I know, clickbait titles are the ultimate sin.
By the time that you read this I’ll have been flogged and exiled by Dino, possibly condemned to drive a Prius for the rest of my days. Even worse, they might put me in charge of managing Paddy McGrath’s Cutting Room Floor archives, or force-feed me supercar spotting videos on YouTube. Under such terrifying threats I’ll repent straight away: I didn’t swap out my S2000’s F20C motor in favour of a V8.
Although, strictly speaking, the title is still true…
Those of you that follow me on Instagram might have seen that I actually made the sudden, and somewhat unexpected, decision to sell my beloved Honda.
When I posted up the news I was met with lots of people asking why on Earth I would do such a thing.
I’d just got it serviced and MOT’d, and all of the small issues that I wasn’t happy with were sorted; the car was in a pretty good place to start some serious modifications. But then the thoughts of ‘what could I buy if I changed it’ popped into my head, and from that point the wheels were set in motion. There was no going back.
So here I had the best car I’d ever owned, in a condition I was happy with, just begging to be driven. To be honest, I couldn’t put solid logic on my reasoning; the most accurate explanation I could come up with was simply that I sort of fancied a change. Once I‘d reached that conclusion, my mind started to wander, and the inevitable scouring of buyers’ guides, and then classified ads followed.
I listed the car for sale half-heartedly in a couple of places, and before I knew it the phone was ringing off the hook. One guy booked to come and view the car so I had to hurriedly remove my private registration, return it to its original license and prep it for sale.
I could’ve sold it three times over that day.
He showed up, looked around, came out for a drive with me and promptly bought it there and then with no quibbles. You’ll be glad to hear he’s a thoroughly sound chap and an avid Speedhunters reader too, so I know the Honda’s in good hands. But to be honest, it all happened so fast that I didn’t really have time to process what I’d done. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have those familiar pangs of regret as I watched it VTEC off into the sunset.
What I had thought about, however, was the replacement.
I wanted more power, more torque and more practicality, and a car that was still a bit ‘special’. It still had to be a driver’s car, but I wanted something that was a nice place to spend time. After going through all of my options and narrowing it down I kept coming back to two choices: a 987 Porsche Cayman S or a B7 Audi RS4.
If you’ve not guessed by now which one I went for then I’d question whether you’re on the right website…
This was the direction that ultimately won my heart.
I’ve never been a fan of saloon models, and Audi’s original RS2, created in conjunction with Porsche, was an Avant, so I knew it had to be a wagon. Plus, a 400hp, manual, all-wheel drive, 8,000rpm-capable V8 that the dog can ride in? Perfect!
In the fortnight since I picked her up I’ve been getting carried away with doing a lot of driving and not so much picture taking, so a more in-depth update will follow once (a) the novelty of that V8 sound has worn off slightly, or (b) I’ve run my bank account dry buying V-Power. It’s probably going to be the latter.
I’ve already started planning some improvements – a health check and ECU remap, potentially a change of wheel colour (keep them black, or go for the OEM optional matte titanium – what do you think?), and unleashing some more noise from the exhaust are on my priorities list.
The S2000 will be missed, but for now I’m finding and jumping at the smallest of excuses to hop in and go for a drive.
I think that’s how I know I’ve made the right choice…
Jordan Butters
Instagram: jordanbutters
Facebook: Jordan Butters Photography
jordan@speedhunters.com
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Good choice, its nice to have some torque!
I was disappointed as I started to read this article but then I was floored by the replacement. That is definitely a worthy choice.
I really was fully expecting to see you had blown the F20c and somehow shoehorned a Audi V8 in it and am a bit disappointed ya didn't lol.
I know how ya feel though, I love my GLi but have been searching for something new even though I've only had it for a few years. Nearly pulled the trigger on a blue Focus ST but it probably would have been a dumb decision financially.
There's a definite correlation between the severity of a financial mistake and the amount of fun it provides.
Nice choice, my brother has a B7 wagon albeit with a 2.0 tfsi engine and its a great car. Stick with the black wheels and other details, looks smart as is!
Very nice car!
Does somebody of you know where I can find these carbon fibre grill logos for my audi? I can only find the fake ones..
These were on the car when I got it, but the invoice for them says 'Argon Creative' make them. For what they are, they aren't cheap.
i 2jz single turbo swapped my s2000 and never looked back, fills in all the gaps that honda left with that slow four banger. Cant fit my dog in it though, so whose the real winner?
The dog, is always the winner.
A4's are very mundane .... RS4's are not mundane in the slightest
Nice choice of car. In my opinion Audi's Avant models are the nicest cars they make they have such an aggressive look. Looking forward to seeing what you do with this.
p.s I know Paddy already has the bronze wheels on the red car but it is a sick combo I would definitely consider it !
you've.. you've made a terrific decision
very nice car you got there, i drove my first one of these just the other day and was amazed how good it felt made me want one quite bad , infact im selling my sierra cosworth and might just replace it with a black one these
As a life long lover of hatchbacks/wagons I stand firmly behind your decision to opt for a vehicle with greater utility! We never got this particular version of the RS4 here in Canada only the sedan (saloon to you folks across the pond!). I'm currently on the look out for a Audi A6 Avant (C6) with the 3.0T to replace my Honda Fit since it's getting a little tight with the wife and 2 growing boys in tow. Great choice!
Don't hate it but I think I'll keep my S
Just to clarify, I'm not selling everyone's S2000s - yours is safe.
Was the timing chain done recently? thats a fun job being on the backside of the motor, its a remove the majority of the drive-line kind of job.
I've not heard any reports of timing chain issues on the FSI 4.2 RS4 engines – they use metal guides and tensioners unlike the S4 engine which was prone to sudden and unexpected timing chain failure. If it was super high mileage it'd be on my mind but it's no more of a routine thing to do at this stage than replacing the pistons or the gearbox for no reason.
ahh didnt know they used different timing chain tensioners, or the mileage for that matter. What kind of PPI did you do on the car? leak-down test, boroscope the cylinders, etc? Just curious how other people inspect cars they are about to buy. I tend to go with higher milage vehicles so the leak-down and boroscope are a must for me
With this, just made sure that the service history had been adhered to with Audi. There had been no expense spared with upkeep (one £3k service bill confirms this) which is always a good sign. Just over 70k on the clock which is nothing on these engine so I wasn't overly concerned with more thorough internal checks. As with any used car you pays your money and takes your gamble.
Isnt it amazing how many "experts" come out of the woodwork when an article is posted....... Jordan, enjoy your new ride mate! I'm very, very jealous! dont let timing chains damp your enthusiasm............. LOL!!
"As with any used car you pays your money and takes your gamble." very true! there are things that you can do to reduce the risk on your gamble though, maybe Speedhunters could do a PPI best practices article? Especially for the cars with an incomplete service history or higher mileage examples.
Intrigued, surprised on the verge of disappointment, greatly approving. Emotional rollercoaster all around.
From what I've gathered with owning an S2K is that while the F20C is a meticulously engineered machine, it is offered at it's peak capacity. So the options are to break the bank in minor power increase, swap out the engine on the borderline of sacrilege, or just never get bored.
I'm glad I could take you on a somewhat smaller scale emotional rollercoaster as I've been on for the past few weeks
I actually think I'll own another S2000 at some point, they're so capable as a driver's car. And unfortunately, the Audi is only marginally easier to tune. A few tweaks, breathing mods, carbon clean and a remap and you can see 450hp-ish. If you want any more then it's a £11k supercharger conversion and you're straight to 600hp.
i'd use some leather cleaner to turn those greasy seats into a tasty matte black again (there's one that u paste on and it lifts the dirt over a 24 hr period or so.
i'd go back to a less chintzy oem silver grill emblem, which would provide continuity for your headlights and front fascia.
but yes, the leather cleaner would do wonders for what looks like another hapless victim of armor-all. would make that steering wheel look squeaky fresh as well.
The badge is on my list. You wouldn't believe that you can't buy the front badge without buying a whole grille (unsurprisingly, that requires a remortgage). I need to find someone who managed to take theirs off without snapping the tabs.
And a full detail and spruce up is on the cards very soon - the seats are in good nick but could definitely benefit from some leather care.
Couldn't you but a less expensive supercharger and have it adapted to fit your Audi? It would probably cost you a lot less.
You see the main image above? Space is the big issue with these - it's a miracle someone was able to develop one that fits.
I mean if you're going to supercharge it, you might as well go all in. I have an angle grinder, and am willing to travel.
You've been spending too much time in America.
I see this as a step up. I like(d) the S2000 but, this is more appealing to me. I'd enjoy this car more. I say go with the silver wheels, all black wheels are so boring to me.
-Alex
Butters!!!!
It's your fan Thomas
I've been seeing you post this beauty on the gram for a week or so and I love it!!
If Archie doesn't wanna ride with you can I take his place? Lol
Also, did they ever sell this model in the states? I love awd,manual wagons and I wanted one of these BUT 2 things happened. 1 I couldn't find any for sale and I do not know if they even sell these makes in America. 2 I can't find any after market support for Audi so if you build this thing up it's going to help me find people that make parts for these cars. IF they even sell them in the USA.
Thanks Butters!!! And tell Archie I said Hi
As Matt said, ECS tuning provides aftermarket parts for a hunch of german cars. I highly suggest their site.
You can't take Archie's place but you can ride in the boot (trunk) with him if you're toilet trained.
Butters!!
Thanks buddy
I am toilet trained and I have a feeling that riding in the trunk (boot) in your Audi Avant with Archie by my side is going to be one hell of a ride
If I'm not mistaken, sites like ECS Tuning, USP Motorsports, ModdedEuros, and UroTuning all sell plenty of aftermarket items for Audi's
Thanks for the reply and the insight! I am going to check out those sites right now.
As far as Audis go, the RS4 was never sold in America as a wagon, only a sedan I think. So if you're not finding any RS4 wagons for sale here, that's probably why. But places like ECS Tuning and such should have audi parts.
I am guessing they probably did not sell them here in the states BUT can you convert a wagon using a sedan??
Im going to guess you can but I'm just curious to hear your opinion. Thanks
There's a guy on IG that's built his own RS4 wagon from an S4 chassis - his tag is @whiskeyandwagons
You could theoretically, though maybe suspension might be an issue, since wagon suspension has to deal with extra weight so maybe sedan suspension will sag in an RS4 wagon??? idk about that, but I think it's doable if you have the money to find a donor RS4 and A4 wagon body.
Going from a Honda 4cly to an Audi V8 is a no brainer, great choice! It blows my mind that for roughly the same price anyone would choose the former.
There's still quite the disparity in price between the two. A low mileage, late model VERY clean S2000 might just be around the same price as a high mileage less desirable spec RS4.
Yeah, pretty nice replacement!
Stick with the black wheels unless you're swapping with some silver BBS's
Good luck with the new car!
Thank you!
Love these, my boss has one that I seem to end up driving more than him (what a shame) only issue is that it's been stolen once, attempted to be stolen another time. They seem a hot car with the thieves as the only other guy I know who has one, has had it stolen and recovered.
Yeah they do tend to go missing quite a bit. Hopefully they're now reaching a price point whereby people think twice about jail time before pinching them.
I had thought about getting a Tracker but then if it got stolen I don't think I'd want it back.
Also keep an eye on the front seats, it's possible to nick them without setting the alarm off, amazingly enough. There was a spate of thefts a couple of years back.
They cost something like £10-15k to replace IIRC, so them going missing was often a write-off. This thing is so tight in my garage that there's no way you're stealing the seats without rolling it out into the open first – I can barely get in the door when it's in there!
Nice buy. I had one for a year but had to sell when I moved overseas. Would recommend a health check for inlet manifold coke build up. Despite the low mileage and original owner running V-Power mine still had coking issues. MRC in Banbury did a fantastic job and it literally transformed the car. I think I gained 60bhp and heaps of response. I highly recommend them.
This one was run on the dyno last year and was around 30hp down on book, so the coking wasn't deemed particularly bad but I'm under no illusions that it'll need doing at some point soon.
The frustrating thing is that after they're decoked the first time then seem to coke up again fairly quickly. Not sure what the solution is there.
Water-meth injection
It's been tried a fair bit, and seems to have little to no effect on preventing carbon build up in most applications. Decoking on these engines is pretty much a maintenance procedure.
I've had great results with it on the ea888 engines. Provided You apply some kind of extra filtration to the PCV system. Like on Paddy's GTI project.
Decoking the FSI V8 is a hassle to say the least. Particularly in the ultra-cramped B5/B6/B7 engine bay.
My friend has an S2000 whose engine he managed to completely shred on a track day. We're talking a completely rebuilt, top-spec NA setup where he went from fifth to second at about 130mph on slicks on a dry day. We're talking valves forcibly ejected through the top and side of the engine, block nearly cut in half by a flailing piston, the works. Most of the rest of the car is still sitting in our mutual friend's workshop: The chassis has a few holes in it but is repairable and has had in fairness had a lot of other work done to it also.
We're considering an LS V8.
Almost as much because of the number of people it would annoy as because it's a relatively economical way to put cheap power into what is still an excellent chassis.
Great choice, very mature. Get those rims back to OG color and scrape the carbon out of the intake, you'll be styling!
It's never a bad choice to get a V8 in your life!
Recently went through the same thing selling my JZX100 Chaser (of 8 years) & upgrading to a Focus RS.... it's one of those strange feelings you can't explain letting go of a car that you really don't need to
Man, I was looking forward to see what you would do to the Honda...
Wow didnt expect to see an Audi V8 in an S2000. That's pretty sick!
Well this is awkward.
BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Awesome!!!
Read headline, look at first picture, scroll down and dump your comment. Because that's what websites are for, displaying nice pictures and giving room for comments, right?
Jordan: What a waste of your precious time for putting together a truly well written story. Better go out and drive that V8 Audi RS4 converted to a Audi RS4 V8 engine
Got a sneaky feeling this is a friend of mines old car, if so, it should have Miltek, Bilsteins and a decent map from QST on it?
Sounds like a different car - this one is on stock DRC and stock exhaust currrently.
Great choice, nice colour too! loved the s2000 but can understand your reasoning. That shell garage looks familiar... Rushden?
Indeed - one of the local watering holes.
there are really times that you'll want more and instead of swap its just better to get the already there power. But for me just for me, I still want the s2000 , now a days I find my self more on the driving enjoying the ful potential of what it has. But its all in your hand in the end..
I think for most, the s2000's greatest attribute is also its Achilles heel. Many will fail to truly appreciate its purity to the sports car 'driver'. If you don't have a zealous appreciation for technical driving, the s2000 is a truly underwhelming car; but if you are the type of person that apexes every corner, rev-matches every down shift on your heels and toes, and doesn't pay attention to the vape sucking idiot in the Hyundai genesis revving at you, the only chassis to give up your s for are the nsx and 911.
Once again, I completely loved the S2000, I'll own another I'm sure. I just fancied a change – life's too short not to drive all of the cars.
Yeah man! Fast Dog wagons / dad mobiles for the win! Our B8 V6 TDI is excellent - quicker than most stuff and handles the trips to Ikea / the tip with ease or still pulls like a train 5 up with luggage. Although an RS42000 would be a cool swap
When I was writing the headline I did actually think about how cool an S2000 with an RS4 engine would be.
Haha! i wonder how many ppl you fooled with the article name, even me!! You just bought my dreamcar, how is it to drive, im not even gonna ask about the consumption
Anyways, congratulations on the buy, and good luck with the project!!!
greetings from sweden!!
Just driving it locally and on motorways it's very good fun to drive – I can't wait to try it on some more testing roads. There's none of the body roll you'd expect with large saloon/estates and the grip is out of this world. MPG is averaging around 23-25 currently, so it's not too bad.
The real question is this: will the RS4 make more power than your S2000 when you dyno it?
Oh good, negative Nancy's here everyone.
Nice choice. I would've done the same since I have a small family and an outdoor lifestyle that requires hauling mountain bikes, gear, snowboards, camping stuff.
Too bad there isn't some type of cool van with that much power. Hmmm
beautiful car, if you going silver front badge you should consider the original silver/titanium wheels too.
I do love wagons - but I wouldn't get anywhere near that Audi V8 - hope it's low mileage
Please do expand on your knowledge. I've heard very few common issues with these.
Was about to stop reading when I saw you sold the S2K. But the replacement is definitely a worthy successor. As far as wheel color goes, bronze is hard to beat on a red car. I know Paddy has already done this, but it looks so good. Looking forward to future updates on this car.
RS4 Rocks!
I'm guessing the CLA45 shooting brake didn't hit your radar. Faster, newer, way less fuel, more tech for the same used $$. I'm an S2000 owner who just bought one as a daily. I did keep my S2000 however. I drove and considered the RS4 and the only asset is the manual box. The weight, understeer, and general lack of connection and fun were major turnoffs.
I just checked the price of CLA45 AMGs. Yep, that's why I didn't consider them - completely different price range.
I did consider a C63 but not the CLA45 - I'm sure it's great to drive, it just doesn't do anything for me at all.
Beautiful car Jordan. My brother owns a B7 RS4; such a fantastic car to drive albeit a little on the heavy side. Make sure you remove the intake manifold (assuming you are happy to get your hands dirty!) and clean the carbon build-up from the intake valves! We did the same to my brothers RS4; the amount of black carbon gunk we removed was insane. The car felt a lot faster after all this crap was cleaned away. We used our hands and a few "home-made" tools to clean it all off. All in all, a great car. Enjoy!
I did the same thing years ago... Had a Soarer that I finally got it to the level i always wanted. then sold it and bought a Audi B6 S4 Avant on a whim. The grip and the V8 was awesome but the Audi became very boring after a few months. went back to JDM with a tail happy Manual 350Z... interested to see how long you go before you want a more raw sports car feel again after the S2000.
Matte Titanium
Matte Gray or Silver to keep it classy!
Nice upgrade! Be nice to see how you get along with one of these. Recently had a toss-up between buying one of these (in saloon form) or an E92 M3... ended going up with the M3 but one is these is an itch that needs to be scratched. Congratulations! looking forward to the next update!
Matte titanium wheels sound great.
RS4 vs S2000. I get the practicality component, certainly.
Gloss black for the wheels, niiice ride men.
From one s2000 owner to a former, go to hell.
From one human being to another, step away from the keyboard before you hurt someone.
HI Jordan, do you even think of DTM esque theme for future of this car? =)