Bargain Basement Audi S4 2.7T
Discussion
Well... this is what happens when you have a little money saved and spend too much time on ebay.
The story goes, I used to have a modified Seat Ibiza Cupra, I then stripped it for parts and kept the engine to put into a Mk1 Golf. I started to lose a little heart with it, and wanted a 'proper' car, so I sold the engine and saved a little money. I was browsing ebay just looking for something fun and reasonably fast as a weekend toy, such as Clio 172's, BMW 330, Pulsar GTiR, some ropey Imprezas, but I kept coming back to this S4 which had a low starting price, but I expected it to go closer to the buy it now price. Fast forward a couple of days and no one had bid, 2hrs remaining on the auction I thought bugger it, stuck a max bid of £1900 on it.
2hrs later, I had won the car. Bugger. I know these cars can be moneypits, I know they like a drink, so what the hell was I doing buying one for this price? How bad can it be? Either way, on ebay you bid to buy, and I knew in my head it was worth £1900 in bits, so I had to go and get it.
Fast forward to yesterday, me and my mate took my A4 diesel daily from Middlesbrough to South Wales (approx 300 miles) to go and get it. When we got to the garage selling it I was pleasantly surprised, parked outside was a pretty tidy looking and very original S4. Closer inspection showed some marks here and there but nothing out of the ordinary for a car made in 1998 which has done 140k miles. So, the big moment, fired it up annnnnndddddd it fired up. No rattles, no whistling turbos, no slipping clutches, no misfires, no knocks, no bangs, excellent. Apart from the front discs and pads being completely shot, it drove wonderfully.
So I quite happily handed over my cash and made my way back to sunny Teesside. Very uneventful bar a little play with an Impreza STi off a roundabout, I was expecting to get stuffed but they were quite similar performance. I haven't really pushed the car yet due to the brakes, but it's incredibly planted, it's not as fast as my old Ibiza Cupra but that's nothing a remap won't fix.
Some pictures, of what a £1900 S4 looks like...
The money shot
The worst of the bodywork
All in all, I'm really happy with it, it's a lovely car to drive. Immediate plans are new discs/pads and 4 new tyres. Longer term plans will be a good quality spring/damper setup, downpipe/decats, exhaust, APR bi pipe, RS4 side mount intercoolers and a remap, which should push the standard turbos and clutch to their limits.
Thanks for reading and apologies for any poor spelling/grammar, it's nearly 2am!
The story goes, I used to have a modified Seat Ibiza Cupra, I then stripped it for parts and kept the engine to put into a Mk1 Golf. I started to lose a little heart with it, and wanted a 'proper' car, so I sold the engine and saved a little money. I was browsing ebay just looking for something fun and reasonably fast as a weekend toy, such as Clio 172's, BMW 330, Pulsar GTiR, some ropey Imprezas, but I kept coming back to this S4 which had a low starting price, but I expected it to go closer to the buy it now price. Fast forward a couple of days and no one had bid, 2hrs remaining on the auction I thought bugger it, stuck a max bid of £1900 on it.
2hrs later, I had won the car. Bugger. I know these cars can be moneypits, I know they like a drink, so what the hell was I doing buying one for this price? How bad can it be? Either way, on ebay you bid to buy, and I knew in my head it was worth £1900 in bits, so I had to go and get it.
Fast forward to yesterday, me and my mate took my A4 diesel daily from Middlesbrough to South Wales (approx 300 miles) to go and get it. When we got to the garage selling it I was pleasantly surprised, parked outside was a pretty tidy looking and very original S4. Closer inspection showed some marks here and there but nothing out of the ordinary for a car made in 1998 which has done 140k miles. So, the big moment, fired it up annnnnndddddd it fired up. No rattles, no whistling turbos, no slipping clutches, no misfires, no knocks, no bangs, excellent. Apart from the front discs and pads being completely shot, it drove wonderfully.
So I quite happily handed over my cash and made my way back to sunny Teesside. Very uneventful bar a little play with an Impreza STi off a roundabout, I was expecting to get stuffed but they were quite similar performance. I haven't really pushed the car yet due to the brakes, but it's incredibly planted, it's not as fast as my old Ibiza Cupra but that's nothing a remap won't fix.
Some pictures, of what a £1900 S4 looks like...
The money shot
The worst of the bodywork
All in all, I'm really happy with it, it's a lovely car to drive. Immediate plans are new discs/pads and 4 new tyres. Longer term plans will be a good quality spring/damper setup, downpipe/decats, exhaust, APR bi pipe, RS4 side mount intercoolers and a remap, which should push the standard turbos and clutch to their limits.
Thanks for reading and apologies for any poor spelling/grammar, it's nearly 2am!
king great. These always looked far better in saloon guise, as opposed to the Avant guise!Thanks chaps. It's a good useable car that I don't feel the need to be too precious about, and I love how discreet it is, you can drive about in total anonymity, which I couldn't say if i'd bought some rice rocket.
Vince - I drive a poverty spec B5 TDI daily, this is virtually the same, just with lots of leather and funky needles on the clocks that glow white.
Once the basic maintenence is done, I'll get the boost pipes pressure tested and make sure the MAF/N75/EGT sensors are working as they should so I know it's healthy before it gets more power.
Vince - I drive a poverty spec B5 TDI daily, this is virtually the same, just with lots of leather and funky needles on the clocks that glow white.
Once the basic maintenence is done, I'll get the boost pipes pressure tested and make sure the MAF/N75/EGT sensors are working as they should so I know it's healthy before it gets more power.
What a buy!!!! Great choice matey.
I had '99 S4 some time a go and it was a fantastic car mate. Slightly breathed on example and apart from one sensor failure it neve let me done. Awesome machine for the money and very, very tuneable ; )
Enjoy fella and keep us posted on its progress.
I had '99 S4 some time a go and it was a fantastic car mate. Slightly breathed on example and apart from one sensor failure it neve let me done. Awesome machine for the money and very, very tuneable ; )
Enjoy fella and keep us posted on its progress.
LiamM45 said:
Thanks chaps. It's a good useable car that I don't feel the need to be too precious about, and I love how discreet it is, you can drive about in total anonymity, which I couldn't say if i'd bought some rice rocket.
Vince - I drive a poverty spec B5 TDI daily, this is virtually the same, just with lots of leather and funky needles on the clocks that glow white.
Once the basic maintenence is done, I'll get the boost pipes pressure tested and make sure the MAF/N75/EGT sensors are working as they should so I know it's healthy before it gets more power.
That's the problem I find one just isn't enough my poverty spec b5 is now a winter car I only drive the expensive (£700) audi in the summer as I don't wish to get that horrible salt near it.Vince - I drive a poverty spec B5 TDI daily, this is virtually the same, just with lots of leather and funky needles on the clocks that glow white.
Once the basic maintenence is done, I'll get the boost pipes pressure tested and make sure the MAF/N75/EGT sensors are working as they should so I know it's healthy before it gets more power.
The reasoning for me getting the other one was that I have a matching pair in the same colour so that way I only need one touch up pen lol.
Jimmy No Hands said:
I want to get one of these in the next 5-6 month. So if you feel the need to sell..
Sorry, no chance I've hankered after one of these for a few years and now I'm in a position to be able to run one I'm really glad I got one. Unless you have an E39 M5 and want an S4 + cash your way (i just have NO cash at the moment)
SaucyBoy, how did you find the performance with a few bits and bobs done to it? I'm hoping to see 330 maybe 340bhp with the bits I want to do.
Good purchase, however I'll warn you now.....once you start messing with it your wallet will drain quickly!
Things to buy before mapping it:
Boost leak tester
Vagcom
Either gut the pre cats, fit RS4 gutted pre cats or 3" downpipes (If your going for K04 power eventually)
Cat back, cheap XS power (fitment not great) or Milltek 2.25 twin/ 3" single
Make sure the MAF is ok
Then pick a good tuner who knows these cars, MRC, Viper or Rick @ unicorn.
When I got my S4 it was standard, I fitted the XS power turbo back system and had it mapped by MRC and she made 347hp. In that guise the car was superb, an amazing engine!
A few months later one of the K03's gave up so off it went for a full K04 conversion. This is when it gets expensive, but worth it...sort of
I ended up with a 470hp car with bags of torque, 6k rpm sidestep the clutch and it flew. I eventually had an unusual incident where the cambelt pulley broke up and killed the car which I then stripped for parts.
I noticed your post on audiSRS which is a great source of all information regarding B5's, enjoy
Things to buy before mapping it:
Boost leak tester
Vagcom
Either gut the pre cats, fit RS4 gutted pre cats or 3" downpipes (If your going for K04 power eventually)
Cat back, cheap XS power (fitment not great) or Milltek 2.25 twin/ 3" single
Make sure the MAF is ok
Then pick a good tuner who knows these cars, MRC, Viper or Rick @ unicorn.
When I got my S4 it was standard, I fitted the XS power turbo back system and had it mapped by MRC and she made 347hp. In that guise the car was superb, an amazing engine!
A few months later one of the K03's gave up so off it went for a full K04 conversion. This is when it gets expensive, but worth it...sort of
I ended up with a 470hp car with bags of torque, 6k rpm sidestep the clutch and it flew. I eventually had an unusual incident where the cambelt pulley broke up and killed the car which I then stripped for parts.
I noticed your post on audiSRS which is a great source of all information regarding B5's, enjoy
Well done that man!
Am probably going to replace my Mk3 16v Golf with a B5 S4 Avant next year, but hoping to find one at a bargain price that already has KO4s fitted...
Please keep this updated, will be very interested to see how it pans out. I see it's already had the cambelt done, but how does it feel with 144k miles? Had any suspension replaced?
Am probably going to replace my Mk3 16v Golf with a B5 S4 Avant next year, but hoping to find one at a bargain price that already has KO4s fitted...
Please keep this updated, will be very interested to see how it pans out. I see it's already had the cambelt done, but how does it feel with 144k miles? Had any suspension replaced?
S4 for under £2k is bonkers value though!Wow, Will, love the black Avant. If you don't mind me asking, what was the rough cost of your K04 conversion? Long term, it's something I would look into, especially if the stock turbos gave up, I would just need to save up the money to do it (I don't like loans, finance, credit cards!). I notice the MRC K04 setup is £3k, fitted and mapped, which sounds pretty good to me for a drive in drive out conversion.
Rob1234, had a few mk3 Golf's myself, under-rated little cars. Suspension wise it's a little wallowy, I'm guessing this is more how Audi intended rather than warn components. The gear change is a little sloppy so I guess shifter bushes will be worn. It's got a big wallet full of history with the car, it's certainly been looked after. I think I'm just going to go along the lines of, if something breaks, upgrade it.
Terminator X - it's just a weekend car for me so I can justify the 20mpg and relatively expensive consumables. My B5 A4 diesel is used for commuting
Thanks for all the replies, I feel like I've finally grown up and bought a 'proper' car. I will keep it updated but it'll be slow progress over the next few months as I do odd jobs here and there and build up a bit of a 'bork' fund.
Rob1234, had a few mk3 Golf's myself, under-rated little cars. Suspension wise it's a little wallowy, I'm guessing this is more how Audi intended rather than warn components. The gear change is a little sloppy so I guess shifter bushes will be worn. It's got a big wallet full of history with the car, it's certainly been looked after. I think I'm just going to go along the lines of, if something breaks, upgrade it.
Terminator X - it's just a weekend car for me so I can justify the 20mpg and relatively expensive consumables. My B5 A4 diesel is used for commuting
Thanks for all the replies, I feel like I've finally grown up and bought a 'proper' car.
I will keep it updated but it'll be slow progress over the next few months as I do odd jobs here and there and build up a bit of a 'bork' fund. Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff