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right, now the s3 is gone, i thought i'd put a progress thread up about my current rs4 b5
firstly i sold the s3 for a few reasons, it was only ever going to be a stepping stone for an rs4, i would have kept it longer but my insurance for an rs4 was only £100 more per annum (compared to £3,000 more last year), the other reason for the sale was the desire for a more powerful car with more space, many people throw large amounts of cash at their 1.8t's only to lose it all in the long run, so to me it was a no brainer, just buy an rs4, i also could not stand the haldex unit on the s3!
so after putting £3000 into putting my s3 in a sound mechanical condition (cambelt, fluids, tyres, brakes, suspension and fixing other various problems), i decided to sell it after doing around 15,000 in it.
the first thing i looked for when buying an rs4 was low mileage, a sunroof, aluminium mirrors, rails and windows frames as well as a dark colour with a centre armrest, full leather and a bose system, things like the anti glare mirror and satnav had no pull with me.
i also knew how much simple servicing this vehicle would cost, cambelt change around £700, brakes around £1,000, clutch around £1,000 and tyres around £700, so finding a car with the above work carried out recently was crucial
i managed to find one not too far away from me, popped over and had a look and was instantly attracted to it, 76k, new clutch at 55k, new brakes at 69k, cambelt at 70k, and brand new tyres, it also had new dump valves, egt sensors and a maf at 55k, it was also finished in a non-standard colour, santorini blue, it had everything i wanted, the car was 100% standard, but i knew that with all the recent work done to the car I’d have money to spend on getting it tuned up etc. after the test drive, i left a deposit and collected the car within 2 weeks.
coming from motorcycles i knew the car would not be "scare me quick", it wasn't, i liked it, real smooth power from low down with a final punch at about 6,000 rpm, ok let’s be real, compared to the mapped s3 i had it was an animal, power kept coming in the higher rev range, something the 1.8t lacked due to the single turbo not being able to provide boost, i could also tell it had a proper 4 wheel drive system, fuel consumption was what i thought, 33mpg on a run at 70mph (460 to a tank) and a poor 19mpg around town, so close to around 250, obviously this is with light footed driving, put your foot down and these figure's will drop very quickly
the car is heavier than the s3, but only by around 170kg and considering the rs4 was a little higher than my s3 i think a lowering spring on each corner would give similar if not better handling capabilities than the s3 simply because of the width of the axles and the wider 255 tyres, the standard suspension was still good for a 10 year old car, felt firm and coped with the power fine, something i could not say about the s3's 10 year old suspension, there was a small amount of body roll, but not much and the usual under steer when coming into a corner hard and over steer when coming out too hard
the brakes are better than that of the s3's, by far, then again, it has 380mm discs on the front with huge pads, i also noticed the engine braking was better, i suppose this is down to the constant 4 wheel drive system, the only thing i have to get used to is the heavier flywheel as the engine does take a little longer to spin down
the gear box is very smooth whilst driving, better than that of my old s3, although 1st and reverse from neutral require you to wait around half a second with the clutch down if you want a smooth engagement, however 9/10 times it goes in without waiting easily, i've just learnt to wait so i avoid that 1/10 chance lol, i’ve also had to get used to the heavier flywheel as engaging the clutch too quickly provides you with a slight jump forward when changing gear, so I need to work on letting the gas off a little earlier and lift the clutch up slower, the car also manages to do 60 in second gear lol!
the car is bigger upfront and maybe a little bigger in the back, the sound system is MUCH better in it, the thing that annoyed me with the s3 was that silly sub hidden away, luckily the rs4 speakers produce their own bass, the boot also looks a lot better although i can not picture my old s3 boot as i never really used it lol, the inside of the rs4 just feel better to, even the headlight flasher feels smoother lol and the carbon fibre really make the rs4 feel that little bit special
the paint work and panels also seem to be of better quality (maybe my s3 was a bad example) and the rs4 wide stance just does it for me, the big wheel arches really make it stand out, my car is de badged though and very few people know what it is, it's also very quiet inside and quite quiet on the outside
all in all i am very happy with the change of cars, i love having an oil temp display as it lets you know when you can give it some, something the smaller audis lacked i believe, i;ve already had to call the aa out as i ran out of fuel on the way home lolol!!
i will update this thread with random posts and plans etc, not really any good at this kind of thing....... i only have one pic so far, i will get more
the next post will be "future plans"............
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2002 Audi S3 1.8T 225
, forge 007p, H&R's, tarox g88's, ferrodo ds2500's, and in the fastest colour
2003 Audi S3 225
