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Used 2013 Audi S4 V6: Buying & 1 year ownership experience

1st November 2021, 12:00 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I was quite happy with the Skoda Laura TSI but after listening to the full-system exhaust of the Audi A6 3.0L Supercharged V6, I developed an itch to get a 6-cylinder car for myself.

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Life works in mysterious ways and often it surprises in ways that you absolutely could not expect. One such incident happened to me last year when I first visited GT Tunerz in Delhi to fix an issue with my Skoda Laura TSI. While there, Akshay, who owns and operates GT Tunerz, showed me his A6 with the 3.0 Supercharged engine and then happened to turn the car on for me. Now his car was equipped with a full exhaust including downpipes and wow what a sound it was. The 3.0L Supercharged V6 can really get rowdy if allowed to, with a proper exhaust. Till then I was quite happy with the Skoda Laura TSI and its power output but his simple action planted a bug in me that day to acquire a 6-cylinder car of my own.

To be completely honest, I hadn’t really experienced a 6-cylinder car before then. I had read stories of how amazing the 530D can be and it was likely going to be my next upgrade when it came to it, but listening to a petrol V6 and that too without any restrictions was something else.

I evaluated whether it would be a wise decision. My entire business had been acquired by another group during late COVID and I wouldn’t really be needing to commute to work anymore. I could possibly search for a car and then use it just on the weekends.

That night, curiosity had bugged me enough for me to visit OLX and start searching with the search terms “V6” and “V8” and then listing the price by low to high to see if there were any affordable options nearby. After around 2 hours of browsing, I happened to see an Audi S4 listed in my birth town at a price I could potentially afford. I spent the next 5-6 hours learning everything that I could about the Audi S4 from the TeamBHP forum; when it was launched, how many, etc. There was limited knowledge available on the forum so I moved on to Interwebs next and pretty much completed an Internet PhD on the model overnight.

There was a certain excitement in me that was preventing me from sleeping but I somehow managed to sleep at 4 am that night. The next day my father could tell that something was off and asked me what it was. I explained the situation to him and expected him to say, “Don’t be stupid and start thinking about what you’re going to do next” but not sure why he said, “Yeah, sure you should look into it”.

I spent the next week asking everyone I knew in that town to message the owner and go check the car. Managed to find someone who was willing and able to confirm that the car was still available for sale.

Drove 600 km as fast as I could to look at the car. The car looked good at first sight but I believe in getting PPI always and hence scheduled one for the next weekend. I was unsure if the Audi outlet in the town was still working as it was showing permanently closed on Google but I was able to get in touch somehow and turns out it was just some misinformation due to Covid closures.

Audi Service gave the full thumbs up but it felt slightly fishy since the Service Advisor knew the owner but anyhow I took them at their word and paid the full amount for the car. The owner insisted on giving me the possession of the car only after transfer of registration so I started full speed ahead with that process where I learned a peculiar discrepancy in the way that cars are transferred within Rajasthan.

Registration in Rajasthan

It was supposed to be an RJ14 to RJ14 transfer and I have done such a used car purchased in Delhi before where it only cost me Rs 3000 to transfer the car to my name but as I learned, Rajasthan had a different rule where even if the car is being transferred within the same RTO, it costs 25% of the original road tax paid to transfer the car to the new owner. This brought the transfer tax to almost 1.2L for the car. Now I understood why the owner was so insistent on transferring the car before delivery as many used car buyers try to skimp on the name change and keep using the car so that they can skimp on paying the transfer charges.

That said, somewhere around mid-Sept 2020, I was able to complete all the formalities and take possession of the car.

Bringing it upto Spec

Tires

The car came equipped with 245/40R18 Pirelli tires and the rear two tires had bubbled out. I knew this was an issue but learned the reason very quickly after taking delivery as to why. The owner was following the factory recommended pressure of 40 psi on all tires for 2 passengers but that is simply too high for Indian roads. I was able to lower it to 33 psi when taking delivery and get home safely. I was trying to hold out till Michelin PS4 came back in stock but somewhere around December 2020, one of the bubbled tires finally gave out overnight while the car was parked. I decided to find a permanent solution to the issue as 245/40R18 has quite a small sidewall and would definitely be prone to bubbling again. I tried to find a solution online but everyone was mostly trying to find something wider and grippier as even in stock form and with AWD, full power is not available in 1st gear with traction control on. I made some calculations and finally visited a tire shop to try 245/45R18 which is the stock tire for the Audi A6 and it cleared the wheel well perfectly and was actually filling out the wheel well better than the stock tire.

Now it was an adventure in itself to find some tires and the Govt had confused everybody with a ban on tire imports. I’m a Michelin man through and through but was unable to source Michelin PS4 in either stock or uprated size through all my contacts. I evaluated all the available tires and was finally able to source Continental SportContact5 which seemed to be a close second in overall performance compared to Michelin. Now with 245/45R18 tires, the car rides beautifully over bad roads and is a lot more usable without the worry of a tire bubbling.

Mechanical Repairs

I brought the car to GT Tunerz to get it evaluated and do any repairs as required. As it turned out, the owner was hand in glove with the Audi showroom to hide a few issues but in the end, the car was already mine so I could do nothing more than to fix all the issues. We found that there was a slight fuel leak and that the intercooler cores inside the Supercharger were leaking, so we ordered all the parts and waited almost 2 months for the parts to arrive. During my research, I learned that the Intercooler Cores do end up leaking with age and have to be replaced once every 60,000 km. Other than that, I learned that the Supercharged V6 is a very reliable platform and many people have driven their cars for lakhs of km without any issues. There was a Mechatronic update that was required to be performed but I ensured that it was done as part of the service history.

New PCV Valve

New Supercharger Intercooler Cores

Various gaskets that have to be changed every time the Supercharger is opened

1 Year Ownership Review

Engine & Gearbox

The 3.0L Supercharged V6 was introduced in the Audi Lineup quite early but came into the S4 with the B8 generation. It can also be found in the A6, A7 and A8 as well as Q5 and Q7 abroad. The supercharged nature of the engine means that power is available instantly at any RPM, no waiting for the boost to build. Pairing this with the DL500 7-speed gearbox and AWD means it launches harder and feels quicker than cars with more power.

Usually, I would advocate for installing an exhaust and intake on most cars, but due to it being an S-line product, the exhaust and intake and the feel of the car from the factory itself are really good and I’m not sure if these mods are required for enjoyment purpose. Definitely needed though if you want more performance out of the car. Decat downpipe is a must if you’re planning to go to Stage 1 because the catalytic convertors can melt with heat and block the entire exhaust flow.

I have since driven the latest M340i as well and to be completely honest, just in the engine department, the S4 *feels* quicker at launch just because for someone who has just exited an S4, the 1-second lag it takes for the boost to build in the turbos just becomes really apparent and at that point, there is just a huge disconnect between hitting the accelerator and going ahead at full steam. I’m sure that even if measured using proper GPS tools, the M340i might be actually quicker but I’m just talking about the seat of the pants dyno.

Here is a pic of my test drive of the M340i with TeamBHPian agambhandari

Ride & Handling

The ride of the S4, being an S-Line product, is supposed to be on the stiffer side and if you follow the factory recommendation of 40 psi pressure on 245/40R18 tires then it will handle on rails but that is not conducive to Indian road conditions. Thanks to the 245/45R18 tires that I keep at 33-35 psi, it is extremely compliant even on bad roads and has even given it a slight increase in ride height which allows the car to be used everywhere instead of being restricted. There is some additional body roll that has been introduced due to the bigger sidewall but I am sure it can be countered using stiffer, anti-roll bars but even that is only necessary if you are planning to regularly track the car which I’m not.

Features & Interior

The interior feels sporty which is in line with the intentions of the car. The whole interior is mostly covered in black leather and grey Alcantara which is my favourite. I am not a fan of beige in a car's interior. The steering feels small and thick enough to grip and inspire confidence on twisty roads. The audio interface feels a little dated with no Bluetooth but does have a 3.5 mm jack and I have a phone with a 3.5 mm jack (OnePlus 6) so that is not an issue. There are swappable units available that have Carplay built-in, but to be honest, I didn’t buy the car for its infotainment system so I don’t really feel the need to upgrade. If you’re bored, you can always open the windows, drop down to the lowest gear and hear the glorious sound of the Supercharged V6.

What the DTE looks like when driven lightly and with a full tank of XP95

Audio

This was one department where I was pleasantly surprised. Although I bought the car for its mechanical prowess, the car comes equipped with a 14-speaker 505 W Bang and Olufsen Premium Sound System and WOW, it is one of the best music systems I have heard, period. Everything sounds balanced and crisp. I have heard much more expensive custom audio setups as well and I’m not sure anything comes close.

Sleeper Nature

The Audi S4 is what I call the definition of a sleeper. It looks 95% identical to the plethora of A4s on Indian roads and no one will ever know what you have under the hood. Considering the number of people who will install fake V6 and S4 badges on their cars, most people will think that you too have put fake badges. I too have been accused a dozen times by people, which is when I usually pop the hood and show them the engine. One A4 owner was angry with me since he had purchased the top model and didn't have a V6 but I was claiming to have one. Hahaha.

Here is one such car, can you tell what tells it apart from an S4? See twin exhaust instead of quad and beige interior instead of black/Alcantara.

Upgrades

The car comes with 333 hp from the factory but just to show how much of the potential is untapped, just a Stage 1 remap without any hardware upgrades takes the car to 430 hp. An exhaust and intake could be nice if you like your rowdy.

If you’re willing to spend, 034 Motorsports is coming out with a swap kit that will allow for an easy swap of the 4.0 Twin Turbo V8 from the S6/S7 into the S4 since the gearbox is shared. They have completed the swap in their test car and now are working on commercializing the kit and making it available for the public at large.

What’s Next

Call it maturing or call it stupidity, but I have realized that even though it is so easy to increase the power, more power is not what I really want. The car is already too quick and can close any gap in traffic in a blink of an eye. What I really miss is the engagement of a manual gearbox. Now many of my friends and fellow BHPians have tried to make me realize that it is a first-world problem to claim that a 333 hp AWD Automatic car isn’t engaging enough but after experiencing cars that are twice as fast, I am sure that more straight-line speed is not what I’m looking for. I would prefer to have a slower car but where at least I’m doing something.

Now I am able to be in such favour of owning a manual only because my current job is Work-From-Home and because of that, the car has only been driven 4k km since I purchased it. If you remove the km in bringing the car home and one Delhi-Jaipur-Delhi run, I have probably been able to drive only 2000-2500 km which is weekend meets and the odd coffee run. I understand that if you’re driving daily in traffic then an automatic is absolutely the way to go but since I mostly drive only for pleasure, it’s gotten a little boring for me. It almost feels like a point and shoot bullet, since all that is required of the driver now is to point it in a direction and go foot to the floor on the accelerator.

Which brings me to my decision to now put the car on sale. *stupid* My friends and father are right to say that I’m being a little stupid to first fix all the flaws in the car and spend money to make the car perfect for some use and then put it on sale but if I’m not having all the fun I can have with a weekend car then what is the point in retaining it for longer?

Replacements

I would really appreciate it if fellow members could give me suggestions on what to get as a replacement. I am thinking of cars on a 40L budget with a manual and a minimum of 6 cylinders. Some options could be a 981 Cayman in manual or an R8 V8 manual (only 5 in the country as far as I know). I am told that there might be a few older Japanese cars that might fit my criteria too. I would really appreciate some suggestions.