Never-Enough

My 335xi is up for sale. (Not looking to have a BMW vs Audi thread please) Looking to get into a cheaper daily driver & add a C6 Z06.

Have been hoping to find another Mazdaspeed6 GT to buy, but growing impatient & frustrated with not finding the right car or the right cars being sold before I can get to them.

Pretty much looking to keep it in under $20k for whatever I get. The $15k area would be ideal.

I've driven 2007-08 & 2011-12 S4s. have loved these things for years. Just read/hear about so many folks saying do not own one out of warranty, they will break all the time & cost a fortune to fix, electrical gremlins, etc etc.

I'd be buying a 2004 or 2005 it seems if I went w/the 4.2 V8 variety. Would not be opposed to getting the previous gen w/the turbo V6 either, but I am looking for something that will be reliable & not cost a fortune to maintain & that I can work on myself if need be.

So what are the big problem areas for the 2004+ S4s?
What options were available on them?

TIA!

S4Bloom

I have owned a 2005 S4 since new and it has been pretty much bombproof. Couldn't be happier.

burdoogo

I've been looking at this exact car to replace my SE-R, but from reading through the thread, this car seems to have its share of problems. Also, on average, this car has to be taken in over 100 times a year for repairs (on average)...that seems like a little much.

The cars that we get will most likely be out of warranty, so I've been trying to rationalize whether or not it would make fiscal sense to buy it. It's not that expensive to purchase, and it seems like it's a lot of fun to drive...but reliability could be its downfall. Anyone else care to share some of the major issues they've had with this car?

S4Bloom

Where did you get that number? A little much, indeed! So that means every 3 days or so you would be taking the car in for repairs. LOL!

I probably have taken my car in 3-4 times in 6 years.

Tillse7en

Read this tread for all of the answers you are looking for on a B6 B7 S4.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...f-the-B6-B7-S4

burdoogo

I got it from this thread: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...2579419&page=5

Here's the quote

"We've updated the our reliability stats for the B6 S4 and A4 (on our redesigned site) to include owner experiences through September 30, 2011.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2005 A4: 109, about average

2005 S4: 128, about average, small sample size

2004 A4: 126, about average

2004 S4: 106, about average

The average odometer reading is much lower for the S4s.

Thank you, once again, to this forum and everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates later this month and in May. With more participants we could provide more precise results.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help improve this information:

Audi S4 reliability ratings and comparisons'