A4 B7 Special Edition + A brief history

[BenKH95]

First car thread on PH, long overdue as I have been driving for 6 years and browsing this website for a lot longer, but here we are.

A bit about me, lifelong car nerd ever since my dad had Gran Turismo on the PS1, now working for a large car manufacturer in the Midlands, but working in the classic car division. Passed my test at 18, had a large number of cars (mostly crap) since, always wanted a car to maintain and modify (read - waste money on) but never found 'the one' until this one. My car history in chronological order:

2002/02 Fiat Punto 1.2 8v
As first car as it gets, not a lot to say, only lasted a month until a guy pulled out on me from a side road and it met it's untimely end. Good four weeks though.

2000/V VW Golf 1.4 S
Rubbish, had it for 6 months, it was off the road for 3 of those. Both driveshafts went, gearbox/engine mount handed in it's notice and my engine essentially fell out at one side, PAS pump went, it was rubbish on fuel, wasn't fast, wasn't even highly spec'd.

1999/V Seat Ibiza 1.4 8v
Bought for £200, met its end via a seized engine young and stupid to not heed the oil light warning, 'It'll be fine for another day' said I.

2001/Y Ford Puma 1.7
My first love, it felt like an absolute rocket coming from the prior cars and what fun it was to drive. I used this car to deliver Chinese takeaway 6 nights a week for about a year. I absolutely abused this car and it wanted for nothing, and really I mean abused, booting it from cold, handbrake turns everywhere. Essentially a 19 year old with a quick-ish car, very silly but some good laughs and memories. Sold it to a friend who harvested the engine for his Mk5 Fiesta Zetec S. I wish I could have it back and if I can find some space I'll buy another one as a (minor) investment but mainly just a fun project.

2005/05 Ford Mondeo 2.0TDCI LX
Don't even know why this happened, injectors went on the drive home from purchase. Doomed from the start, cut my losses and part exchanged for my next car. Waste of money.

2000/W Ford Focus 2.0 Zetec 'ESP'
Another one of the good ones, black 3 door, great chassis on these, strong engine, nothing much else to say, just a good car.

2005/05 Lexus IS200
One of my favourites, late model 'Mk1' IS with every option, TTE 18s, TRD bodykit, full leathers, sunroof, sat nav etc., loved the car to bits despite the high running costs compared to the performance. Some months into ownership my girlfriend and her mother purchased cars on finance, as a young impressionable man I thought 'That looked easy', ended up part exchanging this against an awful mistake. Another car I miss, it's also the only one of my cars I see/have seen since, started off well, noticed some scuffs were tidied up, a nice backbox appeared. Then I saw it again last summer and it had some dire cheap brand diamond cut wheels, haven't seen it since.

2013/13 Seat Ibiza Cupra 1.4 DSG
Began looking at purchasing a newer car on finance, found this not far from me. It was and still is the fastest car of my own cars I've driven, I was smitten with it but unfortunately it all went sour. Some time into ownership a misfire developed and the car seemed to have a blue cloud following it at all times, it was burning oil at an alarming rate, even for the 1.4 TSI. I discovered the car had been modified before purchase, it all got a bit messy and the car became a burden while I was attempting to sort it out. It ended up parked on my in-law's front garden for a number of months and was vandalised. There's actually a thread regarding this car in my post history.

2001/51 VW Golf V5
Purchased for £600 as a stop-gap while I sorted the Ibiza. Lovely, lovely car, high miles but clearly looked after, oceanic green, black leather, high spec. The noise was lovely , I felt like Walter Röhrl on a spirited drive, handling was pretty boat-like, but the car was a lovely place to be and being the later 170bhp version, wasn't too slow. Unfortunately I didn't realise NCB were only valid for 3 years, and as such I couldn't afford to insure it, I found this out about 3 weeks into ownership when the insurance company wanted proof of my NCB.

2005/05 Alfa Romeo 147 2.0 Twin Spark
In the past I've always received weirdly high insurance quotes for Alfas, but weirdly enough this was about half the price to insure as the prior Golf. Travelled to High Wycombe to buy it, another well looked after example. This was a great car, a couple of peculiar noises (I just put it down to it being an Alfa) but for the time I owned it, reliable and cracking fun to drive! Sold this to my girlfriend's grandfather after his Mercedes caught fire.

2014/14 Peugeot 208 GTI
Used the Seat again briefly before I cut my losses and part-exchanged it at a low price for this. Only went for this as it was kind of a last resort, wanted something in the same class/price range as the Seat. Fiesta ST? Too common around here, always getting nicked also. Clio RS? Only auto, wanted a manual again. Corsa VXR? Not a Vauxhall fan, personally, but looking back probably would've been the better option. Back to the Pug, without a shadow of a doubt, the car I hate the most out of all the rubbish ones. I had it for a year and never got to drive it without at least one fault present. Here are some of the highlights:

- Top mounts went (3 times!)
- Bootlid was rusting
- Multimedia interface randomly crashed and restarted
- HPFP went
- Water pump went (Started making the same noise within a month of repair)
- Driver window leaked
- Sticky rear brakes

Wouldn't be so bad but the dealers were aholes, lied to my face numerous times, but that's another story. Warranty/insurance ran out about 2 weeks ago, decided not to renew either and I'm currently trying to get rid of it.

But I need a car, so to the classifieds I went and the car search was... varied. The shortlist ended up like so:

- Focus ST170
- Celica T-Sport
- E46 6-cyl
- Mk1 S3 1.8t
- Leon Cupra R 225

But none of them really seemed to do everything. I loved my Lexus a lot, and I'm a big fan of that class of smaller saloons. Ended up considering Audi A4s, then thinking 'Actually quite a good idea', this quickly led to 'I must have one, and it must be 2.0T' which within about a minute became 'It must be Quattro'. Options then became limited and I was regularly checking the classifieds for the right one. Some days later and a suitable one appeared within a few miles of my house, unfortunately this turned out to be a bit ropey, the promised service history wasn't there, and an ominous vibration during acceleration dampened my enthusiasm. Nonetheless, I was back to regular checks of the ads, another few days pass and this came up in Manchester. The price was fair and the spec was good, my interest was piqued.



The car lived up to the promising advert and a deal was done. I collected the car the following week, my taxi was my cousin's S3. A very rainy, very Audi evening in Manchester.




So what did I buy?

It's a 2007/57 Audi A4 B7 2.0 TFSI S-Line Quattro Special Edition (catchy), it's done just over 90,000 miles with comprehensive history to boot. 3 owners, Audi UK as it was a demo car for 6 months, then a doctor owned it for the next 10 years, taking it to the same Audi dealer for every bit of work required, then the bloke I bought it off has had it for a year and a half and had recently put on new tyres, discs and pads all round. Being a special edition it's got some unique stuff, the RS4 style 18" wheels, the black/grey two-tone leather, the black optics pack (Grille, exhaust tips and window trims. Surely one of the earliest examples of a 'black pack'?), but more importantly the later BUL code engine, with 220bhp as opposed to 200. I've read differing things, some say it's just a map, others claim forged pistons and other stuff, there's a press release that claims some other changed components.

I'm currently undertaking some pre-emptive maintenance, I've had Midland VW change:

- Cambelt
- Oil pick up pipe
- Oil pump chain
- Thermostat

And I've replaced the cam follower as this is a known issue on these TFSI engines, one thing I did read about the BUL engine is they revised the design of the relevant cam lobe and made the affected cam from a harder material. Again I'm not sure how true this is, but it had never been changed before and while it was worn, it seemed to have fared well for a 90k mile car. I'll be servicing it within the next month, then I'll change the PCV and DV (other known TFSI foibles) and I'll be happy then.

You may remember I mentioned my desire to modify a car, I've wanted to do this since Need for Speed: Underground when I was about 8 years old and this car seems good enough to me to do so. I'm not going to tart this one up, just a few choice aesthetic mods and some more power. I've fitted a Quattro badge to the lower front grille a la new style Audi S/RS', currently unsure if I like it to be honest. I've also took delivery of this Bluetooth adapter so I can stream music through the Bose speakers, which are excellent.

I'm keen to change the exhaust and get a remap once all pre-emptive maintenance is done, I originally said I'd like 300bhp but it seems the standard KO3 is only good for 280, so I'll probably just aim for 270-280 until I decide to really fk my financial situation up and buy a KO4 and all the other go faster bits.

If you've made it this far, fair play and thank you . Here are some iPhone pictures from today, it needs a wax and polish which will hopefully be this weekend.




(Note the retro phone cradle!)

Cheers all

[shalmaneser]

Sounds like you've had some bad luck with cars over the years!

And Audi A4 is an interesting choice for a car to modify but each to their own! I guess the turbo makes it fairly easy to turn up the wick...

[dontfollowme]

Looks good, I always thought these were a better value way of getting the 2.0T engine.

[BenKH95]

shalmaneser said:

Sounds like you've had some bad luck with cars over the years!

And Audi A4 is an interesting choice for a car to modify but each to their own! I guess the turbo makes it fairly easy to turn up the wick...

Don't get me started on my previous cars...

A4 is definitely a rare choice to modify, I just like my saloons if I'm honest and I can't yet afford an M3/RS4/STI! My 'to do' list reads as such, in a priority order:

- 'Joey Mod' the front lights (I.e., paint the inner section black), if I can get my hands on some OEM Xenon clusters for a decent price, I'd rather them
- Some subtle tints, no 100% limo tints here
- Cupra R lip, got to be careful when fitting this, some people fit them too far forward and it looks tacky, if it's kept in line with the bumper it almost looks like a factory piece
- Wind deflectors
- The wheels need a refurb anyway due to some minor scuffage, so I'm considering a slightly darker shade of silver while I'm at it
- Cat-back exhaust leading to the original exhaust tips, but refreshed as they've worn a bit

If I end up keeping the car long enough for it to become a real financial mistake (I do), I'll be trying to source a DTM kit along with some OEM BBS Speedlines. No Lexus lights or big spoilers here, just subtlely improving what Ingolstadt have provided us


Also thanks dontfollowme, I agree, similar age/mileage Mk5 GTIs, Leon FRs etc seem to be more expensive, or higher mileage.

[stevemcs]

I ran a 2.0TFSi SE with multitronic for a couple of years and it wasn't a bad car, it was pretty good on fuel. Ours was lowered on eibachs by the previous owner and had crappy after market 19" RS4 replicas .... it was forever splitting the lower arm ball joint rubbers.

[BenKH95]

stevemcs said:

I ran a 2.0TFSi SE with multitronic for a couple of years and it wasn't a bad car, it was pretty good on fuel. Ours was lowered on eibachs by the previous owner and had crappy after market 19" RS4 replicas .... it was forever splitting the lower arm ball joint rubbers.

I'm pleasantly surprised with the fuel consumption, it's not as good as the 208 was, but then that's a 1.6 that's 7 years newer. My morning commute takes me down the M42/M40 and the trip computer normally says around 38MPG, but I've seen it reach 40 which I never expected. I'm aware it's quite optimistic though. I keep thinking all is well because the needle seems to go down at the same rate as the Peugeot, but then I remember the tank is 13 litres bigger and I only run this on the expensive fuel

[Dr G]

Good cars; had a few (and a DTM) and look back on them fondly.

Have a good, close look at the suspension - worn and squishy top arm bushes are really common but new ones transform the handling.

[C70R]

shalmaneser said:

Sounds like you've had some bad luck with cars over the years!

Indeed. You've definitely bought some absolute dogs, be that through luck or judgement.

Can I recommend that you give this to a competent Audi specialist to do a decent service/inspection on, before you start pouring money into tarting it up? There's no point having flashy front lights if the thing is mechanically on its last legs or about to cough up a massive bill.

[BenKH95]

Dr G said:

Good cars; had a few (and a DTM) and look back on them fondly.

Have a good, close look at the suspension - worn and squishy top arm bushes are really common but new ones transform the handling.

I would have loved to have held out for a DTM, I'm a perv for limited run vehicles, I didn't have time to wait though unfortunately as I had to sort a car before my year's insurance ran out. Cheers for the heads-up on the bushes, I'm trying to find the opportunity to get the car on a ramp to give it a thorough inspection, I'd imagine after 90k there's at least a few components in need of replacement.

C70R said:

Indeed. You've definitely bought some absolute dogs, be that through luck or judgement.

Can I recommend that you give this to a competent Audi specialist to do a decent service/inspection on, before you start pouring money into tarting it up? There's no point having flashy front lights if the thing is mechanically on its last legs or about to cough up a massive bill.

I've put the first couple down to being young and excitable. The Seat and Peugeot was pure bad luck, not helped by poor aftersales service.

As mentioned I won't be putting any money into modifications until I've got it back to as near as showroom condition as I'm able to. Fortunately being where I am there's two very reputable VAG/TFSI specialists within 45 minutes of my house, my cousin had his S3 mapped there, for around £300 the car gets a full health check + numerous runs on the dyno before and after mapping; it's all very exciting but that's probably one for when we're deeper into the summer months.

Pay day tomorrow, so I'll be changing the gearbox + diff oils and ordering either a PCV or DV if I've got the funds (May have to wait until next week, apprentice wage is limiting).

[C70R]

Fair play. Honestly, I think the best use of your money right now would be a full major service/inspection with said specialist, not a quick once-over before it gets a generic map thrown on it.

[BenKH95]

Advice taken, service is due within the next month anyway so I'll get it booked in for a big inspection then.

Definitely no 'generic maps' or 'quick once-overs' though, I'm not the type to get a job done at the cheapest possible. The firms I referred to are well regarded in the TFSI/VAG world, in the example I mentioned prior the car was in the workshop for a number of hours, with a custom map made for the car

[shouse2004]

Hi all, brand new here.

I am in the market for an Avant version of the B7 Special Edition. 150 thousand miles on it. What are the top 5 (or main) things to ensure are OK before you buy or walk away?

Thanks