look familiar........?

[GrahamS4]

I have about £1.60 to spare this month! So sadly not! I worded it carefully to make sure I was not volunteering for something.

Not a bad suggestion for some of the hardcore modders we have on here though, even if I do say so myself!

If I was a mechanically skilled and had somewhere to store the shell, I think a decent return could be made and a nice project it would be too.

[MarkB]

I think some lucky so and so is going to get an extreemly fun car. I hope it get used as is rather than just being broken for spares...

With that much power out of the box it's likely to get stuffed by the new owner though. I've seen it happen many times.

[dr_wimpkins]

Unless Im missing something, you can get a decent S4 for £10K, prob less, and get a K04 upgrade for say £5k.
Excluding brakes, and suspension (not sure how much better RS4 susp is), its still way cheaper to mod an S4 to similar power levels of an RS4.

Sure the RS is a bit rarer, and looks a bit meaner. I didnt have the cash for one, and dont like estates, so modded S was the way to go for me !

[GrahamS4]

Yes you COULD mod an S4 and end up with near enough the same package, possibly more power for the same or less outlay as buying a B5 RS4. Rewind to the comments at the start fo the thread, the RS4 would suffer normal depreciation, where as the S4 would struggle to be worth any more than a stock S4.

If you have taken into account the depreciation angle, you haven't missed a thing.

[MCB]

As a stage1 modder I have just read through this interesting thread and asked myself the same question as the rest of you have been debating. I will mod mine because it will be some time before I can afford an RS4, so I will slowly (Very) change a few things - all the obvious ones - leave the turbo's probably until they either go or start to go.

And I will treat all this as a sort of hobby, will not expect to get any cash back as any fun activity costs money doesn't it. Whatever you can think of that has a similar fun factor (Presuming we are all a bit nutty about Audi's) will probably cost about the same and when you eBay your expensive sports kit, boat - whatever you are going to take a fairly large hit.

My Brother in law got heavily involved in kite surfing and the cost of all his kit was in the same region as a turbo upgrade, all his kit now is very probably last years tech and worth next to nothing, I can still remember trying to sell my windsurfing kit and realising I should of contacted a maritime museum!

So I guess there are two camps those that spend and upgrade because it is fun and those that save for an alternative car further down the line, it all works.

[Dr-Al]

And I will treat all this as a sort of hobby, will not expect to get any cash back as any fun activity costs money doesn't it.

Sex is fun - It's never cost me anything (directly)

[S4TAN]

Good call Dr-Al !!!

[MCB]

Oh bugger taking the misus for granted

[QuantumJohn]

It always costs

[CliveH]

"There's no such thing as a free lunch"...would be nice though...

[s4woody]

but you always get a free cuppa and a cake at woody,s...

[buzzard]

good debate on this thread (me come in 2 days to late!!)

i think DAVIDT hit it on the head . its the depreciation thats the problem.
S4 3 years ago would of cost at least 15k for a nice one. so run it for 3 years and spend 10k on mods and someone
insults you with a 7k price tag , that is a hell of a depriciation.
i think if your happy running a B5 S4 (which i am) i think you should forget the money and admire the peice of art for what it is!!!

ps i think this next months audidriver mag has an S4 to RS4 article but dont know if it is B5 or B7

[CliveH]

but you always get a free cuppa and a cake at woody,s...

Yea, that's true...!

[CliveH]

Yes, good debate

We have to accept that cars are depreciating assets because they don't last forever and consequently have a finite economic life (that's the accounting lesson over! ), so why is depreciation a problem??

I think the real answer to that is that it's only a "problem" if you're in there for the short-term, in which case there's not much point in spending much on mods anyway. But all this applies to any car - the "problem" of course is more noticeable on a higher value car. As far as depreciation on mods is concerned, as already stated - 90% even as they're going on... If you're not prepared for that, don't spend it or keep all the original parts, return the car to stock when you come to sell it, and sell the mods on separately.

As far as the "mod an S4" vs "buy an RS4" debate is concerned, a few points spring to mind :-

1. Although they're very close cousins, they're quite different cars - sure you can go a long way to getting towards RS4 spec, and can even go further if your budget allows but at the end of the day (yea, I know, it gets dark... ) it will never have the presence, rarity, and power delivery of an RS4, unless of course you go the full RS4 conversion, which only makes sense if you either have a saloon or simply have loadsa cash and time to throw at an interesting project;

2. When saying "you may as well have bought an RS4", this statement can only be made when comparing 2 different periods in time. To explain : if I'd taken the money I paid for my S4 2 years ago and added to that what I've spent on mods and put it all away until now, then yes I could have bought a high mileage RS4, but TODAY - not 2 years ago. You could probably say the same now, looking 2 years ahead - you'd pay £10k to £12k for a low mileage S4 now, spend another £4k to £5k on "modest" mods (brakes, suspension, remap, exhaust, wheels, ICs), or buy an RS4 in 2 years time for £14k to £17k;

3. If you have the budget, then surely it's RS4 every time...or is it? it may still be a question of personal preference - as some have stated, they simply don't like (or want) avants and would therefore prefer to mod an S4 saloon.

[DavidT]

3. If you have the budget, then surely it's RS4 every time...or is it? it may still be a question of personal preference - as some have stated, they simply don't like (or want) avants and would therefore prefer to mod an S4 saloon.

You should add to that: A stage 3 S4 does not drive like a standard or mapped (inc full exhaust) RS4.