abqhudson

I've been told to stay away from the V-6 because the replacement of the timing belt(s?) is extremely costly. What say you? How often does this have to be done? Thanks for any help.

jschick

the 3.0 does have a T-belt but that isn't why you stay away from it. it doesn't comst much more then any other belt, but they only made that engine for a few years and it's just a bad engine in my opinion. don't get me wrong it is a great running engine, but aver 125k miles and they are known for eating cams, and other issues some minor and some not so minor

abqhudson

Thank you very much. Does the 3.2 have the same belt issue?

A4Audi4Fun

3.2 has a timing chain instead of a timing belt so no scheduled replacement period exists.

I wouldn't stay away from the 3.0 just because of the timing belt. At highway speeds, the V6 is a far smoother and quieter engine than the 4 cylinder ones.

The 4 cyl 1.8T and 2.0T both have timing belts as well and folks aren't told to stay away from them. Timing belt replacement for the 3.0 is far more expensive though because of the V6 configuration and need to properly align 4 cams ( 2 for each cylinder block). Once done you are likely good for another 5-7 years.

BTW - if a turbo fails, is the replacement cost for that more than the incremental cost of the 3.0 timing belt?

abqhudson

Thanks for the helpful responses.