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So, after 13 years, almost 60K miles and seven European road trips, we have finally said a sad goodbye to our RS4 - it was hard to let it go but it’s been a great experience and I will never forget what is one of the great V8 soundtracks.
Overall, reliability was very good except for one major issue, namely a small screw from the manifold flaps wrecking the engine at 110K miles requiring a used engine plus numerous expensive parts (manifold £2.5K).
Selling it proved interesting :
At 132K miles I wondered if that would prove a turn-off so was conservative in my pricing however there was a very promising response and I came to the conclusion that I’d undervalued it at £13,990. After very careful thought I contacted the interested parties and advised that I was increasing the price by £1K.
Thankfully this didn’t go down like lead balloon and I achieved the asking price with a proper enthusiast in Ireland - ironically, the car was originally registered in Belfast back in 2006. At £15,240 (spare alloy went as well) and a very simple handover I can’t complain having paid £22K in 2011.
A couple of points that may be useful:
I used Chipex to deal with small blemishes and having never tried it before was very impressed with the results – in particular, the colour match was perfect.
In addition, because I had to keep the car on the drive (two 25-year old modern classics occupy the garage) I have always kept the car under a Coverzone Voyager cover and this meant the paintwork was as new.
Apologies for a blatant plug but if anyone wants the 3-month old one I have then contact me or look on eBay.
So now I have another Italian car to join the Fiat Coupe 20VT and it will get a proper workout in France, Germany and Italy during the summer.
Cheers and keep those V8s howling.
Alan

Thanks or sharing your experrience, also glad to hear you got a good price for it.

Out of interest, as i have my manifold off currently. How did the screw come lose to enter the engine, did it vibrate loose or snap off?

I believe it may have worked loose - when Martin at Unit20 built up the replacement engine he said the manifold was badly worn so a new one was fitted which if IRC was an eye-watering £2.5K. Perhaps the right spec of Loctite might be worthwhile.

Yeah the screws tend to work themselves loose. These cars are pretty bulletproof if looked after but the thing I've read the most over the years in terms of major things going wrong are the engines swallowing the occasional manifold flap screw. It's why lots tend to deflap and be done with it. Mine's deflapped and I haven't noticed any negatives of this (having driven others with flaps still in place).

Glad you got a decent price for the car OP and sounds like you had many awesome trips in it.