My 20th 4WD car but first V8 !

[RSgeoff]

So I've had 37 performance cars in the last 31 years, inc many hot hatches, coupes and saloons. As for 4WD, I got my first Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 20 years ago and since then I've had 15 of them, along with Impreza Terzo Turbo, Golf V6 4motion, Audi A5 2.0TFSI quattro black edition & Audi S1 comp pack.

Anyway I've wanted an RS4 since they first came out and back then I had an A4 tdi Company car and drooled over the new (£50k+) RS4's in the dealerships (while mine was in for service etc). Anyway fast forward 12 years and i'm now finally in the position to be able to buy one so looked around at the turn of the year.

I was quite specific on spec - wanting a Daytona Grey Saloon, preferably with the Recaro seats, no more than 65k miles, as good condition as possible, with all the usual issues sorted. Looked at a few but weren't up to my standard then found one at a dealers in Cumbria with all of the above. Got a great deal on p/x with the S1 and picked the car up 5 weeks ago.

All I can say is wow I absolutely love it - so different to anything I've had before (the closest was probably my E46 330i M sport strangely enough with weight and steering, albeit not 4wd or as powerful).

Although the car was in great condition it still wasn't up to my standards so spent hours upon hours cleaning the engine bay / wheels / bodywork / clay bar (which showed it had probably never been done) / due to a small area of light corrosion on one of the wheels had them all refurbed.

As well as cleaning I like to drive a car as intended, so last Friday took the day off work to do 200 miles on some of the best roads in the country over Alston / Hartside pass / Stanhope etc. The brakes did well but finally wilted a bit near the end of the day so they are next on the list for upgrades.

Also had the car on the local RR which showed only 370bhp (it had a full carbon clean in the last 10k miles) so was expecting a bit more?

The biggest problem I have is (even though I have a brand new Octavia VRS co car) I just can't stop driving it - done about 1,000 miles already considering it's only coming out at weekends. (well that's not really a problem)

Something about it just makes me feel so special compared to every other car I've ever had - just love the look of it / the respect it gets on the road / the engine & noise and the smell of the interior. Bloody fab. It's like having 2 cars in one - on the m/way / dual carriageway it's a luxury, quiet, comfortable saloon, then on the A/B road it turn into a total weapon.

I'm putting it into a local detailing company in May (they have a 2 month waiting list) to get a full detail / polish and then off down to Goodwood FOS in July (700 mile round trip) so will probably call into MRC on the way back for a healthcheck. Then off for a European road trip in August.

So here's a few pictures ...………….

[Covkiller]

Well done a great looker

[RSgeoff]

Cheers - I notoriously change my cars a lot (i.e. very rarely get past a year) however I genuinely don't see any reason to be changing this one for a long time. Difficult to now find a true drivers car with 4WD / Manual gearbox / normal handbrake and circa £20k (i'm very much old school and always will be - can't stand flappy paddles etc). I really think these are a performance bargain at present and should be commanding higher prices.

Oh and here's a link to the same roads I was on (minus the snow)

https://www.pistonheads.com/features/ph ... -r34/39555

[AlexB7RS4]

Nice. I remember first picking mine up, I drove it home from Sydney to Adelaide, some 1100km over 2 days.

On day 2 I was so excited to drive it I was up at 5am.

Nearly 3yrs on I still love driving it and still catch myself looking back at it in the carpark.


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[MikeFish]

I had the same problem. I had 2 other cars for work but ended up driving my RS4 every day and the other 2 never got a look in. I even ended up not using the trains and driving into Central London everyday paying congestion charge and £25 per day parking.

[12th]

Not all rolling roads calibrate 4wd power outputs properly, so I wouldn't necessarily worry about the power output if it's been cleaned and feels healthy. But consider going to MRC for a remap. I only ended up with 20PS more than the stated 414, but torque went from 317 to almost 360, and you will get full throttle in the first three gears. Makes it a noticeably faster car...

Enjoy!

[RSgeoff]

Thanks. Also meant to mention im getting better mpg than I expected - when I researched these cars most people seem to say 20mpg on average - i'm averaging about 25 and on one run to work (46 miles mainly on a dual carriageway averaging 60mph in rush hour traffic before getting stuck in a jam) I got 29.9 (piccy below for proof).
I know the answers will be that i'm not driving it as intended but believe me it goes from one extreme to the other depending what road im on and if the wife is in the car !!

[FrazerD]

Looks great and great to hear you are enjoying it. I drive mine far more than I ever drove my M3. I wouldn’t go off the computer for the mpg, it won’t be right. I’ve got the Audi app on my phone and keep a track of my fuel usage, my average is 20.39mpg over 4075 miles.

Cheers