Bash Hat

Since this is my 1t post, wanted to take a second to introduce myself and provide some info as to whybI signed up to the forum and what I'm looking to do. I've lived n Los Angeles for the last 30 years, so pretty familiar with the car culture here. I currently own a 2020 A5 Sportback as my daily and have a 2002 Porsche 911 C4S for weekend fun. This is my second 911, the 1st being a 1999 C2 aero kit car. I've had some extensive mods done to the C4S, most noticeably sending the engine out to Flat Six Innovations in Georgia a couple years ago for a full rebuild (elective, not due to it blowing up), where I had them increase the displacement from. 3.6 to 4.0L. The car is a ton of fun, providing smooth power all the way to red line.

However, I've decided to streamline down to one car so will be selling the C4S soon. This is going to leave a hole the A5 won't be able to fill. I test drove a new RS5 Sportback recently and while fast, didnt really provide the thrills i was looking for. I started watching a lot of YouTube vids on the B8 RS5 and gotta say, I love the looks way more, and the 4.2L V8 just screams.

Living in LA, a manual is just not practical. I'm thinking the RS5 with its DCT and V8 would cover daily driving needs as well as weekend canyon carving fun. I want to ask you guys here, what should I look out for with these cars? Is high mileage an issue if it has good service records? Are there any expensive "gotchyas" with this car? What price range should I be looking in? Etc etc.

Im.looking only at coupes, no cabs. Appreciate any advice you guys can give me.

Cheers,
Bash Hat.

BrianTheSnail

Im in the UK and the major problem we have here is the hoses than connect to the front dampers for the DRS system corrode and leak ( after around 9 years old) you need special equipment to recharge the oil into the DRC system after the hose has been changed.
Mine is booked in at Audi dealer next week to change one front hose and recharge the DRC = £1100
Some people disable the DRC system and fit coil overs, but you then loose the comfort and sport modes.

hahnmgh63

N. America didn't get the DRC, we got what they called the RS5 Sport Suspension only. I know from previous DRC systems that it was a problem and Audi was sued by owners in the U.S. and had to replace the system on all C5 RS6 cars so they may have just give up on the U.S. with the more complicated system. I know it is has been more reliable in the RS5 as it is a generational improvement over the C5 RS6's but a conventional Spring/Shock Sports suspension is what we have.
As usuaL, one of the most important things is to find a car with a good, if not better than Audi's service history. 10k oil changes have proven that anything past 6~7k really increased engine wear. DSG and Sports Diff fluid changes must also be adhered too or better. A '14 or '15 RS5 will have the latest Mechatronic so slightly better DSG chance of reliability although still not that problematic in the '13s. We never got the B8 version, just the B8.5 version so Electric steering and a few other changes but mostly the '13~'15's are the same, a couple interior/exterior options are different by '15.

Bash Hat

Good info. Thx guys. I have a tentative deal on a 2014 that looks clean amd good service history. Hope to pick it up within the next couple weeks.

BrianTheSnail

Make sure you share some pictures, these are lovely cars - dont make em like this anymore

superswiss

I had a 2013 for 6 years. The issues that eventually made me sell it were:

1. Burned 1 qt of oil every 3-4k miles. A persistent problem of many Audi engines
2. Cold start misfires. Started around 30k miles and got never resolved.
3. Gear position sensor failed out of warranty. Known issue and a $6000 repair

These engines also still suffer from carbon buildup. Had it cleaned at 60k and was hoping it would fix the misfires, but it didn't. It however restored the original performance. Didn't realize how much it was down due to the carbon on the valves.

The gear position sensor was kinda the final straw. Audi did agree to a 50/50 split on the costs, but I just felt it wasn't a keeper. I did love it for the most part. It was a good daily and not bad in the canyons, but eventually got kinda bored of the AWD system, tired of the terminal understeer and the sport differential while nice was artificial and the handling never felt natural. I kept the differential in Dynamic most of the time, because in the other modes it was just meh. Audi's notoriously numb steering also got old over time.

I wanted to get back into a proper thrilling RWD car with natural handling and proper steering feedback, no terminal understeer and more excitement, so I replaced it with a 2019 C63S coupe and haven't looked back. I do sometimes miss that screaming high revving engine, but not the rest of the car. The AMG has been free of major issues, doesn't burn oil and is on another level. Just an animal, but still a great GT. What I also started missing with the RS5 was an adaptive suspension that was sporty balanced for every day driving, but that I could dial up a couple of notches for the canyons. I wished I could tighten up the RS5's suspension a bit more for dynamic driving. The adaptive suspension I have now is nearly perfect. Comfort mode is great for around town, Sport for daily highway driving with quick lane changes and Sport+ buttons it down in the canyons. As said, in the US we couldn't get the DRC suspension, but the DRC is not adaptive anyway and Dynamic mode was super stiff, but at higher speeds it added the body control that the fixed suspension was lacking for me.

Bash Hat

So I ended up taking a different route. Picked up my new to me 2018 TTS today. Since it's going to be a daily I figured it was the better option. So far loving it!

a5.cw

Nice!