royrogers

Hi guys I am looking at buying either a 535 or an S6, haven't driven the 535 but drove the S6, yesterday, I gotta say NICE. The 535 has 120k, asking 9k

The story is this: its an ex Japanese car but came with left hand drive and has incredibly low kilometres, nearly 50,000. It's an automatic 4.2L.

Car felt good and tight, newer tires no rust... Asking price is about 10k - which is not really unreasonable ?? but it does have its issues.

1. Nav and Stereo are in Japanese, hard to understand as am as canadian as they come, doesnt seem to pick up local stations.
2. LCD in the center of the dash is all pixelated, hard to read.
3. The cloth at the rear on the ceiling is becoming detached.
4. Only 1 key

He took it to a garage to see what work needed to be done this is what they said:

Needs:
1 Differential output seal, both sides 230 bucks
2 Axle Shaft assembly remove and install or remove and replace both $320
3 Axle shaft boot - remove and replace both outer $144
4 Differential output seals replace both sides $60
5 Pressure test for coolant leaks

Recommendations:

Rear axle seals leaking
Front outer cv boots split
Output seal leaking
Oil leak appearing to originate from oil filter. recommend wash and monitor
Coolant found on belly pan and frame, reservoir low and topped recommend pressure test.

The car just had some fuel sending unit replaced - don't recall what it was, but while they were in there they told him might as well to the timing belt so he said sure, had a 1k receipt.

I gotta say the car is nice, I had no idea what an S6 was about, I've had my share of cars, 240z, fox mustang, jag etc. but this one really felt like it wants to go where you point it. Pretty nice.

I know long post but its a lot of money to me, this will be a daily driver. Live on the west coast so having power to the 4 wheels will be a welcome addition. I am mechanically inclined but am not a mechanic.


Thanks guys really appreciate any comments.

rr

Harleyguy

Asking price is waaaaay high in my opinion. This is a 19 year old car. If you can do your own work, you could do the axles for 1/2 to 2/3 of the quoted price. Rebuilt axles come with new CV boots, so they are charging you for something that they most likely aren't doing. Complete boot kits can be had for less than $20 through aftermarket sources.Takes about 45 minutes to an hour per side to do the boots. Even less time if you are swapping in rebuilt axle units. LCD replacement is a couple of hundred from a company like Module Masters. There is another company, I think in Minnesota, that charges roughly the same. Nav and stereo is open-ended. Depends on how much you want to spend. Extra keys can get expensive and it may be very expensive for reprogramming so the car accepts new keys. Personally, I would pass on this car. Needed repairs make the price of the car more like $11k. There are a lot of Audi's out there for less money, fewer issues, and even a couple of years newer if you look. Not trying to rain on your parade just offering my thoughts.

royrogers

Harleyguy, Thank you.

been looking at prices A6's are going for quite a bit here, there is an 06 with with 200k kms for 8k and an 03 for 6k with 125k kms. noticed you are from AZ, these are canadian $$$ so about 30% cheaper, same with the mileage, the S6 am looking/was looking at only has 30k miles on it.

what do you think this car is worth? don't want to insult the guy but maybe offer him what its really worth??? maybe i should just walk away.... i did like the car

Harleyguy

The running gag is the logo on the grill is what the car is worth after about a dozen years. Not funny at the moment maybe but not entirely inaccurate. I always look at "blue book" prices to get an assessment. Not sure how that would work in Canada. Although you may not have that available where you are you could still go online and do some research. If you go on Kelly Blue Book site just submit your local info as a US zip code like Detroit or Buffalo and then do the price research. NADA is the other dealer pricing "bible". KBB seems to price cars lower than NADA but still provide some good info. Based on your indicated repair items I would take that off the top for starters. My previous was a 2004 A6 4.2L Quattro w/120K miles. When I sold it a year and a half ago it book priced at $5100. It was in good shape at the time with 60% tires, new LCD display, new timing belt service, new CV boots on front axles, and interior was in good shape. I sold the car for $4k (not a real high demand for awd in Arizona). We are all different, but in you case I would do some looking on Craigs List and maybe Ebay. There are even classifieds on this site as well that often have good deals.

royrogers

I can't find anything under 7k here for an A6, seems about 4-5us$ so I'd guess slightly more for an S6 but with the issues.... Guess I'll tell the guy, 6k and no more. Car is probably worth 8-9 can$ in good shape. Doubt he would take 6k for it but I'll offer him that. That makes it 4k US$, think I can spend a couple of week ends on it and fix most issues except for the nav. I'll just buy a frequency expander and try that, maybe learn japanese to use the nav

Anyway thanks for the help, if you have any suggestions - something else I should look at in the car let me know.

royrogers

Ok further to my post, I have decided I am not going with the car after a call to a dealer. The dealer stated that they would be unable to get most of the computers for that car as it was a car destined for the japanese market. Big deal in my opinion.

Anyway, thanks for the help support.

rr

Harleyguy

Hadn't thought of that, but yeah that would eventually be an issue. The transmission control module is a known weak link on these 4.2L cars. If they get damaged from moisture incursion (very likely sooner or later) you would probably need to replace it with the Japanese variant so it could communicate with the rest of the components such as the main ECM, traction control, ABS, etc. If you really have the hots for an A6, keep looking. There are lots of the C5's out there. Best bet would be in a large metropolitan area. Hang in there and good luck!