04 Audi S4 should I buy?

[Rallywagon]

Good morning all.
So, the family Mazda 3 is on its last legs. The Michigan roads have beat the snot out of the suspension, the brakes are nearly done, the engine recently started making a worrisome grinding noise and various other little issues are arising.
The wife and I aren't quite ready to take on a new or lightly used car payment just yet. The plan is to find a Subaru in the 5k usd range. Likely a Legacy. Subaru is very common in Michigan, so parts are easy and cheap to come by. I already have a 2.5l I could use/ build if the car has some issues down the road, and various other bits as well. They are reliable, I know how to work on them, I know what to expect from them, it's a safe choice.
But then i ran into this post. https://grandrapids.craigslist.org/cto/d/spring-lake-2004-audi-s4/6882337072.html
It's got more class, more gears and more power than any of the subbies I've been looking at. Less miles than some too. However, Audi's are a bit outside of my mechanical comfort range. From what I read, the time chain tensioner is a weak point and requires the engine to he dropped to be replaced. They tend to just let go with very little to no warning, which is bad news bears since it has an interference head setup. The stealership charges an arm and a leg to replace them, something the tune of 6 grand. Do any of you have experience owning one of these? Is this engine a time bomb waiting to blow at the worse possible moment, or are these engines getting a bad rap? One thing that has me doubting getting the car is the lack of high mileage examples for sale. Out the 20 or so I looked up, only a couple had over 130k on the clock. Mean while there are tons of subbies well over 200k for sale. Is this simply due to numbers, and owners not giving up their cars or because the car is tossed in the heap when people get the 14k bill to replace an engine?
Despite my hesitation, I am still leaning pretty heavily on getting the Audi. I loved the TT my wife owned and I'd like to own something a little more classy and sleeperish than a scoob. If I can be certain I can get another 50k out of the car before the engine goes I'll definitely jump on it. Used engines are only 2-3k and by then we should be in our new house so I'll be able to do the swap myself.
So, good deal or leave it be?

 

[bremics]

How financially secure are you? If it's only $4k and you can get it with cash you can only do the super cheap/basic maintenance until it dies.

My brother got a 90s Mercedes E-Class from my grandfather who bought it from a family friend for $1200 with 250kish on the odometer and it has the most comfortable backseats I've ever sat in lol.

But yeah, if it runs decently enough (test drive possible?) and you can afford it, why not grab it and cheapest insurance you can buy?

Also, there's plenty of heavily used old luxury sedans for sale, you could probably fine something similar or better with an extra 50-100k on it for half the price.

 

[Crash]

Just have a couple of grand set aside for unplanned necessary repairs.

Friend had a 1.8T version of that generation of Audi A4. It is a nice car, but a lot of stuff broke on it; most of it did not require urgent repairs (like the glove box hinge breaking, or random electrical gremlins).

Do a search on Audi forums for local independent shop recommendations, then talk to them about how much it would cost to replace timing chain. I bet they will come out to be significantly cheaper than the dealer doing that work. As well, if you have the time, space, tools, and know-how, you can preemptively change the timing belt yourself and you'll be worry free on that front for a long time to come.

 

[mustafur]

The price is low enough to be worth it, but I would make sure to give it a proper test drive just to make sure there isn't any other issues the owner hasn't addressed.

The fact it's a Manual as well would make it more tempting though.

 

[Tornado]

They should send Audis straight to the crusher as soon as the warranty runs out.

 

[Rallywagon]

I decided to pass on the deal and get my Cougar back on the road instead. At the end of the day, I didn't want another car that was going to be living in the shop, and we will likely be renting for about 6 months so no garage to work on it myself if it breaks. And that seems pretty inevitable.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I think I will definitely be looking at one of these when we look to buy a new(er) car though. For now, I'll finish getting the cougar road worthy then probably sell the Mazda.

 

[stonesfan129]

I recommend buying only Japanese cars and more specifically Honda or Toyota because they last. My experience with German cars is that while they are more fun to drive, they cost more money to keep on the road. I sold my Volkswagen and got a Toyota specifically because I was sick of $1000+ trips to the dealer every time a sensor failed. Me personally I'd sell the Cougar and keep the Mazda. Mazda isn't a bad vehicle.

 

[Rallywagon]

The Cougar is going no where, that is for sure. It was my grand mother's car, and was the first of the last special edition/anniversary editions to come off the assembly line for 97. It also only have 9k miles on it.
The Mazda needs full suspension, brakes, head gasket, which at 165k will probably be a full rebuild as it also sounds like perhaps a main bearing is galling, third gear synco is gone, rust is quite pervasive around the body. Its been a good car. A great car in fact. But, our family has out sized it, and it's not really worth investing that much money and time into the repair.
Once we are ready to buy, it's either going to be an Audi, or a Subaru. Toyota doesnt have good awd cars, and I've never owned, nor have any desire to own a Honda automobile.

 

[mustafur]

The good thing about German cars in General is they have better bodies for colder climates then Japanese cars which tends to be their biggest weakpoint but on the other side they have surpiror mechanical reliability and they are much more simple to work on and parts are cheap as alot of cars have interchangable parts with other Japanese cars.

At that price point though it would be risky going German, big repairs will cost more to fix then the car is to buy.

Buying an AWD Japanese car that spent most of it's life in a dry climate like the west coast would be the best case sceniaro for you, but probably very hard if not impossible to find.

 

[Rallywagon]

I think ultimately we'd will be looking to buy at right about 10k. I can find a decent scoob around MI at that price. As an added bonus, I have a 2.5l sitting in my garage I can rebuild at my leisure along with a few other spare parts saved up from previous subies I've owned.
At this point though, that's month's down the road, I'll worry about crossing the bridge when I get there.

 

[stonesfan129]

The good thing about German cars in General is they have better bodies for colder climates then Japanese cars which tends to be their biggest weakpoint but on the other side they have surpiror mechanical reliability and they are much more simple to work on and parts are cheap as alot of cars have interchangable parts with other Japanese cars.

At that price point though it would be risky going German, big repairs will cost more to fix then the car is to buy.

Buying an AWD Japanese car that spent most of it's life in a dry climate like the west coast would be the best case sceniaro for you, but probably very hard if not impossible to find.

The body on my Volkswagen didn't last for crap. A couple of bubbling/rust spots underneath the paint. Maybe VW just sucks. My co-worker's BMW which is a few years older (2006) has no problems with the paint or rust. And Japanese cars these days have better bodies than they did 20-30 years ago where they would rust to death. The main reason I am going back to a Japanese car (Toyota) is because I'm tired of expensive trips to the dealer. Subaru is a decent brand too especially for the harsh midwest winters. The only problem with boxer engines is they blow head gaskets.

 

[Rallywagon]

And the timing belts as well. Though, they are a whole lot easier to do than the Audi 4.2l timing chain.

 

[stonesfan129]

And the timing belts as well. Though, they are a whole lot easier to do than the Audi 4.2l timing chain.

Timing belts have to be replaced about every 120k miles. Timing chains usually never need to be replaced until they start acting up. But yes chains are a whole lot more work and cost more to fix.

 

[Rallywagon]

Timing belts have to be replaced about every 120k miles. Timing chains usually never need to be replaced until they start acting up. But yes chains are a whole lot more work and cost more to fix.

Its not the chain specifically, but the tensioners. Somewhere between 70k and 150k miles they become a timebomb. The tensioners break down, allowing slack in the chain. The chain then starts to flex and wobble and then eats up the back of your engine. As an added bonus, the heads are interference type, so chances are you also jacked up a piston and some of the valve train. A lot like the reason I have a 2.5l in my garage.

 

[eiriksmil]

Timing belts have to be replaced about every 120k miles. Timing chains usually never need to be replaced until they start acting up. But yes chains are a whole lot more work and cost more to fix.

It's not the chain, it's the tensioners and the plastic guides. The guides become brittle over time and they break, this happens on at least most German cars with chains.

Good thing you passed on the S4. A 15 year old S4 is not a good daily you can run on the cheap. It will take a lot of time, money and energy to just keep it in good shape. And to be honest, if you don't like worrisome noises, you will put off a suspension rebuild (the B6 is about 3-4 times more time intensive to replace than on your Mazda) or similar a car like the S4 is really, really not for you. At least not as a daily.

 

[Tornado]

why not? good car

When Audi was paying for the maintenance.

 

[Ze Elephant]

For a $10k budget you should be able to find something that fits well as a daily. As cool as an older sport sedan would be, maintenance will be a horror, like most others have said. Is AWD an absolute must for you and your commute? I don't know if you're one of the select few in West Michigan that uses snow tires, but with a set of Hankook snows my old Stratus was nearly unstoppable.

 

[SVX]

Timing belts have to be replaced about every 120k miles

120k miles? I thought the uniform standard was literally half that- at least over here, 100,000km is the general norm.