David Aloe

My Audi A6 experience -

I purchased my favourite & first car, the Audi A6.

I’m not sure exactly what it was about the A6 that had me jumping at the chance of ownership, never exactly been a ‘mechanically’ knowledgable person, the idea of the A6 being my first owned vehicle seemed considerably far out of reach & quite impressive to most also. Leading up to buying the vehicle I heard it all, “The four rings of misery’, ‘Great for driving to the mechanic’, ‘Just money pits & nothing more.’ etc. despite this I pursued the A6 and yes eventually got myself a 2006 Audi A6 C6 with 138,000km’s attached in beautiful condition with a roadworthy certificate to match. Now upon arrival at the dealership got told ‘Oh, it runs a tad rough on the idle buddy but don’t stress.’ now typically thats a red light the next thing that came out my mouth should have been ‘Well, absolutely ****ing not.’ but instead came out with “Great, have ***** cash, I’ll take it.” I’ve then had the car for five weeks in total, spent with the first two $4,200.00 and still had endure a whole lot more if wanted to be sitting in a car’s interior that hasn’t got water flooded carpets & leaving oil stains on my fresh cement.

The Dealt With Problems -

Intake Manifold Gasket (replacement.)

Wheel Nut Tensions.

Control Arm Bushings (replacement.)

Condensation in RHS Taillight.

Air Filter. (replacement)

Spark Plugs. (replacement)

Oil Filter (replacement.)

Oil Filter Cap. (replacement)

Cam Actuator (replacement)

Wiper Blades (replacement.)

Bonnet Strut (replacement.)

Idler Pulley’s (replacement.)

Water Pump (replacement.)

Coolant Pipe (replacement)

Coolant Reservoir (replacement.)

Headlight Globes (replacement.)

Taillight Globes (replacement.)

6.6 Litres Of Oil.


Damage to the pocket, $4,200.00 (and that’s at cheap labour price.)


Now I know exactly what you’re thinking, “Well this is just stuff you have to do, you bought an Audi of course it’s expensive stupid!”.
Correct, but clearly I’ve been more than willing to foot the bill looking for the upside, but now the upside would be if I accidentally dumped it in a lake but I know the oil would hurt the poor little fishes & a vegan feud I just couldn’t deal with right now.


The Yet To Deal With Problems -

Flooded Rear Footwells.

Flooded Passenger Footwells.

Clogged Sunroof Drain/s.

Clogged Plenum Chamber/s.

Pollen Filter Replacement.

Incorrect Fault Codes (VAGCOM failure to resolve)

Now I could go on but I’m sure at this point you’re thinking “Well most of us have seen a lemon in our time!” but judging from three people I’ve been friends with for multiple years who have also experienced the depressing nature of the Audi A6’s failure rate, its for damn sure not just me (or just the A6 model for that matter) Audi has improved their reliability rate since the 10 year old A6 but but but this isn’t over, now moving past this awfully tedious, annoyance of a vehicle I said “**** it, next time I’ll get something more up to scratch my fault I was warned” went ahead and purchased the Audi A6 (2013) model, beautiful stylistically but once again the reliability just can not be seen for miles, it had under 60,000km’s & over 100,000 years before I brag about ownership of the A6 which has time and time and time again without fail…failed me. I’m writing this because from the perspective of a first time car buyer & being far from an expert the first thing I did yep, you got it. Googled it.

If you’re head over heels for German engineering specifically the Audi (A6 / A8 models) don’t be swayed or offended by my opinion, but also don’t spend your life proving to people the reliability of these cars are incredible because guess what I learned doing that, the people with the negative opinions are not going to pay the bill and sure as hell not about to care when you have to. Read some reviews, should be a red hot warning when you type “Audi A6’ it’s automatically followed by ‘common problems’. Ask around, do your research & in my personal opinion I’d suggest either wait till you can afford a newer model in warranty so that price tag isn’t suck hovering over your head ready to bucket down cold hard debt collection agencies, please take the advice and leave the models behind 2008 - 2010 alone, it’s simply just not worth the money.

Also don't get me wrong.
The new Audi I love dearly, the old Audi can go to that lake I mentioned earlier. Good luck. 😁

georgeb944

The first rule of buying any used car is knowing that you are buying someone else's problems.

Harleyguy

Also, as a buyer, it would have taken minimal effort to research the multitude of known anomalies inherent on the Audi line. If one then proceeds with the purchase, well, you know what you're stepping in.

N_Jay

And you didn't get it checked out first?

CRuby

Wow! His list is much shorter than mine!

David Aloe

As I mentioned, I've learned a lot about Audi through experience (unfortunately) & this post is really just expressing my personal experience with the A6 in particular.

I've accepted 100% of the responsibility, this is just a slight hint to people looking to purchase. Do some research and defiantly if not mechanically knowledgable get someone to check it out first so they don't end up where I was.

David Aloe

Exactly, wish I didn't learn that the hard way 😓 haha

David Aloe

Damn, lucky me I guess.

Don't get me wrong though, my first A6 was my problem child that I loved dearly just wouldn't come good haha.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

And each needed it. Two V8 C5 and the newest 2015 A5 (leased, no problems other than all the dings on the wheels, the fenders, and the front that my wife/I are going to have to fix or pay for at turn-in).

LOL.

The worst problem with the C5 V8 is the TB maintenance. Whoever designed a motor with a water pump driven by the cam belt should be shot. It must be der Fuhrer's Revenge. Changing a water pump every 75-95K miles? WTF?
I've changed Volvo timing belts a dozen times on two 7XX turbos, ezpz. Plus they're non-interference so even if one breaks you're not out thousands. WTF, Audi?
The front suspension bushings and balljoints are a joke; the BJs wear out way too soon. And they're lubed for life, what? Yeah, the life of the BJ.
The ZF transmissions are undersized and unreliable and Audi doesn't seem to give a flying rat's azz...since they too are 'lifetime fill.'

The outer CV/Rzeppa joint boots seem to be the wrong material...cheap Chinese stuff that cracks or else road crap gets directed at them and tears them.

N_Jay

I don't care if it is an Audi or a Chevy!
General rule of thumb NEVER buy a used car for more then parts without getting it checked out.