I have a friend with a 2004 S4 with 99,000 miles on it. He's thinking of selling and I'm interested, he's thinking $12,000 for it. He takes great care of the car, its been maintained on schedule, first by a dealer and then by an independent shop that specializes in Audis and Bimmers. The car is stock, no mods and the interior and exterior are in like new shape.

I have a 99 A4 now, which has been decent, although its had its share of issues and maintenance, which seems pretty common in the world of Audis. What can I expect if I move up to an S4 as far as maintenance goes? From what I've read here, it sounds like the S4's with the 4.2L V8 are more reliable and somewhat cheaper to maintain than the b5's with the 2.7TT. I don't have the time to do much DIY work on my cars, I usually end up taking it in to the same local indy shop to get anything fixed, he's fairly reasonable on price, but I don't want to get into a money pit car, either. Are the S line parts considerably more expensive than the standard Audi parts, like AMG parts are to a regular Benz?

 

First off let me start by saying I am a new S4 owner too. But I had the same question before buying the car, so one of the things I have done was to go to ECStuning.com and check out some of the parts that I could need in the next couple of years.

I didn't find the parts to be alarmingly expensive however as you mentioned you wouldn't be doing the work on the car yourself and just by looking at the engine bay I can tell it is not an easy car to work on so labor costs might be high.

99K is quite a bit of miles but my 1.8T is at 150K and it is still going strong (knock on wood). S4's being naturally aspirated cars you would think the engine would be more reliable and data shows they are. For my personal preference I would never buy a german car with out a warranty but 12K for a car like an S4 seems like a steal ( no I didn't check kelly blue)

Although when I was looking I did see some B6 S4's with 50K miles going for 18K. for 40K miles I would pay $6000 more but that is my opinion.

Good luck

Serkan

 

From the research I've done, 12K sounds decent, not a total steal, but a decent price. Its hard to find too many comparable sales because the S4 is somewhat of a rare car, at least compared to an A4. I think I'm going to wait for now, my A4 is still going fine, and the more I think about it, I'd rather pay a little more and find a 2005.5 or later S4 so I get the newer body style.

 

I'd definitely be all over that car for $12k. Holy crap. That's cheap for a B6 S4. 99k isn't **** for mileage. Its not even broken in. 250-300k mile motor. I don't know if the 4.2L needs timing belt and water pump changes like the Audi 4 and 6 cyl engines but that's less than $2000 to do and you have a hell of a car even at $14000 invested.

 

I just purchased a 2004 S4 - 59,000 for 16,900 and it felt like a great deal - the car is perfect with new tires, battery and breaks. I took a pass on one with 95,000 - which was about 14,000. I would agree with other posters that 12,000 is a good price and that these cars will hold up well, but with99,000 there are a few basic things that will just have to be done (as with any car). Items can include a round of breaks, rubber hoses in the coolant system, water pump and/or pulleys, bushings/suspension. So if you get into a car with 99,000, you should be prepared for some of the basics like that. However with the quality of Audi S4, you should not see any catastrophic failures for quite some time.

 

I just paid $11,900 for a 2005 S4 Cabriolet. Had some minor cosmetic blemishes in the interior, (carbon fiber piece on dash was cracked, arm rest broken, and a crack in the front windshield) but nothing that couldn't be easily repaired. The mileage (110k) was my only worries, and was able to get the service reports from the dealership that sold it to me. I'm absolutely loving it. I booked mine and saw it going for $18k, so I would assume that the 2004 isn't far behind.

 

i paid $15000 CDN, 80000 miles fully standard no mods but a full service history here in Alberta 2 weeks ago. for a 2005 S4