Daily driver:Audi S4 Biturbo or 951?
 

Hey all,
It's been a year since I sold the 951. In the next year or so I may be in the market for another fun car. I want it to be something that can easily handle being my daily driver/commuter with some tuning potential. I'm not against the occational maintinance required, but I don't want a money pit or reliability issue.

That said, my 951 wasn't that bad of a daily driver. However I have just found out about the Audi S4 Biturbo, and it seems like it could be a great, fun daily. I know you can make some decent power with simple upgrades on S4s, but I worry about reliability and general repair cost.

Anybody own one? What do you think about them vs the 951?
:icon107:

For a true daily... in Maryland... the S4 no question.

This coming from a former tuned Audi owner...

S4

Doesn't the S4 have turbo issues?

At any rate I would still think for a daily driver a S4 Avant would be my pick.

That's what I was thinking too, the S4 seems just about perfect. I just worry about reliability, I can't handle a multi-thousand dollar bill that I can't fix myself!
How often do the turbos or trannys go out on chipped cars? I would just do a chip and exhaust on it, nothing serious.

951

I had an a4 for 8 years and loved it. if you owned a 951 i'm sure the repair costs will be manageable.

The S4's did have a turbo issue, many of them started leaking at the inner seals after 10k miles. But for the most part, a lot of them didnt have a problem.

After having done quite a few turbo swaps on S4's and general maintenance work on audis, I wouldn't own one out of warranty. Even when the engine is sitting on the table out of the car....you still can't see the damn turbos. I think they are very cool cars, but my lord.....

S4 for DD; with the quattro and a set of performance all season tires it will get you thru the winter. Even better is a second set of wheels/tires - one with hi-perf summer tires and one with real winter tires. 951's are great but mine only goes out in nice weather during the winter.

110K miles on my S4 with original turbos; chipped for 85K miles.

:cheers:

s4, it's friggi 10 years newer! ;)

I couldn't have said it better.
My girlfriend's Audi is a GIANT piece of ****!
Anything that can go wrong with it, has or is about to go wrong.
If a completely unusable car is a lemon, the Audi is a red grapefruit...at best. It sure as hell is no peach.
I have three other friends that have had even worse problems than my GF. And when here car acts like ****, guess who get's to fix/get it towed...etc? Yep. ME!

Buy a 951, with minimal mods and well cared for, then leave it that way. In that state, these cars are bullet proof.

S4 but engine problems spell $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ so buy well!

Have you ever seen a timing belt job on the S4?
IIRC, you have to remove the front bumper and grill for starters.

I don't know that either of those cars will be a no maintenance, cheap to operate car. Tuning notwithstanding.

For similar money to any decent B5 S4 you can pick up a Boxster, or even an S, with probably fewer miles. It can handle daily duty and is more fun to drive than the S4 IMHO, even without turbos. Running costs are pretty low as the cars are still new and the engines not overstressed.

A 951 will be older and will definitely require random replacements of things like bushings and other wear items. So still not cheap to own.