RS 45.000 km summary

[MR USER]

I think I was one of the very first etremely lucky owners of the B7 RS4 as I got to drive my baby late march / early april of 2006...

Since then We went a long way together... as we did more than 45k km.

I had a small accident (bike failing to brake as fast as me and smashing in my boot) with no strutural damage.
I also had few reapairs done under warranty and due to small imperfection of the early model.
As an example I had my whole dashbord changed as there was an electronic fault in one of the sensors.
I had my brakes and my rotors changed as they bent and got cracks next to the cross drills on the front disks.
Few other minor adjustments to the radiator fan and other small details.

I'm not complainig as the services given to me by Audi were impeccable, free of charge and extremely efficent!!! Infact I'm very happy with my whole RS4 experiance.

On monday I had an appointment for an oil change and a check to cuple components. Yesterday the dealer called me asking for more time to fix the car (2 weeks instead of 1).
I have no problem with that as they offer me a replacement car and if they need more time to do their job well I understand!
I asked why and he told me: You asked to refill the air conditioning circuit but you have a minor fault on the compressor. we will replace it to a new one!
You requested a check to the rear suspention system and we will replace all of them as there is a minor oil likage.
You requested to fix the plastic cover under the engine and we will replace it to a new one and we will change the locking system of the bonnet!

All this for free of course!!!

THe engine is running smoothly and I haven't experianced any power loss since the 15.000 km mark when the engine reached its peack performance (yes it took that long!) I put in about 15/20 liters of extra oil and changed the oil at least 8 times (of wich 4 in the fist 15k km).
The running temperatures are fine and except in extreme circumstances it doe not go over 125 celsius.
The fuel consumption went down after the first 20 k km. I used only 2 sets of pirellis for all the 45k (i think is fantastic with such a car).
The gearbox is just superb and feels fantastic. The clutch gives no signs of deterioration. The Quattro is excellent and performs very well an wet and dry condition. electrical system and all the options are flawless. The navigaion system is quite good and gave me no problem. The quality of the connector of the Ipod is poor... it often has disturbances and poor sound quality.

The black paint is good but could not stand the high speed impact with small rocks and its' marked in few spots...
THe cromed parts present only minor stains (much better than early models).

I drove my car hard for all the km it has on the clock... but this car is meant to be driven like that! I am just asking myself and you all if these problems are related to the fact this is an early model or you have experianced similar faults. Then of course I share my experience with you as some of you could have the same problem but not realised it yet! Make sure you get it fixed under warranty!!!! else will be a disaster!!!

[BigRick]

Thsnk for your summary.

I'm now reaching 20k km and my only concern is the clutch and the power loss between 1st and 2nd with ASR on. The dealer is actually looking into these two things while I write this so I'll give you an update probably tomorrow.

As you're saying this car is meant to be driven hard but it's so pleasant even when cruising :bow:

Sound system is near perfect (navigation in radio station could be much better)
Traction in wet and dry are excellent (will probably try snow this winter)
Navigation is better than average; I think better controls would help a lot and I feel the interface is kinda upside down in many ways (zoom in/out and the list of exits should be reverse for me)
Engine is MARVELLOUS... nothing else to say about it
Oil comsumption has stabilized since 15k
Can't say if gaz consumption has changed my driving is constantly changing so ti's hard to tell.
Seats are a perfect fit for me (I'm a big guy. I don't fit well in let say Japenesse cars... they're made for toothpicks! :))
Climate control defenitely needs some tuning. In a car of that price I shouldn't have to mess with it every time a cloud passes by on a sunny day!
Audi's service is top notch

Overall the car performs well over my expectations. :rs4addict :king:

[piero]

The loss between 1st and 2nd gear with asr is normal. The wheels would "burn" a bit if no asr, so with asr on, the system stop the wheels a micro second, which produce this less of power.

You just have to try with asr off, and you'll see that gears go fast, and that there is nothing which comes braking the acceleration....

[BigRick]

The loss between 1st and 2nd gear with asr is normal. The wheels would "burn" a bit if no asr, so with asr on, the system stop the wheels a micro second, which produce this less of power.

You just have to try with asr off, and you'll see that gears go fast, and that there is nothing which comes braking the acceleration....

I know, I was in fact one of the first on this board to report that ASR off was the solution to this problem but it looks like there's an update that reduce the power loss (24H8 ECU Update, brings it near ASR off) even when ASR on.

I would add that ASR should only get in the way a micro-second after the wheels have started to "burn" not a micro-second before. But that's my personal preference.

Cheers!

[cally]

is this update from audi?

[BigRick]

is this update from audi?

Would love to know... it's still unclear if it's an update by itself or just a generic code associated to RS4 ecu update. My technician told me that 24H8-I3 was done on mine some time ago and that 24H8 was the prefix to any RS4 update.

These things are quite hard to get good information about so if anyone else has more precise information then post it here.

[Skaala]

youre very lucky to hade a dealer like this. Try this in Norway, and you would be a poor man. I have almost never gotten anything under warranty, and I really have to argue a lot with them, demanding them to do certain things under warranty. One year I took the car to be serviced in germany, and they did it for 400euros instead of 4500euros in norway, and they fixed a bunch of other small things for free. ex 4 new abs/esp sensors, left front inner fender, some rear bushings, a headlamp (it was leaking and Audi norway wanted 2000euros). So I'm servicing my cars in Germany as often as it is possible. Especially with the yearly ones.

[RussianM3_dude]

I think I was one of the very first etremely lucky owners of the B7 RS4 as I got to drive my baby late march / early april of 2006...

Since then We went a long way together... as we did more than 45k km.

I had a small accident (bike failing to brake as fast as me and smashing in my boot) with no strutural damage.
I also had few reapairs done under warranty and due to small imperfection of the early model.
As an example I had my whole dashbord changed as there was an electronic fault in one of the sensors.
I had my brakes and my rotors changed as they bent and got cracks next to the cross drills on the front disks.
Few other minor adjustments to the radiator fan and other small details.

I'm not complainig as the services given to me by Audi were impeccable, free of charge and extremely efficent!!! Infact I'm very happy with my whole RS4 experiance.

On monday I had an appointment for an oil change and a check to cuple components. Yesterday the dealer called me asking for more time to fix the car (2 weeks instead of 1).
I have no problem with that as they offer me a replacement car and if they need more time to do their job well I understand!
I asked why and he told me: You asked to refill the air conditioning circuit but you have a minor fault on the compressor. we will replace it to a new one!
You requested a check to the rear suspention system and we will replace all of them as there is a minor oil likage.
You requested to fix the plastic cover under the engine and we will replace it to a new one and we will change the locking system of the bonnet!

All this for free of course!!!

THe engine is running smoothly and I haven't experianced any power loss since the 15.000 km mark when the engine reached its peack performance (yes it took that long!) I put in about 15/20 liters of extra oil and changed the oil at least 8 times (of wich 4 in the fist 15k km).
The running temperatures are fine and except in extreme circumstances it doe not go over 125 celsius.
The fuel consumption went down after the first 20 k km. I used only 2 sets of pirellis for all the 45k (i think is fantastic with such a car).
The gearbox is just superb and feels fantastic. The clutch gives no signs of deterioration. The Quattro is excellent and performs very well an wet and dry condition. electrical system and all the options are flawless. The navigaion system is quite good and gave me no problem. The quality of the connector of the Ipod is poor... it often has disturbances and poor sound quality.

The black paint is good but could not stand the high speed impact with small rocks and its' marked in few spots...
THe cromed parts present only minor stains (much better than early models).

I drove my car hard for all the km it has on the clock... but this car is meant to be driven like that! I am just asking myself and you all if these problems are related to the fact this is an early model or you have experianced similar faults. Then of course I share my experience with you as some of you could have the same problem but not realised it yet! Make sure you get it fixed under warranty!!!! else will be a disaster!!!

Man, driving the RS4 in Geneva/Vaud must suck royaly. 20+ cameras between Lausanne and Geneva. I hate that road.

I have to say that the early RS4 seem to have a hint of Lemon about them. I have lots of small problems. Obviously I try to fix them as soon as they begin to develop. My car is at the dealer as I type, new door handle, S(ubtle) Mode checked out, brakes checked out, gearbox might be repaired.

[MR USER]

[QUOTE=RussianM3_dude;103591]Man, driving the RS4 in Geneva/Vaud must suck royaly. 20+ cameras between Lausanne and Geneva. I hate that road.

It does a lot especially if you consider that you go to jail and they take a % of your gross salary....

It's really extreme here! That is why I go to Italy very very often and there I can use all the 450 bhp

[RussianM3_dude]

How safe are you in Italy? I went to Milan in April and while I drove pretty fast 140/150 I did not want to push it, since I don't know if their are cameras in Italy or how severe the penalties are.

[M3_SMG]

Why are your RS4's so unreliable. You had more things done on your car in 45 000 km's than i have had done on my 2004 M3 in 100 000 km's. Only things changed on my car were wear and tear items like brake pads,clutch etc. She has never skipped a beat.

[RussianM3_dude]

Audi's actually have this thing, when it rains, it pours. My RS4 is a January 2006 build, so almost preproduction. Besides, it's the VW genes. All my BMWs were flawless, heck I had less problems with my Alfa.

[Benman]

MR USER :cheers: ,

27K miles in your first year or so... awesome to hear. Sounds a lot like the mileage I piled onto my :rs6kiss: . As time goes by it gets used less and less sadly, but loved all the same. :D

Ben:addict:

[MR USER]

I do not regret this small issues and i'm not bothered at all by the time the car gets to spend in the workshop!!! It might sound crazy but that is the way it is!
I'm racing cars in italy and the car we have is getting fixed all the time even if it does not have any problem... The RS4 is such a jewel to me that I strongly believe it needs all the care and attention I and the garage can possibly give it!

For the people that think this is too much and that their car never had any issue... my comment is think again!
The stress that every part gets in a performance car means hevy wear and strong mechanicle fatigue. In other words every car will have problems... the driver might not be sensitive enough to realise it and their dealer not honest enough to tell them!!! So as I was saying before if you think your car does not have any problem... think again and may be spend more time questioning how onest is your dealer when he checks the car!!!

Said that well I'm extremely happy for the way my dealer is treating me!!! I ask to check something and they do it, find the problem, fix it and charge me 0 for it!!! what more could I ask! I get free parts and work to refresh my 46 k km car!!! that is just fantastic!!!

I bet your BMW dealer does not do that! M3 SMG

Russian_M3 Dude... please do not mention Alfas to me.. I get a nervous brakedown each time I see one going by! I had one for 1.2 year and I got sooo many major problems that I sold it with 20k km on the clock! Just to mention The gearbox got repalced 3 times and the problem I had was never fixed!

Ben... thanks! You konw you do not really pay attention to the milage when you enjoy your ride that much!!! + I do not use the car for daily commutes to work... only on WE!!!!

[M3_SMG]

I do not regret this small issues and i'm not bothered at all by the time the car gets to spend in the workshop!!! It might sound crazy but that is the way it is!
I'm racing cars in italy and the car we have is getting fixed all the time even if it does not have any problem... The RS4 is such a jewel to me that I strongly believe it needs all the care and attention I and the garage can possibly give it!

For the people that think this is too much and that their car never had any issue... my comment is think again!
The stress that every part gets in a performance car means hevy wear and strong mechanicle fatigue. In other words every car will have problems... the driver might not be sensitive enough to realise it and their dealer not honest enough to tell them!!! So as I was saying before if you think your car does not have any problem... think again and may be spend more time questioning how onest is your dealer when he checks the car!!!

Said that well I'm extremely happy for the way my dealer is treating me!!! I ask to check something and they do it, find the problem, fix it and charge me 0 for it!!! what more could I ask! I get free parts and work to refresh my 46 k km car!!! that is just fantastic!!!

I bet your BMW dealer does not do that! M3 SMG

Russian_M3 Dude... please do not mention Alfas to me.. I get a nervous brakedown each time I see one going by! I had one for 1.2 year and I got sooo many major problems that I sold it with 20k km on the clock! Just to mention The gearbox got repalced 3 times and the problem I had was never fixed!

Ben... thanks! You konw you do not really pay attention to the milage when you enjoy your ride that much!!! + I do not use the car for daily commutes to work... only on WE!!!!

THe M3 is also a high performance car, so going on your theory i should of had issues already. Hasnt happened sir. Maybe you should investigate the BMW motorplan before you comment. I can take my car in and tell them i want whatever changed, they will change it free of charge. The BMW motorplan in South Africa covers EVERYTHING. INcluding wear and tear items.

My car has a BMW Motorplan up to 150 000 km's. Anything and i mean anything that needs replacing they replace, no questions asked.