Audi B5 RS4

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Took a spin down to the local hills, and a friend with far great camera skills than I possess took this:

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Just a few pics from the B5's trip to the Eifel Rallye in Germany. Great few days, the event was superb, and the car performed faultlessly. Next year's roadtrip is to the Le Mans Classic (not sure on what yet) but will definitely be back again to the Eifel

Thanks to PHer Simon for all the info on the event in advance, and hope the hangover wasn't too bad the next day!












And meeting a couple of icons:

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Re F40 - paid a visit to Classic Remise in Düsseldorf, well worth spending an hour or two if you're ever passing. Nice place for lunch too

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Resolutionary said:

That place looks a bit special! Love your car, wish I'd picked one up when they were at their lowest point.

Cheers, yeah it was the perfect companion for the road trip. Hoof it down the autobahn, boot full of clobber and aircon on! Managed to get some 102 Octane fuel in Germany too (€1.54 per litre, which I didn't think was too bad) and the car seemed to thrive on it. Couldn't believe how stable it felt with the clocks north of 160mph, and a lot less "flighty" than any 3-series I've been in at those sort of speeds. Only traffic stopped me trying to find the limiter, as the car really seemed to want to push on

I believe there's also a Classic Remise in Berlin, so must try and pay that one a visit down the line too. Epic place for car lovers!

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Thanks, yeah loved them since they first appeared on the roads

The Eifel Rallye is almost a surreal experience:

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So that's it for another year, cover has gone over the RS4 in preparation for the winter

Took it out beforehand for a quick spin down the road this evening, and it confirms that I still really really like this car. It's been pretty reliable this year too, with costs to a relative minimum. Roll on the spring!

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Thanks. For mine, I fill the tank, put the battery on trickle charge, put in a couple of moisture catchers, pump up the tyres a little to avoid flat-spotting, and throw a cover over them. Been doing that with my cars every winter for years, and not really had any problems

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Summer’s here and the B5 is back on the roads

Took it into Audi Belfast for its annual, and parked up beside a newer S3 saloon, which seems to be slightly the larger car now

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djdest said:

B5’s are tiny, this was my old one with our old Clubman!
They are both the same distance from the camera believe it or not

Wow, that says it all. Although are B5s too small or Clubmans too big?!

There’s actually a bit more legroom in the driving position of my R53 MINI than the Audi

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Brabus Jord said:

amazing to see how much smaller cars were. even relatively modern ones.

As djdest said, the real difference is in the rear legroom, especially with larger drivers like myself in the front

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Thanks E24man, and can you believe that was five years ago now?! Your E34 B10 in particular left a strong impression on me, what a fabulous car that is

There is just something about estates though, isn’t there, even if I don’t actually use this much for its load carrying ability

Won’t be going too far in it this year, as the AMG gets the run to Le Mans this summer, but hoping to bring the Audi to Germany again next year. If I’m going to be heading past your area I’ll be sure to give you a shout in advance

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So with lockdown being gradually reduced, it was time this week to get the car back out. Took it into my mechanic for a quick checkover and all looked good, so been doing a little bit of driving this week. Love being back in it, and while 380hp isn’t all that noteworthy these days, it’s still a pretty quick car once the two turbos are spinning

Next up is into Audi for a service and 4-year belt change/water pump/stat, etc. The car has only done a few thousand miles in that time, but I have a fear over belts so will be getting it done regardless

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Thanks Escort3500. Nowhere near as aggressive looking these days as some of the new cars about, but it still feels and looks special to me

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Court_S said:

Big fan of the B5; they still look so right. They’re very subtle (in a good way) but those that know, will know. I love how clean and simple the exterior is.

A director at work had one for years, it always looked lovely in the car park. It was the same colour as yours.

There are a few other colours I really like in the B5, but for me Avus Silver is the most low-key of them which is what I really wanted. I do get the odd thumbs up from people who know what it is though

Escort3500 said:

As Court_S says, it’s the subtly of this version which is a particularly nice feature (in addition to the performance and handling ). I’ve got one of its later cousins (B7 RS4) which isn’t quite as understated, though still reasonably subtle and lost on the uninitiated, which suits me just fine

B7 does make a much better noise with that V8, and yes they’re still nowhere near as in-your-face as later models. Have you had it long? I’m five years with this car now. Not quite sure if I’d ever sell it though, or even what I’d swap it for, maybe some form of 911 Turbo. I worry I’d miss it too much though

chrismc1977 said:

B5 always been my favourite shape.

A lot to be said for the slightly more understated looks.

In a time when cars are becoming ever more bloated with silly HP figures, a slightly older hero car has so much more appeal. A great driving tool with a decent amount of driver interaction

Why il probably never sell my DC2

It’s funny given it’s now 20 years old, but it doesn’t feel that old to me. My previous E34 M5 was seven years older than it, but felt like it was from a different era

English expat said:

Looking excellent. I am biased though as we have a stage 1 b5 s4. They definitely fly under the radar and I fully understand the tax issue.

Out here in NL ours is 750 a year to tax. It’s painful but living near the autobahn has its advantages.

I toyed with the idea of selling and going for a panamera but it’s still here.

I love the S4s too, and the older S2 Avants. Don’t talk to me about tax though, as this is €1400 per year until it’s 30 years old, and that’s not even the top rate! At least the insurance isn’t too bad though as it’s on a classic policy now

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Escort3500 said:

I looked at a couple of B5 RS4s but they were a bit scruffy and had patchy service history, so I went for the B7 Avant. I’ve had it for about 7 years It’s only done 63k miles and is standard apart from adjustable spring platforms (I don’t like standard ‘nose up’ ride height on the front) and an MRC Stage 2 remap (plus periodic carbon cleaning ). I don’t use it much these days but can’t bring myself to sell it. Yet

My car is on 68k miles now, with a decent service history throughout, which was important to me. It’s still standard too, although there are plenty of tuned and big-mileage cars about which says something about how these things were built. They can obviously throw up bills, but in general given the performance I don’t think they’re too bad

TheDukeGTi said:

Beautiful car, certainly one of my favourites!

Definitely agree with all the sentiments; they just don't make them like this anymore.

Thanks very much

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Jaaack said:

Really big fan of these, looks great especially with the standard wheels still on. Really surprised by the photos showing how small these are, I certainly don't see them as a small car.

I remember an old Clarkson VHS where he drove one, and the main point he made was just how stable it was, he couldn't get it to do anything other than just go around a corner normally, no matter how silly he was being

Ta very much. I don’t actually remember that Clarkson one, I must check it out. If eBay is my friend then I’ve still got a VHS player in my ML

paulw123 said:

Love these in this colour with the stock wheels. Effortlessly cool. Will alway think of Layer cake though when I see one like this.

Thanks, it’s actually on the replacement hard compound wheels, as the original owner got fed up having to go back for new soft compound ones that had cracked. Audi gave up on the soft compound after about 10 years of warranty I think too

I’ve never really seen a wheel better suited to the B5 for me, although I do quite like 19” MTMs on them too. I’m holding out on keeping the car as standard as possible though

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Been having a couple of issues with the battery lately, so gave it a full recondition with the C-Tek, which told me everything was OK. However, 48 hours later it was as dead as very deceased dodo

Picked up a new Bosch S5 for it, but haven’t had a chance to fit it yet, so hopefully that does the trick

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Out for my first proper drive of the summer this morning, across the mountain roads in Wicklow. Went down there early with a friend in his lovely Z3 M Coupe, and we got a really good run across for most of the way, until cyclists/sheep/tour buses stopped play. We retired for coffee and proper car chat instead then



Car drove really well, although ideally it’s still a bit too big and heavy for the sorts of roads it was on this morning. I reckon I’d make much better progress in my GP1. Still good fun though to get out and about

NCT (Irish MOT) this week, and then have a service booked with Audi the following week

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So the car passed its NCT last week, and was in for a service at Audi Belfast today. Great dealership, their customer service really is at the highest level I find, despite it probably being the oldest car they get in

The drive up and back were pretty dire in terms of weather, but it just reminded me how surefooted and composed a car this thing really is. Still pretty quick too. It turns twenty years old in a few weeks, but there’s very little I’d change with it

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Escort3500 said:

I’d imagine it must be a nice change for the techs to work on yours rather than the run-of-the-mill ‘modern’ Audis they’re used to every day

Funnily enough the mechanic came out to see me and have a chat about the car, and said they love seeing it coming in, which was really nice to hear

I sometimes hear the complaint about modern dealerships only employing people who can just plug cars into a computer, but this really isn’t the case.