B8 S4 Ownership

[apreading]

First problem - the instrument lights on the right hand side of the speedo seem to flicker on and off every now and again. Reading around, there were some vague suggestions that faulty dimmer switch could cause this but unfortunately, most people seem to have had the whole instrument cluster replaced... Gonna have to go back to the dealer (not an audi franchise) to see if they will sort it. Had it just over three weeks, so I think I am in my rights to even threaten to reject the car and get a refund, although I would rather just have it fixed. Anyone here had a similar issue? I think I saw something earlier on the thread but no resolution posted.

Its taken me a couple of weeks since I noticed it but I finally have a bit on video to show the dealer.

[Adrian E]

Earlier cars seem to suffer more with it - our 2011 pre-facelift S5 did it and Audi contributed 90% of the almost £1k bill for a new cluster. LEDs can't be easily changed, but I believe there are specialist companies that can do this (Dr G may know)

[Dr G]

Yes, try Cartronix in Waterlooville.

[apreading]

Yeah, I found Cartronix amongst others - have already emailed them because apparently they do a 'while you wait' service sometimes and arent too far away. If they can do it and once I have a price I will see if the dealer will cover the cost, but at the Cartronix prices it doesnt seem too bad anyway.

[edit] - no I didnt, I emailed ecutesting by mistake and they got all confused why I was asking about Waterlooville! Have now emailed Cartronix as ecutesting only do it by post so car would be off the road for best part of a week. I am hoping I can drive down to Cartronix, wait around for an hour or two and drive home

Edited by apreading on Tuesday 8th November 17:34

[Hol]

Dr G said:

Yes, try Cartronix in Waterlooville.

I used to live there in the 90's.

I bet it's changed a lot.

[apreading]

Hol said:

Dr G said:

Yes, try Cartronix in Waterlooville.

I used to live there in the 90's.

I bet it's changed a lot.

I will be able to tell you after tomorrow - will have a mooch around the town for an hour while Cartronix hopefully sort me out in the morning.

Then back for part 2 of the towbar fitting - was supposed to be done today but the wrong wiring kit was sent, so I have a towbar with no electrics at the moment...! The towtrust towbar looks good though - PLENTY of room, tried the Whispbar/Cykell bike carrier I want on it because the fitter had one they use for me to try and it fits no problem. Also fits in the width of the boot - JUST!!! about 2mm spare either side when putting it in the boot. They had a demo on the wall of the TowTrust and Westfalia tow bars and the Towtrust is a fair bit heavier and alot more solid - and they said comes with the best warranty by far of all tow kits - plus the coating on the tow bar last much better than the rubbish on some like Witter in particular they said. Seems a nice bit of kit. They will have to cut a bigger hole for the electrics to swing down though - I assumed the hole there would be fine but it needs to be made a little bit bigger still. They reckoned it is sized for a fixed bar as there is room for electrics but not enough for retractable electrics - hope they do a good job...

I can recommend the Cykell carrier (http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php?35070) Really good bit of kit - getting it for £430 too.

[J886ATV]

apreading said:

I can recommend the Cykell carrier (http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php?35070) Really good bit of kit - getting it for £430 too.

I use the Atera Strada DL for 4 bikes (got from Roofbox.co.uk too) - fantastic bit of kit & fits in the boot of the B8 as well

Atera Carrier on my old B5

[apreading]

Thats the other bike rack I was thinking of, but heard a few people say that its fiddly to get locked in the upright position and on rare occasions the rack has slid open when driving. Unlikely to happen but and all that it did was scrape the rack on the road not damage the bikes. I liked the fact that it was the lightest and that it gave you more space around the boot when tilted open. Was really close to buying that one.

What won me over with the Cykell was the clamping mechanism - you put it on the ball in a vertical position and just push the rack down. I have had back problems and could see me straining with other racks and the Cykell was really easy and very solid.

If I could have tried the Atera I might have ended up with that - I wasnt sure if it would fit in the boot, which is quite narrow on the A4/S4 at 100mm - which EXACTLY matches the Cykell and the Atera Strada - so they would either just fit or just not fit. The company fitting my tow ball had a Cykell for me to try and it just fit, and is a quality bit of kit, so I went for it.

Tow bar fitted and coded now. Get the rack on monday.

They had to cut a bit more bumper away because the electrics wouldnt swing down through the original hole but seem to have done a good job.

Light cluster repaired by Cartronix too - they warned me that the new LEDs would be way too bright for a few days, and they werent kidding! I am hoping that they will dim a bit when they burn in as I was told but I have to admit to being slightly skeptical that they didnt fit the wrong LEDs - they are the experts though, so will wait and see.

[mcelliott]

So after two and a bit years of S4 ownership, we've decided to move on. Sold the car on last week, mainly due to the running costs (fuel consumption) - it was run every single day for all manners of journeys by my wife; school run, shopping, work, plus numerous trips to the Alps and back. Reliability wise could not fault the car, other than the odd warning light coming on the dash - most of the time just tyre pressure gauge. I have to say, ignoring the actual performance of the car, had an overwhelming sense of disappointment when driving it, probably the worst steering feel I've ever felt on a car, absolutely no feedback whatsoever. It chronically lacked any driver involvement, it's an odd car the S4, on paper the performance figures suggest that it should be an absolute barn stormer; I found it the complete opposite. Ah well.

We travel over to the UK next week to collect its replacement - something not quite so fast but a bit more frugal.

[apreading]

Steering seems to have gone that way on all cars - they are all dropping hydraulic steering in order to do stop/start and to have better efficiency. BMW have the same problem. I am actually getting used to mine on the B8 S4 but the steering definately felt better on my old B6 and it felt more nimble and engaging too - I dont know if some of this is due to the longer wheelbase and generally bigger size of the B8 too.

The engine on the S4 is just fabulous though, and we needed the extra rear space compared to the B6.

[Bluesmurff09]

3.0 supercharged is never going to be frugal but what an engine. I'm looking forward to getting a stage2 tune including reduced pulley wheel next year for nearly 500bhpfrom a 4 door family saloon.

[catso]

Bluesmurff09 said:

I'm looking forward to getting a stage2 tune including reduced pulley wheel next year for nearly 500bhp

Please keep us updated on this, sounds interesting...

[LocoBlade]

I'm about to pull the trigger and go back to BMW for broadly similar reasons. My facelift S4 has ADS and the sport diff which I think does help the dynamics and cornering behaviour, but I do find the car needs to be driven hard to wake up the chassis, it doesn't really give you anything back at moderate speeds like some cars do which I find a little frustrating. I also agree regarding the steering feel especially in heavy "sport" mode which I'm really not keen on, thankfully there's the "individual" setting so you can keep comfort steering whilst still having the engine etc in sport mode but its far from commincative in any mode.

Overall I do think it's a great all round car for going quickly in, I can't fault the drivetrain for all round ability or off the line performance and if I had to pick a car to give to a non driving enthusiast like my wife to drive from A to B as quickly as possible in mixed condition it would be high on the list because its very good at making going fast easy whatever the weather.

I think at the end of the day though some of us get thrills from going as fast as possible in cars that grip like limpets whilst others get more enjoyment from a car that gives a bit more feel and feedback even if it's ultimately slower, and I definitely seem to be in the latter category.

mcelliott said:

So after two and a bit years of S4 ownership, we've decided to move on. Sold the car on last week, mainly due to the running costs (fuel consumption) - it was run every single day for all manners of journeys by my wife; school run, shopping, work, plus numerous trips to the Alps and back. Reliability wise could not fault the car, other than the odd warning light coming on the dash - most of the time just tyre pressure gauge. I have to say, ignoring the actual performance of the car, had an overwhelming sense of disappointment when driving it, probably the worst steering feel I've ever felt on a car, absolutely no feedback whatsoever. It chronically lacked any driver involvement, it's an odd car the S4, on paper the performance figures suggest that it should be an absolute barn stormer; I found it the complete opposite. Ah well.

[mrdanbartlett]

Hi all,

Ok so the last 2 garages I've taken my car to have said the clutch is heavy, apparently its the lever and that means I need a new clutch......and I guess a new flywheel...

One quote was £1650 for genuine parts other than a 3rd party flywheel, just over £2k for all genuine.
I see Audi do a fixed price clutch for £999 but I'm assuming the flywheel will be at least the same again.

The car has done 84k so I guess it's not out of the question, just it's made me think about keeping the car or not. I've spent £1k in the last 2 months (tyres, brakes, service, wheel bearing). I guess though once the clutch is done then the casr should last me a few years. Just worse possible timing as looking to move house soon and want this to be the last move to the 'forever house' and unsure exactly what that is going to cost.

Argh!

[bungle]

The S4 clutch is heavier than other cars IMO, but doesn't necessarily mean it needs a new one. Does it otherwise seem OK? Does it slip / do you have any problems starting (have to push foot down hard on clutch to get it to start)? Your clutch might be fine. (though i had a new one at 60k, so by 84k you're probably overdue?).

mrdanbartlett said:

I guess though once the clutch is done then the casr should last me a few years.

exactly... so if it was me i'd swallow it and then be happy i had a sorted car. Otherwise you could sell it and buy another one that needs work doing

[apreading]

Tyres, brakes, Service are 'consumables' that any car would cost you - I wouldnt count them as sign that the car is expensive to run. If you had a Ford Mondeo you would still be shelling out for them.

[apreading]

Do you guys in the UK fit winter tyres onto your S4s?

And will 17" wheels fit over the brake discs/calipers? Something like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SET-OF-FOUR-GENUINE-AUDI... which say they are compatible

Edited by apreading on Sunday 13th November 23:07

[catso]

apreading said:

Do you guys in the UK fit winter tyres onto your S4s?

And will 17" wheels fit over the brake discs/calipers? Something like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SET-OF-FOUR-GENUINE-AUDI... which say they are compatible

I won't be bothering with winter tyres for the few snowy days we get. My old A3 3.2 quattro never had any problems on normal tyres, it's not as if we get much snow/ice anyway and when we do it's usually gone in a few hours.

As for 17" wheels fitting, I don't know but the above mentioned A3 had the same sized (345mm) front discs and was fitted with 17" wheels - there wasn't much clearance but obviously enough as it was built that way so, unless the S4 has a bigger caliper? then I would think they would fit.

[Adrian E]

apreading said:

Do you guys in the UK fit winter tyres onto your S4s?

And will 17" wheels fit over the brake discs/calipers? Something like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SET-OF-FOUR-GENUINE-AUDI... which say they are compatible

Edited by apreading on Sunday 13th November 23:07

We run smaller winters on our S5 Sportback - the factory wheels are 20s, so when we bought the car I looked around and lucked on a set of 18" S-line coupe 5 spokes with Dunlop Winter 3D tyres through an owners club forum. My main motivation for fitting them has nothing to do with snow, and lots to do with the improved cold weather performance below 7C and the need for this car to be usable in all weathers. I also want to preserve the expensively refurbished 20s and their tyres and not use them on salted roads.

The tyre pressure sticker on the driver's door will list all approved tyre sizes - have a look and there will be an M+S size listed - that's the one to aim for if you want winters.

In our case that's 245/40R18 97V XL

[troc]

We have 18 inch 225/45 Bridgestone winter tyres on some cheap Fox wheels which have done 3 seasons now of ski trips and mooching in the rain quite happily and still have oodles of tread.

I really should get 'round to putting them on........