Just about to get a S4 Avant 4.2

[razor]

Hi Chaps,

I have just completed a deal on a 2003 S4 Avant (4.2) and would like to find out if there are any niggles that I should be looking out for and more importantly..

What performance options are available for this car?

Basically I am moving on from an EVO IX (420bhp/430lb torque) and while the test drive of the S4 was very nice - it did lack a little punch so would like to find out what conversion options (if any) are available. No biggy if there is not of course; as I did realise that I would be trading outright performance for a nice mixture of comfort and peformance.

Best regards,

Mark Barnes

[Scotty]

Hi Mark,

Have a look through this section of the forum as most things are covered. e.g. service bulletins you may want done etc.

With regards to tweaking you're quite limited. Being normally aspirated it's not as easy as a turbo'ed car.

Unless you wanna stump up big money for a supercharger then a full exhuast (downpipes, cats, rear box etc) plus a remap is about all you can really do. This is still in the region of £3k+. There's also an induction kit if you really want the extra 5-10bhp.

[razor]

Hi Scotty,

That is actually a very reasonable cost for those types of modifications that you have stated. I had visions of it being in the 10's of thousands considering this is an Audi to begin with..

I will have a look about this forum section to see what the reliability issues that may arise from running such mods and with any luck get a few company names - also, do you know anyone who has this type of mod (yes yes - I'll do a search for that information too! )

Thank you very much for your help, very appreciated. If I dont find what i'm looking for I will probably ask a few more questions.

Best regards,

Mark

Hi Mark,

Have a look through this section of the forum as most things are covered. e.g. service bulletins you may want done etc.

With regards to tweaking you're quite limited. Being normally aspirated it's not as easy as a turbo'ed car.

Unless you wanna stump up big money for a supercharger then a full exhuast (downpipes, cats, rear box etc) plus a remap is about all you can really do. This is still in the region of £3k+. There's also an induction kit if you really want the extra 5-10bhp.

[Merlot]

Hi

I appreciate that you were running a highly modified Evo but buy and S4 and run it for a bit. I like fast cars but in standard form the S4 is highly impressive with lots of low end grunt that you may find the Evo did not have.

Tell us what you get - they are pretty cheap now.

[razor]

Hi

I appreciate that you were running a highly modified Evo but buy and S4 and run it for a bit. I like fast cars but in standard form the S4 is highly impressive with lots of low end grunt that you may find the Evo did not have.

Tell us what you get - they are pretty cheap now.

Hi Merlot,

fair point - it is a 2003 (B6?) S4 Avant (I'm assuming they are all quattros?) with 33000 miles on the clock - 4.2 V8 engine. I have took it for a test drive and it is certainly no slouch but I was just looking for any available performance options in case the modding bug catches me again.

Mark

[Merlot]

It is a B6 and an early one too if its 03 (first ones out May 03 ish, mine is June 03). They are all Quattro. Is it around £25k?

Mine's that exact mileage and I've noticed it getting quite a bit louder of late - nice. I've also got a mid 04 build (05 registed) S4 Cab with <5k miles. That's really quiet by comparison.

[spikey]

Merlot - what do you mean by yours is is getting quite a bit louder ?

Mine was reged june 03 - now has 30k miles on - need to try to find those reports on the cam chain etc and get sorted before warranty runs out - all the links on the forum are dead, anyone have a live link ?

[Merlot]

Had my cam chain done early on - Scotty has the details to quote to Audi but from memory it doesn't apply to all VIN numbers.

On the loudness front I meant the exhaust. Its now getting quite fruity...or possibly my Cab is quieter (only had it a few months) so I think the Avant is getting louder.

FWIW there was a post on Tyresmoke a couple of months ago on B6 S4 exhausts. I think someone implied that the newer ones have quieter exhausts.

[Scotty]

...do you know anyone who has this type of mod (yes yes - I'll do a search for that information too! )

You don't have to search too far. As per my sig I have the stage 3 on my car. It's now running around 390bhp.

[razor]

Well I've picked up the car today and what I can say;at first I was not overly impressed by the pickup so I decided to sit as a passenger and..

Blimey! The problem (or the good thing) with the S4 is just how quiet the engine is - with the Evo you directly correlate sound to speed so its a bit of misnomer when you sit in the Audi. Obviously while being the driver you do not get a direct sense of speed as you are pretty inert when driving a car but as a passenger you do get a much truer sense and I have to say I am pretty impressed.

Back in the car as a driver I can now appreciate the speed of what this car is capable of but it is lacking ever so slightly. So then Scotty - can you tell me more about this 390bhp conversion - does it make a huge difference or is it pretty subtle much like the S4 itself?

Mark

[Scotty]

The big "problem" os not the S4 but humans! We can't detect accelearation, only changes in acceleration.
Since the S4 has a nice flat curve, it can feel like you're not really progressing ... until you look at the speedo.

My car was done by AMD. http://www.amdtechnik.com/products.vari ... riantid=29 Some tuners don't do a remap for the engine as you can only get about 15-20 bhp but the other gains are from the exhuast as this engine needs to breath.

I've actually not driven a standard manual S4 only a standard TipTronic and I was slightly disappointed....more so with the lack of noice than the performance. The performance differance is noticable and takes you to about 5.0 0-60 or a fraction below but the big gain is torque.

At the end of the day, it'll never be snappy like the Evo due to the weight etc but I guess you don't expect it to.