Agreed, I learnt that quite some time ago

I'd much rather spend extra time taking additional parts off than have to struggle in confined spaces

 

No wonder they declared bankrupcy and plan to liquidate.

 

RS6 is an absolute nightmare...motor out for nearly everything, short of plugs and oil change...There are shortcuts, but still by far the most ridiculous car to work on that I have ever owned...

 

HA! By far the worst Car I have ever had to work on was a Peugeot 504 Diesel.. What a massive pile of cr@p!!!! I got so frustrated with it that I contemplated torching it and just walking away... EVERY SINGLE BOLT on it was rusted, the electics were worse than Lucas "Prince Of Darkness"...

 

I have done minor jobs like removing bumpers, changing control arms, removing intercoolers, some interior stuff, rwd conversion and diverter valves.

Other than the diverter valves I think the car is pretty easy to work on relatively speaking. Anything I did with my Corvette was a PITB and my BMW always broke stuff not worth trying to DIY.

 

Owning a B5 S4 I can say it i a royal PITA. Anything more than LOF spark plug change sucks.

 

I had to fix an exhaust leak between the header and motor on a Jag XJS V12. There was virtually no room under the hood and I was undoing fasteners I could not see nor feel, just knew their approximate location and could tell if my tool was making contact with them or not. I had an earlier E-Type that was a joy to work on.

 

You B5 S4 guys know nothing, until you have worked on the B6 S4. Because of my 04 S4, i will never own another Audi. just changing the valve cover gaskets are a bear. Not to mention an alternator replacement. Stupid water cooled alternators....audi wants $1200 for a new one, and they are not available remanufactured from anywhere.

 

I had a couple of early MGBs, besides a couple of other nondescript hand me down British Leyland cars. The Lucas influence is legindary and they never went back together the same way you took them apart (or fell apart). The Pcar is a pleasure to work on in comparison, tight in places but "precise".

 

My '04 RX8. I have to take the front left wheel off to change spark plugs. Due to my supercharger kit, I have a 5 min window from the time it takes for the manifold to cool down to the oil being cold for an oil change. I have to do this because i contort arm up under the manifold through a gap where sharp things and my blow valve sits and hope that I don't get cut, stabbed, burned, or drop any tools.

I am still trying to solve an electrical problem that has been going on for allmost 2 years.

 

B7 S4. I though I would just whip on a new serpentine belt today. Long story short you have to basically dismantle the entire front end just to get to it. I'm sure there must be a better way as I am just winging it. All this just for a new serp belt.

 

Yeah, but you could own the car 10 years and that be the only maintenance other than oil changes. The B5 S4 is pretty maintenance hungry. In a 10 year period it is not unusual to have removed the engine at least once and replace the turbos, clutch, valve cover gaskets twice. Or dismantle the front of the car for a timing belt service just to find that the water pump you put on was garbage and making noise within the first 5k miles. Rip your suspension apart for control arms twice in a 30k mile period because the parts available suck. And let's not forget the pair of EGT sensors for $600 a pair that will fail and are almost pointless. The three pairs of O2 sensors that suck to replace. Or the accesory belt pulley that fails and eats your belt. By the time you get to a simple common failure like an alternator or coilpack, chances are you probably already paid $2000 minimum in part alone. And we have not even touched on the fairly common head issues like stripped spark plug threads or cam tension replacements at over $1000 a pop. Let's not get into the B6 verses B5 S4 maintenance discusion, because everyone I know with an S4 has done at least 3 engine pulls for random crap. The B6 guys have to look up a DIY thread on how to do spark plugs where the B5 guys have it memorized because ALL THEY DO IS WORK ON THEIR CARS!!!

The B6 and B7 S4 are very reliable relatively. So maybe you have to tear the **** out of your car for a serpentine belt, but you will also most likely go 40k+ miles before having to do that again. The B5 S4 sucks due to the frequency of maintenance more than the difficulty. Every real B5 S4 enthusiast has ripped their car down to almost the chassis at least once. If not in one maintenance cycle, in the combined maintenance.

 

Wow ... I don't feel so bad now
Your right the B7 has been rock solid reliable. It really didn't even need a belt I just did as preventative.

 

3000GT VR-4 for me..... oh what a pain.

 

Saab 900 turbo, it was a nightmare.