S4 (B6) Running Costs and What To Look For?

[Veero]

I'm currently torn between vaguely sensible (190 Quattro S-Line 1.8T Avant) and something a bit more lairy (B6 S4 Avant), but not being able to find a 2004 1.8T Avant S-line that's not taking the p1ss for love nor money has made me search for S4s. I figured the worst I will find is that it's too expensive to run and may have to sell it on in 6 months but I figured owning a V8 is sort of a rite of passage and certainly needs to be done. The little devil on my shoulder is saying "Helllll yeaaah!" along with several friends who are of particularly bad influence....

So, I may be going to have a look at a 2004 Avant on Saturday, on 90k miles. I won't touch it unless it's HPI clear plus has full history and a wodge of receipts so don't worry about that. But what else should I look out for particularly?

-I've heard about leaking aux radiators? Are they in the obvious place?
-Also heard about a whine on startup indication cam chain tensioners are on the way.
-Seen a few advertised with "coilpacks all replaced under warranty", presumably not great if they haven't been done?

-Any other troubling gremlins I should look out for?

Finally running costs, fuel (obviously), oil consumption (maybe ~ 1 litre per 2-3000 miles?) and tyres, have I missed anything? Should I look for things like major items such as recent clutch change? Don't fancy a few £K bill coming up soon.

Thanks for any advice and tips you guys can offer!:icon_thumright:
Veero

 

[xs2man]

Yep. You pretty much have the bases covered there.

Automatics are better on fuel than manuals if you are doing a lot of motorway driving. Just because it revs less at motorway speeds.

You probably wont use that much more fuel than the 1.8T though. My Mk4 Golf, 1.8T (stage 2 mind), got me about 28 mpg on average. My S4 is 23-24 mpg average. So a few mpg less, but a lot BHP more. Some are thirstier than others with the oil consumption, but mine is probably about what you are thinking. Servicing is more expensive, as its twice the engine, so twice the oil (approximately). So about 9L for the oil change. Brakes are bigger, so expect to pay more there, but most other service items will be direct replacement, so not too bad really.

Tyres, like any other car really, depends on how you drive it. I aint really changed the tyres on mine since I got it, but that was only 10k ago.

Coil packs, wont matter if they haven't previously been done under the recall or not, because it will cost you nowt anyway to get them done at Audi.

Clutch change would be good if its had it, but don't know how much they would need it. Mine certainly doesn't and its on 94k.

 

[HEKTOR]

At that age and mileage i would be thinking about checking suspension, suspension arms etc

A customer of mine had to replace all arms at that sort of mileage.

Get vag com and the rosstech cable to check for faults. Or if there is a specialist near by then it might be good to get it in for a health check before buying.