "gents" with crowbars...

Darren
PS. If you get a chance to install an RNS-E Nav unit GO FOR IT. It's a very easy install in the B6, as long as you have access to VAG-COM. The audio quality is so much better than the RNS-D/Symphony II.
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Update:

wombat wrote: - Jumps out of second gear (into neutral) which is not much fun when engine breaking!

The stealer swapped the whole gearbox out (under warranty) after finding swarf in the gearbox oil.

After complaining about the TSBs, the mods for noisy startup (pulley change) and over sensitive throttle were both "discovered" by the Master Tech and applied to my car. I'm much happier with the lack of whinning on cold startup now and the throttle is not as hairy from a standing start.

Once again, thanks for the TSB info Scotty, I doubt the stealer would have found the information if I hadn't printed it off and handed it over.

Darren
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My dealer is glad when I walk in with print outs coz he said " I wish they'd tell us this stuff".

I think the US are more open than here in the UK.

I'm glad you got it sorted.

My S4 B6 is coming to the end of it's 3 year warranty so it's time to take it into the dealer and get all the niggles sorted out.

Scotty, the links you set up for the TSBs for the link idle pulley and others don't appear to work anymore. Does anyone have the file saved on their harddrive or a new location?

Other problems include a non-functioning temperature gauge and a few other cosmetic bits.

Does anyone else experience the front wheels skipping when in a tight wheel lock (slow speed)? Something to do with the diff perhaps?

Apart from that, the car's excellent. 21 mpg with Optimax, up from 19mpg on ordinary unleaded. 28,000 miles and regular top-ups of oil and occasionally hydraulic fluid (think I'll get that checked out under warranty too).

Had problems recently with the Audi Navplus. The motor for closing the screen kept turning, it seemed it couldn't recognise it was closed. As I'd put it in myself I thought I'd struggle to get it sorted under warranty. So took it to a local car audio specialist who pulled the fuse out, pushed it back in, and the matter was resolved. They didn't even charge me!

Shopping list currently includes RS4 wheels, Milltek Stage 3 and some decent speakers (the Bose ("No highs or lows") really suck). Anyone upgraded the speakers to, say Rainbow or MBQuart?

thehood wrote:Does anyone else experience the front wheels skipping when in a tight wheel lock (slow speed)? Something to do with the diff perhaps?

Could be tracking, does it do it more on a wet road?

I have had this before, and it was tracking.

It must be tracking. I curbed the front offside a couple of weeks ago on black ice and had been wondering about getting it checked. Will cost more in tyre wear if I don't get it sorted.

Thanks Simon!

I've just had my tracking done to cure a similiar problem. It helped but has not cured comepletely, when it is really cold she will slip ever-so-slightly.

Had mine since April 2005 and still loving the tiptronic beast. Current mileage 13000.

I have had a couple of things done to it from standard (MTM Bimoto alloys, Milltek cat back but soon to become fully customised, RNS-E and painted side skirts in noggy blue). Run it on optimax at all times and I'm never concerned with the fuel consumption. All in all a superb car and an awesome drive, and an easy tourer as Scotty pointed out......I thought about chopping it in for a new RS4 but after some thought I am going to keep it and maybe enhance some more....what of these speakers I hear mentioned? I don't have Bose but a compromize might be on the cards..

Had mine since 1 Sept 2003 and was Stage 3 tooned by AMD 9 months ago. Recently test drove the new RS4 as well as an RS6 plus but still not impressed enough to trade mine in. Yes the RS4 feels well set up and quick but it just doesn't have the attention grabbing V8 blast that the Miltek pipes on the Tiptronic version have. To be honest after five mins back in my car I had forgotten all about the others.

26,000 miles, one set of brake pads and on 2 and a half sets of tyres. Do have to top up with a litre of oil every now and again but that is a natural Audi feature, had a TT that drank oil too. I think anything that gets a good thrashing now and again does this. I do notice how hot she gets in summer around London however and my temp guage tends to run a few degrees hotter than the actual ambient temp. My Sat Nav Plus never worked and was faulty, has now been replaced under warranty and is sweet. End of warranty coming up in Sept and am thinking about extending. Is this possible? Anybody done it? I'm told it's about £1,500 but is well worth it. I extended on my Merc C36 and the gearbox went thus saving £5,000.

B6 S4 AMD Stage 3

Had mine three years in April, done about 45,000, only two scheduled services, Poole Audi seem pretty good. Only warrenty issues: One new N/S complete headlight assembly, two front wiper arms, (corroded), Avant rear wash wipe nozel. Now on second set of front discs, third set front pads, third set of tyres, went for Eagle F1s and they seem much better that original Continentals. Managed 164 MPH on Road Angel GPS on Autobahn, average 20.9 MPG on computer, uses a litle oil.
Should I be going to dealer about start up noise and anything else before mid next month and end of warranty?
Tried RS4; seats terrific, more grippy, slightly faster, dread to think how much it would cost to change, may wait for an ex demo avant next year ...

Must be too gentle - 33k miles and original pads and discs.

PS Your car would be £20k max against an RS4.