Audi A6 or Volvo S80?

JohnL123

Hi,

I'm trying to decide by this weekend if I should buy an 07 Audi A6 or 08 Volvo S80. There are 3 x A6's I'm looking at, a 2L petrol turbo with 90kl miles or 2 x 2L TDI's with 121k miles, the S80 is an 08 D5 with 125k miles (is that a lot of miles for a Diesel?).
All cars have full service history and are around the same price. The Volvo is beatuiful with a stunning interior but the Audi's I hear are cheaper to get fixed if anything goes wrong as you don't need to go to main dealer for parts ??
I'm also caught in the old petrol v Diesel debate (I'd don't do huge miles though), and is the petrol a better bet due to lower milage or is 125k on a diesel nothing to worry about.

I'd love to hear opinions to help me choose

166man

Volvo S80 D5 everytime.

Class cars.

JohnL123

I have to say I never considered the S80 until I took it for a drive, I was AA6 all the way until the S80 put the cat among the pigeons.
Are the S80's realible ? my main worry is the cost of repair v's the Audi. Also is 125K miles on a Diesel quite a lot v's 90k on the petrol?

166man

JohnL123 wrote: »

I have to say I never considered the S80 until I took it for a drive, I was AA6 all the way until the S80 put the cat among the pigeons.
Are the S80's realible ? my main worry is the cost of repair v's the Audi. Also is 125K miles on a Diesel quite a lot v's 90k on the petrol?

2.4 D5 is a reliable engine, great toque out of it. Make sure to check the road tax on both, might be a bit higher/lower on the S80

Audi will be costly if it goes wrong, the 2007 Diesel engines had a number of recalls I believe.

125k miles is nothing with a good service history.

JohnL123

Yeah the tax on the Volvo is 1034 vs 710 on the Audi's but I'm not too worried about that if I have the right car for me. The Volvo has 1 owner and a full service history so I'm gussing is well looked after. The Audi's have full service history but 3+ owners which worries me a little

oldsmokey

I'd be inclined to go for the s80- too - they really are a grand ball of a car, a little bit different too - if you do, make sure you sort the timing and auxilary belts...aux belts need changing around 60k miles, timing belt at approx 75 k miles ...but doulble check these limits. 5 cylinder diesel is a cracker.

JohnL123

Ah ok so the Volvo has the belt as well not a chain? How would I check that was done on the cars? should it be in the service history booklet ? I'm sure if I ask the car salesman he'll say "Oh yes sir of course it was changed :-)"

renofan

JohnL123 wrote: »

Ah ok so the Volvo has the belt as well not a chain? How would I check that was done on the cars? should it be in the service history booklet ? I'm sure if I ask the car salesman he'll say "Oh yes sir of course it was changed :-)"

Factor in a belt change into the purchase price. I'd get it done anyways if you can't be sure if/when it was done.

The Volvo would be my choice too btw.

JohnL123

Hmmmmmmm how much money am I looking at to get a timing belt done on the Volvo or Audi? I have something like 800 euro in my head but not sure if that's accurate

JohnL123

Just rang the garage aboutt he belts on the Volvo and all were done including water pump in January and they can supply the receipts. Thanks for pointing that out to me. So Volvo does seem like a clean car

166man

Based on what you have told us now, I'd definitely be having the Volvo...

carrotcake

2007 was not a great year for A6 2.0 TDIs. Have a look here for details. Oil pump failure is the big one. The facelifted version (late 08 onwards) would be a safer bet.

As for the 2.0 TFSI, many are supposed to be very thirsty for oil, but I haven't heard of any major common problems.

JohnL123

Thanks for the link, interesting, it seems the petrol A6 would be the safer bet and 30K less miles if I went that direction. Unfortuneatly I can't afford to go to the facelift version so it's the 07 A6 or 08 S80.
I was disapointed with the interior of the A6, no leather, red monochrome display, manual seats etc.. the Volvo really does outclass the Audi on interior feel which was what made me think twice about the Audi.

bazz26

How much annual mileage do you do and what sort of driving is it? If you are doing small mileage or frequent short journeys then the petrol will suit you better.

JohnL123

Yeah I've been reading up on things like DPF's on the Diesel engines and I do short runs and under 10k miles a year so the petrol probably would suit me better but if the diesel is a much better car I'd be happy to take it for a blast every couple of weeks to burn off the soot in the DPF.
I've been reading some of the useful links from you guys as well, and the A6 2.0 TDI seems like a very scary proisition with the injector, Oil pump and balancing shaft issues, especially since the A6 TDI's have 121k miles on them, think I'll shy away from the A6 2.0 TDI and try make my decision between the A6 2.0 TFSI and S80 D5, although the A6 interior really does disapoint for what is supposed to be a premium car.

Has anyone heard of any major issude with the S80 D5? oh its AWD, should that be a cause for concern?

166man

10k miles a year is 16k km so enough to warrant the diesel. Especially if it's the vastly superior car,which it is.

It being AWD is even better too. I really can't see why a petrol/diesel base spec A6 would appeal over a loaded S80 AWD D5..!

Good luck with it anyway

JohnL123

Thanks 166man, I'm leaning now towards the S80 after a bit of research and the help here. Oh as a cherry on top the S80 has the Xenon dynamic lights and heated seats which to a gadget freak like me was very appealing lol (small thing I know and not the basis of a decision but nice place to be in the cold mornings :-) )

bidiots

Ive had german cars all my life, golfs, a4's, a6's and the last choice I had was between an a6 and the s80. Granted, they were 05's but nonetheless I had to make the choice.
I decided to go with the s80, right after I sat in it. The comfort level on the s80 is light years ahead of audi's. The power and torque from the 2.4 is excellent and the cream on top is....mpg:eek:
I'm getting about 70 more miles to the tank. All my audi's were 1.9's and I thought they were good on the juice. Not a patch on the s80.

So, volvo all the way

JohnL123

Thanks Bidiots, I was going to jump at the S80 after I sat in it too but had heard warnings about very expensive repair bills compared to Audi as you have to go back to the main dealer. Has that been your experience?

bidiots

I've had this car a year and all I've done with it is get it serviced, which was around the same money as servicing the audi. Maybe I've been lucky but any audi I've had, has cost a lot more money than I'm spending now....apart from the extra 300 per year tax:mad:

I know I've jinxed myself now and will have a litany of issues after this!

JohnL123

Thanks Bidiots and and fingers crossed your help hasn't jinxed you lol :-)

Yeah the tax was a bit annoying as I thought 2008 cars would have the more benifical tax rates, maybe the D5 engine is high on emmisions? but I'm not too bothered about the 300\year tax if I have all the other benifits. I used to drive an 04 BMW745i (part of the reason the Audi interior annoys me so much, I'm used to my comfort) so the 1,034 tax is a nice drop for me anyway :-)

Idbatterim

that level of tax given the car you are getting is fine to take the hit on, its not outrageous. I currently pay E1080 on the old system and that is my limit, after 2.5L it goes extra crazy...

JohnL123

yeah I think I can stomach it even though it's a 08. my only other concern was depreciation but as I plan keeping either of them a few years I don't think they will differ much.

bazz26

The previous owner(s) will have taken a fair hit in depreciation on a 7 year old S80 at this stage already.