Firstly, try to discover why they are selling the car.
Check that their rational is reasonable. Remember, the
car you’ll be looking at will be less than three-years old,
so you need to find out why it’s being sold. Ensure you
are happy with the mileage - ask questions regarding the
condition of bodywork, the wheels and tyres, details of
when the car was last serviced and by whom.
Find out if the car is 6-speed or Tiptronic, what
remaining manufacturers warranty there is, and if the
car has been modified. Check to see if the car has been
garaged when not in use. Ask if the vehicle has been
subject to any accidents or damage of any kind and if
so, enquire who carried out the repairs.
Is the car under a finance agreement? Does the owner
have documentation to substantiate the car is not owned
by someone else?
After ascertaining the address of where the vehicle can
be viewed, ask the owner if this is their home address.
Always be wary of
owners that offer to
meet you at
locations other than
their home. Check
with the owner that
they are happy to
allow you to test
drive the car, and if
they will give their consent to have the car screened by
Carfax or HPi (vehicle verification agencies) before
purchase.
With regards to the test drive, check with the owner that
you will be insured to drive the vehicle – be it under the
owners policy or your own. Never take the risk of
driving without checking this first – the consequences
of this can be dire!
You’ll need to feel comfortable with the responses you
are given. If you are in doubt or your suspicions are
raised, it’s best to make your excuses and phone the
owner of the next car on your list.
At the end of this article is a used car buyer’s checklist
that you should use when you view the vehicle.
Modifications
Now depending on your own personal preferences, you
may wish to purchase an original vehicle or a vehicle
that has been modified.
If you elect to go for the latter, depending on which
country or state you live in, you may be required to pay
additional insurance premiums depending on the
modifications rendered.
These cars usually tend to have issues that the main
dealer may be unable or unwilling to assist you with,
and you’ll want to note that Audi have recently revised
their policies with regard to warrantable work on
modified cars in the USA and the UK with other
countries following suit, meaning that in the event of a
problem, you’ll foot the bill.
The most popular modification to an S4 is
“chip tuning” also known as “chipping” or
“engine remapping”.
Such modifications allow the BHP and torque of the
vehicle to be increased dramatically.
Prolonged use or sustained hard driving of a modified
car can result in expensive component failure. The
most common failures being leaking intercooler pipes
which give way due to the increased pressure carried by
them and failed turbos (usually the oil seals) requiring
the engine to be removed for replacement – a very
costly procedure.
The smooth lines of the S4
Early cars pre “1999.5” as they are called, use an early
version of the K03 turbo charger and were fitted with
less resilient intercooler hoses. Audi did put a recall
out for these vehicles to have the hoses replaced under
warranty, but not all dealerships seem to do this
voluntarily – you will need to ask them to perform the
work if it’s not already been done when you take the
car in for service.
2000 model year cars seem to fare a lot better on the
modification front. The hoses used are stronger and the
K03 turbos are allegedly of a revised design.
Other popular modifications include lowering the ride-
height of the car to gain additional stability during
cornering, short shifters, to lessen the throw of the gear
lever and to give a more “solid” feel during changes,
alloy wheel upgrades and various spoiler and grille
options.
