Where to buy an S4?

[CliveH]

Hi, I've joined this forum because I will hopefully soon be an S4 owner.
However, I am finding great difficulty in finding what I'm looking for.
Basic requirement is obviously an S4 (B5) 2.7 bi-turbo.
I'm ideally looking for a 2000 or 2001 model with relatively low mileage.
Leather interior and/or sunroof and/or heated seats would be nice options but not essential as this car is already highly spec'd.
I have looked on Autotrader and ebay and there are some decent examples but most of them are rather high mileage.
None of the main dealers seem to stock these as they consider them to be too old.
The only independent I can find is Fontain, but they're in Slough. I'm in West Yorkshire and dont mind travelling but a more local dealer would be more convenient.
Can anyone help? Or indeed, if any of you S4 owners are wanting to move on a model fitting the above description, please get in touch.
Cheers, Clive

[AutoUnionist]

Clive,
Try the 'advanced search' on the Audi used car page. There were two B5's going recently...one in Peterborough and the other at Lincoln Audi I think. Both were 'Jasper Green'.

Only other place I can think of is Autopoint in Birmingham. They sell high end ex-lease cars 3-4 yrs old with FSH. Have to say I have not seen an S4 on their website but if you give them a ring they will try to source the car for you. They get plenty of TT's, BM's and Mercs in. They will tell you what work has been done on the car including service details and even minor things like bulb changes. They recently sourced a 225bhp TT for me. When they got the car in they noticed that the owner had missed a service and thereby negated the warranty. For this reason they refused to sell me the car, although it looked pristine! Instead they sold it at the dealer's auction. Their web address is www.autopointwm.co.uk. Might be worth a try.

[JonnyX]

Finding a low mileage s4 nowadays will represent a problem as most are 4 years old +. It's not as if their were loads around
anyway so choice is limited. Did you want an avant or saloon. I have to say that the car seems to carry it's miles pretty
well.

[cliveyboy]

thanks to you both.
i'm after a saloon.

[Dippy]

Clive,

I can't help you directly, but maybe you can reflect on my experience:

4 years ago after writing off my Scooby (:roll:), I decided the S4 was a better replacement. So I started looking for a similar spec to you - a later year low mileage car. But even back then I had trouble finding such a car (although my trouble was finding one for a reasonable price, whereas your will be to find one in a reasonable location!).

I couldn't afford a new S4 (at UK prices) so I decided to do a personal import instead. 5 months later I had my brand new S4 with £9K saving (but that's another story).

6 months later I wanted to mod the car. However I waited another 6 months until the manufacturer's warranty ran out.

I've had the car another 2 years since then and would love to fit K04 turbos. However I can't justify it until my K03s start to wear out. I'm also very aware that my car cost £34K, and I've had about £8K of work done to it. Now it's probably only worth about £20K (I'm guessing).

In hindsight I think I should have bought a used, higher mileage S4, saving as much money as possible. Then when it started to go wrong, I would have taken it to AmD for a full tune-up, possibly with an RS4 engine transplant (which is probably a better idea than heavily modding a high mileage S4 engine).

[jonno1]

Try Croft Motors - www.croftmotors.co.uk they have a regular stock of S4s - they have a low mileage (29,000) avant on there which looks good for £19,995 - the only saloon is 78k mileage.

[cliveyboy]

thanks guys

[ammwhite]

Clive,

If you'd consider an Avant, I have one for sale - check the for sale section. It's a 2000 V with 38K miles.
Personally, I think the Avants makes the S4 even more of a wolf in sheeps clothing, and they also seem to hold their value better.

However, as others have said, good S4s are few and far between, so you might have to travel to get the right one - I personally bought mine from Grimsby Audi, and I live near Glasgow!

[BlackShadow]

I've got to agree with Dippy. Get a high mileage S4 and spend the money saved on modifying it. You'll be replacing shagged worn out parts with new ones anyway (e.g. the brakes). I had budgeted up to to 20k for an S4. In the end I bought a 70,000 miler for 13k and have spent some of the money saved on tuning it, which you may well do anyway with a lower mileage one. Bear in mind higher mileage may mean motorway mileage, which doesn't lead to undue deterioration. Whereas a lower mileage car could have problems because the turbos have been used a little too hard when cold, or that the car has been used more as a weekend thrasher (check out the last owner - is he a wideboy or a vicar? is she a widegirl or nun? and what if she is a wide nun, what do you do then?

How much do those RS4 engine transplants cost then Dippy? Does this increase one's insurance premiums a tad?

[cliveyboy]

thanks for that - I think I'll look for a wide nun...!

[Dippy]

BS, I'm sure there was a thread on here not so long ago. The discussion was about heavily modding an S4 engine, and then someone quoted that an RS4 engine was only £x. I can't remember what x was but I think somewhere in the region of £7000.

Regarding insurance, that depends on the insurer. I have no doubt that my insurer would be very reasonable about it.

[cliveyboy]

You can upgrade your S4 to RS4 performance for about £6,500 (ECU, turbos, brakes, etc)
There are cheaper upgrades but I really wouldnt advise it as I dont think the engine in its original form would handle the extra power for too long