Hello, I'm new to the forum and possibly new to Audi in the coming days. I did own a Passat 30V V6 4Motion and really loved it, but was rearended by a semi (semi won).

I am currently looking at an A6 with 118,000 miles. Car is at a local dealer so I have no service records. Drove car and everything seems nice and tight and car does not appear abused. Only things I noticed that bothered me were the arm rest, sun shade, and cup holder. Car is listed for $9,995.

I figure if I purchase I will do timing belt right away. Anything else to look for or should I be avoid this car for any reason? How does the auto hold up in these cars? I do not plan to making into a racer, just a family car. Is reliability an issue at any point?

Thanks for your replies.

 

What year is the car?
Sounds a little high for the miles at least in this market area, even if it were a 2004 I'd be combing the sheet out of it.

 

What year and engine?

 

It's an 04 2.7t.

 

-belt ( and ll the fixins); control arms (mostly the multiple ball joints), autos are "ok" - not too robust, more problems on 4.2s, service (dont flush) auto every 30-50k miles. Probably as reliable or more so than your passat, but audis are not low maint cars. The 2.7t is very durable.

One issue is the turbo motors have more plumbing to fail - the motor should be fine (if its been services right - meaning lots of oil changes and proper oil and treated gently when cold), but the hoses, pressure release valves, etc become a steady stream of minor repairs.

Check price with KBB/etc.

G

 

MmmHmm..price seems right, at least for the DC/MD/VA area. Still, it's a high mileage car and $10K seems high but then a dealer is selling it...if it's an Audi dealer at least they should be able to repair it when things go wrong the first 30 days.

Can you get any kind of extended warranty on it that your dealer will honor, no questions asked?

Also, before you buy it, take it to an independent Audi service and pay the $100 or so to have it inspected...best $100 you'll ever pay. If it's a manual trans, check out the clutch thoroughly..the OEM clutch may last 180K miles, but if it's been flogged, much less. For $10K the brake pads and rotors should be new or have at least 7mm of pad left and no ridge on the rotors (which essentially means new rotors on an Audi!), the CV joint boots should look like new, no cracks or alligator cracking, the tires should have 9/32 or more and should all be the same (spare should be the same too...if it's new it's probably never been used and likely different than the ?? tires on the car), there should be no whining from the engine when idling (that dang aux water pump again) and no coolant leaks/tracks, the coolant reservoir should be clear/clean, the belly pan on the engine MUST be there (it's maybe $200+ to replace..it all adds up!), the interior should be clean...look at the driver's side bolster, little surface cracks ok, but otherwise, not so much. Look for HID lights...you don't really want halogen. You want the Bose sound system with 6CD changer in dash...and it should work. Look for crash damage...wrinkled radiator support, wrinkled unibody visible through back left and right access panels in trunk, all the lights should work, including the CHMBL in the rear, etc. Be prepared to replace shocks on high mileage cars; you might even want to go to H-sport sway bars or coil overs.

If the only things bothering you are the armrest, sunshade and cup holder (and no noises when you corner or abruptly change directions, no clunking or click-click-click from front CV joints at minimum turn radius) you might ask yourself if the mileage is accurate, was the car left outside for most of it's life (does the sunroof leak? Pour water on it with a hose when closed and see if water gets inside the car) and the drains clogged. Does the AC work well, like 40F when on max?

Check the condition of the serp belt....cracked would be indicative of OEM and very little service done on the car. If you cannot document or the dealer show you a timing belt service on the car drop $2K off the price or negotiate to have it done.

Little things, like pull the dipstick and drip some oil on a paper towel or napkin...bullseye rather than small spot at center and ring around it indicate long oil change intervals...look under the oil filter cap into engine for varnish/sludge. Turbos can last a long time or be very expensive to replace.....car should drive smoothly and powerfully with not boost/stutter or drag issues.

I'm sure you can STFA for other checklists but most of this stuff is common sense and except for the aux coolant pump and belly pan not so much unique to Audi.



Use the result to negotiate.