RS2 magazine help

[Chris C]

Hi,

I'm a journalist tasked with putting together a buying guide on the RS2 for Classic Cars magazine and could do with some help. Audi UK has supplied a car, which is being photographed as I write, but I need a good specialist to help guide me through the model's strengths and weaknesses, and to give me some prices for various repairs and upgrades. Who would you guys say are the key people when it comes to looking after these cars?

I also need to find three owners who have run an RS2 - for at least a couple of years, ideally - to tell us what they're like to own, what went wrong, would they buy another, that sort of thing. Anyone out there fancy chipping in? you'd only have to jot down a few lines on an email, or let me call you for a couple of minutes on the phone.

I know there are loads of classic mags, but it's one of the big three http://www.classiccarsmagazine.co.uk
Not your cup of tea, maybe, but it does feature 80s/90s Porsche and BMWs along with the obvious tweedy British snot, so it would be great to give Audi a voice too!

Thanks for listening, I hope you can help

Chris

chris@carchris.co.uk

[mcandmar]

Love the magazine, very much my cup of tea

I dont own an RS2 so i cant really help you, but no doubt you will get plenty of owners coming forward. If i'm not mistaken a few of them have owned more then one.

IMO there arent really any issues to lookout for when buying, there is no nasty weak points, and they dont rust. Even poorly looked after cars will happily run past 150k miles without issue so buy purely on the condition of the car irrespective of mileage and service history provided. Only real annoyance is the number of parts that are no longer available from Audi.

[simon20vq]

I owned one for a couple of years a year back. I actually ran it as my company car! Only fault mpg 19 taking it easy otherwise there was never a dull journey!!

[UrS4boy]

Hi, I'm a journalist tasked with putting together a buying guide on the RS2 for Classic Cars magazine and could do with some help.
Thanks for listening, I hope you can help/ Chris

Chris, I have an extensive collection of UrS (S2, UrS4/S6 and RS2) magazines, including some interesting ones (e.g. the EVO RS2 buyers guide, 911 & Porsche World's "Space Racer" RS2 article (mentions Nick Mason as a former owner), the recent Automobilism D'Epoca "Casa Porsche" 500E/RS2 article, etc, etc.) I also have the February 2007 M5 Estate vs RS2 "Perpetual Emotion" article from your rival Classic and Sports Car. I'll email you.

Dave F.

[Chris C]

Thanks Dave.

And thanks Simon. What can you tell me about your time with it? how many miles did you do? What did you spend on servicing? What wre other costs? What did you like/dislike about it? Why did you get rid of it? And anything else you can think of! If it's easier for you, pm me your number and a time to call tomorrow and I can jot it down from that. Would you be able to supply a little mugshot (of you, not the car)?

[rj scotty]

You must not under any circumstances suggest that potential RS2 buyers join this forum we all become poor very quickly

[Harmon Rabb]

The RS2 is quite expensive car to run. Buying one now when they are at this age you has to be willing to spend quite a lot of money to keep the car in great condition and take care of previous owners neglect/usage etc. I paid premium price for my car as I wanted one that was in very good condition. In spite of that I spent more money on my RS2 in about four years than I spent on my 993 turbo in six. Figure that out. I used my RS2 as a semi-daily driver/enthusiast car. Don´t do a lot of mileage yearly with it but I have driven the car all year around in just about any condition. You could never tell by looking at it. It really is a great car on winter roads. It´s the best time to spend time in the RS2 in my opinion. Just make sure to use winter tires.

The annoying thing about RS2 ownership today is the small things that go wrong. But I guess that could be said about owning any older car out there. In my opinion Audi has sharpen things up lately. I bought spare parts from Audi Tradition in Germany. If they have not had some parts they have asked supplier to do a new batch. After a couple of weeks they have e-mailed that the parts are available. I don´t know their agenda. Maybe they are trying help owners take care of some iconic classics like the RS2 and Urquattro. Many other brands out there (Mercedes, Porsche etc) has taken care of their classic car customers for many years with great success. I would guess that a problem is that some parts are not available and might never be. But I am the wrong person to ask this questions. Maybe that is something you Chris could ask Audi about for the article?

[Golfboy666GTI]

I live in New Zealand and have owned my RS2 for 4.5 years ago done 60,000kms in it. I havent found it expensive to run, though it can drink a bit of fuel. Thats to be expected with the performance IMO. TBH I think servicing costs would be about the same as a Golf Mk5 GTI.
Discs and pads can be sourced from aftermarket Porsche dealers like Design911.co.uk. One of the biggest pains is how often RS2's eat front suspension top mounts - they just about need replacing every 6 months (every wheel alignment) to keep the steering sharp.
Front tyres can wear quickly as well.

I love my RS2, the Porsche development and parts, plus the fact the engine is the last evolution of the ur quattros 5 cylinder engine.
The car is so practical, hence why so many have done big mileages.

[gvr]

Hi Chris
I have owned my RS2 for 14 years and was my daily driver until February 2013, my new daily driver is a RS3 and use the RS2 for weekends now. The RS2 has 358,004 KM and was rebuilt completely at 280,000 KM which included motor, transmission and LSD. Cost was 23,706 GBP and yes I know I could have bought a new car but I just love the RS2 and will never sell it. Parts are very expensive more than Porsche and I have a 993 Porsche cabriolet, maintenance is also expensive if serviced by Audi Dealer. I find that Michelin tyres last the longest plus minus 45,000 KM, fuel consumption 5 KM/ litre when driven hard and eats spark plugs every 10,000 KM OE units. The RS2 is not cheap car to maintain but I have a lot of pleasure from driving it.

George

[pixsaudisex2]

An there is me thinkin its as cheap as chips to run..

[veneto rs2]

I bought spare parts from Audi Tradition in Germany. If they have not had some parts they have asked supplier to do a new batch. After a couple of weeks they have e-mailed that the parts are available. I don´t know their agenda. Maybe they are trying help owners take care of some iconic classics like the RS2 and Urquattro. Many other brands out there (Mercedes, Porsche etc) has taken care of their classic car customers for many years with great success. I would guess that a problem is that some parts are not available and might never be. But I am the wrong person to ask this questions. Maybe that is something you Chris could ask Audi about for the article?

Hi everybody.

Owning the RS2 since 1997.
I'm also involved as many of you already know, with Audi Club International Association, wich regroups all the official Clubs troughout the world, I'm in charge for Audi Club International Italia.
This umbrella association refers in it's connection with the Audi brand directly with Audi Tradition.

The Audi Tradition Shop it's a project born due to pression from the Clubs for spare parts, the issue with Audi iconic cars (urquattro/sportquattro/RS2 etc) it's not a big deal even if for us RS" owners seems hard sometime , in all honesty, more problems (big!) are coming from the NSU/DKW side for example.
In the Audi Club International organization anyway there's a good and growing connection with Audi Tradition and the Shop.

The man to thank for the start up of the project is Daniel Bachmann from Switzerland.
People involved with the sportquattros should know him very well.

If and when the mission will be accomplished and the system will running smoothly it should work in a way that official Clubs will work as "collectors" of preorders and needs, in this way there'll be a proper inside wiew from Audi Tradition Shop to what to do firstly and perhaps constantly, a plus should be also a discount for the Audi Club members when purchasing in the Shop.

Unfortunately the project grows slowly as per many of this kind, when it comes down to big brands.

Stefano

[Chris C]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I've just had a good chat to Kim at QST, who has helped me quite a bit with the specialist angle. Once I've worked through those notes, I may get back in touch with a couple of you if that's okay.

George - that is devotion! Someone should devote a whole magazine feature just to you and your car!

[DeanG]

Looks like you have had a good response from other owners. Kim Collins is definitely the man to speak to, he has serviced my RS2 for the last 6 years and they always seem to have RS2s in.

Not sure I have found mine that expensive to maintain and its coming up to 150k and it's in mint condition. I am happy to calculate the average spend on mine pa. Send me a pm and I will let you know. I have had no mechanical issues on my car to date, apart from replacing the usual tear and wear items. At this age these cars are also beginning to show some corrosion from underneath even though they were galvanised and I have mine now waxoyled every 2 years.

Look forward to reading the article. Pm me if you need more info.

[Error404]

The absolute best specialist to look after these cars now is a loving owner

[merlin's S4]