Maintenance of an audi 4.2l v8 S6

DanGerMus · 05-02-2009 7:15pm #1

I'm considering a 00-01 one of these among other powerful older cars along with the 2.7lBiT version. Just i have no idea how much a service would be on them. Also what's their reliablitlty like. I'm assuming an Audi V8 isn't exactly going to crumble apart on me. I Do less than 4k a year as i'm very close to work. I have cash to buy the car insurance is a lot cheaper than i thought it would be and i can live with the tax just need to know if a service is gonna cost me 2k every year. Is dealer service a must should i look for a good indo specialist.

Quazzie · 05-02-2009 7:57pm

I hate you!!! :mad:

On a serious note, maintenance shouldn't be much more than standard. At the end of the day all there is to change to oil, oil filter, air filter(s) and Spark plugs. Parts might be more expensive but only up to a maximum of +50%. There will be more running gear and generally parts will be more expensive but I'd say that 50% increase would be standard across the board for everything. If you get it service by a mechanic and not the Audi main dealers there will also be a more significant saving, because at the end of the day it is just a car, an awsome car I would kill for, but just a car.

DanGerMus · 05-02-2009 8:04pm

sorry. It's kind of a crazy buy but i'd love to have one and my low mileage allows i think. They are not that expensive to buy in the first place. The way i look at it is i could get a loan for 20k and buy a new **** car or spend about a third of that on an old great car. I'm not getting a loan btw but you get my point.

mike65 · 05-02-2009 8:17pm

The biggest worry I'd say is the tiptronic box, worth doing some research on life expentancy and mantainence intervals.

Big Nasty · 05-02-2009 8:28pm

Nice thinking OP! This is one of my ideal daily cars. Great value to be had on them right now, good performance, savage road presence - better looking than the present model IMO. Just keep in mind that when buying a car like this you are practically married to it - it will be costly enough to keep and you will have awful trouble getting rid of it when you decide you need something more youthful! Once you go over the 100k (mile) mark you are going to start experiencing problems, nothing major once she's been well kept but bits and bobs will start going and costing you dollars, never mind the €2k tax for 4k (I'm hoping miles) a year - that works out at €2 a mile in tax alone!!!

You're never gonna buy a big smoker like this and just put fuel into it - it just don't work that way. I would really, really like an exit level S8 or 740 M-Tech! (Much lower maintenance costs on the BMW)

Go with your heart dude! As you say, there's feck all decent you can buy new for €20K - better spent on a luxury beast you will enjoy!

Tipsy Mac · 05-02-2009 8:36pm

Best thing to do is get yourself a PSV license, re-register her as a limo and she will only be €82 a year road tax, you will pay a bit more in insurance but your road tax bill be be knocked the f out

unkel · 05-02-2009 8:44pm

DanGerMus wrote: »

I'm considering a 00-01 one of these among other powerful older cars along with the 2.7lBiT version. Just i have no idea how much a service would be on them. Also what's their reliablitlty like. I'm assuming an Audi V8 isn't exactly going to crumble apart on me. I Do less than 4k a year as i'm very close to work. I have cash to buy the car insurance is a lot cheaper than i thought it would be and i can live with the tax just need to know if a service is gonna cost me 2k every year. Is dealer service a must should i look for a good indo specialist.

I've been driving old V8 petrol engined cars for many years and apart from a €1k suspension rebuild on one of them once (which I knew was coming at about 137k miles), I've never had a big bill. Find yourself a good indy and buy a good car and enjoy what was a €100k+ car only a few years ago on a total annual budget that wouldn't be enough to drive a 2 year old Toyota

You could of course be unlucky and hit a big issue (engine / gearbox) but it is not very likely. Have the indy check the car over before you buy if you can. And indeed, you shouldn't really buy a car like that with borrowed money. And don't expect it will be easy to sell on, ever!

Let us know how you're getting on

unkel · 05-02-2009 8:49pm

MCMLXXV wrote: »

€2k tax for 4k (I'm hoping miles) a year - that works out at €2 a mile in tax alone!!!

Motor tax is €1,566 which works out at €0.39 per mile

Rowley Birkin QC · 05-02-2009 8:53pm

Fantastic choice OP.

Do you mind me asking what you see the costs adding up to?

Best of luck with it if you decide to proceed, keep her serviced and I'll buy it off you in a few years!!

DanGerMus · 05-02-2009 8:54pm

well tax is 1566, insurance is under 700, petrol using worst case scenario works out at 850 i think ( 17l/100k x 5000km @ E1/l) . I will be paying with cash i've saved so no loan repayments. Hopefully be able to pick one up for between 7-10k inc vrt going by Autotrader asking prices. 3kish a year plus maintenance is very affordable tbh.

MCM do you really think over 100k is a worry it's an old model and average mileage considered difficult to find one much below that.

Tipsy mac if thats actually dooable i promise you a sacrifice of my first born.

Also with reference to resale, "they can bury me in it!"

Matt Simis · 05-02-2009 9:02pm

DanGerMus wrote: »

I'm considering a 00-01 one of these among other powerful older cars along with the 2.7lBiT version. Just i have no idea how much a service would be on them. Also what's their reliablitlty like. I'm assuming an Audi V8 isn't exactly going to crumble apart on me. I Do less than 4k a year as i'm very close to work. I have cash to buy the car insurance is a lot cheaper than i thought it would be and i can live with the tax just need to know if a service is gonna cost me 2k every year. Is dealer service a must should i look for a good indo specialist.

As per the other posters, there isnt anything really in there thats totally unique or going to flake out in a big way. Just to clarify are you expecting 2 to 3k a year in servicing? Its not going to even come close to that!? Whats that assumption based on? You can buy an entire engine from an S6 for under 2k..
Buy one in Missano red or Nogaro Blue, please god no more silver cars on the road!

The same couldnt be said of the 2.7T BiT engines, while excellent for tuning, they do require a bit more attention to maintain and when the turbos go, its engine out to replace.

DanGerMus · 05-02-2009 9:13pm

Colour wise i opposite of love Silver. Black would be preferred with black interior but i'm quite partial to that Metallic grey they come in think it looks good on them. Not too pushed at the end of the day about the colour as long as it's not silver.

Big Nasty · 05-02-2009 9:25pm

unkel wrote: »

Motor tax is €1,566 which works out at €0.39 per mile

My Bad! Makes it even more desireable!

OP - I'm not saying you're going to have major issues, if I had the spare cash I would be going for one myself, that or a 740 M-Tech with all the trimmings, but this car really floats my boat. Picking one up with 100K wouldn't really bother me but if you saw a suitable one with 120K plus I would be inclined to steer clear.

Rovi · 05-02-2009 9:40pm

I've just nicked over 120K on the RS6 a month or so ago, and it's running like a top.

With a good service history, I'd have no qualms about 100k+.

unkel · 05-02-2009 9:47pm

Rovi wrote: »

With a good service history, I'd have no qualms about 100k+.

Aye. The engine should not be the problem. A good quality V8 with 150k miles on it will be good for another 25 years @4k miles per year

Cats go and suspension work will be required at some point. The greatest worry imho is typically the gearbox

Big Nasty · 05-02-2009 9:51pm

unkel wrote: »

Aye. The engine should not be the problem. A good quality V8 with 150k miles on it will be good for another 25 years @4k miles per year

Cats go and suspension work will be required at some point. The greatest worry imho is typically the gearbox

It ain't the engine that's the problem, it's all the little bits and bobs and pumps, bushings, etc, that will need replacing soon. V8's on the other hand - they will live forever!

Matt Simis · 05-02-2009 9:52pm

DanGerMus wrote: »

Colour wise i opposite of love Silver. Black would be preferred with black interior but i'm quite partial to that Metallic grey they come in think it looks good on them. Not too pushed at the end of the day about the colour as long as it's not silver.

Yeah, the Greys are great:

Daytona Grey on RS6

Quartz Grey on S6

There is also Meteor Grey and Dolphin Grey, which are slightly darker versions of Daytona. Daytona would be the more popular of the Greys. Quartz is too silver looking IMO.

MCMLXXV wrote: »

It ain't the engine that's the problem, it's all the little bits and bobs and pumps, bushings, etc, that will need replacing soon. V8's on the other hand - they will live forever!

Of course, but unless you think they are all going to break continuously every year, then I stand by the statement that servicing is not going to even approach 2k per year on average.

mondeo · 05-02-2009 9:54pm

This is a route I am half looking into aswell, An Audi would certainly be my choice, Nothing has a bigger powerfull Bull like presence of an V8 Audi.
An A8/S8 is quite a car....go for it!

Big Nasty · 05-02-2009 9:57pm

mondeo wrote: »

This is a route I am half looking into aswell, An Audi would certainly be my choice, Nothing has a bigger powerfull Bull like presence of an V8 Audi.
An A8/S8 is quite a car....go for it!

Would certainly be more enjoyable than a Mondeo!

DanGerMus · 06-02-2009 5:35pm

Well i will be crying myself to sleep tonight as i just called the guys and this went for 2900 quid at auction ..... TODAY!

:(:(:(:(

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/ni/cars_popup.jsp?searchform=&modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&photo=1&state=block&sort=3&hassearched=Y&make=AUDI&min_pr=75&source=0&model=S6&max_pr=&miles=1500&agerange=0&mileage=&postcode=ls9+8al&variant=&bodyid=0&trim=&fuelid=0&colour=&transmissionid=0&keywords=&ukcarsearch_full.x=&ukcarsearch_full.y=&ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH&start=2&distance=171&adcategory=CARS&channel=CARS&id=200905327855695

Matt Simis · 06-02-2009 7:45pm

DanGerMus wrote: »

Well i will be crying myself to sleep tonight as i just called the guys and this went for 2900 quid at auction ..... TODAY! :(:(:(:(

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/ni/cars_popup.jsp?searchform=&modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&photo=1&state=block&sort=3&hassearched=Y&make=AUDI&min_pr=75&source=0&model=S6&max_pr=&miles=1500&agerange=0&mileage=&postcode=ls9+8al&variant=&bodyid=0&trim=&fuelid=0&colour=&transmissionid=0&keywords=&ukcarsearch_full.x=&ukcarsearch_full.y=&ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH&start=2&distance=171&adcategory=CARS&channel=CARS&id=200905327855695

Wow... what auction?

DanGerMus · 06-02-2009 7:50pm

No idea. Just rang and he told me straight away it was gone. Expressed my dissappointment and said good luck. You think i should have found out. I also checked up on a black avant thats also just been sold. Trawling google today for more can't find any outside of autotrader or pistonheads. Would prefer an avant but they're all silver

.

DanGerMus · 07-02-2009 3:15am

Cant seem to get the VRT calculator to work for an Avant. What's the story if you can't get a quote from there?

unkel · 07-02-2009 10:12am

Email or ring them. See the link in the charter for contact details. Or just go in to them yourself.

galwaytt · 07-02-2009 1:30pm

...well another poster on boards.ie - hope he'll chime in here - near me, bought fab '99 S8 lately. Had full service (all belts etc) done by a local indy with a lot of VW/Merc experience, so it's actually no big deal. Travel outside the pale for big jobs, and you'll save even more.

Ongoing std maintenance isn't that bad, tbh.

Car was shocking value, so if don't find your S6, an S8 can be found for same/similar/less money.

As for high mileage auto gearboxes, well my '93 968 now has 146k miles on it and no signs of problems yet. If you're a low mileage driver, you might never get to a mileage that will require it to be overhauled.

DanGerMus · 07-02-2009 2:49pm

I'm actually not from the Pale, lol, i'm from Clare. I'm not gone on the s8 tbh S6 is a big car as it is.

VanhireBoys · 07-02-2009 6:47pm

galwaytt wrote: »

...well another poster on boards.ie - hope he'll chime in here - near me, bought fab '99 S8 lately. Had full service (all belts etc) done by a local indy with a lot of VW/Merc experience, so it's actually no big deal. Travel outside the pale for big jobs, and you'll save even more.

Ongoing std maintenance isn't that bad, tbh.

Car was shocking value, so if don't find your S6, an S8 can be found for same/similar/less money.

As for high mileage auto gearboxes, well my '93 968 now has 146k miles on it and no signs of problems yet. If you're a low mileage driver, you might never get to a mileage that will require it to be overhauled.

Definately agree John as I was along with that lad who bought the S8.. And shared the drive home....! The best car I ever drove... Its the most underrated undervalued car the world ever. The cop at Pembroke harbour asked was it stolen..... We replied "Might as well have been"

The parts are no dearer than an A4... Its an Audi FFS.. All it needs is serviced. Watch the film Ronin and the S8 is sold:D

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Video/Search-Results/Video/cars-in-movies/Audi-S8---Ronin/

Big Nasty · 08-02-2009 8:41pm

I actually miss-read this thread originally. Thought it was about an S8! S6 is a great car but has no way near the presence of an S8. S6 has too many curves and not enough angles for my liking, but that's just me!

DanGerMus · 17-02-2009 7:39pm

Can anyone hazard a guess at a new cambelt for one of these? negotiating now kinda need to know as i've no idea.

RoundyMooney · 17-02-2009 8:09pm

MCMLXXV wrote: »

That's a rather ominous looking puddle. Hopefully the aircon was on :cool:

mike65 · 17-02-2009 8:18pm

I'd budget 2000 euro - the timing kit will cost about 700 euro add a days labour, vat etc.

Maintenance of an audi 4.2l v8 S6

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