Audi RS4 Prices

[tony]

Has anyone seen the significant drop in RS4 prices lately? I was just looking at random cars (RS4, E92 M2, S5) and the 07 RS4's are in the high $40k range now.. those things are in the $70k price range brand new. :eek:

I hate it for the owners but damn, in a couple of years (even now) that will be a steal.

[2rotor]

its because out of warranty, its going to cost you two nuts plus another extremity to have one worked on, parts arent going to be cheap and the labor on almost anything audi is SUPER high because of the way they put the cars together.
an RS4 has to have one of the tightest engine bays ever!

people are getting rid of them before the warranty is up, or at the first major repair they don't want to pay for thats not covered.

thats exactly what happened to the BMW 7 series, parts and upkeep are high, so the car didnt/doesnt hold its value very well.

[tony]

its because out of warranty, its going to cost you two nuts plus another extremity to have one worked on, parts arent going to be cheap and the labor on almost anything audi is SUPER high because of the way they put the cars together.
an RS4 has to have one of the tightest engine bays ever!

people are getting rid of them before the warranty is up, or at the first major repair they don't want to pay for thats not covered.

thats exactly what happened to the BMW 7 series, parts and upkeep are high, so the car didnt/doesnt hold its value very well.

Makes sense, I dont have much of a history with Audi's. I would hope that the problems the RS4's have (I've heard rumors) are fixed in the 08 and 09's, if what you're saying is true then getting one used wouldn't be worth the hassle.

[1SICKLEX]

Its b/c of the economy, people are dumping their luxury cars left and right for various reasons. Prices will continue to fall. If you can get a good used one WITH a warrenty, do it.

[Kaiser]

Makes sense, I dont have much of a history with Audi's. I would hope that the problems the RS4's have (I've heard rumors) are fixed in the 08 and 09's, if what you're saying is true then getting one used wouldn't be worth the hassle.

Tony: I will say this, the RS4 is solidly put together and designed to withstand quite a lot of abuse if properly maintained. That being said, many people in this country do not share the manufacturer's idea of "properly maintained." or understand that this often means spending quite a bit of money on a car with nothing wrong with it, to prevent the possibility of spending multiple times that amount of money when something goes wrong. 1.8t engines are notorious for snapping timing belts, which on an A4 like I have is a 1000-1400 dollar job. Of course a new engine for it (What you'll need after the belt snaps and smashes all 20 valves to bits) is a good chunk of change more. When you hit the four-digit maintenance cost numbers people get sticker shock and go bananas. The RS4 has significantly fewer problems than is let on, and trust me when I tell you that if you search online for problems, you will find them. Lots of them. Search online for B5 A4 problems. There's dumptrucks full and it had a relatively high quality rating. The same can even be said about most models of Lexus, which is absurd considering they consistently have some of the highest quality ratings of any manufacturer.

People who don't have problems don't go online (or anywhere else) and post that they didn't have problems. The Internet, as usual, is a place for people to kvetch.


Edit: Oh, and the regular routine maintenance on the RS4 is indeed an arm and a leg. Labor is ridiculously high. A large amount of the maintenance work requires removing the front bumper/diffuser and putting the radiator int a service position or removing it entirely so you can access the front. This is standard for most A4's all the way back to the first generation, it's simply the way they are designed with everything stuffed between the front bumper and the transaxle that powers the front wheels. Everything has to fit inside a space that really should have fit a transversely mounted 4 cylinder. Hurray German ingenuity.

[OnURleft]

Economy + no more warrenty. The later models with factory warrenties on them will still fetch a pretty penny.

[Kevykev]

It's because of that thing you hear about having to do with what happens when you drive a car off the lot. It's even worse during these times but it's always BAD regardless.

NEVER BUY A NEW CAR especially if you're in the middle class!

[ironchef]

If you can pick up a CPO one, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Sure the services are probably going to be a grand ($), but if its anything like my former 07 a4, the service intervals were 10k miles, so its not terribly frequent.

You can get an 07 in the $40s now, and those have regular 4 year warranty, and then 2 years on top of that for CPO. IMO, you wouldn't have to have super deep pockets to be able to afford one easily.

[4dmin]

those are pretty stout cars - all 70k sticker cars are expensive to fix doesn't matter the make. there is a reason the sticker is so high. if you can get one that wasn't beaten up so bad then it is a steal for an amazing car.