B8 S4 Ownership

[silentbrown]

Coming up to 6 years old for my CREC-engined B8.5 - it's only on 43K miles, though. Service and MOT due shortly. It's due spark plugs at 6 years, according to the service book.

What's the consensus on V-belt and sports diff servicing at this age?

V-Belt says 57K but doesn't specify an age, and there's no mention of S4 sports diff, but RS4 diff needs fluid changes at 37K...?

[Cupramax]

Yes my CREC engined S5 just hit 6 and I plan to keep it long term as a second car along with something boring and probably electric day to day, so interesting to see opinions, mines even lower, only on 24k currently.

[MattS5]

Audi Norwich did quote for the diff service, based on what they do to the RS4, and it was around £400 from memory.

I asked them to quote early last year, but have done so few miles in the last 12 months that I havent prgressed it yet.

S5 2016 MY for reference.

[Adrian E]

silentbrown said:

Coming up to 6 years old for my CREC-engined B8.5 - it's only on 43K miles, though. Service and MOT due shortly. It's due spark plugs at 6 years, according to the service book.

What's the consensus on V-belt and sports diff servicing at this age?

V-Belt says 57K but doesn't specify an age, and there's no mention of S4 sports diff, but RS4 diff needs fluid changes at 37K...?

I'd leave it till nearer the mileage requirement for the S/C belt. Get the auxiliary drive belt changed at the same time (it's actually over twice the price of the S/C belt!) - it has to come off to access the S/C belt, and have them check the tensioners. Had ours done at 58k miles alongside a service and it cost me 2 hours labour and belts at £18 and £47 respectively. Front end has to be pulled into the service position to do the job.....

On our 2011 S5 S/B I had the sports diff oil and rear diff axle oil (NOTE there are 2 fluids used in the different parts of the diff) done alongside the 2nd s-tronic service at 70k miles. As you say, no change interval mentioned but seemed sensible to do it.

It's only a couple of months till ours is due its annual service, after I had all the preventative stuff done that I posted about ages ago (injectors, PCR, 'stat etc), and it's done 2,500 miles since then......rolled onto 75k this morning.

Am currently browsing a rather lovely S6 Avant as a possible replacement, but for the life of me can't work out why someone would PAY £300 to take out the standard supersports seats in preference for 'comfort' (aka bog standard!) seats!

[troc]

I ran my S4 for 11 years on the long life service with the dealer simply doing whatever was in the service book/computer. No extra fluid changes, no extra belt changes.

Car was running perfectly when I part exchanged it for our new cayenne with the only issue being the clutch wear implying an new church sooner rather than later.

Car was sold with 120000km on the clock, had had front discs replaced once and new pads all round once. Was on 3rd set of summer tyres. I ran a separate winter set which also still had 6mm or so profile.

Bloody brilliant car. Miss it in many ways but I also love our new cayenne.

[silentbrown]

Adrian E said:

Am currently browsing a rather lovely S6 Avant as a possible replacement, but for the life of me can't work out why someone would PAY £300 to take out the standard supersports seats in preference for 'comfort' (aka bog standard!) seats!

Thanks. I'd been idly looking at S6's too. The black one?

S8's are about the same £££, but the dog wouldn't like it

[Adrian E]

silentbrown said:

Thanks. I'd been idly looking at S6's too. The black one?

S8's are about the same £££, but the dog wouldn't like it

Yep, that's the one (although most of them seem to be black, and I swore after the S5 I'd never have another black car!) - ACC, matrix LEDs and factory towbar are all pluses to me, and I'm not averse to a panoramic sunroof either. I can't afford it at the moment, but if everything aligned I'd be very tempted.

S8 is lovely too, but I've been there and done that with a D2 and I need an estate again (sold the last one to buy the S5 in 2013!). S7 SB also an option, but they just seem to take up a lot more road space for precious little extra usability.....

[Dr G]

Adrian E said:

Am currently browsing a rather lovely S6 Avant as a possible replacement, but for the life of me can't work out why someone would PAY £300 to take out the standard supersports seats in preference for 'comfort' (aka bog standard!) seats!

Sports Comfort seats are out of an A8 and xxx way adjustable with memory on both sides, they're not the standard A6 sport seat.

[Adrian E]

Dr G said:

Sports Comfort seats are out of an A8 and xxx way adjustable with memory on both sides, they're not the standard A6 sport seat.

Thanks Alex - interesting to know - are they an option that people generally aren't keen on, in your experience? I recall not being overly put off by the standard seats in the S4, but I do prefer the look of the Supersports seats just because they remind me of ones I had in my Mk2 Cortina 2 door (from a Capri!) when I had that back in the early 90s! I don't find the Supersports seats massively good at holding you in place - guess it's mainly down to the intended purpose for the car by the specifying owner.....

[mrdanbartlett]

I've been having my eye on the used car market recently, and following some posts in the general gassing here about prices.
In summary its nuts out there it seems! Prices are constantly rising,lack of stock - seems effected by lack of new cars coming, people having more cash for used cars, higher new car prices and such.

I hope it will settle down but the signs aren't so good. Will sit it out for a while and see what happens.

I did see a nicely priced RS7 this week but looking for a C63s if they come down a tad and I can save up a tiny bit more etc. I NEED a nice v8 with some real theatre.

[GroundZero]

There seems to be a new factor in play with the recent market of 2nd hand performance cars and that is FOMO (fear of missing out).
As prices rocket there are potential buyers now thinking that if I don't buy now then I'll not be able to afford in the future.
This is really pushing prices upwards like never before.

[mrdanbartlett]

GroundZero said:

There seems to be a new factor in play with the recent market of 2nd hand performance cars and that is FOMO (fear of missing out).
As prices rocket there are potential buyers now thinking that if I don't buy now then I'll not be able to afford in the future.
This is really pushing prices upwards like never before.

Yep, that is partly me too! I fear I should leap to a v8 before they are a thing in history.

[Dr G]

Buy a B6/7 S4 while they're still dirt cheap.

[molynda]

Cupramax said:

it’s still not turned up at the point of cancelling and ordering from somewhere else, just showing as in transit on the tracker.

Not sure if yours turned up yet, I've waited months in past for stuff from AliExpress! If you are looking for something more local, I bought mine a few months back from Bavarian Automotive. I bought via ebay at the time but they also have their own site:
https://bavarian-automotive.co.uk/collections/audi...

It was delivered within a few days and although it will likely be exactly the same unit as Ali but cost a little extra, I don't mind because the people there gave me some good pre sales and after sales technical support. I also fitted a reversing camera which works well with this unit.

Overall it is a worthwhile upgrade. Touchscreen would be nice but it's not needed, just use voice for the technical stuff like navigation commands or pulling up a playlist and then the steering wheel and MMI buttons do the rest perfectly fine. I get the occasional crash but I am using wireless Android Auto and I think that in itself can be a little buggy. Holding the back button resets the unit very quickly so no major hassle if it happens every now and again. The unit works with the car's mic and also has an option to continue using the car's bluetooth for phone calls, which in the end I preferred because I can still pick up / hang up from the wheel button and also the caller on the other end complained there was an echo when using the unit's bluetooth (very common issue it seems on all varieties of these units, to have an echo when calling). Worth mentioning that I have 3G+, so mic and bluetooth functionality might not be the same for all MMI types.

Overall a very simple and worthwhile upgrade. Fitting the android auto unit alone can be done under 1 hour, or 2 hours if you're new to this stuff,, just pop off the glovebox and pull out the MMI unit and plug it all in, job done. To complement I also added a Kicker Key 4 channel amp (200.4), Kicker Key mono amp (500.1), Focal Access component speakers and a new 10" sub. I highly recommend the Kicker Key range because they have built in push button DSP that fixes all the problems that usually come with aftermarket amps and speakers on OEM head units. The car now sounds amazing and with Android Auto / CarPlay, has brought it right up to date - total outlay was under £1k, doing the fitting myself and car still looks totally stock.

[Dr G]

Adrian E said:

Thanks Alex - interesting to know - are they an option that people generally aren't keen on, in your experience? I recall not being overly put off by the standard seats in the S4, but I do prefer the look of the Supersports seats just because they remind me of ones I had in my Mk2 Cortina 2 door (from a Capri!) when I had that back in the early 90s! I don't find the Supersports seats massively good at holding you in place - guess it's mainly down to the intended purpose for the car by the specifying owner.....

Pretty much; Super sport seats made up the majority of orders. They were standard and are very good.

A larger, very-tall, or perhaps older driver might not like them. Some people value subtlety. You couldn't pair SS seats with rear entertainment option. Some people might just find the sport seats a bit blingy.

I wouldn't be put off by them in a car that was otherwise really good but my personal preference woul dbe for Super sport.

[Martyn76]

Hi All,

I've recently starting looking at this version of S4 to replace my aging BMW 330D, just wondering how older cars (2012-2013) are holding up and any potential big bills to be aware of, looking at a max of £15K realistically, although man maths and all that...

Also interested to understand what MPG people are getting, I do 10 miles a day across town to work (30, 40 and 50 zones) and usually do 2 or more longer journeys a month, mostly on M'ways and A roads, I'm not in a rush to get anywhere so not hooning it around.

[mrdanbartlett]

Martyn76 said:

Hi All,

I've recently starting looking at this version of S4 to replace my aging BMW 330D, just wondering how older cars (2012-2013) are holding up and any potential big bills to be aware of, looking at a max of £15K realistically, although man maths and all that...

Also interested to understand what MPG people are getting, I do 10 miles a day across town to work (30, 40 and 50 zones) and usually do 2 or more longer journeys a month, mostly on M'ways and A roads, I'm not in a rush to get anywhere so not hooning it around.

Hey,

I have a 59 S4 with 103k on it, had it 5 years (it has 73k when I got it) and it's been utterly reliable. One major cost was the clutch and flywheel, it didn't fail but I knew when I got the car it would need doing before too long as it's slowly got heavier - it was around £1200.
Brakes aren't cheap, think my Audi front discs and pads were £450 - but again its only the once I've had to do it.

Nothing has gone wrong, just the odd small little job - i.e just had the key slot replaced for £200 as the key was getting a bit stuck. MPG I'm unsure, computer says early to mid 20's. Short trips it's not great I guess, but on a run it's decent - just never goes above 30mpg. It's totally worth it though, there is no lag with a supercharger, the engine is fantastic and for me as I only do sub 5k miles a year I don't care about MPG as long as it's not something silly like sub 15.

IMO these cars are unbeatable allrounders at the sub 20k price point, to get anything worth of an upgrade I'm going to have to fork out over 30k.

Mine is a manual so I don't have any DSG worries, the engine is standard and I service it annually regardless of mileage. I don't thrash it, but I do enjoy the performance when I can. It's comfy, get the B&O stereo as its very good too.

Only potential issues seem to be the water pumps and the DSG boxes (mechatronic failures), but overall these cars seem very well made IMO.

[Mr Moley]

matrignano said:

Finchley Road Audi

Here is your problem

By some distance the most feckless, arrogant and greasy bunch of spivs that I've had the misfortune to have dealt with

[GroundZero]

Martyn76 said:

Hi All,

I've recently starting looking at this version of S4 to replace my aging BMW 330D, just wondering how older cars (2012-2013) are holding up and any potential big bills to be aware of, looking at a max of £15K realistically, although man maths and all that...

Also interested to understand what MPG people are getting, I do 10 miles a day across town to work (30, 40 and 50 zones) and usually do 2 or more longer journeys a month, mostly on M'ways and A roads, I'm not in a rush to get anywhere so not hooning it around.

I have a 2009 S4 with the manual gearbox and in the lower tax bracket.
MPG for me can be up to 37-38mpg on a steady motorway cruise.
You can still pick these up for well under your budget but they are becoming quite rare.

My car is now 12 years old and has 55,000 miles on it, so for me I will be looking at possibly renewing the supercharger belt, changing the diff oil and gearbox oil.
Apart from that no other big bills that I can see.
In terms of reliability the car has been pretty good, only issue so far over the past two years of ownership has been a burst high-pressure power steering pipe which was a bit pricey for what it is.

[Martyn76]

Martyn76 said:

Hi All,

I've recently starting looking at this version of S4 to replace my aging BMW 330D, just wondering how older cars (2012-2013) are holding up and any potential big bills to be aware of, looking at a max of £15K realistically, although man maths and all that...

Also interested to understand what MPG people are getting, I do 10 miles a day across town to work (30, 40 and 50 zones) and usually do 2 or more longer journeys a month, mostly on M'ways and A roads, I'm not in a rush to get anywhere so not hooning it around.

Just to add to this, it would be the auto option I would be looking for, S-tronic? Is this just the Audi name for DSG?