Dwinter15

I am New to the forum so I appreciate guidance from the group. I am in the process of buying a manual transmission 2014 S4 to be a daily driver. Coming off an A6 lease and want to have a little more fun. But I have a few concerns

1) the car I have an eye on just had the clutch slave cylinder replaced at 29,000 miles. Should I be concerned that this is a sign of future issues?
2) I have the option to get the car certified should I do that even if the original factory warranty will likely cover the period I plan to own the car?


Thanks for the help.

DrGP

The clutch slave cylinder should not be an issue. I am now driving my 3rd B8 S4 MT. My current one has 71k miles and although I am not the original owner (purchased with 49k miles), I have no indication that it has been replaced or will need to be in the near future. That being said, my 2010 that I bought new, had some clutch issues. On 2 occasions from 5 mph, WOT, when shifting 1-2, the clutch pedal just stayed on the floor and clutch burned. Took about a week for clutch to feel normal again, since then, I have been very careful not to do any WOTs blasts in firsts gear. Taking that into consideration, I have not had a repeat of that issue on either my New 2014 or used 2011. The problem is that you will rarely have any indication as to how the previous owner treated the car or clutch. It is possible that the previous owner had clutch slave cylinder replaced because he was having clutch issues and this was done to see if it improved the problem before having to replace the clutch? You don't replace the slave cylinder just for fun UNLESS, is was replaced with a stainless steel unit which is a modification done by some to improve the shifter feel. Do the service records indicate the reason for the replacement? I would not get the car certified if the car has the factory warranty. You can always get it done later or buy an extended warranty later. But if you were planning to keep the car longer, I would get the car CPO'd. You do realize the clutch will not be covered under the factory, CPO or extended warranty.