2004 S4 Avant

[thejimrose]

no difference in 04/05 except change to synth oil. 04's were dino. many
reccommend avoiding the 04 for that reason, but it's minor IMO.

agreed to get the newer, less worn car. saw a lot of these come thru the
shop at stasis. nowhere near the tuner monster the b5 was, but overall a
MUCH nicer daily driver, street car. far stiffer chassis, much nicer
interior,  really a great driver. feels solid, substantial, and enough
performance to be fun. stout car overall, no carbon issues the fsi motors
have. common issues would be coils [surprise], clutches [no flaw methinks,
just heavy car/high power/lots of bad drivers]. maintenance is $$$ - clutch
job for example will run around $2k. bit of a bear to work on with all that
motor stuffed in there. they also go through brakes and control arms [again,
surprise] - nose heavy car.

oe suspension is TERRIBLE. poor spring selection and shoddy damper. get
coilovers, avoid koni as theyre too softly sprung. bilstein or hr would be
my pick. totally transforms the car. RSB sorts out understeer. car is
underbraked if you plan to really drive it at all get some real brakes.

throw an exhaust on it and giggle every time you  back off the throttle.
avoid downpipes - they add power but make them sound like a 71 hemicuda.

oh high bias center diff [stasis] is a really nice mod on these - with all
that torque thrwing more power at the rears makes or fun.

i ALMOST bought a manual wagon, a few times. kept steering clear b/c gas
mileage is AWFUL. only real flaw. cars get 14/19 whereas my b7a4 is turning
24/28..

hope that helps.