Hey everyone,

I will be purchasing an S4 around this time next year, and am doing my research now so I can get a baseline of what I want to accomplish with it. I just have a few questions and am asking for some tips about things I should try to look for and avoid when buying an S4. What I'm looking for is a 2000-2002 (<--Those years are considered the B5, correct?) S4 (Maybe an Avant) with the 6-Speed. I would like to keep the price under or around $17,000 and of course, have relatively low mileage too.

Concerning the amount of mileage, ones that I have found now that cost in the ballpark of $8,600-$11,000 show mileage in the range of 110,000-160,000. When talking about Audi's and the S4 specifically do you wanna avoid high mileage like a plague? Or is it one of those things where if it's had excellent maintenance throughout it's life you could consider buying a high mileage car. Also, what are some of the typical issues S4 owners experience? Like bad sensors, or common part failures. Oh, and one last thing. I'm assuming there have been many heated discussions about DV's, but what are some of the general rules of thumb when it comes to DV's. No, I'm not planning on venting to the atmosphere, I just want a set of great DV's. My friends who are in to VW's all swear by Forge, but on here people seem to favor other brands. I looked on AWE today and tried to get a feel for what kind of stuff is out there for the S4. It seems AWE is a reputable company with good products; Any truth to this? Thanks for your help!

-Jason

 

Higher milage over 70K is good because the timing belt, water pump, 60K parts, are probably, hopefully, replaced. thats a $1000-1200 job. The bad thing about higher milage is that the turbos can and will fail at any time. This is a good $3000+ job for buying new K03's and labor. Upgraded turbos, K04's, are more used to replace the k03's due to their reliability over k03's. this will be a $4,500 job for new turbos, inlets, hardware and labor. The control arms and tie rods ends like to go a lot. The wheel bearings like to go a lot.
A lot of bad things can happen to these cars whether they are high milage or not. If you find a stage 3 car, most likely a lot of these problems will be fixed.
There is a lot of work that goes into these cars for maintenance, so you better be ready to pay a decent sized bill at ANY time. A lot of the guys know this for a fact!

All the bad talk and none of the good talk... that's because mine is in the shop getting some work done But it is soooooo going to be worth it!!

Are you looking at Pearl or Casa? In a year the prices WILL drop due to the B8's coming out this year with the hopeful announcement of the new biturbo s4. The average price right now is around 16K so I can see ones in good shape in the 14- 16K range next year.

My .02

 

oh ya, searching is a good tool too

 

I haven't really decided on which white I would like. I really haven't seen a white S4 that I haven't liked (or any color for that matter). But, I'm glad repairs are cheap for Audi's (Totally kidding). That was the main factor pushing me away from buying an A4 a long time ago. But now that I'm making good money I can throw down the cash for repairs without breaking the bank. I suppose I'll just try to find one with the big repairs done recently or something like that and hope for the best! Thanks for the response Sweeds.

 

buy a 2001.5 if ur gonna buy a b5 s4...its worth it to look for one with the better oil linesand throttle body boot fixed n various upgrades..also you can turn off the traction control and have some fun...i got mine for just under 13k at 96,ooo.....i lucked out and bought the .5 without knowing it

 

How do I tell if it's an 2001.5? I'm assuming there's a VIN # range I should look to be between?

Also, how are the S4's transmission and drive train? Strong? Weak?

 

The emblem is the easiest way to tell between an 01 and an 01.5. The 01 has the two dashes / / like that and the 01.5 has the S4 emblem. Check the speedometer logo, though, not the back emblem on the car. A lot of people like the newer S4 badge so they'll change it to that. There are many ways to tell.. this is my easy way.

 

Last month found my 01.5 S4 6 speed w/ 79,000 miles for only $10,000. TB and water pump done at 75,000 miles. Only issue small oil leaks-valve covers and cam tens. repaired this week with 3 month/3000 mile warrenty that came w/ car. Now time to mod!
Make sure you do a carfax and get history from previous owner.

 

haha wait till your ko3s go out you're gunna **** bricks

 

I think from what i have been reading is the stock clutch is decent but alot of people put a stage 2 or stage 3 clutch in if you are planning future mods i would definately upgrade......another aspect is that idk what you drove before but this is an awd...meaning more pressure on the drivetrain so just look for wear on tie rods,ball joints, motor mounts....etc