This month’s Featured Ride is a quintessentially Californian car – take everything you (and I) love about the B7 Audi S4, then chop off the roof and get a fresh ocean breeze flowing through your hair. Local enthusiast Tony reached out to me a few months ago, and we finally had a chance to connect and take some pictures of this pristine S4 with less than 15k miles on it. The color combo is one of my favorites, albeit possibly one of the hardest combinations to keep clean – Brilliant Black exterior with Platinum Silver/white interior.
We tried out a new spot near the Torrey Pines State Preserve in Del Mar, California, to bring out some of the style of the car. Black paint, clear skies, and a good backdrop make for my favorite kind of photos.
Tony has done a lot of modifications to the car, but kept everything as OEM looking as possible so the car doesn’t scream “aftermarket.” While the wheels and more aggressive stance are obvious upon first glance, there are a lot of really nice details on this car as you dig in that really make the build special.
On the interior, Tony has a facelifted flat bottom RS4 air leather steering wheel from Europrice with custom trim from oCarbon. He also retrofitted the RS4 shift knob, which required quite a bit of DIY fabrication to rotate the knob 90 degrees and replace the boot. To finish off the OEM-plus style of the interior, he opted for a matching air leather e-brake handle, RS4 pedals, interior LED lights, and a Tune2Air streaming music bluetooth adapter.
The car is lowered with H&R coilovers suspension installed by Pure Motorsport. Tony has Avant Garde 19×8.5 M310 wheels in hypersilver wrapped in 235/35/19 Michelin Pilot Super Sports that are clean enough to eat off of, and to keep the OEM look he used some silicone glue to custom fit the OEM center caps.
The little touches continue with the lighting. Tony followed a lot of write-ups on my site including LED license plate bulbs, LED City Lights, and LED DRLs…but being someone who actually enjoys electrical work, he didn’t stop with just adding resistors, he wired everything to a near-OEM like quality. The resistors for the headlights were wired back near the battery with all wiring covered in anti-abrasion coating, quick disconnects for easy bumper removal, and aluminum heat sinks to keep everything cool. It was a really impressive setup.
The engine was also super clean and had the extra engine bay covers, along with OEM Audi R8 oil and coolant caps. Tony plans to add a JHM tune, piggie pipes, and an exhaust down the line – but even with a stock exhaust the 4.2L V8 still sounds great (especially with the top down).
Tony has a Q5 as a daily driver, so I’m sure this car will continue to only get nicer (and more rare) over time as it stays a weekend driver and avoids all of the rough city driving most S4s are subjected to. As Audi moves away from naturally aspirated V8 engines, this will probably be one of the last cars you can get from Ingolstadt that has a V8 and a drop top.
Hi Nick,
You may not remember me, but I’m the guy in Fort Lauderdale FL with the Sprint Blue 2008 S4 Avant. You helped me about a year ago replacing a tail light turn signal bulb along with a front turn signal bulb. Your advice was phenomenal.
I followed, with great interest, your story of selling your S4 sedan. I’m now in the process of selling my S4 and I can’t help but wonder if I’m doing the right thing, even though it is approaching nine years old.
I just finished reading your post on your friend’s S4 Cab and all of the touches he has done. It is truly a beautiful car to view.
Your last line, however, has given me pause. The V8 4.2 motor is beyond magnificent. And, to think, this is possibly the last example of such a great machine available for public consumption. I have only 27,728 miles on my Avant and the car runs as perfectly today as it did when I picked it up in Ingolstadt, GE. I hope the guy in UT who is buying it realizes what a gem he is getting. (I think he does).
Even though I have already “replaced” my Audi with a 2017 Porsche 718 Boxster, I’ll continue to enjoy your blog as we’ve both moved in much the same direction, you with your TT and me with my new car. Please don’t change a thing as I eagerly anticipate each of your posts.
Best of luck to you, out there in my former home, paradise.
Sincerely,
Robert Brown
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Hi Robert – thanks for the kind words! It was really hard for me to move on from the S4, but once I started taking the new car out and learning it, that helped a lot. The V8 is a fun engine, but it’s really nice to have a lighter two door car that doesn’t need quite a big hefty engine to get up and go. A Sprint Blue S4 Avant is truly a rare bird, especially with that mileage. Glad to hear you’ll stick around, and I definitely plan to keep the posts coming 🙂
Hi Nick, just upgrading from a4 b6 V6 cab 3.0 sport ASN auto to the S4 b6 cab auto 4.2 V8 and wow what a difference … it goes for full black paint in 2 weeks, adding maxton front splitter and moulded side skirts adapted from an avant model, aftermarket boot spoiler, its also getting 2.5” milltek catback resonated with magnaflow 11386 2 in 2out box no mufflers leading to … not too sure on tail pipes yet, as is it has 4” black oval pipes, i do have Simone 4” chrome singles, also Remus 4” quad in black, the diffuser is a going to be silver grey with a black line and I think the add-ons will be black with a silver-grey line…… the interior is a beige leather, good condition, clean with no rips but even after cleaning has black tram lines running through the leather so that needs addressing by a pro, possible respray ????? …. Wheels are original S4 18” with new tyres, cant recall them just now but not heard of them but they drive nice….. Engine wise, i sent it in for full health check and it was not too bad, new brakes, new ignition coils n plugs, all oils and filters changed, they had it a full week, i think the boss liked driving it ???….. oh yea had a new pioneer SPH-DA160Dab stereo system fitted too with all the bells n whistles including recharging phone cradle ???
Was thinking of adding bonnet n side stripes in silver grey same as diffuser and edging or you think it too much ??
Gonna keep going on my S4 n reading your blog too.
Cheers from Ken in Stoke on Trent, England ?
Looks great. Are those tires 40s or 35s? Thx!