B7 RS4 - interesting prices

[PorkRind]

It seems like yesterday these 'journo perfect' Audi's were sitting pretty at 50 ish k, but i had a quick browse on ph classifieds for an alternative to my TTS, something with more grunt, a better soundtrack and handling/traction - something rearward biased would be nice .


I could believe my eyes when i started seeing non cat d examples at around 16-17k from trade for 30-50k examples. Seems awfully cheap to me but an interesting upgrade to the TTS, sure id have to allow for 1/3 mpg drop and tax is probably 500 / year but what a motor for the money, eh?

What foibles should I be looking out for? Any daily drivers out there want to give me some off the cuff mpg / servicing figures?

Thanks,

[mwstewart]

There is a coking issue you need to be aware of. Have a Google.

[Avalyn]

I'd love an RS4 and have looked at a few before, servicing and costs to maintain one though are way way way higher than your TTS.

Front discs/pads (IIRC) are £2K, then you may have coking and DRC issues.

I'd go have a poke around RS246.com before buying, lovely cars but I would suggest a big step up in running costs/maintenance/servicing to your TT

[kambites]

Does no-one make decent quality non-OEM consumables for them?

[SuperVM]

Avalyn said:

I'd love an RS4 and have looked at a few before, servicing and costs to maintain one though are way way way higher than your TTS.

Front discs/pads (IIRC) are £2K, then you may have coking and DRC issues.

I'd go have a poke around RS246.com before buying, lovely cars but I would suggest a big step up in running costs/maintenance/servicing to your TT

W12 Phaeton discs are much cheaper, I've seen £345 for a pair quoted, and fit directly to the B7 RS4 bells.

[Soov535]

Avalyn said:

I'd love an RS4 and have looked at a few before, servicing and costs to maintain one though are way way way higher than your TTS.

Front discs/pads (IIRC) are £2K, then you may have coking and DRC issues.

I'd go have a poke around RS246.com before buying, lovely cars but I would suggest a big step up in running costs/maintenance/servicing to your TT

I ran a B7 Avant for a couple of years recently.

Glorious car but supercar running costs. 15mpg, £1k per corner for discs and pads, ate tyres like shreddies, very expensive to insure, if the suspension causes trouble then budget thousands. Warranty was £1800 a year.

Had to be careful where I parked it as well (seats sell for £2k on ebay)

But glorious all the same.


Just don't expect to ever have any money again, ever.

[SuperVM]

mwstewart said:

There is a coking issue you need to be aware of. Have a Google.

I know of some owners running WMI as supposedly it helps prevent the coke build up. I guess you'd need to verify the engine wasn't suffering from this to start with, as I believe the process to remove it is relatively expensive, from memory Audi quote around £2.5k, but many independents offer the same service at a much more reasonable price.

[SuperVM]

Soov535 said:

I ran a B7 Avant for a couple of years recently.

Glorious car but supercar running costs. 15mpg, £1k per corner for discs and pads, ate tyres like shreddies, very expensive to insure, if the suspension causes trouble then budget thousands. Warranty was £1800 a year.

Had to be careful where I parked it as well (seats sell for £2k on ebay)

But glorious all the same.


Just don't expect to ever have any money again, ever.

Some owners replace failed DRC with KW V3s or PSS9s, which based on my knowledge of B5 RS4 pricing should be around £2k. A friend of a friend had the seats stolen from his car and it was very close to being written off. I believe the seats are offered as a very expensive kit from Audi and have to be built by the garage doing the replacement, so the total cost for seat replacement is far more than you might think.

[EzyQ]

Ive been running my RS4 for 9 months now MPG is good with 20 avg i get 270 to the tank around town and 330 on a motorway run

getting it serviced tomorrow purchased redstuff pads £250 for all corners
piper cross filter £35 2 x new tyres toyos £275 delivered G/box & diff oils from opie oils £60
not needing discs yet rears were replaced by dealer when i purchased and the fronts are still ok
£75 for engine oil castrol 3w-40 from Costco when they had a 25% discount on it
DRC suspension can be problemmatic starting to think mines could be on its way out car is still under warrenty from the dealer till april so after my service today i fidn that its looking suspect then look to see if its covered under warrenty if not then a set of coil overs for about £1400 will replace it

insurance is only 200 a year road tax however on the april 06 on ward models is 500 a year

great power delivery and dirver feedback im planning a trip to the ring with it later in the year by far the best car ive owned

[Easternlight]

I've read tales on the net of the seats costing around £10k from Audi.
Plus fitting, plus hire car costs will write off a cheaper one.

[duffy78]

don't forget timing chain stretch, which is an engine out job to sort.

[graeme4130]

Great car for the money nowadays
I ran one for 40k miles as a daily as my first RS product and have been hooked since (on my 3rd rs4 now)

Coking can be an issue and lose you 30bhp, but in the real world you won't notice it and getting it cleaned is a £500-£1k job
DRC can be problematic, but it's still the minority of cars and a few indy's now have the equipment to recharge the system, so not silly dealer prices for repair
Brakes and pads are around £1600 for fronts and less for rears, but you should get 40k on the discs and lipping is easy to check on inspection
Tyres are £800/set for pilot sport 2's, which most would agree are a worthwhile upgrade from the standard P Zeros
I got an average of 20mpg in mine over its life

Your best bet is finding one from an Audi dealer and getting the years warranty with it, which you can then extend

[xjay1337]

Easternlight said:

I've read tales on the net of the seats costing around £10k from Audi.
Plus fitting, plus hire car costs will write off a cheaper one.

They sell for 2k on ebay or 1200 for a tatty set and £1000 for a custom retrim jobby.
Fitting the seats also takes about 45 minutes as I've fitted 3 sets to various VAG cars.

[ALawson]

Soov535 said:

Just don't expect to ever have any money again, ever.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

B7 RS4 Avant is on my 'to own' list. Near the top in fact when you factor in cost, load lugging ability etc.

[WreckedGecko]

I have one and bar some annoying electrical gremlins (tenancy to switch to limp mode in traffic for no mechanical reason, fans cutting in when the battery is low, very helpful!) which I need to get fixed, it is great.

Sat nav is a bit sub par but otherwise no problems and decent economy.

[Escort3500]

Great cars but make sure you have a good slush fund for the inevitable expense involved in running one. Plenty of great advice on RS246.com as mentioned earlier here