Well I bought mine at just under 20K - had to replace the clutch right away...had issues with the steering rack (replaced once and still had issues), back hatch has never closed right consistently, sunroof switch was replaced, radiator, CV joints - in fact just had to have an internal/inside cv joint replaced - it was ripped...coolant leaks - just spent $500 to replace the auxillary water pump which was leaking - oh and of course - turbos!....and I have some electrical gremlins and an intermitent engine cut at around 4k rpm (very irritating) and other stuff - it always seems to be something - and as I'm not a mechanic - it always seems to cost - drives me nuts - I am definatly not happy with the reliability of this car (and I keep hoping that this repair will be the last...for a while...etc)....but I do love the car...love driving it...anyway...

 

Well the problem is, the guy i bought it from didnt know if it had a newer timing belt or not. But i got the car for an amazing deal so i figure ill have my mechanic look into it and if it needs replacing ill get a new one. Im not worried about it, but hey if it is replaced, thats cool to haha.

 

i'm in the same boat as roadhawk... and just like him, i love the car!

 

Road--I just had to have my steering rack replaced to the tune of $1400...

 

I bought my b5 s4 in november of 2002 and payed almost 40G's for it and it has only had one problem and that is an oil leak on the left valve cover at 44000 miles, so I decided to do the timing belt and all that good stuff while they had it all apart. It has always been a good car. BTW, I have had a GIAC chip and 007 dv's since I turned 10000 miles. If you are worried about it get a Toyota. Good luck.

 

dwcs4 - I'm really glad to hear of your experiences...much like a relative whom I convinced to buy a new A6 2.7t many years back - he has had absolutly zero problems - and thats great - wish there was more of this..

FourDs - yeah - ouch...I had mine replaced under warrenty - leakinglike a siv (I was buying Audi fluid by the casefull...and it was ruining my driveway and gunking things up...and I really got to know the sound of the steering power assit pump going with no fluid...!) ...guess what - replaced rack leaked exactly the same way (after perhaps a few weeks of not doing so) - guess what - Audi said that it was not their problem and wouldn't fix it. I took it to a lot of different places and they said the same thing - need to replace the steering rack - and it would cost me about $1400...then I came accross this guy (mechanic at a shop) who really looked it over...turns out it was a loose buterfly bolt up underneath that he tightened up and put locktight on...hasn't been a problem (no leaks!!) since....(needless to say I chewed out a few Audi reps & service managers over this one and swore I would never take my car back to Audi...and outside of a final 57.8K warrenty service visit - to replace my entire set of suspension control arms, my Y boot and a host of other little (but otherwise normally very costly things) I haven't gone back (OK - I needed to get my radio code recently as I had lost it - and they charged me $50...*******!)

 

That mechanic BTW - is still my mechanic even though he is now at a different shop. He (literally) steered me right on that one - and I think since -and he really knows this car and is a great and very concienscious mechanic...

 

I to was charged $50 for the radio code, and had to wait 2hrs for it!

 

The B5 S4 was a $40K car. Its like owning a boat or plane. The cost of maintenance is part of the deeal with high dollar toys and the older (cheaper) you buy them the more coin you are going to put in. A Lotus or Ferrari are truely money pits. I would say the Audi S4 is cheap for what you are getting for the money. Maintain them and they are very solid.

 

Well...driving home from work today I heard a pop/backfire sound...then my idle was very rough (obvious boost leak) - but more worrisome was lack af any compression in my brake pedal...yup you got it - the vacume line that fed my brakes snapped...welcome rough idle, limp mode, no brakes...I managed to work my way over to my shop (with only one a hole pulling right in fron of me and basically comming to a near stop...I did yell "no brakes asehole" just to do it when I finally whipped around him) - anyway - can't get the part from Audi until Tuesday (and of course I'm supposed to travel on a 400+ mile roadtrip beggining Wednsday...yeah...)...my mechaninc did manage to superglue the piece back together and its actually running great right now...still...the owner of the shop said - "Is that a typical failure?" - I told him it was an Audi - what kind of question is that....