if you buy a fast car, you should use it as such IMO.

it dosn't really matter what you do at this point, its what the previous owner did. if they maintained it well, just keep doing what they did, if they were a little stingy on maintenance, you'll have to be a little more vigilant.

 

Yeah, get some maintenance work done on it to get it run nicely. After that hopefully it's only minor daily wear repairs. It's not Japanese reliability but hey that's the price for performance.
I now have a 01 S4 and a 03 TLS. Performance vs reliability.

 

well here's my story. Bought a 01 s4, loved the car, but on some nice rs4 replicas, and that was that. this winter driving to the store, after topping up the oil, BOOM, blew a turbo, stayed parked for 2 months' as i shopped for parts. didnt want to go stock, so rs4 turbos got put in, along with piping, intake dv's motormounts and tranny mounts. with the install cost about 6000. Then i got new breaks this week. got new front calipers and pads. as well as cross drilled rotors. The spacers i had, with the new pads didnt allow the tire to fit in correctly and the caliper was hitting the rim. SO i needed new 15mil H&R spacers with the centering caps. as well as bolts. let's just say repairs have been COSTLY. but i LOVE the car. its really fast and super fun to drive! so as long as u keep your rainy day fund beside ur savings account you should be ok to do the repairs. some advice... dont cheap out on fluids, especially oil. and it's a good habit to check the oil every time ur at the gas station....which will be alot.

 

well reliable is relative... it depends a lot on how it was driven before you bought it