slingshot60

I've been researching and driving several late model sports cars/sports coupes the last few weeks in preparation for buying one. Will be driving it for nice weather DD duties and a weekly 250 mile business trip--will drive my 2013 F150 King Ranch 4x4 (hey, I live in Texas...) or my wife's 2013 Q7 TDI when the weather is bad.

First drove a 2015 Corvette Z51 3LT A8. Fantastic handling and performance for the price. Rattled and felt cheap inside, visibility horrible. Then drove a 2013 Porsche 911S PDK. Handled like a slot car... like a 911. Very nice inside, faster than I expected but had a lot of road noise. Pretty stiff ride and still seemed too expensive for what you get. Next up was a 2015 BMW M4. Nice inside, noticable turbo lag then rips your head off--fast car. Great handling but could feel TC kicking in and out under hard acceleration, quite annoying. Then drove my buddy's 2015 Corvette Z06 M7. Never thought I'd say this but 650 HP with RWD is too powerful for the street. Rode like a tank, rattled even more than the regular Vette and would smoke the tires on the highway at 60 mph in 3rd and 4th gear--absolutely nuts. I would end up dead or in jail. Almost as an afterthought drove a 2014 RS5. Wow. Felt faster than I expected, sounded great--much better than the M4, very nice interior. Hard to describe but what I liked the most was how the car felt 'in control'. Suspension very firm but not uncomfortable, very well damped and seems to be able to just absorb anything the road throws at it.

I like it...

slingshot60

The car I'm interested in is a gorgeous blue 2014 with the black/silver interior and CF trim, and has 14k miles. It is at a high end luxury and sports car dealer and looks to be in great condition except for a couple small rock chips on the leading edge of the hood and some curbing of the lower lip of the front air dam--they have agreed to have this professionally repaired. I will have a proper paint correction done soon as I get it and have Expel or 3M front film applied.

I do plan to get the Audi Care pre-paid maintenance plan (I think you can buy it up to 15k miles?). Looks like the 'MSRP' is $1099 for this plan--is it negotiable? Does anyone have a recomendation for a dealer that will negotiate? Exactly what does it cover?

I will buy an extended warranty--it does still have 22 months and 36k miles left on the factory plan. Will do my research and buy that when the time comes...

I have read about the brake rotor warpage issues--did not notice any problems with several firm and medium brake applications from various speeds on the test drive. Have also read about transmission oil leaks--guessing will just need to put it up on the rack and check it. I know they eat tires, seems every high performance car I've had over the last 20 years has. I plan to install new treads soon after purchase, would appreciate any recommendations. Michelin? Pirelli? I will not be tracking the car--but will be driven in a 'spirited fashion'.

Last but not least--does anyone have a link or way to decode the VIN#? Would love to know exactly what factory options the car has...

Thanks in advance!

superswiss

Yeah, not many other cars out there that do everything as well as the RS5 does. Most don't really realize what it is until they really drive one.

No, Audi Care on its own is not negotiable. Some have gotten it thrown in for "free" when buying a new car, but they basically just got an additional discount on the new car. It covers all the scheduled maintenance up and including the 45k service, but it doesn't cover any wear items, such as brakes etc.

https://www.audiusa.com/content/dam/...-Year-2014.pdf

If you have the 20" wheels, there aren't many tire options. The stock P Zero is pretty much the best. It's actually a very good performance tire. Make sure you replace it with the P Zero RO1, which is the Quattro Gmbh specific spec of the P Zero. Michelin doesn't make anything at the moment in the 20" size. The only other tire better than the P Zero is the Michelin PSS, but as I said, you can't get it in the required size. If you have the 19" wheels then you have more options.

jschrauwen

http://vag-codes.info/files/options/...tion-codes.pdf

jschrauwen

This is what I used to decodes my options list for my car.
VW Group Option Codes Decoder


Look to the trunk or spare tire area for a small list of codes that should look something like this and plug in all of those codes.
Follow the instructions of the decoder to decode all of your options all at once or individually.

PhilNotHill

You will like the more you drive it. Our 2015 is a year old. No problems. It's my winter car. Life is good.

slingshot60

It has the 19" rims... maybe that's why it rode better than I expected--I do like the looks of the 20" rims better though. They have 2 other RS5's with 20" rims--might try to negotiate a swap--doubt they will though.

slingshot60

Have narrowed it down to two options. A 2013 with 11K miles and all options except Sport Exhaust, has MMI Plus and Driver Assistance Pkgs and the 20" rims... or a 2014 with 14K miles with Sport Exhaust, MMI Plus but without the Driver Assistance Pkg and it has the base 19" rims. Both are in very good shape with just a few small rock chips, clean Carfax and Autocheck.

I'm a little torn. I really like the Sport Exhaust but it's not a deal breaker. I don't know much about the Driver Assist Pack with the lane departure warning and distronic cruise--any reviews or pearls about this from the learned? Also I really like the look of the 20" rims better but am concerned about highway ride quality on less than perfect roads. What are you guy's impressions? Thanks in advance...

PhilNotHill

I would opt for the 19" wheels and sports exhaust. You have many more choices for tires. More comfortable ride.

Only way l would go for the 20" wheels is if l tracked the car which l don't. Wheels are the easiest thing to change anyway.

Best

superswiss

I would be torn between them, too. Wheels can always be changed later, so that shouldn't be an issue. The sports exhaust is great and sounds great. I'm not into spending 3k-4k on an exhaust for better sound, so the sports exhaust for me hits the sweet spot.

However, the driver assist pkg to me would be above the sport exhaust, though. Not because of the side assist and the adaptive cruise, although I love the ACC, the best best part of the driver assist pkg is the dynamic steering. It's a variable ratio steering rack that feels much more sporty than the standard steering. It has closer ratios and provides much better road feedback. It's the proper steering for a car like this if you like cornering. Super responsive steering and sports car like ratios. The standard steering feels like you are driving a bus after having experienced the dynamic steering.