Audi S4 2.7 turbo - any good?

[jmc330i]

My brother is looking at getting another Audi and is looking at an S4.
IIRC the A4/S4 can be quite heavy on the front suspension but are there any other issues? Any engine/turbo dramas to look out for?

Cheers

[snakebrain]

I had a much more boring A4 for a while. They do like to eat front suspension arms but it's not a massive expense on the big scheme of things. I remember a £130 bill for changing a few arms. Can't comment on the feisty motor in the S4 though..

[iamsilverfox]

i had an s4. gave it hell and it was okay to be honest. there's lots of stories about turbos blowing, and early s4s on their original ko3's can be a rare thing now. i had no problem however and it ended up being 350bhp at the fly with just a stage 2 and gutted downpipes. to replace the turbos its an engine pull, but its not difficult at all. Depends i guess on what you define as difficult though ha. It was a pleasant 12 months or so i had out of it. fast and very torquey. bad on fuel, struggled to get 30 even on a run, and parts like exhaust temp sensors and stuff are expensive.

[jmc330i]

Cheers guys

Just been looking at a few Audi forums. On one of the forums, one guy posted a 'I'm thinking about buying an S4' thread and he got a long list of things that could go wrong and how expensive it would be to own, run, repair etc etc and basically only buy it if he didn't mind it spending more time in bits - and this was from enthusiastic owners lol

I found a more friendly forum that isn't full of doom and gloom stories and members hell bent on turning new owners away.

[iamsilverfox]

when i was reading forums and stuff people almost seem proud to say they own the 'famous unreliable b5 s4' but theyre idiots in it for the attention. its the same with any car; decent history, preventative maintenance, mechanical sympathy, and a bit of luck