Think I am going to pull the trigger

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

Well I have been test driving RS4’s recently and ever since I have been itching more and more. My S4 is pretty quick and handles pretty well but the RS4 just does it better with a more comfortable and smooth driving experience. Looking to purchase a 2007 1 owner with 64K on it. Brand new rotors and pads put on by the dealer, DRC done, all maintenance done, CC at 45K miles. The car is at a Mercedes dealer and they are basically selling it as a CPO, comes with a 3 month comprehensive & 6 months power train warranty. Car is in great condition inside and out, small scuff on the side of the front bumper but I can get that fixed. They are also offering a curtsey trade on my S4 since I have a buyer ready to pull the trigger on that. I negotiated with the buyer of my car to keep the KW V3’s, JHM short shifter, hotchkis RS4 sway bars and forgestar wheels (to sell). I have been been going back and forth with the dealer over the last month and have it for 37,500 with all dealer fees included and getting a 26K trade on my car. So I would be paying tax on just about 11K.

First off, it is a very large reputable mercedes dealer, I will be getting a leakdown/ compression test regardless but do you think a PPI is necessary still? They basically did that when the got the car in and certified everything was over 60% (brakes/tires etc). 65K service is also done btw. Also thoughts on the price, I think it seems pretty fair at this point but I guess I am looking for some confirmation that I’m not getting beat up by the dealer. They are loosing money on the deal as is since they gave a 34K trade not knowing they would have to replace the rotors/pads.

#2

http://www.empowernetwork.com/msycks/files/2013/01/benStillerDoIt1.jpg

#3

All sounds good, pull the trigger with the following caveats:

  1. Don’t believe the sob story about getting it on a 34k trade and loosing money. They’ll say anything to get the deal they want. However, if you’re happy with the deal then do it.

  2. Still get a PPI by someone familiar with that motor. Compression and leak down included. The only condition I wouldn’t is a car sold by Audi with an Audi CPO.

#4

Depending on how much you are going to modify the car, consider getting an extended warranty through Fidelity (Audi). If you do this now, they will often accept the PPI as the entry criteria. I got mine through Jim Ellis Audi for just a few $$ over invoice.

#5

Is that $26,000 price made up? i.e. the other guy is pretending to pay you that, but he’s not really, in order to keep tax down?

Anyway, if you can swap for $11,000 without sacrificing much/anything in the way of mileage/quality/condition it’s a no brainer. In 5 years that S4 will be worth $10,000 and the RS4 will be worth $20,000 so it’s like a $1,000 swap. Those are my invented numbers but I don’t think thye’re miles off.

Since you’re getting the car with a pseudo warranty that’s awesome, so you know everything should work. I would still find out if it’s got a compression problem…although that’s tough to quantify since RS4s of varying compression test results all act differently. At least you’ll see if one of the cylinders is fukt, but you’d kinda know that the second you drove it if it was. Would be interesting if you could wrangle a carbon clean into the deal. They probably aren’t qualified to do it.

p.s. does this reputable dealer have any other make dealers? I guess Audi isn’t one of them if so? That’s how I bought my B7 S4. They didn’t really know anything about the car and just wanted it off their lot. BMW dealer in Macon Georgia.

#6

DD…tell us about your warranty information

also we need a B6/7 S4/RS4 RNSe thread. I also have the 2010+ model, and would like to dig into AMI etc.

#7

Can I still do that with an 07 with 65k miles? Didn’t think that was still an option after it ticks over 50k miles.

#8

Saki, number is not made up. I was asking 28k his top dollar was 26 so I negotiated a few parts that are interchangeable :). The 25 Quattro have apparently elf there values very well as its gettin harder an harder to find a lower mileage one that isn’t f*cked. Remember it is also a full bolt on car with a engine with les then 20k on it. I got lucky and found the right buyer who could appreciate that almost immediately.

Mileage on the cars is the same so that’s a wash, car is in excellent condition inside, exterior will need a good paint correction but I can handle that. I was trying to work a CC in previously but they really knew nothing about the car and since it wasn’t throwing codes they don’t think anything is wrong. It’s jus a large Mercedes dealership no other brands under the umbrella. They just want the car off there lot and haven’t gotten much attention with it besides myself. They ha an rs5 there on trade as well that they were unloading. From my research some of the AMG cars also have carbon build up problems but I dot think Mercedes has acknowledged it at all so I probably would not want it done there. The previous owner got a cell from the build up though and that is why it was done according to service records.

#9

oh one was already done? Sorry I missed/forgot that.

Yeah, if they don’t own an Audi dealer, they want it out, and they won’t know how to do a carbon clean anyway (anymore than anyone starting from scratch would), so nevermind that angle.

Sounds like a good trade to me.

#10

[quote=“sakimano,post:5,topic:4449”]
that 5 years can’t come soon enough lol

#11

It’s amazing what the B5s sell for in the UK/EUR. Still can fetch $15,000-20,000 for good ones.

#12

I’m hoping rs4 hold their value being one of the few 6 speed RS models available. Especially specific colors. C6 Z06 dropped like rocks around 08 09 and have since been working their way back up surprisingly. I paid 26.5 for my s4 in march of '12 with 55k. I’m impressed it held its value that well.

#13

^^^to be honest, I think that’s a fluke…and you should sell it PRONTO to that guy before he figures out that he may be paying a premium.

For heaven’s sake don’t tell him what you’re paying for the RS4 lol

#14

I think it is still an option - but you would have to contact Audi/Fidelity to confirm.

My car had about 43k miles at purchase. I had Jim Ellis do the PPI, and then use that paperwork as entry criteria for a 5 year, 60k extended warranty. Total cash outlay was $4800. I hated forking that money over, but after reading about the cost of various repairs (and the semi-exotic nature of many RS4 parts), I needed peace of mind that I wasn’t about to purchase a money-pit. (If I am lucky, this will be wasted money. Like health insurance for your car… you don’t need it until you need it.)

After reading about all the different extended warranty companies (including BBB, online rating sites, etc.), the only company that I would consider is Fidelity. They are directly connected with Audi, and empower the dealer technicians to make warranty related decisions. All of the other companies require authorization from a central office bean counter.

If anyone is interested, I will look up the direct line of the sales manager that I dealt with. Because the car I ultimately purchased was 5 hours away, I did the entire transaction remotely (although the manager and PPI technician worked at the same dealer).

#15

Yes - we’ll need a new thread. I’ll start one tonight with pics, unless someone else beats me to it. ;D

(and yes, I’m also tempted to do the AMI, but at nearly $500, I don’t see the cost benefit over an aftermarket solution like the Denison unit.)

#16

65vetteC6, I wish you the best of luck with getting the RS4. Good to hear that you are going to get compression and cylinder leakage tests done anyways.

I have personally dealt with Fidelity so I know that most of what you said is wrong and as far as I am concerned they can all rot in hell!

Fidelity partnered with Audi for their extended warranties so they know just enough internal information to be a major pain in the ass. What I mean by that is Fidelity has access to the factory Audi warranty times so they got to pick and choose what times that they would pay to techs. They also only paid list price on parts which is what a customer paid if they got the parts over the front counter - I didn’t really care about that expect it made things a little more annoying. There is a phone number to the central bean counter’s office that the service advisers would have to call and usually they would be put on hold for at least forty five minutes before speaking to someone. Plus Fidelity plays all the normal extended warranty games like checking to see if the maintenance has been done and for bigger claims like engines/transmissions they had to see the point of failure. Which for concerns like timing chains and internal transmission issues made things a bit fuzzy because if the customer paid the tear down time then Fidelity refused to pay for the repair then the customer was getting their car back in pieces.

The only caveat to Fidelity was that the customer had to purchase the warranty through an Audi dealer for the dealer to be contractually obligated to accept what Fidelity paid out. So it became normal business practice to tell people to kick rocks if they got the Fidelity warranty someplace else. I also started to refuse all service to people with a proper Fidelity warranty because it wasn’t worth the headache. That is the end of my rant.

#17

Lol I have been keeping tabs on them being sold and bought over at audizine. I’m getting a good sale but not a fluke. They are going for 20-23 at dealer auctions. They think they have fucking gold because there is a number attached to the VIN. But I agree, at that price I had to sell! And ill get another 1500+ for wheels and extra crap that I’m keeping lol.

As for warranty, ill be putting the Kw v3, JHM shifte and hotchkis sways from my s4 right on to the rs4. And I’m sure I will have it tune with in a year so I probably won’t entertain the warranty situation. But last I checked with fidelity the car had to have less then 50k miles to get their platinum or gold warranty which were the only ones really worth getting iirc.

#18

[quote=“JimmyBones,post:16,topic:4449”]
Wow! BBB has them as the only A rated EW company. Is there any extended warranty you would recommend?

#19

Saki, I know you have mention in a couple places about logging the car as well before purchasing it, any link to what to log? I’m going to be bringing my vagcom down next time to run a scan anyway

#20

log groups 003 and 020 for starters

that way we can tell if it’s tuned, and get a feel for how bad/not bad the health of the car is performance wise.

go in third
sport mode on, ESP off (hold the button for 5 seconds…the release. ESP OFF will show and it will NOT flash. If it’s flashing it’s half off)
flat road
2000 RPM hit the throttle full rocket, and hold it till you hit the rev limiter at about 101 MPH

Do it again the other direction on the same road (if you can)

Post a google docs link to the excel spreadsheet and we’ll have a good look.

You can log loads of stuff but this will give us time, RPMs, MAF, Throttle, timing, and timing retardation on all 4 cylinders in bank 1