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An interesting thing is happening for me with the B5 Audi S4. Even when it launched, I considered the B5 too complicated, too heavy and a bit too boring in the design. Is it a handsome looking car? Sure, but to me it wasn’t quite as special looking as the wider fendered C4 and V8 quattro models had been. Performance was good but not outstanding, and I openly criticized the new S4 as barely being the match for the already out-of-production E36 M3. So when power was upped substantially in the new B6 V8, on paper it was a better car. It seemed less complicated, more of a muscle car that was practical. But recent events in the used B6/7 market – the fear of timing chain guides – have changed the discussion. On top of that, many of the issues that the B5 platform experienced are being worked on by an enthusiastic community with market support. It’s something that hasn’t really previously occurred in the Audi market, but getting these older cars to run better (and without check engine lights constantly ablaze) is suddenly of interest in light of the problems with the later V8s. On top of that, clean examples of the S4 are already starting to dry up, since many dropped in value so quickly or weren’t maintained properly. Has the time of the B5 S4 finally come again?
One of the best features of the German super-sedan is how much of a sleeper performance machine they are. In more recent years, that sleeper-status has decreased slightly in some marques, but in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you still needed to be an enthusiast to really tell the difference between some of the more potent models and their more pedestrian stablemates. Certainly that was true of the B5 Audi S4; yes, it had subtly refined front and rear bumpers and distinctive wheels, but aside from that the outside looked nearly the same as any other sport package A4. But the performance was certainly better than the typical A4, and the B5 2.7T V6-equipped S4 has proven itself to be a popular tuning platform. The ability to channel the power through all four wheels means that horsepower figures that would render other cars simply tire-shredding machines can be utilized by the S4. And some of those power figures are impressive; spec out a B5 S4 motor such as this and APR claims it’s capable of getting within a riding mower’s worth of 700 horsepower. Look at the outside and tell me you’d be expecting that at the lights when this stealthy sedan pulled up next to you:
Last week I wrote up one of the nicest S4s I’ve seen in a while; and like death and taxes, immediately afterwards another popped up.…