Audi S4 2.7 Twin Turbo - is it right for me?
Discussion
Hi folks
I can see from trawling through past topics that several people have owned an S4 2.7 Twin Turbo.
My Corrado VR6 is coming to the end of its useful life and also no longer fits our requirements.
Ideally I'd like to replace it with an RS4 but finances won't allow this at the moment. So a chipped S4 Avant seems like the next best thing (we've ruled out the RS2, by the way).
I see from other posts that the brakes, suspension and gear change can all do with improvement, but is it bad enough to rule out this car or is it something one can live with?
Will I be disappointed if I trade in my Corrado for this car?
Thanks in advance
Jon
I can see from trawling through past topics that several people have owned an S4 2.7 Twin Turbo.
My Corrado VR6 is coming to the end of its useful life and also no longer fits our requirements.
Ideally I'd like to replace it with an RS4 but finances won't allow this at the moment. So a chipped S4 Avant seems like the next best thing (we've ruled out the RS2, by the way).
I see from other posts that the brakes, suspension and gear change can all do with improvement, but is it bad enough to rule out this car or is it something one can live with?
Will I be disappointed if I trade in my Corrado for this car?
Thanks in advance
Jon
You definately will not be disappointed with an S4 - especially once chipped.
My car is for sale on RS246.com which includes Revo SPS and a better braking solution.
Go onto that website and ask the regular members some of your questions regarding the S4.
My car is for sale on RS246.com which includes Revo SPS and a better braking solution.
Go onto that website and ask the regular members some of your questions regarding the S4.
I drive (or at least my wife does) a noggy blue S4 avant as an everyday car. The car is completely standard and is more than powerfull enough. the gear shift is very long between 1st and 2nd but hey, unless its a subaru impresa turbo etc you don't really need to hurry the change anyway. The extra 80 horses and turbo delivery will make you think that your previous car was going backwards.
I am in the same boat as you at present. I have worked up from a A4 2.8 quattro avant to the S4. I would love an RS4 but haven't seen the prices dip enough to warrant purchase yet.
What about the £6k conversion on the S4. does anyone have any opinions on the viability of making an RS4 contender out of the S4 by converting engine suspension and brakes??
Neil.
I am in the same boat as you at present. I have worked up from a A4 2.8 quattro avant to the S4. I would love an RS4 but haven't seen the prices dip enough to warrant purchase yet.
What about the £6k conversion on the S4. does anyone have any opinions on the viability of making an RS4 contender out of the S4 by converting engine suspension and brakes??
Neil.
There is a law of diminishing returns on modifications. For example, if you have a Chimaera 400 you only have a limited window of expenditure before it is unjustifiable compared with trading it in and getting a Chimaera 500.
In the same way for the S4, you need to look at the cost of modifications and the fact that you will not get that money back at resale against the cost of upgrading to an RS4.
I would suggest that faced with the choice of spending out £6k or more on extreme mods to get an ersatz RS4 or spending £10k or so to trade up to a real RS4, there is really only one choice.
In the same way for the S4, you need to look at the cost of modifications and the fact that you will not get that money back at resale against the cost of upgrading to an RS4.
I would suggest that faced with the choice of spending out £6k or more on extreme mods to get an ersatz RS4 or spending £10k or so to trade up to a real RS4, there is really only one choice.
Disagree a bit JonRB.
1, unlike the TVR example the S4 is turbo'd so initial gains are big bhp wise & small £ wise just from ECU mods.
2, to go beyond that level new turbos & the matching downpipes are more expensive but again offer huge bang for the bucks.
3, on the expence side the £6k area can give you RS4 power, Porsche brakes & posibly depending who/where you go also decent suspension for that price.
So decent S4's start at say £12k now, but whats the start for a decent RS4- roughly mid £30k's ??
So going the modded S4 route gives you the choice of RS4 power, much better brakes, more ajustable handling & approx £15k in the bank, oh and the fact you can have a saloon as well as estate, personally the S4 route gets my vote- well except for the fact I'd rather have an RS2 than either!
>> Edited by iguana on Thursday 27th November 19:13
1, unlike the TVR example the S4 is turbo'd so initial gains are big bhp wise & small £ wise just from ECU mods.
2, to go beyond that level new turbos & the matching downpipes are more expensive but again offer huge bang for the bucks.
3, on the expence side the £6k area can give you RS4 power, Porsche brakes & posibly depending who/where you go also decent suspension for that price.
So decent S4's start at say £12k now, but whats the start for a decent RS4- roughly mid £30k's ??
So going the modded S4 route gives you the choice of RS4 power, much better brakes, more ajustable handling & approx £15k in the bank, oh and the fact you can have a saloon as well as estate, personally the S4 route gets my vote- well except for the fact I'd rather have an RS2 than either!
>> Edited by iguana on Thursday 27th November 19:13
I agree up to a point. Having said that, if you spent £6k on modifications, you pretty much need to be able to write that off at resale unless you find a buyer who is happy to pay a premium for a modified car. Few are.
So you are out of pocket to the tune of the cost of the mods plus the depreciation. An RS4 will almost certainly have depreciated less than the modded S4 at resale, so you need to bear that in mind when calculating the total cost of ownership. You may have saved £15k now, but that "profit" will be severely eaten into at resale, maybe even eaten up and more.
Personally if I get an S4 I will probably have the £750 / 50bhp remap from AmD and leave it at that, so that when I upgrade to an RS4 later on I can revert the S4 to standard and I'll have only lost £750 on top of the depreciation.
Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against modified cars. My Corrado VR6 is modified. However, I know I won't get a penny back from those mods when I come to sell the car, and in fact they may even devalue the car or at the very least make it more difficult to sell. Just ask M-Five.
>> Edited by JonRB on Thursday 27th November 23:16
So you are out of pocket to the tune of the cost of the mods plus the depreciation. An RS4 will almost certainly have depreciated less than the modded S4 at resale, so you need to bear that in mind when calculating the total cost of ownership. You may have saved £15k now, but that "profit" will be severely eaten into at resale, maybe even eaten up and more.
Personally if I get an S4 I will probably have the £750 / 50bhp remap from AmD and leave it at that, so that when I upgrade to an RS4 later on I can revert the S4 to standard and I'll have only lost £750 on top of the depreciation.
Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against modified cars. My Corrado VR6 is modified. However, I know I won't get a penny back from those mods when I come to sell the car, and in fact they may even devalue the car or at the very least make it more difficult to sell. Just ask M-Five.
>> Edited by JonRB on Thursday 27th November 23:16
Interesting comments.
I have also thought of this because I cannot justify the 33k or so for the RS4. My S4 cost me 20k from a franchised dealer.
The 6k option for me would then give me a car which I would run into the ground. My biggest worry is what would my mapped and tuned S4 be like to drive. The existing standard car is faster than most and beautifully smooth. So do you really need any more.
I have driven modified turbo scoobies and they are absolutely dreadful compared to the standard car.
You could always spend a bit on your Corrado. Top gear were tipping it as a future classic on Sunday??
Neil.
I have also thought of this because I cannot justify the 33k or so for the RS4. My S4 cost me 20k from a franchised dealer.
The 6k option for me would then give me a car which I would run into the ground. My biggest worry is what would my mapped and tuned S4 be like to drive. The existing standard car is faster than most and beautifully smooth. So do you really need any more.
I have driven modified turbo scoobies and they are absolutely dreadful compared to the standard car.
You could always spend a bit on your Corrado. Top gear were tipping it as a future classic on Sunday??
Neil.
Jon,
yip agree ref the mods, you hugely narrow your potential market by modifying & yip the car can even be worth less than a standard example.
However with the S4 example the Porsche brakes for example would have a very good value on the 2nd hand market so that would reduce the hit by a grand or so at least.
You could of course always go back to the KO3 turbos & standard downpipes cats etc if you had gone down the Ko4 upgrade route, but in truth prob a daft idea as the labour costs invloved would make it not worth it financially.
If I was in the S4 market I'd do the same as im just advising amate to do who has just bought an one which is-
remap ECU, throw the wallowy suspension away & rplace with Koni's & pos replace the marginal brakes with Porsche items- seek out 2nd hand calipers ( standard brakes are not that awful on road- but truely woefull on track)
The KO4 turbo thing is certainly noticable power wise- how can you not notice 400bhp!! ha ha, but is expensive & dead money, but if one of the standard turbos gave up- which is not unusual on S4's I think id be tempted down the KO4 route as the Turbo cost is similar & the labour costs invloved is the same- ie big!.
Either way you cant flog the Corrado- they are great & Im not planning on flogging mine for a while.
yip agree ref the mods, you hugely narrow your potential market by modifying & yip the car can even be worth less than a standard example.
However with the S4 example the Porsche brakes for example would have a very good value on the 2nd hand market so that would reduce the hit by a grand or so at least.
You could of course always go back to the KO3 turbos & standard downpipes cats etc if you had gone down the Ko4 upgrade route, but in truth prob a daft idea as the labour costs invloved would make it not worth it financially.
If I was in the S4 market I'd do the same as im just advising amate to do who has just bought an one which is-
remap ECU, throw the wallowy suspension away & rplace with Koni's & pos replace the marginal brakes with Porsche items- seek out 2nd hand calipers ( standard brakes are not that awful on road- but truely woefull on track)
The KO4 turbo thing is certainly noticable power wise- how can you not notice 400bhp!! ha ha, but is expensive & dead money, but if one of the standard turbos gave up- which is not unusual on S4's I think id be tempted down the KO4 route as the Turbo cost is similar & the labour costs invloved is the same- ie big!.
Either way you cant flog the Corrado- they are great
& Im not planning on flogging mine for a while.the S4 is a perfect piece of engineering. I would buy another tomorrow, and I wish I hadnt sold my own. I needed to vent money into my new business.
THe car is very much an all purpose machine. its perfect at many jobs, and does so flawlessy.
If anything, I found it "boring". it did everything you asked. reliably and without whinging. it went where you put it, and put up with a lot of abuse where other cars would have fallen by the wayside. imagine the new honda advert "why is everything that works so well, never noticed?" it never shocks, it never dissapoints. it just does what its told.
If you want a "do all" vehicle, its pefrect.
if oyur want pure sport, a subaru sti
if you want luxury, a roller
if you want reliability, works first time everytime, does what its told, never complains,...an S4.
any bad points? money grabbing, dodgy service depts shrouded by bright lights and sharp suits.
THe car is very much an all purpose machine. its perfect at many jobs, and does so flawlessy.
If anything, I found it "boring". it did everything you asked. reliably and without whinging. it went where you put it, and put up with a lot of abuse where other cars would have fallen by the wayside. imagine the new honda advert "why is everything that works so well, never noticed?" it never shocks, it never dissapoints. it just does what its told.
If you want a "do all" vehicle, its pefrect.
if oyur want pure sport, a subaru sti
if you want luxury, a roller
if you want reliability, works first time everytime, does what its told, never complains,...an S4.
any bad points? money grabbing, dodgy service depts shrouded by bright lights and sharp suits.
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