Quick what car: S4 2.7 V6 or X-type 3.0?

[TroubledSoul]

Just mulling this one as I may need to get a cheap replacement car quickly.

Old S4 would be great, I'm sure. Avant especially. X-type is a car I've always fancied for some reason, but wouldn't be as exciting.

This would be a daily driver, below £3k and the X-type I would probably buy in auto flavour for the commute.

Can't help feeling that the S4 would probably be trouble, not as nice a place to be, and older. But it's still in my head.

X-type seems more like what I should buy, it's a chance to scratch an inch, and I do have an MR2 Roadster project for the fun stuff.

What do the masses think?

[Dave Hedgehog]

S4s have a habbit of eating turbo's and many jobs because of the design are an engine out job

[BorkFactor]

Dave Hedgehog said:

S4s have a habbit of eating turbo's and many jobs because of the design are an engine out job

I was under the impression that the turbos only gave problems if you remapped them and didn't change the turbos?

Always liked the B5 A4, I would get one of them.

[y2blade]

I love my B5 S4....don't listen the the internet scaremongers.

Look after it and it will look after you, always warm-up always cool-down.
The face-lift ones have a revised feed to the turbos.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=1&a...

[Gusto]

B5 S4 - I still regret selling mine.

[y2blade]

Gusto said:

B5 S4 - I still regret selling mine.

Mine is a keeper, of that I am 100% certain.

[y2blade]

OP you'll be lucky to get a good B5 S4 Avant for under £3k...they are fetching nearer £4k and from what I've seen over the last few months going up.

[Liquid Tuna]

y2blade said:

I love my B5 S4....don't listen the the internet scaremongers.

Look after it and it will look after you, always warm-up always cool-down.
The face-lift ones have a revised feed to the turbos.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=1&a...

I had an A6 with the same engine in (though probably detuned etc) and the secondary water pump went. It was an expensive job and when I did a bit of research (after the event!) I found it's not uncommon for these to fail, so they do, like a lot of cars, have known problems.

[andy-xr]

Dave Hedgehog said:

many jobs because of the design are an engine out job

An X Type isnt much different there. I had a 3.0 manual. It didnt feel quick, but you were doing 90 before you realised in a lot of cases, quite a torquey engine the V6. It was happier lower down the rev range just pootling, I dont think it'd give a good S4 a run for it's money. Mine had this weird thing that if you booted it in 1st, there was a massive bump into second as the transmission and drivetrain caught up. It was an early AWD rather than later. 2nd to 3rd didnt have that.

[garycat]

If you want a fast 4x4 have a look at Mazda 6 MPS - A good one will be about £4K, you get Japanese reliability, and easily makes 290 bhp with a £400 remap.

[y2blade]

Liquid Tuna said:

y2blade said:

I love my B5 S4....don't listen the the internet scaremongers.

Look after it and it will look after you, always warm-up always cool-down.
The face-lift ones have a revised feed to the turbos.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=1&a...

I had an A6 with the same engine in (though probably detuned etc) and the secondary water pump went. It was an expensive job and when I did a bit of research (after the event!) I found it's not uncommon for these to fail, so they do, like a lot of cars, have known problems.

Please show me a car that has no known problems?

Even the "Ultra reliable" Japanese cars have known problems.

[y2blade]

garycat said:

If you want a fast 4x4 have a look at Mazda 6 MPS - A good one will be about £4K, you get Japanese reliability, and easily makes 290 bhp with a £400 remap.

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=mazda+6+mps+problems


Like I said...all cars have known problems.

[swansea v6]

I loved my 3.0 v6 x type. Excellent chassis, very thirsty around town though. Just be careful of the transfer box, they dont hold much oil and if they leak, they can write off the car. Other than that a very underestimated car.

[Soupie69uk]

B5 shape A4/S4s are so well made in my experience. X-type jags I have seen are normally rusty. A lot get sent to auctions with rotten sills.

Rust should not be an issue on the S4. Buy an S4 with the turbo's redone or have some pennies just in case. It may never happen though.

Loads of guys report they have not had to change them on AudiSRS

[TroubledSoul]

garycat said:

If you want a fast 4x4 have a look at Mazda 6 MPS - A good one will be about £4K, you get Japanese reliability, and easily makes 290 bhp with a £400 remap.

Not permanent AWD though are they?

I've practically rebuilt every part of our S3's suspension, and have a good local specialist for anything I can't do, so not too worried by the S4 unless turbos going are common etc.

What's the cambelt interval on them?

I'm still actually leaning toward the X-type as an overall package for my needs. I know the S4 is massively quicker.

How hard are parts to come by?

[TroubledSoul]

Just when I thought I'd found a couple of decent examples for the money, it looks like they are either pre facelift or they have 170k on them