Friday 15th June 2012

SOTW: Audi A6 Avant

In honour of Audi's Le Mans successes, Shed picks an A6 from the year of Ingolstadt's first victory en Sarthe

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Provided you haven't been sitting around with your head in a bucket of sand for the past couple of months, it's likely that you'll be at least vaguely aware that a certain moderately famous endurance race is taking place this weekend.

You will also be aware, no doubt, that Audi has dominated the race for the past decade, winning every event but two since the turn of the millennium. So it makes sense that we should honour such a roll of victories with an Audi Shed of the Week for Le Mans weekend.

As it happens, Shed's been keeping its metaphorical eyes peeled for an appropriate C5-generation Audi A6 for quite a while now, largely because I have a bit of a soft spot for them. I know they consistently lost out in contemporary magazine tests to BMW and Mercedes, but to me they represent the zenith of Audi cool.

This A6 comes from a time when the cars from Ingolstadt were not over-designed inside and out, the interior layout was still relatively simple, and choosing one was still a cool and left-field alternative to a mainstream exec. A bit like buying a Saab used to be, but without the overtones of sandals and architecture. It was also before Audi drivers developed their reputations as c*cks...

This particular model is spot-on as an example of the A6, too. It's an Avant for starters, which makes it automatically slightly cooler than a saloon version. It's also the 2.7-litre 30-valve bi-turbo V6, which means it gets a healthy 230hp.

As PHer BigTom85 put it when he dropped me a note having spotted today's SOTW: "A detuned RS4 engine, massive lugging capability, proper build quality...I like."

Quite so, BigTom. We like, too.

This particular car certainly looks as if it's covered every one of its 147,410 miles, and it only has a few months tax and MoT left, but it has a full service history, and a list of equipment as long as a long man's arm. For £999 it's surely quite a lot of car for the money...

Advert is reproduced below

£999 2000 Audi A6 2.7 T Quattro 5dr Avant

NO OFFERS! !!! 5 Doors, Manual, Estate, Petrol, 147,410 miles, Silver, MOT till 09/2012, TAXED till 09/2012, Rear Parking Sensors, Xennon Headlamps, Remote Central Locking, Front Foglamps, Multifunction Trip Computer, Black Sporty Leather Interior, Leather Sports Steering Wheel, ABS, Adjustable steering column/wheel, Air conditioning, Climate Contol, Anti theft system, Central locking, Electric adjustable front seats, Cruise control, Driver airbag, Electric mirrors, Electric windows, Front armrest, Head restraints, Headlight washers, Leather seats, Lumbar support, Metallic paintwork, Passenger airbag, Power assisted steering, Side airbags, Sports seats, Traction control, Roof rails, Radio Cas with CD Changer, BOSE Sound System, 147,000 Miles with full servicing, Spare Keys, LOW PRICE AS I NEED FAST MONEY. £999

 

[Saxon12]

Very nice!I love it.

[Trusty Steed]

Nice shed! Would happily use that as a daily hack!

[Porkie]

My uncle bought one of these earlier in the year, later TD quattro one, and every time I drive it I am amazed by how solid, well built, modern and just brilliant it feels considering it was just £2k and has done 100k miles. NOTHING squeaks or rattles, everything works, its just great.

for £999 this one seems soooooooo much car for the money!

[SmartVenom]

Not really my kind of thing, but still one hell of a lot of car for the money. Seems far too good to be a shed.

[B'stard Child]

Leather and not a dag dag - cavenous boot - perfect load lugger/parts chaser/dog* wagon

Whats not to like

Note* "dog" rather than "dogging"

[sjabrown]

That's a lot of car for the money. Provided it's not got a terminal engine/gearbox problem you surely can't go wrong?

[spencermit]

Love it...

[JohnGoodridge]

Not a huge Audi fan, but that is very tempting.

[James1972]

Great Shed - fantastic winter hack / covered pick up to sit alonside something silly in the garage. Bet I'd never see the far side of 25mpg though

[Strawman]

Seems great value.

[CYMR0]

Cheap to buy, thirsty and possibly very expensive if (when) it goes very wrong indeed.

I'd rather pay twice as much for a nice one ... but if this one is all fine then it could be brilliantly cheap.

[sinbaddio]

Get a hairdrier on the 2.7T badge and that is a very cool Q car

[ajprice]

Nice shed! It's a lot of car for the money and there's lots of toys to play with.

[drgoatboy]

A family member has an A4 avant of a similar vintage but a lot less miles. Its really starting to look tired now and things haven't started going wrong and falling off.

Still alot of car for the money and would make an excellent "tip run" hack if you are renovating a house or something, just expect it to be shabby round the edges...

[Krikkit]

Epic shed work.

[exgtt]

Crickey its a manual too. For me its in the top 5 sotw. That engine is so nice, so smooth and has proper punch with a remap. Thieves/plod wouldnt look twice. Turbos/cambelt could ruin things cost wise.

9/10

[angusc43]

An extremely useable shed.

Bet it makes a great noise when you give it beans.

[soad]

These machines are awesome.

[b14]

angusc43 said:

An extremely useable shed.

Bet it makes a great noise when you give it beans.

Sadly not really. Great engine otherwise though - tuneable to 500 bhp if you have the time and money. You could easily get 300 bhp out of it with some mild tuning.

[cliffie]

And it has a cassette player, bang on.