Audi ownership over before it started

MFM

MFM

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Well, I owned my S4 B8 a whole 3 months of which I struggled for 2 months to get it sold. After too many time wasters trying to sell it privately, I sold it to a dealer who offered me a very fair price. Really glad to be back in a BMW again.

As for why I didn't get on with it... not sure. From the moment I bought it I just didn't feel the love. I had plans of an MRC Stage 2 tune but immediately fell out of love with the car so scrapped those plans. The driving position feels awkward and I could never get used to it, the steering felt really odd and all in all it just wasn't as solid as the BMW's I've owned in the past(and the one I own now).

The thing that worries me the most is the time it took to sell it and the lack of interest. I've never had that with any other car before. I think it's safe to say my Audi experience was not a great one but that's how you learn.

I haven't really got anything positive to end on. :D
 
Sorry to see you go, I wonder if being a manual is the reason you struggled to sell? When I was hunting for an STronic back in July the same manual cars seemed to pop up in the searches (including yours!), and even though they were good spec they didn't seem to be as much turnover as there was with decent specced STronic cars. Also quite a few buyers seem to hold out for Drive Select / Sport Diff which narrows their potential market by about 90% so that might have hindered you a bit too.

I've also come from BMW (a facelift 130i) to the S4 but am so far loving it. It's different to drive and not sure how much help the Sport Diff is on mine, but I still find the handling engaging and much more reassuring and stable than the 1 Series ever was which was quite tiring and a bit unnerving to drive fast unless it was bone dry and sunny. My other option for replacement was a new shape M135i but having driven the auto version I found that more "Playstation" to drive with much less driver feel / involvement than the old 130. Not sure the S4 is any better in that respect but I don't think it's any worse.
 
Glad ya got a good outcome in the end mate.

We all find different things appealing so have fun in the BM :)
 
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MFM said:
Well, I owned my S4 B8 a whole 3 months of which I struggled for 2 months to get it sold. After too many time wasters trying to sell it privately, I sold it to a dealer who offered me a very fair price. Really glad to be back in a BMW again.

As for why I didn't get on with it... not sure. From the moment I bought it I just didn't feel the love. I had plans of an MRC Stage 2 tune but immediately fell out of love with the car so scrapped those plans. The driving position feels awkward and I could never get used to it, the steering felt really odd and all in all it just wasn't as solid as the BMW's I've owned in the past(and the one I own now).

The thing that worries me the most is the time it took to sell it and the lack of interest. I've never had that with any other car before. I think it's safe to say my Audi experience was not a great one but that's how you learn.

I haven't really got anything positive to end on. :D
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@MFM - Glad to hear that your happy with your car once more

Would be a strange place if we all liked the same things TBH

Any pics of your new ride?
 
I agree with both sides here..
At the end of the day both Audi & BMW make very, very good cars!
My previous Beemer was mechanically sound with no problems in covering nearly 100k over 3 years!. I moved across to Audi and have had no end of problems as seen in my oil consumption thread!
However IMHO the feed back from the steering in a BMW is better than Audi but to me that is it where the comparison ends...
 
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Same as xp. Hope you have fun in the beemer. All about what floats your boat.
 
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Agree with the comments above about it being a manual.
Searches just seem to keep bringing up the same manual cars.
And yes I did keep looking at the pics and spec of yours but the manual box always put me off.

Glad your sorted now though.
 
Why is the manual so undesirable? I prefer an auto myself but with sporty cars like an S4 surely a lot of people would want a manual?
 
MFM said:
Why is the manual so undesirable? I prefer an auto myself but with sporty cars like an S4 surely a lot of people would want a manual?
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I guess it's because the S-Tronic offers more choice, depending on conditions and the driver's mood.
 
As I mentioned, a lot of it is probably the £200 extra tax per year over the auto. Even though in reality its not a big differentiator in terms of the costs of running and owning a car (compared to fuel price and depreciation etc), a lot of people have a mental block over a ~£500 annual car tax bill. TBH having had manuals for my entire driving life I wanted an auto for various reasons, and the manuals do seem to have their own issues in terms of reliability so a manual S4 doesn't really have a reliability trump card like a lot of manuals might over their auto counterparts.

I did consider one manual I saw which was otherwise an almost perfect spec but it was quite pricey and I knew it had been remapped and tracked once or twice by the previous owner so that also put me off a bit.
 
I think MFM is a bit like my neighbour: He's had a few Audis but he just prefers BMWs.

Right now manual B8s are a real rarity and I guess most buyers are expecting the s-tronic. I fully understand that some people like manuals, however the s-tronic is just so damned good that the majority of buyers prefer it.
 
Enjoy your new car; I'm sure you will, especially versus the S4 given your experiences!
I think the time you took to sell also included some factors unique to this sale, in addition to some mentioned above. You bought the car and immediately wanted to sell it. To some that might mean something was wrong with the car in addition to what you mention above. Caveat Emptor and all that.

You also priced it too high initially. If I recall you didn't realise it had a specialist exhaust when you bought it, and then when you did realise it, you used that as a selling point to help facilitate that too high a price. Higher than what you actually paid for it? The exhaust is not that desirable an item, which is why you didn't spot it & why the high price didn't sell.

If I recall from my S4 Auto Trader 'window shopping' then the car you bought had been on the trader for a decent amount of time before you bought it. Add to what I've mentioned the factors others have said and in reality you didn't have a particularly desirable car, especially at the price who were trying to sell.

Time wasters come and go whatever the brand of vehicle; fair play for trying to sell it privately but as we all know the car is only worth what people are prepared to pay.
 
mister.c. said:
Enjoy your new car; I'm sure you will, especially versus the S4 given your experiences!
I think the time you took to sell also included some factors unique to this sale, in addition to some mentioned above. You bought the car and immediately wanted to sell it. To some that might mean something was wrong with the car in addition to what you mention above. Caveat Emptor and all that.

You also priced it too high initially. If I recall you didn't realise it had a specialist exhaust when you bought it, and then when you did realise it, you used that as a selling point to help facilitate that too high a price. Higher than what you actually paid for it? The exhaust is not that desirable an item, which is why you didn't spot it & why the high price didn't sell.

If I recall from my S4 Auto Trader 'window shopping' then the car you bought had been on the trader for a decent amount of time before you bought it. Add to what I've mentioned the factors others have said and in reality you didn't have a particularly desirable car, especially at the price who were trying to sell.

Time wasters come and go whatever the brand of vehicle; fair play for trying to sell it privately but as we all know the car is only worth what people are prepared to pay.
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You're absolutely right, I did price it too high. But then again, I had no real idea what the car was actually worth as I saw some with higher mileage than mine for quite a bit more. Also, it was actually for sale for less than a week when I bought it. It really was in near brand new condition which is why I paid quite a bit for it. I looked at a couple before that which were described as immaculate which didn't even come close.

Even when I dropped the price to £18500, which was as low as I was willing to go, did I not really get that much more interest. Just the usual chancers who made silly offers of £15k and £16k. In the end I had to be proactive and look for a buyer which is when I found the dealer who took it off me. I only took a small, and I mean insignificant hit which tells you how good the car actually was since dealers don't pay over the odds.
 
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I know this is a little bit off the line of this thread but I'm curious guys. It's mentioned here that you pay more on an annual basis to have a manual on the road. Why? Is this something to do with your MOT ? (what we call registration). Or is it from an insurance point of view. There is no differentiation here taxwise or feewise regarding the form of a drivetrain in an individual vehicle.
Selling a manual second hand B8 S4? That would be pretty rare here. Mainly B5s 6s and 7s. If any. I think you have to place an order specially these days for a manual transmission. Last I heard BMW had gone this way too.
 
It's the annual tax we pay for the privilege of driving on the roads. It's been around since the beginning of motoring at the start of the 20th Century. Originally, it was called Road Fund Licence, and the money raised was used specifically to pay for road building and upkeep. The link was brokenin the 1930, since when it's just been another part of general taxation.

Its current name is Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), and since 2001, it's been levied on a sliding scale, linked to cars' emissions as measured in grammes of CO2 produced per mile. Once you have sliding scale bands, you get anomalies with a car just below the next band attracting a lower VED rate than one just over it. That'ds what happened with the manual S4 compared with the automatic. The manual produced a higher CO2 rating than the auto, enough to push it into a more expensive VED band.
 
Thanks jdp. The bands are that tight that one car model ie the S4 can be "split" this way? That would definitely put me off a manual S4 a bit. Thats a fair bit, around $500 a year. Yowza!! How do diesels fare?
 
Main reason I chose an Audi A4 is because I dont trust myself with rwd as a daily, I hope you enjoy your new car, drive safe :p
 
Having got quite a few S4 brochure pdfs, I checked. In 2009 and 2010 the S4 saloon (sedan) had 225 g/km CO2 for the manual and 219 for the s-tronic, and the avant was 229 vs 224. Band K (up to 225 g/km) was £215 and band L was £405. In 2015 the bands are the same but the cost has increased to £290 and £490. So a manual only cost more tax for the avant and not the saloon.

Interestingly according to the 2015 brochure an S4 saloon/avant is 179/180 g/km on 18" wheels and 184/185 on 19" wheels, whereas an S5 is 179 g/km with no mention of wheel size. Band I (£225) is 176 to 185 g/km so covers all those cases, but it does seem to give the impression that the whole business is rather BS doesn't it?
 
Dippy said:
Having got quite a few S4 brochure pdfs, I checked. In 2009 and 2010 the S4 saloon (sedan) had 225 g/km CO2 for the manual and 219 for the s-tronic, and the avant was 229 vs 224. Band K (up to 225 g/km) was £215 and band L was £405. In 2015 the bands are the same but the cost has increased to £290 and £490. So a manual only cost more tax for the avant and not the saloon.

Interestingly according to the 2015 brochure an S4 saloon/avant is 179/180 g/km on 18" wheels and 184/185 on 19" wheels, whereas an S5 is 179 g/km with no mention of wheel size. Band I (£225) is 176 to 185 g/km so covers all those cases, but it does seem to give the impression that the whole business is rather BS doesn't it?
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Of course it's BS. It was the work of New Labour, when Uncle Gordon thought it would be a great idea to get everyone (except for government ministers, of course) driving a Kia Picanto.

As to @chucky1's question about diesels, because VED bands are based solely on CO2 emissions and take no account of carcinogenic soot, most diesels fall into quite low bands. That's why thyere's been such a big growth in diesel's market share in UK over the past decade.
 
The whole manual vs auto thing is probably a good shout, i've had manuals in every car i've owned but now im looking to jump into a s4 i'm swinging towards the s-tronic auto. i've yet to test drive either though due to all the ones i've seen on the market so far being well over 2 hours drive away! the southwest is terrible for buying cars :( wont have the cash together until after Christmas anyways so probably for the best!
 
I've always had manual and always hot hatch / drivers cars from RS fords through to 4-off Subaru Impreza
This is the first Auto and enjoying the versatility of it and the manual fun with flappy paddles.
However I do still have the Subaru for a more down and dirty blast when the wife's not on board ;)
 
It's all about spec, high spec cars sell fast, lower spec cars hang about. People want the toys and are willing to wait, I took a few months myself.
 
Everyday I started the five series and there was not a warning light or fault was a good day. If it could go wrong it did, could not wait to sell it. I did not want my wife to buy a BMW but " I love it " so I gave in. Huge error.
 
Dippy said:
Having got quite a few S4 brochure pdfs, I checked. In 2009 and 2010 the S4 saloon (sedan) had 225 g/km CO2 for the manual and 219 for the s-tronic, and the avant was 229 vs 224. Band K (up to 225 g/km) was £215 and band L was £405. In 2015 the bands are the same but the cost has increased to £290 and £490. So a manual only cost more tax for the avant and not the saloon.

Interestingly according to the 2015 brochure an S4 saloon/avant is 179/180 g/km on 18" wheels and 184/185 on 19" wheels, whereas an S5 is 179 g/km with no mention of wheel size. Band I (£225) is 176 to 185 g/km so covers all those cases, but it does seem to give the impression that the whole business is rather BS doesn't it?
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The change in emissions because of wheel sizes is down to 'tyre clustering' which came into effect on A4's (& other Audi models) from BW22 2015
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/new-uk-a3-saloon-april-2015-brochure-out.243783/#post-2449589

Still BS if you ask me
 
audi upgrades
Scott.T said:
I've always had manual and always hot hatch / drivers cars from RS fords through to 4-off Subaru Impreza
This is the first Auto and enjoying the versatility of it and the manual fun with flappy paddles.
However I do still have the Subaru for a more down and dirty blast when the wife's not on board ;)
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Can't beat a fast bike for fun. The Audi is the family runabout..
 
For some reason the 2010/2011 Saloon manual went up to just over 230 g/km though which did push it into the £490 band, it was only the early manual saloons that sneaked into the 225g/km band.

Dippy said:
Having got quite a few S4 brochure pdfs, I checked. In 2009 and 2010 the S4 saloon (sedan) had 225 g/km CO2 for the manual and 219 for the s-tronic, and the avant was 229 vs 224. Band K (up to 225 g/km) was £215 and band L was £405. In 2015 the bands are the same but the cost has increased to £290 and £490. So a manual only cost more tax for the avant and not the saloon.
Click to expand...
 
I imagine it would be unusual for one model to get "split" this way. Has this happened because the S4s emissions just happen to fall right on the line and just a small difference in particulates makes it fall either way. Without doing any homework I would also guess its also a relatively efficient motor from this point of view. 290 and 490 pounds, geez what about V8s etc? I would summize that they must cost a fortune to keep on the road.
 
Its unusual for it to change like that yep, particularly upwards rather than the odd one or two downwards on some models when a manuafacturer makes a few tweaks to get the car in the next band down. Not sure the reason why, perhaps a change in manufacturer on a core part that required a re-test or something like that.

Relative to it's power output the S4 engine in any guise is pretty low emissions, but in the UK we have around 12 bands that basically encourage you to buy ultra eficient diesels and small petrols. The 225g/km limit is the second from top band which goes to 255g/km, then anything above that is £510 per year no matter how high your emissions are so a V12 Lamborghini would only be £20/year more than the manual S4!

chucky1 said:
I imagine it would be unusual for one model to get "split" this way. Has this happened because the S4s emissions just happen to fall right on the line and just a small difference in particulates makes it fall either way. Without doing any homework I would also guess its also a relatively efficient motor from this point of view. 290 and 490 pounds, geez what about V8s etc? I would summize that they must cost a fortune to keep on the road.
Click to expand...
 
Mmmm.... get in there now boys. Governments only go one way with taxes.
 
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