For enthusiasts of a certain age, it doesn’t get much cooler than the B7 Audi RS4. You got a 420-horsepower V8, a six-speed manual, the latest version of Audi’s performance-focused all-wheel-drive system and, perhaps most importantly, absolutely fantastic styling. Plus, it was the first RS4 sold in the U.S. and a legitimate BMW M3 competitor. Later RS4s may have added more power, but they just never quite captured the magic of the B7. And what’s better than the best RS4? The RS4 Cabriolet that Audi also sold here, albeit briefly. Conveniently, Cars & Bids has one for sale, too, just in time for summer.
Of course, if you’re a regular at the track, the droptop Audi simply won’t do. It isn’t as stiff as its sedan counterpart, and that means handling suffers. On the other hand, without the roof in the way, you get to listen to even more of that sweet V8 soundtrack while you row your way through the gears manually, the way God intended. You could also save a little money and buy an S4 convertible, but then, it just wouldn’t look as good. Clearly, your only option is to come up with probably $30,000 or so and buy the RS4 Cabriolet.
Cars & Bids may have sold a different one earlier this year, but don’t let that fool you; these cars are also pretty darn rare. At the time, MotorTrend reported a production run of only 300.
R8 V8, basically
This particular RS4 Cabriolet has about 61,000 miles on the odometer, which works out to a little more than 3,000 miles a year and also puts it in the sweet spot of not being too high-mile, while also not being so low-mile that actually driving it will tank the value. And while it isn’t still in showroom condition, it’s clearly been pretty well taken care of by previous owners and looks far better than you’d expect from a car that’s almost 20 years old. That said, it was in some kind of wreck back in 2011, which isn’t ideal, but the damage looks to have been repaired pretty well.
And yeah, Audi did make a wagon version that’s also cool, but considering how few RS4 Cabriolets it made, odds are, even your fellow car enthusiasts won’t have seen one on the road before. Heck, they may not even remember that Audi even offered a convertible RS4 in the U.S. Also, you can’t put the top down to listen to the exhaust note in an RS4 Avant, and since they aren’t 25 years old yet, good luck finding one in the U.S. It’s OK, though, convertibles are also ridiculously practical in their own way, since there’s no roof, as previously mentioned.
A lot of times, the listings we write about are objectively terrible purchases that would almost definitely ruin you financially, and it’s more fun to look at them than to actually buy them. This, though? Other than being a two-decade-old high-performance German convertible, it should be fairly reasonable to own. And even better, these cars have a reputation for being far more comfortable than their performance focus would suggest. And did I mention it looks incredible? Because it looks incredible. Plus, it’s not like you need that $30,000 for anything else, right?
Cars & Bids
