So I had a thought yesterday...a buddy of mine was looking at a 2000 S4; he ditched it in favor of a bike however. But that got me interested. I've always thought that my TT doesn't have enough potential for me to feel comfortable investing a lot into it. I kinda want a boosted 6-cylinder engine to play with.

Thus you can see how the S4 seemed an interesting prospect. Power wise, it seems a nice package out of the box. 250hp/260ft-lbs...0-60 and 1/4 mile are the same as my buddy's 1990 300ZX TT which I drove all the time when he lived up here and it's a damn fast car.

But I don't really know about S4's and I tried looking at the 2.7T forum on vortex...and there's only ever been 8 threads in the whole damn thing. So I was kinda stuck there. If you guys can point me to any place I can read up on S4's in general I'd appreciate it...if not, answers to a few of my questions would be cool too:

What I'm concerned about is:
1. What to expect handling wise compared to a TT. I like the feeling of having a small two door to throw around, I don't want to throw it out for a 4 door boat. I'm afraid that might be the case with 3700lb curb weight as opposed to 2900lbs. How do S4's handle/brake generally? Guess the best answer for me is a test drive, but I figured I'd ask an S4 forum first for a general idea.

2. Moddabilty. How moddable is the 2.7 biturbo? I know for stuff like DV's you have to buy in pairs which is kind of a pain. I'm interested in stuff like: how much can you gain from a chip; can you run water/meth; how hard is it to make/how much is it to buy a turboback exhaust (does biturbo mean dual downpipes??); are there any turbo swaps (other than K04) out there, etc.

3. Reliability. What are common issues? I know all the crap that goes wrong with the 1.8T, what goes wrong with the 2.7T?

 

I am sort of new to the s4's but it seems nice, power wise its great, quick when you need it and alright on gas for a tt v6, if you can keep your foot off the floor, it breaks good, at least mine does, and it drives smooth and corners great, the main things i have heard of that you need to watch for is the dv's and throttle body boot (tbb) other then that i have heard that they are pretty good cars and i have yet to have a problem with mine... 117000 on the clock

EDIT: and yes since its a tt you have two downpipes and i have been told numerous times that a chip is your best power for money ratio...
maybe 2k will step in and give his 2ยข

 

S4's are very good out of the box. They brake quite well and handle pretty well too. Chip will give you very nice power, with diverter valves and catback you can get around 330. I've seen one with just a Dahlback chip dyno 280awhp, which is like 350 crank. The engine is very reliable, just find one that has had frequent oil changes with synthetic only and make sure the person let the turbos cool down after hard driving.

 

You saying that's with no supporting mods? Us 1.8T guys make about 40 more hp off a chip...are you saying that an S4 can make about 90 off it? [sm=hail.gif]

That's pretty crazy. I looked up numbers on braking performance; it seems to almost match the TT quattro. My FWD TT has some insane stock braking power...probably comes with a <3000lb car.

Now where can I get some technical education about these cars? I just wanna kinda search and read up but I don't really know where to start. I kinda have questions that I'm pretty sure I could look up answers to...such as how much a K04 swap runs and whether people swap in bigger turbos like 2871's etc.

 

S4 isnt really a boat, its a small sedan If u talking bout boats - well the S8 is real meaning of it

TT has Haldex - which is the electro/mechanical quattro and doesnt have the same grip as the mechanical quattro in the S4.

U think replacing DV's in pairs is a pain in the @ss, have tried to replacing turbos in pairs lately[sm=headbang.gif]Yes!

Had a chick (real nut case) drive me car a wile go, shes got the TT 3.2 Tip and told be me my carfeels more powerful &handles nice and flat and competent into corners - this is stockwith 4 people in the car mind u [sm=icon_rock.gif]

If u wont an Audi to mod the hell out of and to do it easy look no further, B5 S4 is the KING![sm=hail.gif]

 

Read the S4 FAQ up at the top.

Yup, it's heavy, & WILL not be as nimble as the TT, but it still handles very well, & just feels stable & planted.

280whp, is A LOT, & I mean A LOT to expect from a chip. Most stock S4's do around 200whp on a Dyno. With most chips, there in the 230-250whp range. Then down pipes & exhaust will bring you in the 250-260whp range. I the 280 was a special file, using race gas.

The engines are very, very mod friendly, & really take to high power.

The car is reliable as your TT, just know that there is one more turbo, one more DV, & so on....

 

LOL that could be a bad thing. My engine's been reliable, but 1.8T's commonly have defective coilpacks, occasional MAF failures (guess this would happen with any MAF car) and most importantly the timing belt tensioner tends to fail and blow the valves and head into oblivion. Any of this kinda stuff with the S4?

 

it's all pretty much the same brands of parts, so we see a lot of the same things on s4's fail

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz_ZlSZj6i0 here is that dahlback s4, i bet its really high boost and race gas but stilll, insane

 

All the above plus more

If u have to replace MAF or coil packs then that is easy done

If u worried bout this then get a 2001.5 with warraty and lowish miles which there issome bout, but u mite be struggling to get the colour/options u wont[sm=signs007.gif]

Heres a bit more reading that will keep u head spinning bit longer:

http://www.s4biturbo.com/index.php