JVD

Well... I need a new car.

One for all year round. Fun in summer and good in winter. These car's seem to fit the bill nicely, but I hear they are sometimes problematic.

I want a reliable car. I don't mind regular maintenance, but I don't want major issues every month.

Anyone have any experience with them? There's a nice manual one here for sale. Kinda tempted to go look at it...

ronmcdon

Our family owned an Audi A6 2.7T (same engine as the B5 S4, but with the Tiptronic tranny).
It was fairly reliable for the 5-6 years we owned it, but kept it bone stock.
Overall I like the B5 S4 a lot.
Always wanted B5 S4 station wagon in laser-red or imola yellow myself.

I'd suggest doing further research on Welcome to AudiWorld.com - The Audi Enthusiast Website
It's an Audi enthusiast site that should be more familiar with the B5 S4.
I'm skeptical that there would be a lot of Audi S4 owners on this site.

VNG704

I don't have experience with the car but when I was looking for one and joined an Audi forum. I asked about reliability and they laughed at me and told me to go find a honda. That pretty much turned me away, to hear it from an Audi owner. They (audi forum members) do say the v8 Audis are more reliable than the turbo ones.

IStop4NoMan

my brother has a S4. very rare cars but that thing is always in the shop. i swear something breaks on it on a weekly basis. They are not exactly cheap to fix and if it has turbos, god help you if one of those go out. its a $6K job to replace them. $3k in labor fees

ronmcdon

^^^
VNG704

You also have to figure a lot of the Audi owners are complete snobs.
Uncalled for to tell you to go buy a Honda instead.
(not that there's anything wrong with hondas. I've owned my share).

Granted Zilvia would have probably done the same thing.
Best to do research by searching threads, and not posting a noob question like that.
Everyone gets annoyed when you don't bother searching.

ronmcdon

B5 S4's (what the OP's interested in) were all bi-turbo 2.7l v6's.
B6 S4's, iirc, were N/A 4.2l v8's.

sbc

My brother has that exact car and having worked on it myself I can say its not so so bad.

Its a lot harder than a 240 but thats not saying much. As far as reliability goes he hasn't had a problem but he made sure that the timing belt was replaced as part of the deal when he bought it. He's only got about 100+k on the engine so maybe time will tell.

His car needs about one more day of work till we finish the stage 3 modifications and honestly pulling the engine and tranny was not all that bad. You will need a whole new tool set pretty much though.

I may be a little biased cus a bunch of my buddies work at Westside Auto but I dont think S4s are bad cars at all.

JVD

Oh, and I should mention, that I DO MOST OF THE WORK ON MY CARS MYSELF.

I rarely bring a car in for something unless it's something I can't troubleshoot.

I dunno... I just really like the look of the car, plus it's decently quick, and I need a car that's winter driveable(REAL WINTER. not snow < 5 times a year).

... and this isn't really a car I want to modify. Prob just keep it how it is with nice summer wheels.

VROOOM

A friend had one when they first came out. the turbos went out on it really early, but he upgraded them. the car was amazingly quick after the turbo upgrade.

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JVD

Ya, I don't mind changing shit like turbos. Stuff wears out. I'll just buy better ones.

I just don't want to have to do any internal work or anything like that.

lucky7

the dealer will charge you a boat load to change out the turbos. dealer says you must remove engine to get to them. its roughly $8k.

get a subaru.

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-Dane

grudge

i have a B7 with the 4yr 50k warranty. i've taken my car back to the dealership for numerous PITA repairs on average every 4-6months. thank goodness its been under warranty work. otherwise it would cost alot. sometimes i wish i bought something else. "sometimes..."
but if reliabilty was my main concern, i would buy a toyota camry. they look decent and are reliable. just my opinion.

smink

Unfortunately for me Iam an Audi/VW technician. And honestly the 2.7 is one of the better engines, but still quite problematic none the less. And unless you have small hands, alot of patience, and dont lose your temper fast, Id suggest not doing the work yourself. The parts are expensive and they break alot. Not to mention that everything is over engineered. And the newer models arent looking any better. Some people have goodluck with them but most do not. Honestly Id never own one, unless it was given to me then Id sell it.

S13Silvia917

being an audi owner myself (b6 a4)i can tell the OP that they are nice and classy daily drivers although they are a royal PITA when it comes to repairs...its just expensive granted i do most of my maintance...parts cost an arm and labor cost a leg.

i have heard stories about replacing the turbos on the b5 s4 being about $6k...but those cars can make a lot of power once you go stage 3, even just a chip upgrade and full exhasut can make a big difference...nowadays you can find these cars for less than $10k check out audizine.com great forum with tons of information and knowledgable guys

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90 Black S13 Silvia 1.8T - Project Car

JVD

So... about the turbos. $6k to replace?

Isn't it just unbolt/bolt on new ones? I'm sure I could do it myself... but taking out the engine?! FUCK THAT!

Homer_Simpson

I help my buddy fix/maintain his 99 A5 and I swear I would never own one as long as I live. Its not impossible, it is just illogical and over engineered. Stupid little knick knacks would break periodically. I'll pass.

silviaguy240

go for a B6, those 4.2's sound sooooo fucking nice with a catback.

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dynamicck

Never keep an Audi past the warranty.

JVD

Judges have spoken!

Have to start looking at Subarus...

Homer_Simpson

That's what my buddy with the A5 said. The idiot kept it and he's getting owned right now.

ESmorz

Haha I was just about to say "Just Get A Damn Subaru".

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S13Silvia917

i will agree with that to an extent...i bought mine as a certified pre-owned so i had warranty up to 100k...that shit was nice you pay $50 no matter what was wrong even if it was 100 different issues, when i was getting closer to that amount of miles i was hesitant to keep it and now that im at 131k it proves that they are as reliable as any other car...

it all depends on how well they were cared for just like any other car!! although i should add that i follow the stupid manual religiously when it comes to maintance and i do oil changes every 5k miles versus the 10k that it calls for, but yes if you have money to blow and no desire/knowledge to wrench on your own cars then by all means trade it in after 50k miles

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90 Black S13 Silvia 1.8T - Project Car

RiversideS13

i think if you are looking for reliable, you should not look at those German cars. I agreed they are over engineered and always like to make things very complex....cost more time to replace and more money for part.

one a4 owner told me that he had few times that his doors just locked up and he could not open from side the car so he had crawl out from the window. i thought it was pretty funny for someone has to do for a "luxury car"

JVD

There's a silver low KM 2002 WRX Wagon for pretty cheap locally.

I kinda like those. Wagon is kinda different.

Are those reliable cars?

Mi Beardo es Loco

I own one. It was great for a few years but a VERY (emphasis on very) slight front end bump pretty much ruined the car. After the fender bender a clip fell off of the front bumper and eventually cracked the bumper. Found out that the twin I beams were off so I had to adjust the frame, costing me about $500. Bought a new s4 front bumper, $300. Pretty soon afterward, matter of weeks, my air conditioner control unit went out followed by the power to my sunroof. I was PISSED!!!! After not fixing any of it, now my taillights are blowing out in a matter of about a week or so. It's a never ending clusterfuck of costs. If perfect the car is fun and cool but once things start going out might as well get rid of it! Selling it now and getting myself a 06 5 series for my daily.

so, coming from an Audi owner since 02, DON'T BUY ONE!

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Mi Beardo es Loco

WRX's are good cars. Find that the ej20's are much more reliable than the 25's but I think that's because people try to push as much HP out of the 25's that they can. That, and ej20's has been out for a long while.

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silviaguy240

the ej20 trans's will grenade pretty easily if you beat the shit out of it. but if you just drive it normal it will be 100% fine.

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JVD

I don't beat the shit out of my cars.

I do like to go for little spirited drives every once in a while though.

The wagon I'm looking at seems pretty appealing. Rimtuck.com has some pics of wagons with decent fitment too.

COOOOOL

Taniguchi_Is_#1

iirc, that's mostly the early model 2002 wrx's that have big tranny issues. other than 4 wheel lauch and big power, it shouldn't be an issue. subaru's do have that thing where they leak from EVERYWHERE once they get high in mileage, though, so steer away from those. wrx wagon would be rad, though.

meteorite_flo

I see sedan fenders!