Interested in buying a 2005.5-2007 S4

[sweet victory]

I've been wanting one for a while, excited to go back home after this quarter ends at school. I'll have about 16,000 cash, but can get a loan for a little more. What should I look out for in terms of common issue as I obviously wont be able to afford one with low miles. Looking forward to driving an audi soon.

[sweet victory]

43 views but no comments?....

[Chopsticks36]

I have an '04 and these were two major problems to look out for, especially if you do not have an extended warranty. Fortunately I do, so most or all of the costs were covered.

July 2010:
-faulty tensioner belt with labor $287

June 2011:
-Instrument Cluster failure the parts and labor were $1233.00

I'm sure many are not posting because a search of this forum on the major mechanical problems would probably be sufficient. Hope you find the right S4

[Tillse7en]

If you are planning on using a B6-B7 S4 for a commuter but are a little short on cash I would suggest to look for a S-line A4, then do a few mods to it. You will get way better gas mileage. You could get a nice S-line with less mileage on it for the same price as a higher mileage S4. Don't get me wrong, the S4 is a great car, but for a person on a students budget its not really the smartest choice. This is just my opinion, its ultimately your choice.

[sweet victory]

Thanks for the tip! Reason I actually chose this model v8 is because I want the v8...

[mtwallace85]

I was in about the same boat you are when I bought my S4 and I think you can learn from my experience. I bought an 04 S4 6spd manual with 80,000 miles on it. A week and 250 highway miles after I bought it the flywheel needed to be replaced. When the dealership I bought the car replaced the flywheel and clutch, which I decided to do since they were in there, he stripped the slave cylinder which eventually resulted in the clutch failing and eventually the transmission needing a rebuild because of all the added stress. After I got that taken care of the car finally drove nice for about 3 months at which point I got a CEL. The spark plugs, ignition coils, 02 sensor, coolant temp sensor, coolant expansion tank, and engine mounts all needed to be replaced. Now I just got it back a week ago and all of a sudden the automatic headlight range thing stopped working. The mechanic told me that another big problem with these cars is the timing chain guides. Some cars burn through oil because something that happens to the cylinder walls. Other things you will need to look for are the window regulators, they should be one touch up and down for all four windows. The glove box hinges will break at some point but can be fixed in less than an hour by yourself for about $5. The instrument clusters pixels burn out especially if they are parked outside in hot weather. Look at the interior door handles because the finish rubs off. Make sure you get a belly pan. Make sure the sunroof button works. Make sure the front ash tray opens as it often gets stuck with loose change. Make sure the fog lights aren't burnt out because they are expensive to replace. And I will list this because I missed it, they didn't give me floor mats for the front. Check there is an emergency kit in back as well as all the tools for changing your wheels.

My best advice would be to get yourself a good warranty. I went to carchex.com and they give you a bunch of different companies and what their terms and prices are. I went with the same company that does the Hyundai Assurance warranty and got a pretty good warranty for $4200 which covers basically everything for 4 years/50,000 miles except for the clutch.
Make sure that whatever you choose covers leaking gaskets and seals. You will also want to check out the Liability Clause. This defines how much they are willing to cover in total. Mine is limited to the KBB value of the car the time the contract was purchased. So I have about $20,000 of liability meaning they'll cover that much work on the car over the lifetime of the contract. Other contracts will actually give you a dollar amount like $5000 or something which you will want to look out for.

I can tell you right now that you will love the S4 V8 4.2L, but the car has a ton of power and people like to abuse it. Unless you find the perfect private seller, you are going to have some problems most likely sooner than later. The best thing you can do to avoid a bunch of problems up front is to take it to a reputable 3rd party mechanic that will check everything for you. I know for around $200 you can get somebody to go over every inch of the car and tell you everything that is wrong with it. $200 sounds kind of steep but it might end up saving you thousands in the end. Good Luck.

[Audinado]

Originally Posted by sweet victory

I've been wanting one for a while, excited to go back home after this quarter ends at school. I'll have about 16,000 cash, but can get a loan for a little more.

What should I look out for in terms of common issue as I obviously wont be able to afford one with low miles. Looking forward to driving an audi soon.

Hi there,
I saw your comments and wanted to ask you if you are in California.
I have a 2005 S4 for sale with low miles and a Platinum Extended Audi Warranty (Bumper to Bumper), well taken care of.
Let me know and will give you more details.
Thanks

[zerophat]

Watch out for compressor on the 04-05, no real good way to check, AC works one day, stops another, usually when it's triple digits.

The power window regulator is problematic, had passenger side fail, which is weird because I use drivers side much more frequently.

Coil packs replaced, this I think you can check for specific parts numbers if seller can provide service logs.

The control arms, depending on how it was driven, I would safely assume any S4 was driven previously like it was stolen or tracked...

look, my wife keep telling me if you want a cheap reliable car that is cheap to fix, sell your audi and get another honda...

[zerophat]

But they are just not as FUN to drive or look at...