RS4 as a Daily Driver?t
Discussion
Agree with the above.
Am not sure what mileage car I'd recommend buying either. One with low miles now might have more hassles waiting for you service wise. One with high miles now will get seriously high with 15k a year.
They're great cars...I wonder whether a B8 S4 might not be a better bet though...?
Am not sure what mileage car I'd recommend buying either. One with low miles now might have more hassles waiting for you service wise. One with high miles now will get seriously high with 15k a year.
They're great cars...I wonder whether a B8 S4 might not be a better bet though...?
Murph7355 said:
They're great cars...I wonder whether a B8 S4 might not be a better bet though...?
There's a few enthusiast owned RS4's within reach (physically), hence the question.I have thought about a B8 S4, but the ones I've seen (bizarrely) have been absolute dogs, and they're trade sales. I'm not sure about private sales given the mileage I'm going to be doing.
Cupramax said:
A well maintained car is more than capable of it, but be prepared for £1500 > £2k a year for servicing and brakes and 25mpg max on a run and a whole lot less around town If that scares you, you wont be able to afford to run it.
This^They're also prone to carbon build-up in the intake manifold, leaking oil coolers and the DRC system can be problematic. That said, they're a high performance car so high running costs comes with the territory, especially if you're doing 15k a year. Nevertheless, they're great cars. I don't really know what I'd replace mine for in the current market and price range that is as capable as an all rounder Plenty of sound advice on RS246.com if you haven't found the site already.
I used to run a B7 RS4 as my daily driver for 20-25k/year
The real ace in the sleeve of the RS4's are their ability to be a very easy all day cruiser, but then turn it on when required. The V8 soundtrack is nice and quiet at motorway speeds, but once you get up the revs, it sounds tremendous
I've since run my first B8, an RS5, and now on my second B8 RS
With the B7, you'll get around 22-24 when taking it easy (i.e. 80-85 on the motorway), and although they are prone to carbon build up, you'll not lose much torque, so won't feel the difference in day to day driving - Carbon cleans are around £500-£1000, but the occasional 'italian service' i.e. High revs spirited drive, will also keep it fairly clean.
Brakes are quite expensive, but if you're not doing track days etc, you can expect 50-60k miles on a set of discs, and 20-30 on a set of pads
I'fe seen cars on 80k miles still on their first clutch - You'd need to factor in around £1500 for a clutch as you need to replace the dual mass flywheel at the same time
Most cars would've had the DRC changed by Audi by now as the first systems were problematic, so Audi extended the warranty for the system out to 5 years as a goodwill for knowing they got it wrong first time
Bucket seats and Flat bottom steering wheel are the options to look for, and will help resale, although I always found the round wheel to be pretty decent too, whereas the flat bottomed RS wheel on the B7 is quite plasticy
The real ace in the sleeve of the RS4's are their ability to be a very easy all day cruiser, but then turn it on when required. The V8 soundtrack is nice and quiet at motorway speeds, but once you get up the revs, it sounds tremendous
I've since run my first B8, an RS5, and now on my second B8 RS
With the B7, you'll get around 22-24 when taking it easy (i.e. 80-85 on the motorway), and although they are prone to carbon build up, you'll not lose much torque, so won't feel the difference in day to day driving - Carbon cleans are around £500-£1000, but the occasional 'italian service' i.e. High revs spirited drive, will also keep it fairly clean.
Brakes are quite expensive, but if you're not doing track days etc, you can expect 50-60k miles on a set of discs, and 20-30 on a set of pads
I'fe seen cars on 80k miles still on their first clutch - You'd need to factor in around £1500 for a clutch as you need to replace the dual mass flywheel at the same time
Most cars would've had the DRC changed by Audi by now as the first systems were problematic, so Audi extended the warranty for the system out to 5 years as a goodwill for knowing they got it wrong first time
Bucket seats and Flat bottom steering wheel are the options to look for, and will help resale, although I always found the round wheel to be pretty decent too, whereas the flat bottomed RS wheel on the B7 is quite plasticy
I was having this exact dilemma a few years ago but decided to get a B8 S4 and get it stage 2 tuned, I'm now onto my second B8 S4 and find it a great car for the daily commute, comfy, fast, no real problems (other than advance key playing up on my current one) and easy to drive. The RS4 would be the more fun drivers car when your on it on a B road blast but I just couldn't bring myself to put 15k/annum on a car like the RS4 and financially the B8 is far cheaper to run/maintain.
Had an RS4 as a daily and loved it, was easy to sit in motorway traffic in it without too much drama.
Currently running an RS5 which I love, its a very nice upgrade from the RS4
One thing I would say is that the B7 RS4 is very dated inside nowadays so factor this in when you are looking at them.
Also if you are looking at doing an S4 and tuning it, remember to upgrade your brakes it's all well and good making a car go faster but the braking should never be ignored.
Currently running an RS5 which I love, its a very nice upgrade from the RS4
One thing I would say is that the B7 RS4 is very dated inside nowadays so factor this in when you are looking at them.
Also if you are looking at doing an S4 and tuning it, remember to upgrade your brakes it's all well and good making a car go faster but the braking should never be ignored.
f
k1_6 said:
k1_6 said: I was having this exact dilemma a few years ago but decided to get a B8 S4 and get it stage 2 tuned, I'm now onto my second B8 S4 and find it a great car for the daily commute, comfy, fast, no real problems (other than advance key playing up on my current one) and easy to drive. The RS4 would be the more fun drivers car when your on it on a B road blast but I just couldn't bring myself to put 15k/annum on a car like the RS4 and financially the B8 is far cheaper to run/maintain.
I'm struggling to find a sensible spec / good quality B8 S4. I've seen some dogs around. Drove one today: 09 with 72.5k, S-tronic, 3G - nav, B&O, parking front and back, serviced 800 miles ago, folding rear seats, black leather / aniline interior, no adaptive stuff though, good matching tyres, no scuffs on the wheels, underside looked clean and complete, engine bay clean. Price £16.7k which would get me 2yrs RAC warranty.But I'm more tempted maybe by the S3 here: http://www.redlinespecialistcars.co.uk/used-cars/a...
Cheers for the PM, and sorry for the mistaken identity - far too many Ricks have lotus elises, it seems 
Rs4 as a daily is awesome. Motorways are really de-stressed because you can just be where you want whenever. Yes, the economy is poor, tyres are a bit but that's no biggie in the scheme of things. Had a ste day at work? Take the pointlessly windy route home and have a hoot.
The bad bits -
1 - brakes and DRS can be costly. If the car you find has v3 drs fitted then it's better, but expect a random bill for 1500 quid at some point in your ownership as par.
2 - and this is quite big for me, anyway,..
There is no going back. Having a car as capable as an rs4 as a daily really changes your perceptions on what is special. They're fast in a line is a given - but the dynamics (due to drs) mean it's much more of a thing than say an s4, which is a normal car with a big engine.
The problem is that in my case, it killed my weekend car thing. I used to love tooling round in the boxster at weekends, but now it's slow and not that much more special round the twisty bits. If you pair with an elise, then that's different enough to keep the interest i reckon - but e.g a 911 would just not be different enough for the weekend car to be the event it once was. I now don't go for weekend blats because i can't find anything special enough that fits other needs.
3 - after a while, some regrets come in. For some journeys, you're just sat at normal speed, not doing anything but sat on curise. Only at 22mpg. You start to notice that trips to places cost daft amounts of money. A trip to visit the in laws can suddenly be a 140 quid trip, when it never used to be. Hell - i once met a mate 1/2 way to lend him a bike - then realised that doing it cost me 30 quid in fuel!
Obviously, the only time this thought process fits in is when you're stuck in traffic, with only the in laws to meet you when you finally get off the sodding m6. Or when your mate doesn't even thank you for lending him your bike. however, the time will come when you seriously ask why you've done 40k miles at an average of 20.5 mpg when in all reality you only give the car some hoof once a week. Sometimes, it'll piss you off quite a bit. Then, you'll decide to sell the car, clean it and drive to the peak district to do the photos - and in the proces decide to keep it, after all. I've done that 3 times now
Rs4 as a daily is awesome. Motorways are really de-stressed because you can just be where you want whenever. Yes, the economy is poor, tyres are a bit but that's no biggie in the scheme of things. Had a s
te day at work? Take the pointlessly windy route home and have a hoot.The bad bits -
1 - brakes and DRS can be costly. If the car you find has v3 drs fitted then it's better, but expect a random bill for 1500 quid at some point in your ownership as par.
2 - and this is quite big for me, anyway,..
There is no going back. Having a car as capable as an rs4 as a daily really changes your perceptions on what is special. They're fast in a line is a given - but the dynamics (due to drs) mean it's much more of a thing than say an s4, which is a normal car with a big engine.
The problem is that in my case, it killed my weekend car thing. I used to love tooling round in the boxster at weekends, but now it's slow and not that much more special round the twisty bits. If you pair with an elise, then that's different enough to keep the interest i reckon - but e.g a 911 would just not be different enough for the weekend car to be the event it once was. I now don't go for weekend blats because i can't find anything special enough that fits other needs.
3 - after a while, some regrets come in. For some journeys, you're just sat at normal speed, not doing anything but sat on curise. Only at 22mpg. You start to notice that trips to places cost daft amounts of money. A trip to visit the in laws can suddenly be a 140 quid trip, when it never used to be. Hell - i once met a mate 1/2 way to lend him a bike - then realised that doing it cost me 30 quid in fuel!
Obviously, the only time this thought process fits in is when you're stuck in traffic, with only the in laws to meet you when you finally get off the sodding m6. Or when your mate doesn't even thank you for lending him your bike. however, the time will come when you seriously ask why you've done 40k miles at an average of 20.5 mpg when in all reality you only give the car some hoof once a week. Sometimes, it'll piss you off quite a bit. Then, you'll decide to sell the car, clean it and drive to the peak district to do the photos - and in the proces decide to keep it, after all. I've done that 3 times now
I bought my 2007 B7 RS4 saloon in May last year (came from a RenaultSport Megane 250 - one of the best hot hatches out there for the last few years) and have used it as a daily. I was lucky in that the DRC shocks had already been replaced with coilovers so that was a bill I didn't need to face. In the time I've owned it I have replaced all 4 tyres, the disks and pads all round, a leaky aux rad, had a big service (including gearbox oil and diff oil), the clutch, flywheel, master and slave cylinder and a couple of seals replaced. Out of all that the only thing that NEEDED doing were the seals and the aux rad - everything else was done because I like to know where I am at with a second hand car - paying the bills early reduces the risk of something going wrong and me being stranded somewhere etc (that's the way I look at it anyway!). Next on the list is a decoke and a stage 2 map....
The car recently did Le Mans and back (1000 mile round trip), and was faultless, plus carried an awful lot of camping gear / food etc!
As a daily driver I love it - as others have said - it is sedate and sensible when you want it to be, but push the sport button, drop your right foot and it becomes a completely different animal. It can carry an awful lot of crap on the boot, plus 4 adults quite comfortably and at a fair pace if you so wish.
Yes, the interior is starting to look a bit dated - I guess that would be the case with any 8 year old car. Yes, it drinks fuel - but I don't care as it gives me a lot of smiles per mile. Yes, it can be expensive - go in with your eyes open as to possible costs and it won't be such a big surprise. Yes, it's not quite as quick as some of the more modern cars (A45 AMG etc), but it has bags of character.
Do I miss the Megane? Not at all. Am I wanting to keep the RS4 for longer then the 2 years I normally keep my cars before getting bored? Damn right I do.
My advice - if you go in with your eyes open, know you are getting a good one, and can afford it, then do it. Prices seem to be slowly rising on good ones now. Get yourself over to RS246.com - they are a very knowledgeable bunch who will answer any questions you have (and if you can get yourslef a forum owners car then even better!)
The car recently did Le Mans and back (1000 mile round trip), and was faultless, plus carried an awful lot of camping gear / food etc!
As a daily driver I love it - as others have said - it is sedate and sensible when you want it to be, but push the sport button, drop your right foot and it becomes a completely different animal. It can carry an awful lot of crap on the boot, plus 4 adults quite comfortably and at a fair pace if you so wish.
Yes, the interior is starting to look a bit dated - I guess that would be the case with any 8 year old car. Yes, it drinks fuel - but I don't care as it gives me a lot of smiles per mile. Yes, it can be expensive - go in with your eyes open as to possible costs and it won't be such a big surprise. Yes, it's not quite as quick as some of the more modern cars (A45 AMG etc), but it has bags of character.
Do I miss the Megane? Not at all. Am I wanting to keep the RS4 for longer then the 2 years I normally keep my cars before getting bored? Damn right I do.
My advice - if you go in with your eyes open, know you are getting a good one, and can afford it, then do it. Prices seem to be slowly rising on good ones now. Get yourself over to RS246.com - they are a very knowledgeable bunch who will answer any questions you have (and if you can get yourslef a forum owners car then even better!)
Mine's still going strong after 6 and a half years and almost 70k miles of ownership (car has 75k miles total).
I can't add too much to the aforementioned, just reiterate points from my experience.
Brakes, tyres and fuel and the costliest items. My last set of tyres came in around £850ish for Michelin PSS.
Front discs and pads are still around £1100ish from a main dealer and MD servicing is around £400. Long life, so 20k miles, 2 years or when the indicator say (if not used on track or driven hard regularly).
Years ago there was battery bracket recall and spark plug recall, but these should have now been completed.
Suspension arms can creak; headlights can flicker (expensive fix - £500 per headlight and £800+ for the control module); oil cooler pipe corrosion; DRC shocks (although mine are still original); plastic under trays easily broken by rabbits and snow; bolster wear may look excessive on low milers, but that's normal; brake judder from pad deposit if the car is driven hard; clutch and fly wheel expensive from MD; coking a problem if driven lightly (mine has been on a rolling road and produced 389bhp and 295lb ft at the fly, which I was informed is about right - it still performs to what Audi claim, so I'm happy at the moment).
However, don't let it put you off. They are great daily drivers with a stunning sound, great gearbox and superb handling.
I agree with the above that the interior is dated now, MMI especially. However, Bluetooth aside, I can't say I've been left wanting for tech. Mind you, I'm simple in that respect.
As others have mentioned though, a B8 S4 or something with more low down grunt may well prove better for motorway cruising. The clutch can be heavy in constant traffic. Just a thought
Darren
I can't add too much to the aforementioned, just reiterate points from my experience.
Brakes, tyres and fuel and the costliest items. My last set of tyres came in around £850ish for Michelin PSS.
Front discs and pads are still around £1100ish from a main dealer and MD servicing is around £400. Long life, so 20k miles, 2 years or when the indicator say (if not used on track or driven hard regularly).
Years ago there was battery bracket recall and spark plug recall, but these should have now been completed.
Suspension arms can creak; headlights can flicker (expensive fix - £500 per headlight and £800+ for the control module); oil cooler pipe corrosion; DRC shocks (although mine are still original); plastic under trays easily broken by rabbits and snow; bolster wear may look excessive on low milers, but that's normal; brake judder from pad deposit if the car is driven hard; clutch and fly wheel expensive from MD; coking a problem if driven lightly (mine has been on a rolling road and produced 389bhp and 295lb ft at the fly, which I was informed is about right - it still performs to what Audi claim, so I'm happy at the moment).
However, don't let it put you off. They are great daily drivers with a stunning sound, great gearbox and superb handling.
I agree with the above that the interior is dated now, MMI especially. However, Bluetooth aside, I can't say I've been left wanting for tech. Mind you, I'm simple in that respect.
As others have mentioned though, a B8 S4 or something with more low down grunt may well prove better for motorway cruising. The clutch can be heavy in constant traffic. Just a thought
Darren
Edited by iluvmercs on Thursday 9th July 04:08
Ahhhh, you guys are not helping.....
Like I said, I can get a dealer S4 S-Tronic 09 / 72k / £16k which has B&O, parking front and back, black leather full history with early Audi. I'm going to discount the RAC warranty as being useless so would consider WarrantyWise coverage (unless someone can tell me otherwise).
Or, I can go for Equally red RS4 that will most likely be enthusiast owned. See if he wants a deal (maybe even on here).
In the latter case, DRC is gone and replaced with KW V3's, it's got a Stage 1 tune and Miltek.
I don't have a weekend car so this would be my fun and commute. Brakes won't be hit hard, because my town driving at either end of the commute is slow, and the M8 is fairly free flowing (kiss of death there). So they should last a while.
My questions to the private RS4 owner would be:
- Condition of tyres?
- Age of clutch?
- Any bodywork done?
- Battery bracket recall done?
- Spark plug recall?
- Suspension arms looked at?
- Oil cooler pipe corrosion dealt with?
- Plastic undertray condition?
Missed anything?
Like I said, I can get a dealer S4 S-Tronic 09 / 72k / £16k which has B&O, parking front and back, black leather full history with early Audi. I'm going to discount the RAC warranty as being useless so would consider WarrantyWise coverage (unless someone can tell me otherwise).
Or, I can go for Equally red RS4 that will most likely be enthusiast owned. See if he wants a deal (maybe even on here).
In the latter case, DRC is gone and replaced with KW V3's, it's got a Stage 1 tune and Miltek.
I don't have a weekend car so this would be my fun and commute. Brakes won't be hit hard, because my town driving at either end of the commute is slow, and the M8 is fairly free flowing (kiss of death there). So they should last a while.
My questions to the private RS4 owner would be:
- Condition of tyres?
- Age of clutch?
- Any bodywork done?
- Battery bracket recall done?
- Spark plug recall?
- Suspension arms looked at?
- Oil cooler pipe corrosion dealt with?
- Plastic undertray condition?
Missed anything?
Different cars, but I've run two E63 wagons as daily drives.
The reason being that every time I need to drive I want to use the AMG - I couldn't cope with a basic car and a performance second car because I'd pine for the AMG when sat in the (for example) Insignia.
I'm sure you'll love it
.
The reason being that every time I need to drive I want to use the AMG - I couldn't cope with a basic car and a performance second car because I'd pine for the AMG when sat in the (for example) Insignia.
I'm sure you'll love it
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