Anything Can Happen – The Players Rs4 Avant

If I could use some words to describe this car, they would probably be ‘high impact’, and ‘maybe not for everyone’. Personally, I absolutely love the look of this amazing machine, but then I could be accused of being very slightly biased.

Why? Well, I kind of feel like I’m this B5 Audi RS4’s godparent. Allow me to explain… One morning in the middle of 2011, I picked-up Carl Taylor, co-founder of Players Show, and we headed to London’s Heathrow airport. Our destination: Edinburgh, Scotland. Our objective: to purchase this RS4 Avant.

After some negotiation tactics that involved pretending we had booked return flights just in case the car was not as described by the seller (it wasn’t). And explaining to the owner that the service history was somewhat questionable (it was). Carl had saved £1,500 on his new Audi and we had ourselves some transport back to London.

To be honest, that’s kind of where the money saving ended. Anyone familiar with B5 RS4 ownership will know that these cars rhyme with ‘expensive’. Things can go wrong with these unpredictable vehicles fairly regularly. When they’re working properly, these cars are nothing short of awesome. But they require constant love and care.

Purists will cry into their cornflakes when I say that this car was originally Nogaro blue – widely considered to be the best colour this RS model rolled off the production line in. But the paint was far from good and on our drive home the vehicle was booked in for a re-paint with legendary Volkswagen body man, Steve Denton of Style Haus in Northampton.

A dream-worthy automotive shopping list was drawn-up and quickly parts began to arrive. KW Variant 3 coilover suspension, new discs and pads for the 380mm Movit brakes up-front, a stunning set of 3-piece Rotiform SNA wheels and a couple of gallons of Porsche GT3 RS Orange paint.

The awesome B7 RS4 Recaro seats were sourced, Kenwood multimedia was installed and the exterior trim was treated to lashings of carbon fibre to match the OEM carbon interior parts that this car left the factory with. If this car was going to make an appearance on the show scene that year, then things had to happen fast.

Denton shot the paint, Carl’s friend, Aaron Smith, expertly assembled the list of quality parts and the attention-grabbing car was the perfect vehicle to help with promotion of the annual Players Show.

httpv://vimeo.com/36692534

The car debuted in this guise over at the popular M.I.V.W. show held in the Netherlands back in the summer of 2011. A similar look was kept until February 2012 and after Stephen Brooks featured the car in a tongue-in-cheek film shot in Paris, Carl had gotten bored with the colour.

It was time for a new look. The orange was done with, but the GT3 RS theme would still live to see another day – this time in green. Just before Ultimate Dubs 2012 the car was fully repainted by Denton again and a fresh set of Rotiform wheels were added to give a fresh look. On its black rolling stock, this time the car looked a little more understated – well, as understated as a bright green RS4 Avant could ever be.

Then things got expensive. Last year’s Wörthersee road trip was when the RS4 went very badly wrong for Carl, indeed. The 2.7-litre motor had some serious bottom end issues and had to be sent back from Austria in a covered transporter.

Every cloud has a silver lining though, and after six months off the road – a full motor rebuild with some custom pistons and rods, upgraded turbochargers and a LOBA Motorsport clutch – the green machine is now being run-in before mapping.

The motor should be good for over 600bhp, but will probably be run at around 500bhp for reliability purposes.

I think the current guise of this car is my most favourite, but then I have long been a fan of ‘green-on-green’ wheel and bodywork combos. The 19×11-inch Rotiform DIA wheels all round feature some lovely contrasting black bolts. It’s the intricacy of this wheel design teamed-up with the simplicity of the body that sets this car off perfectly in my eyes.

For some, this block colour will be a little too much. But for Carl – who has had a long history of very, shall we say, ‘out there’ automotive creations – this build is positively refined. I am genuinely excited to see what path this vehicle takes over the forthcoming year. Much like the B5 model RS4, Carl Taylor has a very unpredictable personality, so quite literally anything could happen.

Words by Ben Chandler
Photos by Paddy McGrath paddy@dev.speedhunters.com

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1

Much more of a fan when it was orange, I really dig the green though. Just taking a few to register the green on green!

2

Needs some hair on the roof and some purple shorts. And "Don't make me angry" decaled on the back window

3

I had a B5 RS4 for two and a half years. It is an absolutely fabulous machine. You can find one for a fair price but EVERYTHING is expensive with this car : fuel which is approx 12-13L/100kms driving carefully (you may think you have a tank leak when you go full throttle), insurance is crazy, spare parts and service are VERY expensive. So don't think that you only need the amount of money to buy the car, you'll need some to take care of it too. Nevertheless, it's still my favorite car and I miss it every single day.

4

3 minutes into the article and I'm liking it more and more

5

3 minutes into the article and I'm liking it more and more

6

This thing looked SO much better in it's original guise....

7

This thing looked SO much better in it's original guise....

8

it looked better before imho... but hey, it's not my car...

9

it looked better before imho... but hey, it's not my car...

10

Love the build, hate the colour.

11

Love the build, hate the colour.

12

What is this max power ?

13

What is this max power ?

14

Nogaro blue and a machine finish on those wheels would look spectacular... but nice build none the less

15

Nogaro blue and a machine finish on those wheels would look spectacular... but nice build none the less

16

It's green?

17

@JDMized No, it's purple.

18

I miss the orange.

19

I miss the orange.

20
Speedhunters Bryn

That plate... Never ceases to make me smile.

21

@Speedhunters Bryn I didn't believe it was real until he showed me the tax disc!

22
Gerben aka Suburuuh

@Speedhunters Bryn
 I read past it, good one! Much better now in green as it was in orange imho!

23

Fantastic car! Makes me want to trade my B7 RS4 for a B5... Don't listen to the haters Carl, keep up the brilliant work!

24

Fantastic car! Makes me want to trade my B7 RS4 for a B5... Don't listen to the haters Carl, keep up the brilliant work!

25

So sick that it's terminal. 6:30.

26

So sick that it's terminal. 6:30.

27

Love it, apart from the color. That bit has me crying into my cornflakes indeed.

28

Not sure it's fair to say that these are unpredictable cars.  The engines are unbelievably strong.  They are prone to sensor failures and weak cams, but all of this is well documented. Scheduled as well as preventative maintenance, combined with sensible upgrades will keep things running as they should.  I've had mine for two years and so far by following the guidance of very knowledgable B5 specialists and RS forums, haven't spent more than I would have on any other 430BHP sports car.

29

I love this car! I may not have chosen colour matched wheels but it sure works well =)
Question: why do all the photos look like they're taken through dirty glass?

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