luvluvS4

I liked my S4 too before it was stolen. Then I added up all my receipts and found that I had spent $17,000 in repairs in 5 years. Stock parts only. Sorry to say but the 2000-2002 S4s are %$#&. Much better off with a BMW 330xi or 335xi. BMW motors have much more low end torque also. The 330i I bought is way faster than my S4 was and handles better. Just trying to save you some money.

BMWs use a timing chain. If you want to spend $1,500 a pop every time your audi water pump goes out have at it.

donromani

Be prepared to pay big dollars for maintenance on any car like this. Two turbo-charges, a vast array of sensors (many of which, at the time this car was made, were barely out of the testing phase), AWD...

A new car like the BMW 330i is not a fair comparison. You need to look at the 135's. Even then, no AWD. It always comes down to what you want - as a tuner platform the b5 is hard to beat, as a reliable daily, not so much.

Chris's S4

Just as Malinowskiski has said and as a few others... Its a fantastic car (truly amazing). All sorts of features, more than plenty to choose from with upgrades. Looks crazy sexy, plus being a sleeper car it blows most other cars away as said by another member on this thread. I've done that so many times, it's a great feeling when that car pulls up along side you again with the drivers pail face and jaw dropped in awe at how ridiculously fast the car truly is "stock". Now that I just had mine chipped last week, holy ****....Stage 1 is godly amazing (yes I know there's a few more stages to go) lol. I just got mine as well, bout six months ago now and an amazing price too 5700. So far at stage 1 and loving it.

Now on to the talk about parts and labor and all that. I recently did a TB, WP, and all seals. Yes I mean all.. cams, cam ten. seals, and valve cover. Wanted to make sure my car was safe as far as timing belt status and the oil leaks it had. Now all that cost me 500 bucks, I bought a few tools rather then rent them. I'm my own mechanic, I dont let anyone touch my vehicles. Therefore I dont spead anything on labor. I cant see spending 3k on that job and exhaust and other items. But hey, I'm not here to flame anyone, I do understand that some of us just dont have the tools, or time or space to do the work. And that's ok, nothing wrong with it.

But if your concerned about repairs, you gotta ask your self if you can afford it. Or... can you do it yourself and save that extra money for more upgrades or other things?.. right.

None the less the car is phenomenal and reliable. In my case I've dealt with these S4's for 5yrs, a buddy has one long before me. Hence where I got the love for it and knowledge( always fixing it for him). He's had issues, but that's cause he's neglected the car and ran into a few curbs. (douche bag)... yet he still hasn't learned.

Now my dad is a harda$$ critic. He always said dont buy that car. you dont need it, it's pos... dont buy it never buy it.. my dad always thinking he knows all... Well i did it anyways, why you ask... well simple, I've been around the type of car for so many years i know just about everything there is to know about it. so why not buy it. Better off getting something you know about, and know where to look for problems. so I got it.. no more than two weeks he tells me he's glad I bought the car, it's amazing, it's fantastic. It has all kinds of power(being stock). It's so nice inside and great looking on the outside. All these great things about my car he now says. He tells me every time we ride in my S4. Lets face it... HE LOVES IT. hahahah

Look for the right one, the right amount of miles that your looking for, ask every possible question you can. If your lucky enough to go see it b4 buying.. make sure you put it up on a lift to have a look see under also. Make sure its the one you want. It took me... FIVE years of searching to find the right one. Also cuz I didn't wanna spend the money right away, but man I'm so happy with mine. Again, ask every possible question. I know on here there's all kinds of info everywhere. And most ppl on here flame guys for asking the same questions over again, but if you have any... I could care less how stupid they may sound, just ask me. If I dont know, I'll look it up. Plus there are pretty amazing ppl on AW that are willing to help with just about anything as well, not just myself.

Good luck, and take lots of pics once you get one, we wanna gawk at the new toy.

jamesdmanley

lol any non-turbo bmw will feel like a turd next to a stg1+ b5 s4. comparing a 330i is hilarious

Chris's S4

HAHAHAHA yup... A buddy from work who has and old M3 96. says he's puttin out 300+ with his chip. I keep bringing it up that we should give our cars a few test runs together, see how they perform against one another. He's yet to man up. (snickers) I'm actually curious how it would end up, not looking to beat him, I wanna see how my car will do is all.

Gringo185

What does a stage 1 entail? What kind of power does it add? Does it compromise the DD-ability?

jamesdmanley

ive driven an older m3 when i was looking for a replacement for my wrecked b5 s4. theyre quick, much faster than the other newer 3 series i drove, but its no comparison to a stg1 b5 s4. besides, that car is way too small for me.


stage 1 is simply a new tune, also called chipping, on an otherwise stock car. it adds roughly 50hp and 70-90lbft tq. it doesnt effect the cars drivablility at all and you wont even notice it until you get into boost.

Chris's S4

LOL that's so true... but his is a four door model. Which only adds that much more weight. Which again comes back around to S4 beating it that much more. I'm guessing here, only going from you said earlier. But if it's true that the S4 is faster, then it'll be awesome to see how it turns out. That is when he decides for "fix" (me thinks, it's his excuse to not race me) the small prob with the car.



stage 1 is simply a new tune, also called chipping, on an otherwise stock car. it adds roughly 50hp and 70-90lbft tq. it doesnt effect the cars drivablility at all and you wont even notice it until you get into boost.

From what I've read, apr tune adds 110ft/lb torque and 57 more Hp. Man could I feel it TOO!!!! Wow... The first start up, drove slow, warmed it up, got on the fwy... didn't really feel much of anything. so meh right.... got to the po box.. picked up my mail, fired it up again, (all the while it's in 91+ tune) and left po box, drove to get more gas and truly got a real good feel of the new tune. Holy S4 man! It really blew me away. I almost put myself in the back seat. Thats how much more pull it had. It was really ridiculous. Yet so freaking cool. And then I watched as my gas gauge dropped. hahahhaa ahhh but its too much fun. As far as drive-ability, well like he said earlier, it's not till your in boost range, but the whole throttle range is much smoother, greater power at the low end. It picks up quite quickly if your on it hard enough. It blows ur mind to be honest.
It's that fast. I can only imagine what a stage 3 car feels like. Haven't ridden in one as of yet. Hopefully someone on here will see this who lives in cali and offer me a quick ride here in cali.


So I'm thinking of doing stock downpipes as piggies. Found some a guy wants to sell to two bills, I figure sweet, gut em and put a new bung on the rears and be all set. Now I wonder are they worth doing that? Being if I go with an aftermarket exhaust later on, something like borla? What do you guys think bout the piggies? Yes slightly OT, just a quick opinion.

Gringo185

Thanks for the info. I'm familiar with tuning/chipping. I just wasn't sure if there were any parts require.

While we're at it, what Stages 2 and 3 include?

Chris's S4

Stage 2, I'm not sure as far as HP and TQ... apr doesnt mention anything. But thats probably because of the various exhaust systems and downpipes there are out there to upgrade too. 2.5 inch to 3 inch can result different hp readings for everyone. So just simpler not posting that on their site.

But if they did dino the exhaust systems and downpipes out there with their tuning for bot stage 2 and 3... posted that info... I know many people would be estatic to have an idea of where their cars would be in the HP and TQ of possibility. Of course with everyone, to each his own is different. But at least a ball park idea of where it may be, would be awesome.

For stage 2, downpipes, exhaust, dv's, bi-pipe, I think are all you need plus the tune... If I remember correctly, it just came to me, I think maybe... stage 2 yields somewhere like 380 to maybe 430hp... now those are just ball park numbers. I'm not 100% sure on that. I've done so much reading everywhere I cant always remember it all. lol But that'll give you an idea.

Stage 1 with 93 oct. gives you 318 hp and 382TQ, thats pretty high just for optimizing the tune. There's also, 100oct tune and 104 oct. I can only imagine how high HP and TQ go up from there.... wow. I read somewhere, where another S4 owner switched to 104 tune on his apr, had been given some 109 oct fuel and tried it out... from what he said, it was "holy sh$T!!!" I guess that explains it good and well. hahahahahahah

Oh and stage 3 is full on rs4 setup... or you could go with tial or anyother turbo setup. But it's larger injectors, higher flow fuel pump, large intake 3inch, full on exhaust and headers, and stage 3 tuning.