What should I test drive so that I know what I want?

Acme said:
Oh and FWIW, you can get a good B6 S4 for under £7K, full history, 80K~ miles.

They have timing chains, not belts. The aux belt change requires taking the bumper off and headlights out because it is on the front of the engine, but the engine doesn't have to come out.

Consumables aren't too expensive either, as they are basically just Audi A4 bits for the most part, and the bits that aren't, aren't too bad either... :)

That doesn't mean its a good idea though... :p
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I had a B6 S4, lovely car but the engines can chuck up some monster bills, add to that never getting more than 200 miles from a tank and they aren't for the misers among us.

Lovely sounding engine when its running, but from cold start up the chain slap you get is so embarrassing, I would always wait for people to drive off from petrol station forecourts so they couldn't hear it, then treat them to decent sound from the exhaust rather than a bag of nails in a washing machine.

 
I heard about the timing chain issues, I think the consensus is that it shouldn't do it, i.e it isn't normal. Something to do with the tensioner and the chain skipping when you start it. People were making noises like "If your car does this and you don't fix it, a new engine isn't far down the road..."

Clarkson said:
Please don't ruin a 350z :p
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I haven't ruined any cars I've owned, they came pre-ruined. :p
 
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Acme said:
Oh and FWIW, you can get a good B6 S4 for under £7K, full history, 80K~ miles.
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Do yourself favour and forget all about this - your calamitous buying and running of cars is absolutely not suited to something like an old S4

The Nissan is, surprisingly for you quite a good idea for a quick, good looking coupe. Save up, get someone with half a clue about cars to get a shortlist of a few then just buy one
 
Acme said:
I heard about the timing chain issues, I think the consensus is that it shouldn't do it, i.e it isn't normal..?
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Quite normal actually and not an issue but it was so painful to listen to, poor oil reservoirs lead to the chain getting dry apparently, I went through a costly process of having all the tensioners changed, whole new chain (big job) and various other bits and pieces, only for it to start doing it 5,000 miles later...

Nice car, but please don't buy one you couldn't afford to run it.
 
Just did some reading into the timing chain tensioner issues and such, seems it isn't normal, and that it costs a billion pounds to fix. Around £2500 - £3000 for the timing chain kit, and then about 16 million hours of labour to remove, strip down, and re-assemble the engine/car. :p

Safe to say I've been put off of that dream... :(
 
He is buying a nippier version of his Skoda for £7k...in grey, with a new engine, still more powerful than anything else he has ever owned and actually not been written off or "service history in the post m8"

Also got a bad scratch done by some car park moron as I know how you like a bit of **** bodywork

.....it's a great car....honest
 
Eh..? :confused:

If you seriously think I haven't learned about buying CAT D cars or cars with no history from people who claim to know nothing about them, then thankfully you're wrong. I've already shot off both my feet with car buying decisions, I'm not about to shoot off an arm for good measure... :p
 
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Acme said:
Just did some reading into the timing chain tensioner issues and such, seems it isn't normal, and that it costs a billion pounds to fix. Around £2500 - £3000 for the timing chain kit, and then about 16 million hours of labour to remove, strip down, and re-assemble the engine/car. :p

Safe to say I've been put off of that dream... :(
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Expensive performance cars are expensive performance cars. When they are new they cost lots to buy and depreciate by lots. Then they become old and cost lots to run and become less reliable and cost lots to fix.

There is no free lunch and there is a reason why cars like this are comparatively rare.
 
Meh. Don't be put off by all the nay sayers. The S4 is a cracking motor for what it is, and not necessarily hugely expensive to run. If you can pick a good one to start with.

In fact, I'm thinking of getting another for a year or so when the 5 series goes. Was thinking that or a Golf GTI or something else relatively cheap. While I save a bit of coin for something altogether more exotic.
 
Let's be honest here. Acme's going to buy a Cat C RX8 with 160k miles on the clock which is in John O Groats but someone on a forum recommended it and because he changed an indicator bulb on an RX8 once he is a pro. The car will have full service history but it's at the seller's mom's place so will have to be sent in the post. It will be on it's original engine still but it's ok because it's the very rare Unicorn Blue colour and comes with an LSD and some tune up bits in the boot. The interior will be from a different model and this is definitely not because the car flooded once when the previous owner left the sun roof open in the rain.

And it'll be a steal for £7500.

Sound about right? :D
 
No Diddums, no. If I buy another lemon I'm going to push it off of beachy head and get an Oyster card. :rolleyes:

:p
 
Until you see a nice set of Eibachs going cheap right? :D





(I'm totally messing with you btw, I trust you learned your lesson and will avoid lemons in future and wish you all the best)
 
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