RE: Shed of the Week: Audi A6
Discussion
Great shed, although I do prefer the avant version with a 5 cylinder if I'm honest.
This was my old one:
140 TDI with 6 speed gearbox. Owned it for 2 or 3 years and only required a rear spring and a touch of welding. Went all over the place in it, including Le Mans. Everyone loved 'Big Red' and many people were sad to hear that it was sold.
Only problems a parts from the obvious bodywork issues (great chunks of lacquer would come off the bonnet when driving at speed) were the wipers, which would lift off the windscreen above 60 mph (don't know if this is a common fault) and the digital heating controller more or less had a mind of its own.
Oh and sometimes the interior drivers door pull wouldn't work, meaning you'd have to roll down your window to get out.
I'd love a quattro version of my one, or with the 2.2 turbo petrol.
This was my old one:
140 TDI with 6 speed gearbox. Owned it for 2 or 3 years and only required a rear spring and a touch of welding. Went all over the place in it, including Le Mans. Everyone loved 'Big Red' and many people were sad to hear that it was sold.
Only problems a parts from the obvious bodywork issues (great chunks of lacquer would come off the bonnet when driving at speed) were the wipers, which would lift off the windscreen above 60 mph (don't know if this is a common fault) and the digital heating controller more or less had a mind of its own.
Oh and sometimes the interior drivers door pull wouldn't work, meaning you'd have to roll down your window to get out.
I'd love a quattro version of my one, or with the 2.2 turbo petrol.
jith said:
SidewaysSi said:
I had one. It was shockingly crap. My W124 Mercedes is infinitely better.
Oh really? I hope you check your w124 for rust on a weekly basis because it can seriously bite you in the arse and fall to bits underneath you. Oh, and then there's the snow or ice; you'd be lucky to get it out of the driveway. Not forgetting the fuel consumption of your Mercedes.Mine:-
1999, 2.4 30 valve engine, manual 'box. 147,000 miles on the original engine, transmission, even the exhaust is original, including the cats. MOT emissions at new limits last month. Superbly economical for a car of this size and performance.
After over 40 years in motor engineering I can safely say this is the best car I have ever owned. The build quality is second to none and the car is utterly rust free. As an advanced driver it satisfies everything I need it to do, and I enjoy every trip in it.
Buy one.
J
But the Mercedes is just a much better car. Firstly for me it is more iconic-truly one of the best made cars of all time. Then it is a far more focused machine, primarily due to the better chassis which offers a far superior ride than the Audi.
These are not sports cars but the Merc is just the more satisfying ownership proposition for doing exactly what it was designed to do. I have other cars bit I respect and love W124 as much as I do the other machines.
Unfortunately my Audi just wasn't as well made and was the only car which I truly hated. An abomination of a car and the only one I would have happily pushed off a cliff. It did however have one endearing quality-the sound of the clunk when you closed the boot. But saying that, the Merc beats it there too!
W124 said:
My favourite shed ever. I don't why really. It speaks to me of incredibly low running costs, reliability and great joy to be had trying to make it go fast. We all have our own views on what constitutes a true shed. For me, this is it. Full marks.
Me too. I have no idea why I like this so much but I do - probably for all the same reasons - and I love the simple lines.RoverP6B said:
jith said:
Oh really? I hope you check your w124 for rust on a weekly basis because it can seriously bite you in the arse and fall to bits underneath you. Oh, and then there's the snow or ice; you'd be lucky to get it out of the driveway. Not forgetting the fuel consumption of your Mercedes.
W124s generally don't do structural rust, it's just the bolt-on front wings that go. W124s are fine in snow if you've got proper tyres on them, as are all RWD cars. I'd certainly rather have a nicely-balanced rear-driver than a nose-heavy front-driver in the snow.I think this car would be a good one to have either as a dependable spare, or inbetween more expensive stuff to let your bank balance and nerves recover, never underestimate the "dont give a s
t" factor of something like this vs biting off more than you can chew. Most of the time it will do everything somethign with twice the cylinders costing 30 times more will do.This is exactly like listening to people talking about their favourite ironing board cover.
To me, Sheds should be cheap (check, in this case) but also interesting in some way - a fizzy engine, or styled by some famous design house, or simply hauntingly beautiful - this car is definitely not interesting. Reliable? Yes, probably. Solidly-built? No doubt about it. It's just dull as dishwater. Bog-standard spec, and with the least powerful engine they could find.
Re. the wheels - they suit the car, but neither the car nor the wheels appear to benefit any from the combination. The car would probably look better with a set of standard Audi alloys fitted from a slightly better-spec A6 of the same generation (pretty much all of them, then).
To me, Sheds should be cheap (check, in this case) but also interesting in some way - a fizzy engine, or styled by some famous design house, or simply hauntingly beautiful - this car is definitely not interesting. Reliable? Yes, probably. Solidly-built? No doubt about it. It's just dull as dishwater. Bog-standard spec, and with the least powerful engine they could find.
Re. the wheels - they suit the car, but neither the car nor the wheels appear to benefit any from the combination. The car would probably look better with a set of standard Audi alloys fitted from a slightly better-spec A6 of the same generation (pretty much all of them, then).
Oh dear! This does nothing for me. An Audi from the boring early 1990s Audi era which preceeded the original A4 but succeeded the more (IMO) interesting Audis from the 80s such as the 200 Turbo and 90 Quattro. Saddled with a truly uninspiring 1.8 engine, I can only imagine how slothful this big A6 will be in real world driving......I appreciate it will probably live for ever, but then so will the clump of rock in my flower border and that doesn't interest me either.
Hopefully Shed can come up with something a little more interesting next time than yet more dull as ditchwater VAG fodder.....
GreenArrow said:
Oh dear! This does nothing for me. An Audi from the boring early 1990s Audi era which preceeded the original A4 but succeeded the more (IMO) interesting Audis from the 80s such as the 200 Turbo and 90 Quattro. Saddled with a truly uninspiring 1.8 engine, I can only imagine how slothful this big A6 will be in real world driving......I appreciate it will probably live for ever, but then so will the clump of rock in my flower border and that doesn't interest me either.
Hopefully Shed can come up with something a little more interesting next time than yet more dull as ditchwater VAG fodder.....
Forget the 5v nonsense-this engine is really bad. Very rough and hardly the high revving machine you would hope for.Hopefully Shed can come up with something a little more interesting next time than yet more dull as ditchwater VAG fodder.....
Dull as dish water! I don't know what it is but VW/Audi do nothing for me at all. Apart from some of the sporty ones they just scream "I don't know much about cars but I want people to think I'm well off" to me. Even the sporty ones wouldn't be my choice so the base model is about as appealing as a BBQ in January.
Good car. Pick of the bunch was the previous 100, especially in N/A 2.3 5-cyl guise - enough torque to be fun, economical, sounded glorious, good steering feel, ride-quality easily on a par with an E34 5-series (and that's high praise) and built like a tank. When we went to change the exhaust system after a couple of hundred thousand miles, we expected we'd have to bash it a bit to remove it, corroded as it was with road salt / crud. But no - the pipes were inlaid into a bed of copper, for easy removal. Quality overkill, obviously, but I'd bet you the flasher modern Audis don't bother with such 'unseen quality' stuff any more - give them flash cabins instead. This, below, has been my daily driver since 2007 - a 1995 5-cylinder 20-valver. Best real-world car I've ever owned, miles better in every way (visibility, ride quality, fun, economy - yes, economy - the engine is so torquey that it jogs along at 80mph on very small throttle opening) than my wife's much newer 3.0 TDI A6 Quattro: 
8potdave said:
the base model is about as appealing as a BBQ in January.
A few years back, we spent one snowy New Year's Day afternoon sliding down our mate's fields on various sleds, plastic bags etc. Towards evening, he fired up the BBQ, and never have sausage-in-a-buns with fired onions and mustard tasted soooo good, or been so welcome 
So don't knock it 'til you've tried it
ciaranthemurph said:
Great shed, although I do prefer the avant version with a 5 cylinder if I'm honest.
This was my old one:
140 TDI with 6 speed gearbox. Owned it for 2 or 3 years and only required a rear spring and a touch of welding. Went all over the place in it, including Le Mans. Everyone loved 'Big Red' and many people were sad to hear that it was sold.
Only problems a parts from the obvious bodywork issues (great chunks of lacquer would come off the bonnet when driving at speed) were the wipers, which would lift off the windscreen above 60 mph (don't know if this is a common fault) and the digital heating controller more or less had a mind of its own.
Oh and sometimes the interior drivers door pull wouldn't work, meaning you'd have to roll down your window to get out.
I'd love a quattro version of my one, or with the 2.2 turbo petrol.
Hmmm looks familiar, Patchway?This was my old one:
140 TDI with 6 speed gearbox. Owned it for 2 or 3 years and only required a rear spring and a touch of welding. Went all over the place in it, including Le Mans. Everyone loved 'Big Red' and many people were sad to hear that it was sold.
Only problems a parts from the obvious bodywork issues (great chunks of lacquer would come off the bonnet when driving at speed) were the wipers, which would lift off the windscreen above 60 mph (don't know if this is a common fault) and the digital heating controller more or less had a mind of its own.
Oh and sometimes the interior drivers door pull wouldn't work, meaning you'd have to roll down your window to get out.
I'd love a quattro version of my one, or with the 2.2 turbo petrol.
I owned one ,it was ancient when we got it .2.5 diesel version .The fuel gauge had stopped working ,we filled up after 750 miles .Brilliant car ,succumbed to rust towards the end .Final straw was when the mileometer stopped at 288,000 miles which was a pain without the fuel gauge .Still running perfect when it went away ,not one dodgy switch or lamp ,not one crack in the interior but a saggy headcloth .Brilliant car 6 speed box 50 mpg u under all conditions still sold for 450 on eBay it was registered 1993
SidewaysSi said:
GreenArrow said:
Oh dear! This does nothing for me. An Audi from the boring early 1990s Audi era which preceeded the original A4 but succeeded the more (IMO) interesting Audis from the 80s such as the 200 Turbo and 90 Quattro. Saddled with a truly uninspiring 1.8 engine, I can only imagine how slothful this big A6 will be in real world driving......I appreciate it will probably live for ever, but then so will the clump of rock in my flower border and that doesn't interest me either.
Hopefully Shed can come up with something a little more interesting next time than yet more dull as ditchwater VAG fodder.....
Forget the 5v nonsense-this engine is really bad. Very rough and hardly the high revving machine you would hope for.Hopefully Shed can come up with something a little more interesting next time than yet more dull as ditchwater VAG fodder.....
There are several aspects to the whole concept of running an old car; and by that I don't mean a valuable classic like a UR Quattro or an E Type. I just mean an old car. I don't approach this in the way that most of you do on here. I have worked on these things for over 40 years and have absolutely no loyalty or illusions about any particular marque.
The problem with the internet is that everyone thinks they're an expert. I'm not talking about preference or even taste or opinion here. It's perfectly fine to state that you prefer the way a certain car drives or you prefer an estate because you like the room for the dogs, etc.
It's when remarks like the above are made that it becomes utterly ridiculous in the extreme.
This particular shed is one of the earliest cars to have the 1.8 20 valve engine in normally aspirated form fitted. The wife's Final Edition Cabriolet has the same engine. This engine was developed with 5 valves per cylinder to enable effortless turbocharging with resulting high output and outstandingly good emissions.
In 1998 I bought a brand new A4 1.8 T Sport; the only time I have ever indulged in a new car. At this time I still had my original '82 UR Quattro owned since the '80s. The A4 was notably quicker and I never found out the top speed, but the car regularly saw 135 with plenty left, despite the fact that it was only 1.8 litres. At cruising speed the engine was virtually silent, and even under hard acceleration it was turbine smooth.
At around 14 months old the turbo seized and was replaced under warranty by Audi and a modified oil supply pipe fitted. The car ran for another 3 years with absolutely no faults whatever, not even a bulb. The outstanding thing about this engine however was the low weight giving the car outstanding handling and almost neutral balance. This was immediately apparent to me when we bought the Cabriolet. The handling on a twisty road was absolutely outstanding, as was the economy, due to this engine.
The TT was given an updated version of this engine producing 225 BHP with virtually no turbo lag and complete tractability. Around this time Jonathan Palmer started the JP race series with all cars equipped with this engine. In race tune it developed over 330 BHP with complete reliability. My son, who worked with Audi at the time competed successfully in this series and the cars were extremely rapid.
The only failures I have experienced when working on these engines was due to neglect, and this was almost always timing belt failure due to running well over the service time. If properly serviced and maintained they will run up collosal mileages with no problems.
My best mate Douglas has an A4 1.8 20 Valve saloon with roughly 170K showing and it drives perfectly: he loves it. I could quote numerous examples like this, but I'm sure you all get the idea by now.
The whole concept of the Shed on here is what you can buy for an extremely conservative amount of money, i.e. under a grand. When you do this you have to consider that there has to be compromise. This particular car is outstanding value for money when taken into account the benefits of the engine spec, the fact of the build quality, and the clearly superb condition it is in. It matters not one jot that it only has 125 BHP. The damn thing will carry a family of five and all their luggage in superb comfort and safety all over Europe if required and still return 40 MPG on a run.
When the time comes it can be serviced for less cost than a Mondeo.
That is how it should be viewed. The technology is old enough to be reliable and modern enough to give you the benefits of good economy: the best of both worlds.
If you want an Autobahn stormer go and blow 40 grand for a Porsche or an RS6. Me? I'll stick to my A6.
J
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