The Urs4 is hibernating since nobody wants to buy her (which I'm OK with) and that means I'll probably start a spring thaw rejuvination of her. Because I'm a sucker for punishment.
In the meantime, she had just developed too many quirks to serve as a daily. I hated getting behind the wheel and listening for every bump and shake wondering if it was going to be a new issue popping up, stranding me for another weekend or longer, so I started the hunt for a suitable replacement, one which captures all the best aspects of the c4s4 while improving upon all its shortcomings. I set a budget and a monthly payment I could be comfortable with and set out looking. At first, the most fun for the budget appeared to be a Fiat 500 Abarth, quick little pocket rocket but hilariously little storage for more than a man purse that I don't own. I also quickly realized I wanted to stay in the family. The search went on to the B7 chassis, specifically, a couple manual S4 avants. I had plenty of seat time behind the b7 a4 avant of Mystefied, and I loved the way the chassis felt. Of course none of the models I found for sale had given me that warm fuzzy feeling about their timing chain issues. So I dared to dream bigger... This was the result:
The Craigslist ad... A 95xxx mile, late 2007 build RS4. Bone stock, except cheesy all-seasons and limo tint. Plenty of digging revealed it was dealer serviced through 2013, with carbon cleans done at 35k and 70k miles. A PPI confirmed that it was typical wear and tear for that mileage, and the DRC was previously replaced under recall and functioning perfectly. It was a fair bit above what I was looking at for an initial price range, but I looked anyhow. Aoung kid owned it, an officer of the law in a sleepy town in central RI. I call and arrange for a test drive, he tells me to meet him at his precinct. He hands me the keys and his police ID and says "go have fun, I've got to get to work, if anyone pulls you over give this card to them."
After much haggling and price negotiation due to various small nuisances and many deferred maintenance items, we settled upon a (more than fair) price, and I got a loan from DCU that fit my monthly payment goal, which is what leads me to the title. A (quite hilarious) caveat to joining DCU is that you have to be a part of an affiliated "union". Including many companies and multiple organizations one might belong to. I fell under neither of these umbrellas, so I was given 4 very obscure charities/clubs to join, which included paying member dues and newsletters and fun things of that sort. I ended up becoming a paid supporter of the PA Historical Railroad Society, and I got my loan on the RS4.
The rest, as they say, is history.... But of course, this is TPP. I didn't start this thread to discuss MPG's I've averaged while not touching the hood or getting under its skin.
Let the games begin.
