I was wondering how you feel about this car overall in terms of reliability and maintenance costs. The good, the bad and the ugly? I have heard both sides of things, guys that have had nothing but headaches and traumatically expensive repairs and others who beat the crap out of theirs and have nothing go wrong. What's your take?

 

I owned a B5 but a very close friend owns a 04 S4 with approx. 60K miles. A/C compressor went at 52K and was $1000. to repair. Windshield wiper transmission seized but its common and not too difficult of a fix. (I've done a couple) Maint. cost is high (as was my B5) but it comes with Audi territory. It was in many times for repair under warranty with small transmission issues and other minor things. If Audi is still using the same window regulators as they did a few years back... get ready to replace those eventually if you keep the car long enough. Overall, great product & ya gotta love the German V8 growl.

 

i absolutely loved mine. If you could find one with a CPO warranty that would be the way to go. Nothing really big went wrong with my car. and also I was in an accident with my car and the s4 saved my life. theres really nothing bad i can say about it. well.. when your heavy on the gas pedal gas mileage tends to suck... but thats the price you pay for having a v8

 

I have heard of cam tensioner something something being a huge $$$ fix. I don't think my budget will allow me to get a CPO but it will allow me to find a decent mileage B6 S4 out of warranty. CPO only covers either 6 years or 100k from original delivery date whichever comes first.

 

Nothing is worse on maintenance than a B5 S4... The B6's seem to run similar to B7's.

 

I loved mine, not one problem in two years and 30k miles. Make sure you buy one with a build date later than 11/03. Early production had issues.

 

ahh i see. This things should be considered upon buying those cars. Great!

 

My daily/business car is a B6 S4. 42K miles and nearly flawless. As reliable as my Lexus so far (knock on wood )

Really inexpensive to maintain - just oil changes so far (mine is an '04 so the scheduled maintenance is free for the first 50K)

CPO'd until 100,000 miles as well.

Won it's first and only SCCA Club Trials event on street tires

Lousy auto-x car (too heavy and too much understeer)

Took me through pouring rain/light snow Snoqualmie and Blewett mountain passes the day before yesterday at very ummm... fun speeds.

Love this car. Only downside - lousy gas mileage.

 

as far as the s4 in the snow, it is great. i drove from pa to boston in a very harsh snow. there was only one lane of traffic going about 40mph, i was passing jeeps left and right and traveling at about 70 mph with out a problem. i made it to boston in just over 6 hours. it takes me about 5 1/2 with out the snow.. after that trip i was officially addicted to audi.

picture is crappy but it was taken with a camera phone

 

Hi Guys,

As an Audi specialist, I can honestly say that the B6/7 S4's are very, very solid from bone stock to super modified etc.. Compared to the B5 S4's (currently 2 in my stable) they are very reliable and there is lot's that can be done with them from full exhaust systems, suspension, brakes, software and more. If anyone would like more info as to what can be done to their 4.2 or 2.7T S4, please contact me directly...

Brian

 

Any Upgrades for the B7 RS4 ? 4.2 V8

 

Absolutely!!! Check out this link for starters...

http://www.performanceoutfitters.com...audi%20rs4.htm

I have to update this page however it is a great example of the Milltek Cat Back Exhaust which is available in 4 different styles:

Valved:
1. Resonated
2. Non-Resonated

Non-Valved
1. Resonated
2. Non-Resonated

I have a great short shifter kit from JHM.

Downpipe options from several manufacturers like Milltek, Labree, AWE etc...

Software

Suspension (Stasis Motorsport Kit is amazing and worth every penny)

Brakes

And More!!!

If you would like me to put something together, let me know, thanks.

Brian