05 Audi A6 3.0 TDI Quattro - What to look out for?

_Kaiser_

Morning all,

Regular readers will know I've had a longing for an A6 for a while now and thanks to some recent developments I'm going to be in a position to get one in the very very near future

So, no point doing it half-heartedly - given my lower mileage these days I'm looking at the 3L TDI Quattro versions that are going for very reasonable prices at the moment.

So having done some initial reading on sites like honestjohn, there doesn't seem to be too many issues with this particular version, but if there's anyone here with their own experience and things to check for then all feedback would be much appreciated

Cheers!

Tea 1000

The Auto box is poor enough and not a reliable unit. That's the biggest complaint really. The engine is decent enough, it's comfortable, and nice cabin.

R.O.R

No personal experience with them, but we did have an 06 on the fleet that went to pretty high mileage. Driver bought it eventually as he loved it so much.

Scanning the service history:
4 tyres at 33k
4 tyres at 63k
4 tyres at 99k
Front & Rear pads at 99k
4 tyres at 130k
4 tyres at 173k
Fuel temp sensor replaced at 173k
Front & Rear pads & discs, handbrake loom and ecu replaced at 203k
Motorised valve for Air Con replaced at 207k
4 tyres at 221k
Rear lights re-wired at 243k

Apart from tax and servicing every 15k, that's all that's listed. The discs, pads, loom and ecu at 203k was around €2,000 + VAT.

That car was only on 16" wheels, so tyres were fairly reasonable.

Actually cost us a fair bit less to maintain than was budgeted. No mention of any breakdowns listed.

Not a huge pool of information to base anything on, but they do seem fairly reliable.

_Kaiser_

R.O.R wrote: »

No personal experience with them, but we did have an 06 on the fleet that went to pretty high mileage. Driver bought it eventually as he loved it so much.

Scanning the service history:
4 tyres at 33k
4 tyres at 63k
4 tyres at 99k
Front & Rear pads at 99k
4 tyres at 130k
4 tyres at 173k
Fuel temp sensor replaced at 173k
Front & Rear pads & discs, handbrake loom and ecu replaced at 203k
Motorised valve for Air Con replaced at 207k
4 tyres at 221k
Rear lights re-wired at 243k

Apart from tax and servicing every 15k, that's all that's listed. The discs, pads, loom and ecu at 203k was around €2,000 + VAT.

That car was only on 16" wheels, so tyres were fairly reasonable.

Actually cost us a fair bit less to maintain than was budgeted. No mention of any breakdowns listed.

Not a huge pool of information to base anything on, but they do seem fairly reliable.

Cheers for all that.

Yea I don't want (or need) monster wheels on it so one of them has 205/60/R16 which I'm guessing are pretty reasonable. Would it take the same 205/55/R16 as on my current Passat as I get a good price on those

_Kaiser_

Tea 1000 wrote: »

The Auto box is poor enough and not a reliable unit. That's the biggest complaint really. The engine is decent enough, it's comfortable, and nice cabin.

I've heard about the auto box alright but are they really THAT bad or is it bad in the same way that the DSG in my Passat is supposed to be awful but actually has never given me any grief (with over 240k km on it) - in other words, is it just a case of needing to make sure the car is serviced correctly and on-time (which I do anyway)

They ARE very comfy alright, but it's amazing how hard it is to get a decent spec.. I want Leather, steering wheel controls, full computer, xenons, climate etc. Most of the cars I've looked at will have most of that but not all, or they'll have skimped on the seats?!

As it is I've seen 2 with all I want out of maybe 10 (but then I'm also biased to anything with a D-reg)

tossy

16" wheels on a 3.0 TDI quattro A6 ....Ah Ireland i love your quaint little ways. :rolleyes:

Edit: are you sure the were 16" i didn't think the brakes on a 3.0 TDI would fit under 16's.unless Irish cars are being spec'ed with smaller brakes!

George Dalton

The only issues I have ever seen with the 3.0 engine itself is problems with the intake manifold runners which is an expensive fix as it means replacing the intake manifolds themselves.

_Kaiser_

tossy wrote: »

16" wheels on a 3.0 TDI quattro A6 ....Ah Ireland i love your quaint little ways. :rolleyes:

Edit: are you sure the were 16" i didn't think the brakes on a 3.0 TDI would fit under 16's.unless Irish cars are being spec'ed with smaller brakes!

Well I'm all for bigger-ish wheels (not 19"/20" as I've seen on skangerised older Audis though) but I don't want to be spending €200 a corner either, nor do I want a bone jarring ride as a result.

Yes they were definitely 16" on the one I looked at last

_Kaiser_

George Dalton wrote: »

The only issues I have ever seen with the 3.0 engine itself is problems with the intake manifold runners which is an expensive fix as it means replacing the intake manifolds themselves.

Ah I'm sure you'd look after me on that though right GEorge?

(Oh I haven't forgotten about that glow plug either. Bit of family drama that has prevented me getting down to you but maybe the week after next?)

tossy

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Well I'm all for bigger-ish wheels (not 19"/20" as I've seen on skangerised older Audis though) but I don't want to be spending €200 a corner either, nor do I want a bone jarring ride as a result.

Yes they were definitely 16" on the one I looked at last

17's at least on an A6 to not make it look like it was spec'd by a primary school teacher. I have 18's and never pay more than 150ish a corner for premium performance tyres - shop around.

Best of luck with it if you do go ahead though the 3.0 TDI are a great car.

Tea 1000

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

I've heard about the auto box alright but are they really THAT bad or is it bad in the same way that the DSG in my Passat is supposed to be awful but actually has never given me any grief (with over 240k km on it) - in other words, is it just a case of needing to make sure the car is serviced correctly and on-time (which I do anyway)

Getting it serviced correctly is ambiguous. What exactly does that mean? According to Audi, the gearbox is sealed for life, so servicing it exactly to Audi standards clearly isn't enough.
Servicing it according to what George recommends would be more beneficial, and preventative maintenance would certainly be a big long term money saver I reckon.

galwaytt

I know it's not an A6, but a friend has an older S8, and he's had his share of gearbox woes as well - it seems to be a quirk of those quattro + auto 'box combinations.

_Kaiser_

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Getting it serviced correctly is ambiguous. What exactly does that mean? According to Audi, the gearbox is sealed for life, so servicing it exactly to Audi standards clearly isn't enough.
Servicing it according to what George recommends would be more beneficial, and preventative maintenance would certainly be a big long term money saver I reckon.

Yea that's how I have done it over the years. Whatever it needs, it gets and to be fair it's worked very well on my Passat with 240k km on the clock and nothing beyond normal wear and tear items, 2 timing belts, a fuel pump, flywheel, and brake caliper.

166man

I see the reasoning for the A6, lovely cars. But not quite sure why you'd go for the 3.0TDI if doing lower mileage. You might get a 2.0T auto for less money and you could just remap that to 200bhp. You'd get 30mpg out of it and the tax would be bearable.

Merely a suggestion

darragh o meara

What mpg does the A6 3.0 Tdi Quattro return? Have been thinking about one myself but do 600 miles a week so need some bit of economy.

ION08

a friend of mine just bought an 05 one, Genuine S-line model with 220k km / 128k miles. It was advertised for 7250 and the guy let it go for 5950. He robbed it at that price imo!

Lovely car, especialy the way you can just plant the pedal from standstill and none of this wheelspin/traction control interference crap, it just goes and goes!

Hes averaging about 11.5/100km combined

_Kaiser_

So my plans have taken a very solid step forward and I've had a first look at one I like and am at the point of thinking about the money.

What price would you put on them? Average online price seems to range from about 7000-9500 but again, getting the spec right is painful and I'm not forgetting these are cars that there isn't much demand for these days.

_Kaiser_

166man wrote: »

I see the reasoning for the A6, lovely cars. But not quite sure why you'd go for the 3.0TDI if doing lower mileage. You might get a 2.0T auto for less money and you could just remap that to 200bhp. You'd get 30mpg out of it and the tax would be bearable.

Merely a suggestion

Well I'd guesstimate that I'm currently doing about 1400km per month but this may vary a bit (upwards) going forward - to be fair I haven't had a petrol car in years. Would it make more sense?

glynf

George Dalton wrote: »

The only issues I have ever seen with the 3.0 engine itself is problems with the intake manifold runners which is an expensive fix as it means replacing the intake manifolds themselves.

I had this on my 3.0 Tdi A5, the actuator lever give up. Its a common issue with this engine in the A5's, A6's & Q7's.

For anyone in the same boat, I was quoted €1100 for a pair of replacement manifolds by Audi, but bought reconditioned ones off this guy on ebay for about €440 delivered. They work perfectly.



BTW Kaiser, running a 3.0 TDI & Quattro for the last 4 years, and its the business. Plenty of poke & I average 8/100km on a long run, and 10/100km about town.

Currently selling mine as I need more room but I will most def. be going for the same engine & drive train again, probably an 09-10 A4/A6 3.0 Tdi quattro UK inport.

_Kaiser_

glynf wrote: »

BTW Kaiser, running a 3.0 TDI & Quattro for the last 4 years, and its the business. Plenty of poke & I average 8/100km on a long run, and 10/100km about town.

Currently selling mine as I need more room but I will most def. be going for the same engine & drive train again, probably an 09-10 A4/A6 3.0 Tdi quattro UK inport.

Cheers for that . Out of curiosity how much does a full tank set you back? I'm trying to work out what the extra would be vs my current 2.0 TDI DSG

glynf

55L tank, so €83 or so the last time I filled to the brim.

Turtle-TM

Why not just go for an A8 if you want that engine size and Quattro.

You get a nicer cabin, leather seats, adaptive air suspension and a quieter ride. Servicing and parts will be similar price


There's a nice on on adverts.ie if you want to look

the black one

_Kaiser_

Turtle-TM wrote: »

Why not just go for an A8 if you want that engine size and Quattro.

You get a nicer cabin, leather seats, adaptive air suspension and a quieter ride. Servicing and parts will be similar price


There's a nice on on adverts.ie if you want to look

the black one

Had a look but a bit more than I was hoping to pay, plus I prefer the newer "massive grille" models