Inspected a 2015 S5 Mostly Driven in NY - Too Much Undercarriage Rust & Corrosion?

[E-Storil24]

I've been searching for a used Blue S5 for months and finally found a 2015 Blue Sepang Cab with 78K miles on it, 3 owners, no accidents, solid maintenance history, mostly driven in NY, then VA. Had the car inspected by a German car specialist and he recommended against buying the vehicle after sending me these rust photos:











This is bad for a 2015, right? Or is this not that bad for a 9-year old vehicle from the Northeast? Any possibility all of the corrosion could be from flood damage? I'd be owning the vehicle in sunny Southern California so I'm not sure how much the rust would grow & spread. I've read these S5s aren't that prone to rust damage so I'm kind of bummed as the rest of the vehicle is in good condition.

Any input on how bad the rust is (and which parts are corroded) would be greatly appreciated as I have to decide by tomorrow whether to buy it or get my deposit back. Thanks in advance!

[jbain2]

I don’t actually think it’s that bad from what I can see in the pics.


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[scmtkings4]

I'm not an expert by any means, but that looks not that bad to me.

My s5 is a 2014 and it looks like that, maybe a bit worse actually. My car has been garaged 90% of it's life, never saw any floods.

This car doesn't look like it's out of the norm for a northeast car

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[f1torrents]

Its not that bad.
Those exhaust clamps always rust out. They are cheap and easy to replace. the rest looks superficial.

[E-Storil24]

I'll see if I can get a pic of the rear subframe -- four Audi owners from the East Coast all say this looks OK but now a second California mechanic I just showed these photos to said that's a lot of rust and it's deteriorating things so I'm torn (no pun intended! haha).

And there's zero chance this is from flood damage? I ask because the backup camera isn't working as well and I've read that happens when water gets in the module. So I was starting to theorize that all the rust/corrosion + water in the module + sand in certain areas of the car like the trunk = possible flooding.

In addition to the undercarriage rust and rear camera not working, it also has these issues:
- Low coolant + coolant leaking under Supercharger and intake manifold
- Code P052E00: PVC Regulator Valve
- Code P157100: L/side Engine Mount
- Upper control arm bushings starting to tear

The price on the car was $20,990 which isn't bad for a 2015 S5 with this mileage, and Sepang Blue is hard to find! But all of these issues. If you were me would all of that be enough to dissuade you into looking into maybe another vehicle that was primarily driven on the West Coast?

Thanks! The input is so helpful.

[jbain2]

Seems like you should build in the budget to do the PCV and carbon cleaning. The coolant leak could be from the PCB but it could also be something else like supercharger bricks and/or gaskets. Unless you can feel the engine shifting, you can probably leave the engine mount alone but it will only get worse.

Honestly that rust really looks superficial. So there must be something that can be seen in person that the pics aren’t revealing. That being said, I’m guessing if you took the car to a mechanic in NE, I’m guessing they would say it looks great!


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[E-Storil24]

Thanks again for all of the incredible help everyone...it's been super helpful in my decision-making and I cannot thank you all enough!

This is literally the car of my dreams so assuming I can get these issues fixed, I'm now inclined to keep it. It's a Carvana car so technically it's under warranty for 100 days so all of the above issues are potentially covered with no out of pocket for me (maybe they balk on covering the upper control arms since they haven't torn yet). I won't get that in any other S5 I buy with no warranty with similar mileage so assuming none of the leaks are serious (valve cover gaskets leaking oil too), I'll most likely keep it if they cover all or most of the repairs. I'm taking it in to file a claim for the above issues tomorrow.

Here's are a few photos of the exterior, interior, and wheels:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pNHf7M]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pNHg3u]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pNG4Kp]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pNEZdD]