S4 buying advice

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marctwo

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I am looking for an S4 Avant and can't seem to find any kind of buyers guide. I would be grateful if anyone could let me know the particular things I should be looking out for when buying (common problems / desirable features etc).

Also, if anyone knows of a Avant for sale around the 10-13k mark please let me know.

Many thanks,

Marc
 
They are well built cars. With a few known problems, aux rads, start up rattle, oil consumption. The start up rattle is not a big issue just a little disconcerting at first if your not aware of its causes. (Low oil pressure on the chain tensioner). This soon goes away after oil pressure rises.

Mine has not suffered with any of the aforementioned problems in the cars lifetime, 2003. Performance wise there are no complaints from me or the majority of S4 owners on this forum. It is not the most economical, 18-22mpg, but if driven conservatively it can yield a decent return, 26mpg.
 
I have an S4 cab which i bought in March 08 - had quite a few issues - both aux rads, fuel sender, roof catch, some injector issue, plus consumables like discs and pads, tyres, and the deprecaition has been astronomical.

All that said, I love it to bits, but would strongly suggest some form of warranty to cover the high repair prices.

Best of luck.
 
I agree aragorn. This is the thing about owning cars. From my experience I would say that warranty is not necessary but James recommends it. In fact in the 6 years I have been driving S-cars I have only had 2 warranty issues, faulty temp sender and door lock, both of which were on the S3. The S4 has been trouble free.
 
Aragorn - mine is an 04 plate B6, and by my calculations and glasses guide, i have lost £6-7k in 10 months. To me thats ****** astronomical. Sorry. :end_of_discction:I think that if I had bought a brand new blue oval or a VX, I couldn't have lost that much if I had tried!! :tocktock:

Tendaimwari - I had a Porsche before the Audi, and that suffered just as many issues as the S4, and was even more expensive to maintain. So far I have had a new roof lock mechanism which was £600+, new fuel sender which was £160, two aux rads were £400 (approx). All of these I have had covered by my AA warranty which cost me £509 for two years cover.

Maybe I have just been unlucky. :sadlike:
 
£509 for 2yrs is really good value for money. Sometimes owning a car and its reliability is purely down to luck.
 
point is you need to take it as a % of the total cost, to calculate if its bad or not, when compared with other cars

if a car is still at 50% of its retail price after 3 years your doing good.

if you pay 40k for a car, and lose say 20% in the first year you've just lost 8 grand. If you pay 10k for a car and still lose 20%, you've only lost 2 grand. 8 grand sounds worse, but in relation to the cost of the car its just the same.

Also things like the release of new models will affect the prices of older ones, if you baught your car 6 months before the B8 was released and tried to sell it 6 months after, theres going to be a larger % drop over that 12month period becuase of the release of the newer model.

Similarly, you've lost 8k over 10 months, but perhaps you paid too much in the first instance making the loss seem artificially higher. I've seen early B6's sell on ebay for 3-4k and ive seen other cars with almost identical spec sell for 6-8k, if you baught the car at a top dollar price from a main dealer you're going to lose more.
 
S4 cab - 2004 B6 purchased March 08 from independent dealer for £21k- similar vehicles being sold at the same point in time at main dealers for £23k+ so I got a fair deal. Car had lost 50% of it value in 4 years.

Car is now worth £14k on a good day - loss of 7k - 33% loss in 10 months, extrapolated over a year, thats near as damn it 40% loss in one year. Car is currently worth 33% of the original purchase price of £42k.

Whichever way I look at it, thats dismal. :yes:

I would have been just as badly off contact hiring a 997 C2 for £1k a month over 12 months. :jester:
 
i guess the "credit crunch" coupled with the B8 being released is what's pushed the price down so quickly. The folk that can afford to buy their shiney new cars and want to move their older models on are having to drop the price to get it shifted quickly, which impacts on the value of the whole range in general.

Question is now, will it average out over the next year to be back where it should be...
 
i hope so, cos the 996 that I want is getting further and further away!!
 
JamesS4cab said:
I have an S4 cab which i bought in March 08 - had quite a few issues - both aux rads, fuel sender, roof catch, some injector issue, plus consumables like discs and pads, tyres, and the deprecaition has been astronomical.

All that said, I love it to bits, but would strongly suggest some form of warranty to cover the high repair prices.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks James. Whilst I don't really want to hear this kind of story, I need to be prepared. From what I have read it sounds like you have been a bit unlucky, in general the B6 sounds like it is usually quite reliable. I talked to my mechanic who said that it's not really much more to maintain than the S3, fuel costs asside.

The depreciation is bad for people like you but good for people like me. I guess the credit crunch and expectations of high petrol prices have really hit larger engined cars the most. I can get an S4 cheaper than many of the diesel A4 models.
 
Marctwo - I have been unlucky, but according to my local independent, there isn't much more that can go wrong!! Its partly my own fault really - I made the very stupid mistake of not having it inspected and bought it "cos it sounds nice and goes like s off a s"......but on the other hand everything that has gone wrong wouldn't have been picked up by an inspection, so hey ho. Never mind.

They are great cars, and for me, spending £509 on a good warranty for two years helps me to sleep at night. There is a lot of expensive parts on these cars, most of which i don't understand, but when presented with a bill for £600 to fix the roof lock mechanism, it made me realise that I was glad to sit back and let the warranty company sort it out.

As for the depreciation - never mind. I have a smile on my face most of the time when i'm "enjoying" the 344 horses!!
Best of luck!
 
Sorry to hijack, but I'm looking towards getting either an B6 S4 cab (or an E46 M3) later this year - perhaps by then they'll be 10-11K :eek: Sorry.

James, regarding your cab, how much bodyflex or scuttle shake do you experience, if any?

I know the M3s have a pretty hard ride (especially on 19s) and that missing a roof is never going to help the rattle issue, but I think Audi have always been better at reducing this in their cabs.

Cheers

n
 
JamesS4cab said:
Marctwo - I have been unlucky, but according to my local independent, there isn't much more that can go wrong!! Its partly my own fault really - I made the very stupid mistake of not having it inspected and bought it "cos it sounds nice and goes like s off a s"......but on the other hand everything that has gone wrong wouldn't have been picked up by an inspection, so hey ho. Never mind.

They are great cars, and for me, spending £509 on a good warranty for two years helps me to sleep at night. There is a lot of expensive parts on these cars, most of which i don't understand, but when presented with a bill for £600 to fix the roof lock mechanism, it made me realise that I was glad to sit back and let the warranty company sort it out.

As for the depreciation - never mind. I have a smile on my face most of the time when i'm "enjoying" the 344 horses!!
Best of luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks James, it's good to know it can still put a smile on your face.
 
naefeart_A4 said:
James, regarding your cab, how much bodyflex or scuttle shake do you experience, if any?

I know the M3s have a pretty hard ride (especially on 19s) and that missing a roof is never going to help the rattle issue, but I think Audi have always been better at reducing this in their cabs.

Cheers

n
Click to expand...
N - not quite sure what scuttle shake is :think:but then i am a desk monkey. In terms of bodyflex, I dont feel that it is too bad. If u take a look under the car, there is a serious amount of additional structure under there that the saloon doesnt have. I drive it pretty hard when the conditions and roads allow (always within the speed limit) and have no issues.

Its far less noisy that the M3 saloon i drove, and i find it very quiet and cosy. The roof is well lined, and compared to my old Boxster, its a haven of peace and quiet...........appart from when i get stuck behind agricultural vehicles...... :shutup2:
 
JamesS4cab said:
Aragorn - mine is an 04 plate B6, and by my calculations and glasses guide, i have lost £6-7k in 10 months. To me thats ****** astronomical. Sorry. :end_of_discction:I think that if I had bought a brand new blue oval or a VX, I couldn't have lost that much if I had tried!! :tocktock:

Tendaimwari - I had a Porsche before the Audi, and that suffered just as many issues as the S4, and was even more expensive to maintain. So far I have had a new roof lock mechanism which was £600+, new fuel sender which was £160, two aux rads were £400 (approx). All of these I have had covered by my AA warranty which cost me £509 for two years cover.

Maybe I have just been unlucky. :sadlike:
Click to expand...

I had a 3.0 Sport Cab fully loaded And in almost exactly one year I lost 8 Grand Yes thats right £8,000 !! So James I share Your pain. I sold My car via Pistonheads privately. So no robbing Dealer had it as a trade in !

Driving a B7 2.0 TDI S line Avant at the moment Which bores the Hell out of Me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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