Looking at getting an s4

[sweet victory]

Selling my truck to get something a little more fun to drive...

What should I look out for? Things like that...



Anyone wanna trade?

 

[V8Guzzler]

Good choice... Saloon or Avant?

 

[cobraBLACK]

A few things:

• Excessive timing chain tensioner rattle - a little rattle for a second at cold start is a characteristic of this V8 but any more than that and the chains and tensioners might need replacing. That's an engine out job and around 20 hours of labour!
• Service / oil change interval (variable = bad; fixed = good).
• Compression/leak-down test.
• Auxiliary radiators - prone to rust but should have been fixed under warranty.
• Clutch/flywheel - nothing unusual in terms of wear but it is an expensive job to replace them.
• Coil packs - VAG-wide recall on certain coil pack batch numbers. If they're not checked and replaced (for free by dealer) you can end up stuffing your cats, etc.

Plenty of info on these subjects at AudiSRS, RS246 and Audizine (mostly American).

There's not much difference between a B6 and B7 - the engine and most of the interior is the same. The B7 has a 40:60 front-rear torque split on manuals, the B6 is 50:50. The B7 has a thicker rear anti-roll bar (RARB) but this can be upgraded on the B6 easily.

B7s and later B6s came with the RNS-E sat nav head unit which is much better than the RNS-D but that can be retrofitted too.

I'm not sure about the B7 but the B6 can come with single or bi-xenon headlights. I bought a single xenon version and changed the full beam to aftermarket HIDs (the dim full beam looks ridiculous and is barely any brighter than dipped).

Manuals are quicker but have a silly 6th gear (the ratio is for autobahn acceleration so the engine revs too high). Autos don't have this problem so are more economical on motorway runs. Cruise control is usually more economical too.

The exhaust is very quiet as standard so make sure a Milltek catback is either on it or added soon.

 

[Goubo1]

I am also looking at getting a b6 s4 come end of summer