Discussion
The point about purchasing a B5 RS4 over a B6 S4 is that you’re buying into a very very very exclusive club and iconic car when you own a B5 RS4. As mentioned earlier only 400 (ish) made for the UK market, I dare say there are only around 200-300 left in the UK so they are getting rarer as time goes on. Just like its older brother the RS2 these cars will have now more or less bottomed out where pricing is concerned. I appreciate the B6 S4 is more modern but I think it lacks in the cosmetic department on the outside compared to the RS4, also not that rare and nowhere near as quick having had both, especially if you remap the RS4. Yes there is a bit more to it where servicing is concerned but there are a ton of specialists who can look after these cars now for a fraction of the price then an Audi dealer (and know their way around these cars better too!)E.g. Unit 20, MRC, QST, & Fontain to name a few.
As for the RS6 it’s a big car that is really suited for motorway mile munching. Has a few Achilles heels like the dreaded DRC (fixable by replacing with aftermarket shocks) and gearbox issues, expensive to run (16-18mpg!), but boy does she sound great and when launched shifts like the millennium falcon in hyper drive. Looks fantastic too!
The B5 S4 how ever is a hard one to beat, cheap to buy, huge tuning potential and a wealth of knowledge available on forums like audisrs.com and rs246.com. I loved my S4, went silly with the tuning and will always have a soft spot for it, the RS4 though is a real gem and if you’ve got £15k to spend I think with patience and armed with the knowledge you would find a decent example.
But I appreciate it is “horses for courses “my advice is to go and test drive all of them and more than once on each model too, either way whatever you buy you will in a way have a part of all these great cars in the model of your choosing and Audi’s motorsport heritage that is second to none....Audi dont just make cars they invent them.
Vorsprung Durch Technik!
As for the RS6 it’s a big car that is really suited for motorway mile munching. Has a few Achilles heels like the dreaded DRC (fixable by replacing with aftermarket shocks) and gearbox issues, expensive to run (16-18mpg!), but boy does she sound great and when launched shifts like the millennium falcon in hyper drive. Looks fantastic too!
The B5 S4 how ever is a hard one to beat, cheap to buy, huge tuning potential and a wealth of knowledge available on forums like audisrs.com and rs246.com. I loved my S4, went silly with the tuning and will always have a soft spot for it, the RS4 though is a real gem and if you’ve got £15k to spend I think with patience and armed with the knowledge you would find a decent example.
But I appreciate it is “horses for courses “my advice is to go and test drive all of them and more than once on each model too, either way whatever you buy you will in a way have a part of all these great cars in the model of your choosing and Audi’s motorsport heritage that is second to none....Audi dont just make cars they invent them.
Vorsprung Durch Technik!
Edited by tombs on Saturday 27th June 12:57
tombs said:
The point about purchasing a B5 RS4 over a B6 S4 is that you’re buying into a very very very exclusive club and iconic car when you own a B5 RS4. As mentioned earlier only 400 (ish) made for the UK market, I dare say there are only around 200-300 left in the UK.......... I appreciate the B6 S4 is more modern but I think it lacks in the cosmetic department on the outside compared to the RS4, also not that rare and nowhere near as quick.
There were only 300 B6S4 manual saloons imported, and around the ring, the B6S4 Avant is only 5 seconds slower than the B5RS4, and thats after 14 miles, so I think your "nowhere near as fast" is a bit out.
Fort Jefferson said:
There were only 300 B6S4 manual saloons imported, and around the ring, the B6S4 Avant is only 5 seconds slower than the B5RS4, and thats after 14 miles, so I think your "nowhere near as fast" is a bit out.
Yeah your right, silly me only slightly quicker then. Youve still missed the point though! Anyhoos how many B6 S4's are there in the uk? And I dont just mean the yellow special edtion ones with pink spots...but in total?Edited by tombs on Sunday 28th June 00:18
Fort Jefferson said:
tombs said:
The point about purchasing a B5 RS4 over a B6 S4 is that you’re buying into a very very very exclusive club and iconic car when you own a B5 RS4. As mentioned earlier only 400 (ish) made for the UK market, I dare say there are only around 200-300 left in the UK.......... I appreciate the B6 S4 is more modern but I think it lacks in the cosmetic department on the outside compared to the RS4, also not that rare and nowhere near as quick.
There were only 300 B6S4 manual saloons imported, and around the ring, the B6S4 Avant is only 5 seconds slower than the B5RS4, and thats after 14 miles, so I think your "nowhere near as fast" is a bit out.tombs said:
Fort Jefferson said:
There were only 300 B6S4 manual saloons imported, and around the ring, the B6S4 Avant is only 5 seconds slower than the B5RS4, and thats after 14 miles, so I think your "nowhere near as fast" is a bit out.
Yeah your right, silly me only slightly quicker then. Youve still missed the point though! Anyhoos how many B6 S4's are there in the uk? And I dont just mean the yellow special edtion ones with pink spots...but in total?If a car ticks all the box's I'll buy it, even if there were 4 millon of them.
Fort Jefferson said:
tombs said:
Fort Jefferson said:
There were only 300 B6S4 manual saloons imported, and around the ring, the B6S4 Avant is only 5 seconds slower than the B5RS4, and thats after 14 miles, so I think your "nowhere near as fast" is a bit out.
Yeah your right, silly me only slightly quicker then. Youve still missed the point though! Anyhoos how many B6 S4's are there in the uk? And I dont just mean the yellow special edtion ones with pink spots...but in total?If a car ticks all the box's I'll buy it, even if there were 4 millon of them.
, but I wasn’t really responding to you in my first thread 
. And I was being sarcastic in my previous thread 
, having owned both (the B5 RS4 was mine and I was loaned B6 S4 when working on Total Audi Magazine) the B5 RS4 is far quicker than a B6 S4 especially when remapped and you just can’t get B6 S4 to tune anywhere near the a stage one remap on the RS4 unless you spend silly money on the super charger kit from MTM.As for rarity, I’d say 200- 300 cars out of the millions that are on our roads makes the B5 RS4 pretty rare, but not that alone. You have to take a look at how the RS4 came to life; Audi took the S4 2.7 bi turbo engine and gave it to Cosworth to play with, so each and every RS4 (B5) engine comes from the Cosworth stable. The car was built on a special production line in what is now Audi’s quattro gmbh department. Of course the above is what in my opinion makes this car very special.
Still, I would happily own the B6 S4, it’s a very capable car and as I said in my previous thread its horses for course’s when looking for a car isn’t it?
This was a pretty rapid car when I test drove it, about £12K's worth of engine kit!
And my B5 RS4 at the Official launch of the B7 RS4
And the Stig (Perry McCarthy) breaking an S4 on the launch of his book, have to say the S4 was pretty quick round Bedford.
And so was Nick Mason, although he didnt break his one!
Edited by tombs on Sunday 28th June 11:44
Fort Jefferson said:
tombs said:
Fort Jefferson said:
There were only 300 B6S4 manual saloons imported, and around the ring, the B6S4 Avant is only 5 seconds slower than the B5RS4, and thats after 14 miles, so I think your "nowhere near as fast" is a bit out.
Yeah your right, silly me only slightly quicker then. Youve still missed the point though! Anyhoos how many B6 S4's are there in the uk? And I dont just mean the yellow special edtion ones with pink spots...but in total?If a car ticks all the box's I'll buy it, even if there were 4 millon of them.
The RS4 will hold its value better becuase of its rarity and history, and if you want to tune, it is a great base.
However, I would hardly say it is a look at me car, indeed the thing I most like about the B5 RS4 is the dont look at me unless you know about cars factor. The average Joe wont bat an eyelid but those who do know what it is.
At the other end of the spectrum a Ferrari Daytona is about £150,000 but you can hardly compare it to a Fiesta ST which could be technically better in almost every area.
If you are doing big mileage the S4 is probably the better bet, but if you value the car as more than a form of transport then get the RS4 QED!
I went through exactly this decision, B5 RS4 or B6 S4. Heart said RS4 but head said S4. I talked to my mechanic who had owned a B5 RS4 and sold it because of the running costs. There is much more to go wrong on the turbo cars and many of the parts are exclusive to that model and much more expensive to replace. He talked very highly of the S4 saying they didn't cost that much more to run than the S3 I had before (fuel costs aside) and were generally very reliable.
I've been in a B5 RS4 and whilst it does feel quicker due to the turbo power delivery, it does also feel older. The B6 S4 is a more comfortable, modern and civilised place to be, albeit not quite as special.
I've been in a B5 RS4 and whilst it does feel quicker due to the turbo power delivery, it does also feel older. The B6 S4 is a more comfortable, modern and civilised place to be, albeit not quite as special.
thesyn said:
Sorry for the hijack.
i am looking for a B6 S4 and have always driven manual performance cars.
If I buy an auto will I be horribly disappointed? In the spec I want there seem to be more autos around.
Grateful for any opinions
I tried the manual as well as the Tiptronic S4 and ended up buying the Tip. I think if I was going to spend a good amount of time flying down B roads I would certainly get the manual, the auto box is rather frustrating in these situations. But I spend most of my time on the M1 and M25 so either relaxing with the cruise set to 70, or stuck in stop/start traffic where the auto really makes it easier. Also, put it into sport mode and mash the throttle off the lights and you will realise this is a pretty rapid motor.i am looking for a B6 S4 and have always driven manual performance cars.
If I buy an auto will I be horribly disappointed? In the spec I want there seem to be more autos around.
Grateful for any opinions
Thanks guys, good info and a lively debate !
Going to be a hard choice!
I hardly do any miles - often just to the station and back.
My wife does the school run etc in an S-Max but wants something smaller - which means I need a bigger car - but it won't do many miles.
Better sort out my budget and go and test drive then....
!Going to be a hard choice!
I hardly do any miles - often just to the station and back.
My wife does the school run etc in an S-Max but wants something smaller - which means I need a bigger car - but it won't do many miles.
Better sort out my budget and go and test drive then....
TonyHetherington said:
How odd, so many of us have made the exact same choice recently 
Two great cars coming into realistic price brackets... for me the third contender was an Octavia VRS, great but not that special.For me the heart wanted an RS4, the head said Octavia VRS so the comprimise was B6 S4.
How odd you said that - I considered an Octavia vRS also! My brother has one (estate in blue) and I think it's an absolutely superb car - I was having difficulty finding the right spec S4 and so I kept looking, and kept having a go in his and was beginning to think. You could get a very new very low mileage car for the sort of budget we were talking on the S4, but I'm glad I held out and found the right Audi. One thing that really persuaded me to that Audi was the interior; it's the interior or a £45k car, whereas the Octavia is the interior of a £20k. It's great, and very well set out, but when you sit in the Audi you feel special.
TonyHetherington said:
How odd you said that - I considered an Octavia vRS also! My brother has one (estate in blue) and I think it's an absolutely superb car - I was having difficulty finding the right spec S4 and so I kept looking, and kept having a go in his and was beginning to think. You could get a very new very low mileage car for the sort of budget we were talking on the S4, but I'm glad I held out and found the right Audi. One thing that really persuaded me to that Audi was the interior; it's the interior or a £45k car, whereas the Octavia is the interior of a £20k. It's great, and very well set out, but when you sit in the Audi you feel special.
Thats it, the interior and also the noise. You could make a VRS as powerful as an S4 with a few mods (and get down to the same MPG figures) but it would still sound like a vacum cleaner. Whereas the V8 just sounds beautiful.Does yours have the Nappa leather and electric/heated Recaro's? f
k me they are good, even compared to an A6/A5 S-Line's I had on loan.To be honest a major reason I got the S4 was that the first one I looked at was the exact car I wanted. A silver, manual, estate with every option and a great deal from an Audi dealer with a warranty. All the Octavias I found locally were bright yellow or saloons.
ETA: TonyHetherington - just checked your profile, you have an S4 and exige, work in IT and as a photographer and you're a drummer.
b
d!I hope you're not younger than me.
Edited by T89 Callan on Monday 29th June 22:35
Yup I have the full heated/electric nappa leather recaros (coincidentally, very similar to ones I had on my old Escort Cosworth!) and the seats are superb 
My dad had a nicely spec'd full leather A6 (56 plate I think it was) and the leather was very different - not quite so "leathery" (if that makes sense).
My dad had a nicely spec'd full leather A6 (56 plate I think it was) and the leather was very different - not quite so "leathery" (if that makes sense).
TonyHetherington said:
Yup I have the full heated/electric nappa leather recaros (coincidentally, very similar to ones I had on my old Escort Cosworth!) and the seats are superb
My dad had a nicely spec'd full leather A6 (56 plate I think it was) and the leather was very different - not quite so "leathery" (if that makes sense).
Yes it does make sense, in the A4/A5/A6 the leather just doesn't feel very 'leathery' more like a fake leather furniature material, quite thick and rubbery.My dad had a nicely spec'd full leather A6 (56 plate I think it was) and the leather was very different - not quite so "leathery" (if that makes sense).
With regards to the seats apparently they are the exact same Recaro seats as fitted to some Fords like the Mondeo ST's, jeez they are so comfy though. Although I did have to have the motors replaced at 65k under warranty.
You've owned and Escort Cosworth? You b
d! It's like you're living a more succesful version of my intended life.Gassing Station | Audi, Seat, Skoda & VW | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff