MattPiece

I'm in the process of selling my STI V 5dr and getting an oil burner in the form of an A6 2.5 TDi. Something around 4-6 years old will do me as there seems to be some around for my budget (<=12K).

Question is, what do people reckon about reliability, driveability, etc, if I plump for one thats done 80+K miles? What about the 180bhp Quattro version? I know I can get better value-for-money with a Passatt, but I just dont like the shape enough.

Reason for change is that after 7 years of Scooby ownership I want something cheaper to run and that can eat up miles in style and comfort

TIA

The Chief

DOH!!! pity you want an oil burner my A6 2.8 Quattro is up for sale at a very reasonable £4650.

Anyway mine has done 145k and is dead reliable, never let me down.
The driving and handling is not as involving as a Scoob and it wont break as hard, this is down to the weight i would imagine. As for comfort it is brilliant on a motorway really quick and quiet and at tickover you cant here the engine (well you cant on my petrol version) and is really well built.
Drove my other car the other day an dit felt like a bag of nails as my Audi is Sooooo smooth!

Dont let 80k put you off it really is f*** all buy with a full Audi SH and you will be right.

Carl

MattPiece

I had noticed that your Audi was for sale, but I'm definitely looking for an oil burner as I've spent far too much, , on petrol over the last 7 years. My only conern about the higher mileage is not the engine itself, but the gearbox, clutch, etc that have also 'endured' the mileage. However, all the reviews I've seen about the A6 say great things hence I'm in the market for this type.

You could actually view high mileage as a good thing as it has been used alot, rather that spent time looking nice either on the drive or on a ramp

Cheers

The Chief

Ok so your budget is 12k and my car is up for £4650

12000 - 4650 = £7350 saving, Youd have to do some serious mileage to save that in fuel costs
I know what you mean though!
mine is only thirsty if you floor it, needless to say i drive like miss daisy!! LOL

the moose

Points to watch on the A6

1 Door locks can jam - reasonably easy fix assuming you can get the door open, but problems otherwise

2 Front suspension arms wear out. Both sides, upper and lower (there are 8 in total) runs to £750 fitted.

3 Cambet at 80k (petrol) is £300 fitted.

Then again, mine's on 160k and still the original clutch/gearbox, and there's been no engive work other than a rocker cover gasket. I don't drive like Miss Daisy, and get 24mpg (2.8 quattro).

Only thing I don't like is the wind noise - higher than I expected, but then the rest of it is so silent, it's perhaps a perception thing.

JoeyDeacon

We bought a P reg A6 (first of the new shape) 1.8T SE 3 weeks ago and so far it is brilliant. Amazing to think that a 7 year old car is quieter, smoother and better built than any brand new car I have ever owned.

Can agree with the comment about the suspension wearing out as our car has had amost of the suspension arms replaced (some twice) and it's only covered 63K miles. Think the previous owner was a bit obsessive though as all of the top arms were replaced a year ago because the owner complained of suspension noise. Add on the cost of the service and he had an £880 service bill!

As far as I can tell servicing is the biggest problem with these cars as ours has some pretty expensive receipts in the service history. They have to be serviced every year/10K miles and the 20K service requires a brake fluid change. All of the services seem to have cost between £250 and £500 (apart from the £880 one)

Only problem I have found with ours is that the screen for the trip computer is a little tempremental and sometimes parts of it go blank for no reason at all.

Only other comment is the wnd noise is slightly more than I would have expected on the motorway as the rest of the car is so quiet.

Peter Horlock

I had a front drive audi A6 (2.5TDI) on an S plate i bought it with 120K and sold it with 150K. It drove excellently after i put new spriings and dampers on it (£300). It had a full service history and you would not know it had been to the moon and back. I had mine remapped (about 180bhp) which ment it pulled a lot better in 6th gear. It was very nice as a motorway cruiser even though mine was the estate, it was still very quite compared to the scooby. The only problem i had wasw i snapped the gear box linkage but it was £250 all fixed at the audi garage. I got about 40mpg that was average a little bit more on the motorways. But the cars weights about 1700kg so you pays your money. A very good car i bought mine froma place in london that did high mileage audi's only.PM if you want the WWW.
All in all a very nice car, i'd have another one
Yours
Peter

MattPiece

Cheers. All very useful.

Interesting about the suspension being mentioned a few times. Does the A6 have 2 cats and are they reliable? How often does the timing belt require changing??

I've got my eye on a 2000 (X) A6 2.5TDi estate with RS6 18" alloys, sun roof, full leather, great condition at 89K miles on the forecourt for £11,995. Sound good?

WagonWheel

My Mum had a A6 2.5 Tdi on an X plate and the Cam Belt snapped haveing completed less than 30k miles. Very scary when going down a hill with no breaks or steering. All fixed under warrenty but never trusted again. - I have heard of an A4 2.5 TDi doing similar as well.

Petem95

Not sure if they have 2 cats, but the cats on A4/Passat can be trouble and its possible the A6 uses the same. The ceramic inside the cat breaks, and as a result you'll hear the occassional clunk from under the car. Doesnt sound like much, but its annoying in an otherwise quiet car, and theres also a good chance it'll fail the MOT emissions.

Old man had an A4 and this happened to the cat on it, and the cost of a replacement from the Audi dealer was pretty shocking.

That said Audi's are meant to be one of the best makes for long-term reliability. Was in an A6 1.9 TDi taxi a few months back which had covered 280k, but there were no squeeks or rattles, and the driver said the only major item replaced was the clutch.

289

The cats are no problems, and the suspension arms are (usually) only at 100k or more, and then again every 100k. The replacement bits are supposedly better - the originals had Teflon-coated parts which weren't all that well-coated, apparently.

As a high-speed high-quality execubarge, you really can't do better. Servicing for me (at a specialist non-franchised dealer) is £100 for a small one, £200 for a bigger one. Discs/pads are cheap, and it's only if you have to use Audi Genuine Parts that it starts to get much pricier than running, say, a Mondeo.

The estate you're looking at seems a little overpriced - a great attraction is that these cars fall in price like a stone. I'd offer £10k and see what they respond with

Timing belts are 80k on the petrols, assume the same for the derv-drinkers