Ryan Hellerud

Hi all,

I was considering buying an e46 m3 but discovered it was difficult to get a loan on an older car and my credit is also not that good. Recently, ive come to check out some audis and I like the brand. I am looking into an audi s4 2011 and have a couple questions. The car:

Audi S4 premium plus quattro 2011
61k miles
manual trans.

being sold for 26.5k

1. Transmission is manual, is that the preferred Transmission for maintenance and reliability?

2. How are these cars to maintain compared to others ?

3. How easy/expensive to upgrade value wise? Can I get good hp for cheap and also if the suspension needs to be upgraded for mountain driving?

4. Any over all thoughts and opinions about the car and if it is a good buy? What do you guys think, how are these cars?

Thanks for the feedback!

DrGP

All is good. I currently am driving my 3rd B8 S4.(2011) I purchased it 2 yrs ago for $32 with 48 K on it. Your price seems in the ballpark . These cars are in high demand and short supplies, and dealers know that. You will be lucky to get dealers to come down from their price but it is always worth a try. Both transmissions are good and both have their own issues. The DSG trans has had some failures. So I would not want one without an extended warranty which you really should have anyway. The clutch is not bulletproof, so at some time it will need replacement and clutch is rarely if ever covered under a warranty. Maintenance is not a big deal and the cars have been remarkably reliable especially for high mileage German cars. Performance upgrades are available and not too expensive Suspension is good as is and some cars will come with an adaptive suspension that many like. I have not had it in any of my 3 B8 s4s. Don't miss it. Others love it. And these cars are great. Best car I have ever owned and I have been driving for 50 yrs. Keep getting another one because I can't find anything better that I want or like better in the price range. Word of advice. I would not buy one if it did not have the sports differential which comes as a stand alone option or part of the adaptive suspension package. Others may tell you it is not a deal breaker. IMHO, it is THE option that makes this car special. BTW,there are no model yrs to stay away from. Good luck in your search. But the car you are currently looking at seem to be reasonably priced. Check out if it has a SD.

safetywork

To answer your questions....
1. If you go by availability as "the preferred tranny", the DSG's are more common. Personally I prefer the manual. Less things to go wrong.
2. I've only had one unscheduled stop at the dealer: leaking water pump. Covered under warranty. I've now racked up 83,xxx since I bought it new in 2013. Other than that, I had 1 front brake rotor and pad replaced.
3. I've done the stage 1 from Revo Technique, best bang for the buck I've spent since I started playing cars. I guess this depends on what "cheap" means to you.
4. This is my 1st Audi, came from a long line of BMW's (particularly M3's and M5's). I'm a bit surprised about the S4's reliability. I've always heard bad things about them in the past. BMW's, in my opinion, has better feedback and to me, more fun to drive. The quattro makes things a bit.....boring. But it does feel safer and I find myself going a bit faster than I should especially around twisties in bad weather (which we don't get much of here in San Diego). I have the sports diff option in mine, it's interesting how when you ease INTO the gas, the S4 actually tightens the line.

Overall, I'm enjoying my S4. In the rain, on an off camber turn, going way faster than you should....the S4 is easily recoverable. You have to do something REALLY dumb to lose it - which can be good or bad. A bit boring, maybe but it's lot safer. The upcoming S4, I hear may not come with a 6 speed manual...so I've renewed by BMWCCA so I can advantage of the rebate program. I'll have racked up over 100k before the end of this year....we'll see if Audi makes the next S4 with a manual but it doesn't look promising.

mnjames

Don't buy 2010-11 with DSG. Those years are more prone to transmission problems. I just paid $1400 out of pocket to have the DSG circuit board replaced, and that was a best case scenario. Mechatronic unit costs $4-5k and whole tranny is $12k+.

Personally I wouldn't be looking to buy a German performance car with 60k+ miles. I had E46 M3 before, too.

I would wait until you can afford something lower mileage.