New Member - New (to me) S4 - Noob Questions

[pingdashf]

Hey All, I just got myself a 2001 S4. I haven't even picked it up yet but I have had my eye on the S4 for a couple years so i'm pretty excited. I've been driving a SUV as a family car and a classic corvette as my project/sports car and will be replacing both with the S4.

I have a couple of newbie questions....

I see a lot of models are specified as ".5" like 2001.5. What's that about? Do the Audi's release cars in June or something? Are all 2001's really 2001.5 or are there actual differences between the 2001 and the 2001.4 (and if so, where do I find out what they are and how to tell the two apart?)

Also, what is a "pre-facelift" vs. a "facelift" car refering to?

Anyway, Thanks in advance for your answers and hopefully I can soon be contributing more info than I am leaching :)

-Carson

[cpufreak]

Audi release minor (and sometimes significant) improvements to a model over its life. - For example if there turns out to be a design flaw in a manifold, for which a recall is made, the redesigned manifold will be fitted to future models.
The S4 buyers guide
( http://www.rs246.com/modules.php?op=mod ... tit&lid=28 )

goes someway to explaining the differences to facelift models

The 'biggest' change was I think for the 2000 model year, as such 2000 + later cars are referred to as being facelifts, where the Xenon headlights got a redesign, and the mirrors changed slightly and some other stuff...and another change of significance was for the last batch of cars, ie those made towards the end of 2001 (.5 = halfway through the year).

EDIT: to say, that having reread your post, I've a feeling you're from the other side of the pond, and as such all S4s which went to america were from 2000 or later...thus rendering some of what I said less useful. - particularly as american S4's have different light clusters to european ones anyway

[Danian]

Face lift cars were available in 1999. Mine is a face lift and was registered in May 1999.

[Dippy]

Carson, I guess you're from North America? Over there they refer to the first of the new model of the next year with a 0.5. Generally this only really makes sense for when the manufacturer made changes, and the facelift was a big one. However there were always changes made, for example I have a different engine from most S4 owners here because mine meets the newer EU emissions controls (and unfortunately for me that means less power ).

So when you see 2001.5, it means that it was made in 2001, but had the latest changes that "would have been planned" for 2002. Since that was the end of the line it's a bit strange, so a better example is a 2000.5 car. This would have been made in 2000, but had everything that a 2001 car had.

As stated, yours is a facelift car.

[Nige_RS4]

I think the Americans refer to 'their' facelift cars when the badge design changed - I'm not sure exactly what else was changed, but I suspect it was different oil lines to the turbos and stronger seat subframes.

[pingdashf]

Ok, that makes sense. So, how can I tell if mine is a 2001 or a 2001.5?

And what's this about different bages? I'll have to look that one up.

[pingdashf]

I did some more research into the badge differences and 2001 vs. 2001.5 and learned a lot (a lot I wish I had of known before I bought my s4 ). Let me know if I have this right....

a 2001 was manufacturered only from June 2000 through October 2000 when Audi made a lot of changes and produced these so-called 2001.5's through June of 2001 when they started manufacturing the 2002's which are practically identical to the 2001.5's. And, the easiest way to tell a 2001 vs. a 2001.5 would be to see which badge it has.

Mine, is the "old" 2001. Which I guess means I have lots of catching up to do