Considering B6 to B7 S4 Upgrade. Should I?

[Q-DawgVFR]

I don't post on here much, as most of my questions have been asked by others, but I value the opinions of the experienced on this forum.

Well as the title says, I am considering upgrading the car I have (early build B6 S4) to a B7.

Reasons I got into this thought path:

- My car has was a US import, bought sight unseen but inspected (thanks for the bogus inspection AoA dealer who took my money). Low mileage but rough around the edges, considering. The seats haven't held up well (alcantara never again) and body has a few more dings and scratches than I would like. There's a couple mechanical things that will need attention in future (still unsolved intermittent rougher idle when hot - no codes) and clutch is starting to get worn. Rather than sink thousands into the mechanical and still have a car that looks like it could be better, I would love to just get a fresher B7 for about the same money and have a nicer car.

- My car (silver '04 manual) is low miles (just coming up on 60K miles) and has a few upgrades (miltek exhaust, 19" RS6 wheels, sway bars, Apikol snub mount, coilovers, JHM spacers, RNS-E upgrade, headlight eyebrows, and a couple uninstalled mods sitting in my garage (front Cupra R lip), LED tails, JHM shifter (I know it should be on there already) and a mesh style badgeless grille. Had new water pump, new aux rads put in a few years ago. Just had new plugs and coilpacks put in it. Even with its faults, the car has some appeal and the unusually low mileage should (hopefully) help selling it.

- Many of the mods could be swapped over easily, but I would probably just transfer my winter wheels, JHM parts, the uninstalled lip and shifter parts, and start over with the rest (to me it's not worth the effort of uninstalling and swapping many parts)

- I can think of a few advantages of B7 over the B6: comes with RNS-E (not as cool as I had originally thought when I first got it. I would be happy with aftermarket too), less "early build date" inferior part designs and exceptions, steering wheel audio, better headlights, newer look, color of my choice (sprint blue), better torque bias towards rear of car on center diff, quad exhaust tips, what else am I missing????

So with all that on the table and looking at a 114,000 KM mileage sprint blue car later this weekend for asking price of $18 CDN (hoping will sell closer to $15-16, but willing to go to $17 if its a real great car), what are your guys' opinions?

Is there any great reasons NOT to do the upgrade to newer car, besides limited additional money to throw at the car, the fact that I still somewhat prefer the look of the B6 over the B7? And the fact that my car has less miles and more farkles on it? (yes I am weird that way, I like the B6 better for looks)

If I go ahead, I will look for engine issues first and foremost. Planning on full inspection at local european car shop, with compression / leakdown test on cylinders. Anything else you can think of that I should be watchful for?

More expensive car choices like a B8 S4 are not really a consideration right now, as much as I like them. Thinking about that or other options, like RS3 down the road. I love the 5 cyl sound and turbo power. But I don't know if I would buy yet another Audi or consider other options in future. I am not brand loyal, but I like the quality feel of driving a German built car.

[Mr.Wrong]

Well aesthetics are subjective so that aside, there's not much to gain going from B6 to B7 S4. You won't notice almost any difference inside the cockpit. Steering wheel and RNS-E, which is easily solved on B6, get a B8.5 steering wheel with single stage air bag and RNS-E or aftermarket one of your choice. Center diff could be upgraded and it'll give you same performance offering as in a B7. If you're going to upgrade, I strongly suggest to look into B7 RS4, now there you'll feel quite a difference. Besides they're quite affordable these days and don't be afraid to look into higher mileage one as BNS is a better engine than BHF by far. My vote, either keep your B6 that you already know in and out and fix it up or upgrade to B7 RS4.

[Q-DawgVFR]

OK I need to clarify the "buy something else" option. $20K or less is my budget, no exceptions.

My wife is chronically ill and on disability now with no idea if / when she will return to work. I have three boys to think about besides what I want. So taking on debt is not an option, even though I could manage.

Which means doubling my budget to hunt for an RS4 isn't gonna happen, as cool as they are. And there's other fun cars for $30K besides the RS4.

Yes I can upgrade the B6 components to B7 spec parts, for even more money and a decent amount of time / effort in the garage. With sick spouse, I have very little time for hobbies, which is why replacing the car seemed as logical as pending the money to spruce it up. At the end of the day, I would still have a B6 car that is aesthetically rougher around the edges with body and interior, even if the mechanical is tip top, which it isn't at the moment and I need to address those items.

[roboto_1337]

The low mileage is nice, but it may be putting itself in the window of needing the timing compnents done... that being said I picked up my B7 for 9k with 188k on the clock and it's been a gem! I would personally look into one that's recently had all the big money work done, with some higher miles, or try to steal one (figuratively) and make your desired upgrades to the timing/drivetrain when you have to pull the engine. $18k seems like a lot for a B7. Especially when you could slip into an RS4 for a couple grand more.

[roboto_1337]

Sorry to double post but this car seems very similar to one I was looking at back in June... it had roughy 120k on it and the owner was asking $12.5k. Two sets of wheels, I was not able to look at it because it sold very quickly and I was unable to travel to see it.

[IslandHydro]

The B6 has lower mileage, is a known commodity (no hidden issues), and is a better looking car (IMO). I think this is a no brainer... Give the B6 some love and put some money away for the boys college.

[Q-DawgVFR]

Well, looked at the one local car that caught my interest today. It is an '06 Sprint Blue manual with low miles. The car is bone stock and in pretty decent shape. It's a Vancouver BC car originally (didn't see much snow) and had the engine pulled and new clutch done. Front control arms redone, newer battery. One stock wheel is curbed but spare looks good. Headlights looking a bit cloudy. Front bumper has a scuff on one side (bottom inch, easy to hide with touch-ups) Brakes are shot, so that is reasonably easy for me to do and gives me leverage to ask considerably less. Engine sounds much better than mine. No chain rattle on start-up, but car was warm when I viewed it and mine is always worse when cold. I could see myself making an offer on the car but I told the guy I want to think about it before I decide what I want to do.

Definitely weighing all the options, including hanging onto what car I already have and doing the work it needs.

I guess part of my hesitation to keep the car is the fact that other than clutch, I have two problems that I don't know to do to fix. And I have taken it in to get looked at three times and gotten different answers. Maybe you guys can help?

Issue #1: unknown hot idle roughness issue. Worse in the summer months. After I have driven for a while (full operating temp) and come to a stop at the lights, the car will be sitting there idling roughly, sort of makes a bit of a clacking noise like something is sloppy in the engine. It's similar to misfire in roughness but I get no codes. Haven't hooked up to VAG COM because I have no idea what to even look for. I have VAG COM that I have used like three times, but I usually get by with my cheap OBD II reader because it is easy to use. I have my own fears that it is timing components needing service (not sure how to confirm this) but it seems unusual that it comes and goes and doesn't seem to present as typical stories here on the forum describe the chain rattle when things are getting bad. I do have start-up chain rattle for like a second when I start the car from cold, but it always goes away in about a second while the engine catches and comes to life.

Anyway, aside from my timing component fears, I have been told it is engine mounts by one shop, and also recently been told it is likely plugged cats by shop manager at Audi dealer ( he said he didn't think it was likely timing parts, but didn't really take much of a listen)

Issue #2: tiny unresolved coolant leak. Had water pump replaced once, then a second time by a shop I will not name. It leaks from that same approximate area, tiny quarter sized puddle each time I park the car. I seriously question whether the water pump ever leaked and if the second time was a complete misdiagnosis or not. I have had coolant system pressure tested twice at two different repair shops. (It comes back OK and no visible leaks) and nobody seems to be able to tell me where it's coming from. Probably because it is impossible to see much under there. The shop that did pressure test said something about a sensor under intake manifold that sometimes leaks?? But it was just guessing and I didn't want to spend more time and money on guessing games only to get burned again by repair shops.

I find it sad that I am often able (when I have the time) to figure out problems that the repair shops can't seem to figure out, and do it without blindly replacing parts on a hope and a prayer. Sorry, I'm ranting. You guys probably have same problems with servicing vehicles.

Issue #3: Clutch is starting to go. I was told it was showing signs and I noticed the high engagement point. I know what to do about this issue and it involves me pulling the engine.

So with all that on the table, if I kept the car, I would probably pull the engine, do the clutch (possibly upgrade to B7 or JHM lightweight) and do the timing service since I am already in there. May as well do the other engine mounts too (I have Apikol snub mount already)

That's a lot of time and effort and/or money. Which is what got me thinking about the option of upgrading the whole car.

I do have the skills to do the work myself, but time is limited. I have on various vehicles changed timing belts and water pumps, taken off manifolds and heads, installed supercharger and other fun stuff. But I would have a hard time paying the shops to do it when they charge so many hours labor! It's painful.

[Velox]

Has been a while that I drove the B7, but in my memory it handled quite a lot better than my s4 b6 (spirited/aggressive driving)

[Q-DawgVFR]

Update:

After thinking it over a lot, I decided to part company with my current B6 car, as much as I absolutely love it. I decided I would go the B7 route and look for a clean example. Found a local car with similar mileage to my own, test drove it. Seemed far from the "immaculate" condition advertised in the for sale ad, but I paid for an inspection anyway. Turned out I should have walked away at the first opportunity: the car needs all kinds of work. I was comfortable in thinking that the "stick with the devil you know" thought camp was in fact correct on the matter. Finding a low mileage or well maintained (with the expensive work behind it) B6/B7 was proving to be a bit of a tough order, without spending too much money.

In short, I was going to abandon my quest for a newer V8 S4.

Then as I was shopping through the ads one last time, I spotted a needle in a haystack. A used B8 with slightly higher than average mileage, for a much lower price than I had ever seen a B8 advertised for. What was wrong with it to be this price? Turns out there's not a whole lot wrong with it, but the low asking price seemed to be making people wary.

It has some aggressive rock chipping around the wheel wells (from running extra wide winter tires without mudflaps) so will need a few paint touch-ups, needs some fluid changes, and a windshield, but not much else. Has an aftermarket full exhaust (not sure which one) but I think it is AWE. It is pretty loud though. Inspection didn't turn up any big surprises as the owner was VERY forthcoming and pretty knowledgeable about the condition of the car. A B8 was always my first choice over the B6 I bought, but when I bought my car the new B8 platform had only just been announced and I am not keen on being a first model year guinea pig ever again.

Soooooo......... I pulled the trigger on the deal and will soon be sporting an "arrest-me-red" B8 S4 manual in the garage, but it is getting a few maintenance things done this week to get it ready for use. I will be posting up with my low mileage (just under 60K miles) B6 for sale very soon.

My gut is telling me that I am making the right choice for my needs and wants.

Honestly I am surprised that I am going this route, as I hadn't anticipated finding this deal but it was too good to refuse.

Thanks for the feedback people, there were some good points made.

I'm looking forward to the newer car but I'm gonna miss the hell out of the quiet smoothness of the V8. And the B6/B7 platform is still one of the sexiest looking sedans on the planet.

[Mr. Corey]

Congrats on the new whip! Post up some photo's!!