Hi all, new member with a B5 S4 Avant

[y2blade]

Hi all.
have had my S4 since end of Nov, absolutely love her...3000miles together so far.

I Was looking at another diesel to replace my beloved Volvo S60 D5 (Now in the hands of my OH) , as good as the Volvo was it lacked the excitement of my previous Volvo 850 T5 (MTE mapped) wagon.


Anyway I lost the will to live looking at another diesel so bought a B5 S4 Quattro Avant instead


Some pics:

And a Video:

 

[Sandra]

Hi, welcome to audi-sport.net. Nice car. Where is the Shire? Head over to the a4 section of the forum, lots of useful info in there. Enjoy. x

 

[ex911driver]

Hi and welcome ,another from the darkside! You were on T5D5 or VPOC?

 

[y2blade]

Hi and welcome ,another from the darkside! You were on T5D5 or VPOC?

Both but mainly VPCUK and VOC.
I honestly wouldn't go back to Volvo now, the old ones are getting tatty and the newer ones were ruined by FORD.

Who were you on the Volvo forums?

 

[ex911driver]

I was ex911driver on both of those , scr&pdo was on here recently too.

 

[y2blade]

Ah cool, thanks for the welcome btw looks like a friendly forum.

 

[y2blade]

Update:
4500miles together now, took her up to Liverpool and across to the isle of man for the manx classic sprint the other week, she ran like a dream & was a pleasure to do the journey in.
Upon arriving home I a couple of small splatters of black grease on O/S/F wheel.....I knew what that meant straight away, the CV boot had small split and had not lost much grease at all, no damage to the CV joint.

New CV boot £9.99+ VAT, fitting it was a doddle.


I'm Still smiling every time I turn the key.

 

[y2blade]

Update:


7 months & 6000miles together now..still big grins all round.

MissB and I are off up to the Lake District in her next week for our Holiday, can't wait.

 

[Griffin1989]

looks great

 

[y2blade]

Update:
Another 1000miles now (just racked-up 900 of those on our holiday in the Lake District)..total 7000miles together.


The car performed superbly (As always), she didn't even notice the boot and back seats being full to the window level with camping gear and suchlike...I'm as smitten with the S4 as I was the day I got her.


Had a fantastic time, will post some more pictures once resized:

 

[y2blade]

 

[y2blade]

Stavely Village.

2010 in the Volvo S60 D5

2013 in the Audi S4

 

[y2blade]

Have just had a set of Avon ZV5s fitted this afternoon, nothing much to say other than they seem quieter at speed than the RainSport2s were.
Will be interesting to see how they compare.

 

[y2blade]

A few pics of her at "Audis in the Park" last weekend (great weekend btw).

 

[ukphillad]

Welcome to the forum Absolutely superb car, you will find loads of great info here

 

[y2blade]

Update: 9000 fantastic miles together now....still 100%.


Pic taken this morning:

 

[y2blade]

She's not looking so good at the moment
Pic taken the other weekend, she's even filthier now! just lately every time I have an opportunity to clean her the weather is foul my cars (or bikes) never get this dirty!!!!

 

[kwistof]

You off to the PHSS at MBW?

A dirty car means it's a used car which is all good in my books

Chris

 

[y2blade]

You off to the PHSS at MBW?

A dirty car means it's a used car which is all good in my books

Chris

Hi Chris, I'm planning on it yes

I went to Porsche SS (that was the day that dirty pic was taken) .
It'll be good to meet you

Chris

 

[y2blade]

 

[kwistof]

Hi Chris, I'm planning on it yes

I went to Porsche SS (that was the day that dirty pic was taken) .
It'll be good to meet you

Chris

Good good

I missed out on the Porsche SS as I was at the BTCC....been before though and it's a very nice venue.

Weather was terrible that day so no wonder the car took a beating of dirt!

I'll drop you a message on here during the day to try and meet up....probably been seen each other before but not even known it! lol

Chris

 

[y2blade]

Cool I look forward to meeting you.


Update:
She passed MOT this afternoon, always a relief

 

[y2blade]

Update 10000miles and almost our first year together.


MOT passed with an advisory that the pads were getting low, so bought a set of PAGID ones (same brand that was on the car) and completely stripped, overhauled and rebuilt the calipers...new pads are bedding in nicely and are sharper that the old ones were already.

Then a much needed clean

Going back in the garage for a chamois and a polish.

Great car

 

[y2blade]

Update: 11500miles/14months together.

Not much to report tbh.
Truly faultless, has been an absolute please to own and drive.
Update: 11500miles/14months together.

Not much to report tbh.
Truly faultless, has been an absolute please to own and drive.

She's a little dirty right now........

She's a little dirty right now........

 

[y2blade]

Update:

Had the Passenger side rear wheel bearing fail all of a sudden on way to work yesterday morning, it had been running silent from all four corners then yesterday morning a slight hmmmmmmm that literally 5miles later became a more prominent wurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr that came and went as I loaded/unloaded that side of the car and could tell straight away what corner it was coming from.

I've had wheel bearings go on other cars before but none have gone as quickly as that!

Made a call and got a bearing same day by 15:00, finished work at 17:00 then got busy....new bearing done and dusted by 19:30.

Not a bad job tbh, did it off the car and had to disconnect the ABS sensor from under the rear passenger seat and pass it through that way as the sensor wasn't coming off the hub at all...We marked the camber adjuster plates so all went back together exactly as it came off.


All running silent again this morning.

 

[y2blade]

Still nothing to report, still a lot of flood water along the valley here so she's tucked away polished and fully cleaned inside and out in my garage with an optimate looking after her.

Hence my commuting duties are shared between S60 and XC90 depending what vehicle type MissB needs to use of different days (horsey girl so she has to get bales of hay and suchlike)

I'm really missing not using my S4 daily.

View from XC90 at the weekend, I'm NOT driving my S4 through this sort of thing:

 

[y2blade]

lol I just found the pics from when I washed/polished her prior to hiding her from the flood water.

Before:

.
.
.
.
.
.
After about 4hrs:

Interior another 4hrs:

How she looks right now (looks odd as the bonnet propped open for optimate lead)and will do so until the flood waters clear off (seems to be taking forever! ):

 

[y2blade]

Fired her up this morning and took her out along the hilltop, kept away from the flooded valley roads, got her nice & warm and cleaned the surface rust off the discs.


She felt great really strong, lovely noise....I'd not driven her apart from in and out the garage to wash in about 4-6 weeks.


She soon reminded me how much I enjoy driving her.
Now back in the garage covered and on optimate waiting for flood water to ****** off.

 

[y2blade]

Update:
My local roads are now flood free and repaired So I got my baby out to stretch her legs, after three months in the XC90 she reminded me how good she is.

Such a great car

 

[y2blade]

Took this one on the way home from work last night.

 

[y2blade]

Update from Nov 24th 2014:
Two years together now, has been an absolute pleasure to drive, run and own.
She is no longer my daily driver, the XC90 T6 has taking the commuting duties off her.

Not much to report since last post tbh, MOT went well...She is still not using ANY oil at all between services (every 5-6k iirc), no boost leaks or fault codes either.

Some recent pics:

Still very much smitten with her, the most fun car I've ever owned tbh.
------------------------

NOT A VERY EXCITING UPDATE for today:
The XC90 went to new home two weeks ago so have been commuting in the S4 (while I look for a V8 to commute in), noticed towards the end of last week that the keyfob was only working when you are very close to the car, ordered some new batteries......

all sorted now and never had to resync it either.
Told you it wasn't a very exciting update

 

[GregerseN]

Very nice Pictures, especially the one from your last post in May - I love that shot!

Can I ask, those batterys - what are the name of those? Been thinking about changing mine since mine can't reach so far either ...

 

[y2blade]

Very nice Pictures, especially the one from your last post in May - I love that shot!

Can I ask, those batterys - what are the name of those? Been thinking about changing mine since mine can't reach so far either ...

Thanks, they are CR1620 and each keyfob takes two of them....I bought four and did both keyfobs.

 

[y2blade]

Took some "dirty girl" pics at the weekend, hopefully they make up for the last pic I posted

 

[y2blade]

Wow a long time since last update is always the sign of a good reliable car.

3 years together now and still very much smitten with this car, a few pics taken since last update:

Snow is always a welcome sight

Love the early starts, commuting on empty rural roads

Fitted new upper arms and track rod ends (also 4 wheel alignment done) both sides.

Fitted New Exhaust sleeves as the mid sections were starting to blow.

Fitted new fuel filter

MOT'd

Then this happened, last weekend

So stopped to take a pic.....as you do.

When the XC90 T6 went back in January the intention was to get a V8 barge to commute in, however I've been enjoying the S4 so continuing to daily drive her.
Still no plans to replace her, over a three year period she has been the most dependable car I've owned tbh.

Speaking from my own experience the B5 S4 does not deserve the "unreliable" tag that the internet gives it.
Here's to many more years together.

 

[Sandra]

Looking fantastic.

 

[y2blade]

Sad update: I'm probably going to be putting her up for sale.
No fault on her part, I'm just finding it uncomfortable to drive....Comfort has always been my only gripe and I'm finding it worse as time goes on, to the extent that any long trips we are taking my OHs S60 D5 (my old car) instead of the S4.

I've been spoilt by Volvo over the years, or maybe I'm getting old.......

 

[Sandra]

Sad update: I'm probably going to be putting her up for sale.
No fault on her part, I'm just finding it uncomfortable to drive....Comfort has always been my only gripe and I'm finding it worse as time goes on, to the extent that any long trips we are taking my OHs S60 D5 (my old car) instead of the S4.

I've been spoilt by Volvo over the years, or maybe I'm getting old.......

That's a shame. You really enjoyed the car. Your comfort has to come first x

 

[stevie82]

Stavely Village.

2010 in the Volvo S60 D5

2013 in the Audi S4

the difference in the waterfall says it all