Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-19-2012, 08:23 AM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX USA
5,251 posts, read 14,121,230 times
Reputation: 8227

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by flynavyj View Post
Probably driven hard, but likely well maintained...most folks don't destroy a car they spent $50k on...some, but definitely not most. If you can find a good "1 owner vehicle" you'd be set, cause I bet it was very well taken care of. If it's had more than 1 owner, i'd worry about another guy like you, who purchased the car for a cheap price, drove the snot out of it, and then sold it when it wouldn't beat his buddies Z06.
I have to disagree, the reason people get rid of these cars is because the warranty is up, and maintenance is a nightmare

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fargobound View Post
The biggest problem is the first owners on hissy fit cars like the S4 were smart enough to dump them before or shortly after the warranty ended. Just the mere mention of cam adjuster, chain guides and a few thousand dollars were enough to have many S4 owners dump their headache.
Yep, these cars are great while they are under warranty, after that. I would not touch one with a 10ft pole, unless I had piles and piles and piles of paperwork.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-19-2012, 08:47 AM
 
2,631 posts, read 6,985,017 times
Reputation: 1408
Quote:
Originally Posted by flynavyj View Post
(this isn't a life advice thread) but be careful buying a car on projected income, or financing something for ages just for the sake of getting it.

Back to the car discussion. The S4 is a fantastic performance car, along the lines of the M3, but significantly more practical with the advantage of quattro AWD. The 4.2L V8 is a fantastic engine, but it doesn't leave a lot of extra room in the bay to do many external modifications...this motor is beyond "shoehorned" in the bay, it's a tight friggin fit! It does appear there's a supercharger kit for the S4 4.2 V8, but from my quick google search, it runs ~$9000+....a tad out of the price range of the average guy.

Honestly, i'd worry significantly less about beating your friends at drag races, bragging rights will really only go so far, and your likes/desires will change as you get a little older. at which point, you'll probably regret modifying and taking all the functionality from a highly engineered german sedan away from the car, just to gain a couple tenths in a straight line. I'd buy the S4, and just enjoy it as is, with the potential for a performance tune, intake, exhaust system. If my buddies kept calling picking on me for having a slower car than them, I'd ask the ladies which car they'd rather ride in....and trust me, the S4 would win. It's classy, comfortable, beautiful, etc....and as such, leagues above the other cars in the lineup, and the only thing coming close is the M3...which is no where near as plush as the Audi model.
lmao true...


But I won't regret modifying it. Modding cars will be my career in the future.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2012, 08:51 AM
 
2,631 posts, read 6,985,017 times
Reputation: 1408
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve40th View Post
Tires are your most critical part to buy. Stickiest you can buy. If the ZO6 gets traction, they have run low 12's high 11's. They only way 3000 pounds, have lower gearing and the 04 has the best suspension for the C5.
Good advice. I'm glad you mentioned it. Here I'm talking bolt on modifications, tune this and tune that and I forgot thee number 1 rule in racing. Power doesn't mean anything if you can't put it to the ground.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2012, 08:59 AM
 
2,631 posts, read 6,985,017 times
Reputation: 1408
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperSparkle928 View Post
This is good advice.
A car that is very good on the strip, yet really practical on the street is somewhat of a contradiction of terms. You wouldn't use a philips screwdriver to take out a slotted screw.
Trying to do both will result in a compromise on both fronts. Hate to say it, but it took two different cars.

In terms of the supercharger, in my experiences with them (my favorite type motor to build), usually it is a lot more than just 'bolting it on'. The low-end torque skyrockets... take a look at the torque curves for blown vs. unblown engines. You would need to assess the lower end of the motor to see if it could handle it, then the transmission, then the drive train (snapped more than one u-joint), rear end, and then tires being able to deliver that torque to the road. It just keeps propagating. YMMV
Which is the better combination Turbocharged 4.2 or the Supercharged 4.2?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2012, 09:06 AM
 
2,631 posts, read 6,985,017 times
Reputation: 1408
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperSparkle928 View Post
I've been to a bunch of places around the country.... amateur night (on Wednesdays) was held where I used to live.. 1/4 mile, decent track. $15 and you could run all evening (well, you got in line, but you could get quite a few runs. Ranged from Mom & Pop and the kids in a Lincoln Town car (which could be timed with a calendar), to vehicles to heavily modified I questioned their street legality. All in all, an evening of fun. After a few runs, you could get a bracket... interesting to watch one car get an 8-second lead at the tree...
I live in the northeast; is there any tracks you would recommend thats close by CT?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2012, 09:10 AM
 
2,631 posts, read 6,985,017 times
Reputation: 1408
Quote:
Originally Posted by flynavyj View Post
Probably driven hard, but likely well maintained...most folks don't destroy a car they spent $50k on...some, but definitely not most. If you can find a good "1 owner vehicle" you'd be set, cause I bet it was very well taken care of. If it's had more than 1 owner, i'd worry about another guy like you, who purchased the car for a cheap price, drove the snot out of it, and then sold it when it wouldn't beat his buddies Z06.
lol Ill keep that in mind.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2012, 09:12 AM
 
2,631 posts, read 6,985,017 times
Reputation: 1408
Quote:
Originally Posted by vmaxnc View Post
veyron was probably referring to road courses, not drag strips.
The road courses are extremely expensive and nearly all of them require special training.

I understand the training but the price is unbelievable...
If I were rich for that amount of money I would just buy a track...thats how bad the prices are.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2012, 10:07 AM
 
3,244 posts, read 7,418,978 times
Reputation: 1604
Quote:
Originally Posted by vmaxnc View Post
veyron was probably referring to road courses, not drag strips.
Look at the title of this thread, and his first post, he being the orginal poster.
FREE Language Arts Powerpoints - Reading Comprehension

(But they do have open-track days at many road courses..... we would get a bunch of guys together and go to Lime Rock.)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2012, 10:10 AM
 
3,244 posts, read 7,418,978 times
Reputation: 1604
Quote:
Originally Posted by Veyron View Post
I live in the northeast; is there any tracks you would recommend thats close by CT?
Not sure of any in CT.... closest one may be in Epping NH... (It has been quite a while for me).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2012, 10:41 AM
 
3,244 posts, read 7,418,978 times
Reputation: 1604
Quote:
Originally Posted by Veyron View Post
Which is the better combination Turbocharged 4.2 or the Supercharged 4.2?
Sorry, can't help you on that one... never worked on imports. Everyone has their own preferences, and I choose the supers, but if you can get a factory turbo, there is a fair amount of tweaking you can do without a ton of work. There are numerous control module parameter programs that are available to adjust the specific parameters.
(I am assuming the super is aftermarket).
(Not that it is relevant, but we used these programs to tweak Cummins Turbodiesels, and got them to reliably put out so much torque that after a while, the transmission would just give up).
(I am old school, so 4.2L is about 256 cu in). IMHO, displacement comes first (as much as possible), followed by boost, assuming all the other components (control modules, exhaust, injection unit are all properly matched).

Personally, I think the S4 is a great car. I would imagine an RS4 might be hard to find. If I recall correctly, it has something like 80 more HP than the S4.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top