To S4 or not to S4????

[Oranoco]

Stuck in a dilema. There is a facelift Noggy blue S4 for sale fairly local for £3k but it's recorded as a CAT D. This itself doesn't worry me as long as the repairs are done right. But.. the interior appears to be a normal T-Sport affair rather than leather.

IS an S4 a sensible punt? what should I be looking out for? I don't mind getting my hands mucky with stuff. What could I rescue from my FWD T-Sport as it's starting to spec up quite well

 

[Broken Byzan]

Not a great deal will swap over, er boost gauge maybe?

Sounds like a bargain for a Cat d even. , also occassionaly there are cloth seated S4's tho they are rare, it is feaseable

 

[aragorn]

It depends on your power goals.

Personally i'd rather have a 300hp 1.8TQ than a 330hp S4, because the S4 engine is a nightmare to work on, everythings more expensive because its rarer and there are more bits to go wrong.

The S4 is also significantly heavier, which has a negative effect on performance, handling and fuel economy, and a lot of the extra weight is nailed out over the front.

Obviously with the S4 you get a ready-to-go package, a remap alone more or less sees you to 330hp whereas with the 1.8 your going to have to modify it with a larger turbo and whatnot.

Unless your wanting to go past 350hp, then IMO the 1.8T is the better option.

 

[paul20v]

Personally I would rather be in an S4 than any 1.8t. I'm not saying the 1.8 is slow itsbnot but you can't beat the v6 noise and the linear power right from the off get the right map and your away
I will agree thou that there a ****** to work on turbo wise especially but an absolute blast .

 

[AndyC]

S4 torque is what makes them so nice to drive IMO

I drove a stage 2 1.8t today and it was disappointing tbh...

BUT as said you need to be patient and be prepared to stockpile spares

for e.g. I have a whole kit ready to do the belts on mine ahead of schedule, so i have the lot ready

 

[S4_dan]

I've owned an S4 and a 1.8 T sport (150bhp). Ok so the 1.8 was FWD, it just didn't do anything to me. I know a tuned 180 TQS would be a whole different car, I still feel i'd be persuaded every time for an S4. If i could afford to run another one, i'd buy one. But with a kid and another on the way, its a few years off yet!

i have driven a tuned saab 900 turbo (fwd, 250Bhp) and that was fun! But still, not as much as my S4 was.

Thats my 2p anyway.

 

[Z82]

I had this dilema for sooooooooooo long, the main thing that kept putting me off the S4 was the fact that its an engine out job for the simplest of things, i pondered over this for far too long then i started looking at B6's and now Im a V8 man

 

[Oranoco]

Well after some serious thought I will be sticking with the current car. Work is getting ready to swap contracts next year and I don't know how that might effect me. Will get that sorted and will S4 then.

Don't want a TQS as they are costly to tune as I have found with my current FWD with few people able to offer anything to me.

 

[aragorn]

If your not prepared to put the effort in to tune a 1.8T then the S4 is a no brainer.

However its not really that difficult. The exhaust manifolds and turbos are all pretty ubiquitous and readily available, the TQS fuel system is the same as an S4's so already good for 400hp, and the injectors are as standard as they come.

The only part thats mildly difficult is tuning, but there ARE options out there, if you want to stick with cable throttle Motronic then a DECENT tuner (rtechs name seems to come up a lot as someone whos actually competent) rather than some berk with a rolling road and catalogue of ready made files, will be able to put together a custom map without too much bother. Alternatively you can convert to ME7 which is what i'll be doing with mine which gives you OBD Port flashing and electronic throttle.

Not really sure what you think is difficult about tuning one?

 

[AndyC]

Berks and a set of files.... Interesting

 

[aragorn]

Andy you know the score mate, most "tuners" talk the talk but when it comes down it it are just reselling others maps. They buy in a revo or superchips or whatever, flash them on and punt folk out the door.

When they're pressed into doing something custom they either refuse, or make a complete **** of it.

Just look at the number of problems marks had getting a tune on his 1.8T as a prime example. Infact even his previous car the map was a mess for the same reason.

Quite frankly i dread getting to the point where i need the car tuned properly, and like mark i'm working on a ME7 conversion in an effort to improve my chances of getting a decent outcome.

 

[AndyC]

there are a few who really know what to do..

one of my major bug bears is changes that dont need to be there...

but yes I am all too aware of the "tuners"

 

[aragorn]

Can you do M3.8.3 andy?