the A3, I literally knew it was gonna get sold and I STILL spent money on shocks and springs to finish the look.

 

It's been awhile since I've posted an update but, A7 is running like a top and I'm absolutely loving it.

Purchased at 148k miles, now at 157k.

Since my last update, I've purchased:

- OEM roofracks - absolute steal shipped to my door from the A7 classifieds
- Wind faring from Amazon - improved their design by adding suction cups to hold it down.
- EPL Stage 1 91 & TCU tune - Huge shoutout to @rockstar143 , this tune was originally on his S5 but we made a deal and had it transferred to my car.
- 20mm spacers all around - front sticks out a hair more than the rear, I have 15mm spacers on the way to make it perfect.

Driving impressions of the tune?

I'd say it added at least 50-60whp - After a few drives and more recently in some cooler weather, the car moves. It seems to have gobs of torque at any rev and it's very enjoyable to drive around town.

TCU tune makes the car's transmission and shifting much more intuitive. Very fun driving the car in dynamic + sport.

Maintenance completed:

- Oil change
- Spark plugs

Maintenance needed:

- Transmission fluid change
- Carbon cleaning
- Motor mounts

Thanks for reading - thoroughly enjoying this thing

 

<--- Thoroughly loving that thing.

 

Nice garage tiles!

 

It's awesome that this thing is still chugging along like a champ. What major things, if any, have you done to it so far?

 

Nice man! Glad it's still treating you well.

 

It’s needed nothing other than oil changes.

The carbon cleaning / motor mounts / transmission fluid change are services that should be done, but not needed at this moment.

3.0T / ZF8 is such a good / reliable combo so far.

I was a little hesitant on tuning the car with 157k miles but, quite a few running higher mileage than me and doing just fine.

One guy was at 327k miles on his 2nd supercharger and did chains - Stage 2 dual pulley

 

and although it wasn't the driving force, thanks for the spending money to buy myself something nice...
love you bro...glad you're happy.
That was a killer deal and you've made it a perfect little all around daily....nice to confirm you my get ANOTHER 200K miles out of her with little to no trouble
even with the tune.

Intuitive is a great way to describe what it did for the transmission...it just felt like it made the trans know what I was trying to do with my accelerator inputs.

 

I can also vouch for the platform...
I'm at about 35K mile tuned on the S4...
I've done all the maintenance necessary, obvi...
but overall...only looming things are pcv and maybe tstat/water pump as preventive.
obviously the low pressure fuel pump too but that was a 15 minute swap.

 

Chain driven S/C? Can't say I've ever seen that before.

 

Guessing it's a timing chain...

 

That makes more sense.

 

3.0t (SC) is belt driven...
Sam is right.

 

Funny, A7 had it's first issue last week .

I've noticed the gas mileage has been impacted quite heavily in the last few months, even before tuning - at first I thought okay, car is tuned and my foot has been heavier lately so maybe it's that.

However, even on light drives down the freeway I can't get over 25mpg (It's been around 20mpg, I could average into the low 30s with a light foot)

Shortly after this thought came to mind, check engine light popped up for catalyst being below efficiency on both banks (P0420 & P0430).

After some skimming of the interwebs, it could be a few things .. some very expensive:

Most common is:

- Clogged cats (big oofs, these aren't cheap .. even second hand).
- Bad O2 sensors (kind of big oofs, these aren't cheap either .. I'll get to that later)

Months back, I decided to buy the OBD Eleven & Bluetooth module and I used it to get some live data and actually see what my car is doing.

The good:

- Exhaust gas temperatures are within spec and are within 2-3 degrees of one another - this tells me my cats are most likely not clogged / broken.
- Long term adaptions (Fuel trims) are lean (both banks were 9/10% respectively) - car is dumping fuel to compensate the lean condition which means bad fuel mileage.

I ordered a full set of upstream & downstream O2 sensors for my car for a whopping $821 (yes, you read that correctly) - much much more expensive than what I was expecting but, a lot of these are back ordered and/or you don't want to cheap out on these for the 3.0T.

Wife gave me some time to tackle it - not super difficult, just annoyed with how Audi designed the O2 sensor bracket and how it mounts to the back of the engine - it's absurdly stupid - it's cramped, you're blind, and you inevitably will drop hardware into the abyss..

For this job specifically, it makes the B5 look like you're working on a Honda Accord.



Cleared codes - car is running pretty much at dead nuts 0% for short term / long term fuel trims .. I'll confirm it's fixed once I take it to work over the next few weeks.

Too expensive to "test" @ $6.30/gallon.




Until "next" time.

 

Hold on a minute...$821 for O2 sensors?????? Aren't these like $100 a pop at most?

 

Yes - FCP Euro, ECS tuning, Amazon, UROTuning ... doesn't matter the vendor - they're about $150-$250 a pop and most of them are back ordered. OEMs are about $1000-$1200 for the set, Bosch (what I ordered) is the budget / validated option .

You can buy knock offs / cheap sensors but ... I'd rather not chance it, especially on a tuned car.

Especially since these cars are known to eat catalytic converters .

 

Ouch! That blows lol. And I suppose you can't just remove the problematic cats because of where you live either...

 

It the cats were clogged .. I would just suck it up and buy some low mileage / second hand off of eBay. Test pipes aren't really an option for me, unfortunately.

The B5 is a different story entirely

 

If I drove more, going electric makes a LOT of sense ..

I think about it often.

 

Makes sense to me every time I drive by a gas station lol.

Had to fill the Jeep up again the other day and that was painful. Would be even worse having to do premium fuel...and even worse still where you live.

We've largely stopped driving my wife's car unless we need the space for something just because of gas being insane. Tesla has more miles on it now even though it's 3-4 months newer. Once the truck arrives we'll probably stop driving it for the vast majority of trips.

 

I don't want to do this job.
Tyler, you know that whole cowl by the windshield can come out...I didn't know it but I saw a DAP auto video on starter replacement and realized that comes out.
Not sure how easily it does but...might have made the job easier.

 

The last two fill ups on the CRV were over $50, and that wasn't even from E.

 

I wish I had spoken to you prior to trying to tackle this - Sounds like you nailed it on the head .. found an old ancient thread and somebody described an entry way / path in the secondary / false firewall to the back of the engine.

Going undo all the stupid zipties / wiring routing I did and doing it the correct way

I swear, there's 0 ready documentation for these cars and I haven't found a A7 specific "manual" yet.

 

Yikes that O2 pricing is harsh, but like you said, backordered parts and expensive German OEM replacement you don't really have many options. It's stories like this that make me glad I bought a Honda lol, but I'm not going to lie, I was checking out A7 prices not long ago.

I'm surprised it can get low 30s on the highway. That's damn impressive for a turbo AWD V6!

 

^^RE: Svc manual: Isn't the A7 pretty closely related to the A6? Apart from the rear of the car (liftback) I'd think from the firewall forward they'd be pretty similar in procedures.

 

*Supercharged.

 

 

In your defense they do put V6T on the sides even if it's V6SC

 

Still don't understand why they did this

I googled it and apparently, the T stands for: ""Turbo fuel stratified injection or TFSI combines petrol direct injection with turbocharging"

Very German

 

Technically, all turbochargers are superchargers, but not all superchargers are turbochargers

I think I have that the right way.

 

"The T stanths for Thupercharged"

-Mike Tyson, probably

 

 

winner.

 

Welp, looks like the A7 is going bye bye this week. Buddy of mine messaged me and ultimately it lead to me putting a price tag on it and him agreeing to it .

Impressions of the car? The C7 chassis is incredible ... super well put together and the car has very few issues even being tuned at 160k miles. Would consider another C7 in the future but, it would need to have the 4.0T in it for sure.

I get to keep the roof racks, transmission fluid change kit ($400), and I'm getting $12,000 cash. Considering I purchased the car for $7,000 with little maintenance done, I would say I made out pretty well.

Do I want to sell it and daily the blue S4 while the yellow S4 is down?

Not ideal timing, but I will manage. I daily'd a B5 S4 when I first got one 6 years ago but, I'd imagine having 1 as a backup will be alright, too

I have a feeling the yellow S4 will be a pretty reliable daily once it's done since it'll be bone stock since service will be fully up to date.

Why am I selling it?

With tax season approaching, wife's babybonding, and a few other items .. we could use the money to be a bit more surefooted. We decided the new daily will come after the yellow B5 S4 is sold.

We're doing a lot more family trips and want to upgrade our trailer .. the FWD MDX only tows 3500lb so we're limited on upgrade options.

Looks like I'll be looking for a truck / SUV that can tow 6-8,000lb ... offroad-ability would be nice but not required.

Things I am considering (also open to suggestions)

2005 Toyota Tundra 4.7L 2WD -

This makes the most logical sense considering their price / availability, but I'm really not a fan of the cab size especially with car seats. My kids won't be in car seats forever but I got at least another 2-3 years of that.

2007-2008 Toyota Tundra 5.7L 2WD -

This makes a lot of sense since the 5.7, like the 4.7, is basically indestructible with very minor maintenance. Cab size is bigger but, I don't want to spend more than 12k .. options under that are available but, I'd need to find the *right* truck.

2004-2008 Porsche Cayenne S V8 -

This makes the least sense by far, but the one I am leaning towards (are you surprised?) - fits kids more comfortably, safer, excellent offroad capability, price for a nice one is under 10k, tows 7700lb, and the maintenance isn't horrible from what I'm reading (coming from a B5 S4 ).

Not considering the Turbo but there quite a few mechanic specials floating around.

2000 Landcruiser V8

This is in the middle of making sense since it fits kids but, Landcruiser owners are the epitome of I know what I have and their prices are on the upper end of what I want to spend ... all with it being 200k+ miles. I know they're indestructible, but their gas mileage is horrendous in comparison of the Cayenne and it's hit or miss of whether if it has the factory lockers.

GX470 was also a thought but, not a fan of the way they look .

I don't plan on doing any kind of overland build but I will say, @1StGenCL has got me looking at Cayennes and MAN they are a ton of vehicle of the money.

More to come on this .. I'd say I got at least 2-3 months before I pull the trigger on something at least.

 

I'll admit to looking at Cayennes locally after seeing @1StGenCL build.
Not having a garage & a P-car out of warranty gives me hard pause on it.
GX460 has my eye too, but it's a timing belt engine & not sure how much work that job is. They're surprisingly well priced compared to some of their competition.
2018+ 4Runner an option for us as well, since the Exped Max takes family hauler duty.
Other option I've eyed would be a WK2 Grand Cherokee but the T4R & WK2 probably would fall short on tow capacity.
Unless I can get my mom to sell me her 2021 Explorer Platinum for a steal, the above are all moot.

I'll put a plug for a 2018+ Expedition, we've only had ours since Labor Day, but just got back from a 800mile 4 day weekend & it was great. But, they're still pricey as well. We got lucky on ours having low miles & a lot of recent work done.
2015-2017 were the prior gen Exped with the 3.5TT EcoBoost. We just retired our office Exped EL with the 5.4. Personally I don't care for the prior gen much, but it never gave us any problems.

My father-in-law & brother-in-law both have Tundras (2008 & 2015 respectively, IIRC) Both solid, FIL has the smaller cab & BIL has the full crew cab.
I believe the 1G Tundra had a full crew cab option, but will be smaller than the 2007+

Briefly got a couple drives in a few GX470s when I worked at a dealership in college. Very surefooted on the road, especially in the rain. Full throttle from a stop & it just launched. But, the look is polarizing & the side-folding 3rd row is odd. GX460 went to a in-floor folding.

Audi Q8/VW Touarag?

 

More off road cayennes, do it asap!

 

I like all of the options you listed, especially something with EcoBoost ... plain and simple they're just way out of my price range. Bottom of the barrel F150s with 150k miles are still going for 13-15k for something with a Crew cab

I don't want a car payment and the idea is the A7 will flat out buy my new daily driver.

Something TDI sounds awesome but no good deals on Touaregs. Even considered the 4.2 Q7 but a Cayenne sounds cooler / worth more pain

 

Paid off is great.
I've seen a few late 1st gen Cayenne S here in Houston for what looks like 'reasonable' prices, but for sure would want one looked over pre-purchase.
Even a few early 2nd gen Cayenne in the low 20s, but pricing starts to jump past that.
Also agreed, Cayenne > Touareg/Q8

 

If you're considering 2WD trucks and thinking about off road ability then you definitely don't need factory lockers on anything. I'd wager you don't need them at all to be honest. I can count on one hand the number of times I used the lockers in my Jeep and I put that thing through some shit. Get some good tires and send it.

Definitely consider a 4Runner. Still expensive but less so than the Cruiser crowd and just as reliable. The tow rating is like 5k lbs though I think.

The GX is a solid car that does great but the fuel economy blows and the interior isn't all that big relative to the overall size of the thing.

If you can't find a good Cayenne, consider a Touareg. They are basically the same thing for less money. Is the tow performance of the V6 not adequate? I'd just get that one as it's more reliable, less to maintain, and chugs less premium. All you're looking for is a daily after all. You'll get the Porsche experience for a bit less cash.

 

I've seen a few 2nd gen Cayennes floating in the 12-14k range but, mileage is over 150k.

There was a very fair priced 2005 Cayenne S with 150k miles, original owners, with an engine replaced by Porsche at 77k miles with decently clean paint, tow package, and extensive records.

They left their FB ad up but it sold a few weeks ago - I'm looking for something like that.