Audi A4 3.0 V6 Sport Quattro Avant B6
Discussion
July 2013
I've always liked the idea of fast estates, even from a young age, so after a year or two of driving an inherited Mercedes A140 I decided to start looking for a car that would meet my desires. Quickly realising that while I could afford to buy an S4 the insurance and maintenance costs would be well above my means I started to look at B6 A4s.
Pickings in Scotland were pretty slim, a local 1.8t that looked good in the advert turned out to be a complete lemon from a seemly dodgy dealer. Back to the classifieds...
A couple of days later I found, just outside Bath, a lovely looking 3.0 and after a quick exchange of phone calls to the dealer managed to arrange the AA do have an inspection of it as it was too far away to visit without buying it. The man from the AA said that despite it's age and mileage (102k) the car was a good example.
Plane tickets booked! A140 sold to my brother-in-law on the cheap.
Got to the airport and quickly found out that I had booked the tickets for the next week, seems I put the wrong date into the easyjet website! Slightly embarrassing but an additional £50 got me on the flight I was aiming to be on! Couple of hours later and £4,100 lighter I had a long drive home to Edinburgh.
Back home after a long afternoon drive, but one happy boy!
August 2013
One happy month of ownership and something is wrong, driving home from work and the engine light comes on and the engine throttle response is very lumpy...limped the car the last mile home.
Got the car plugged into a vag-com which showed misfires on three of cylinders, quick web search it seems the coil packs are on recall so a call to the local Audi dealership to see if my car had been recalled work carried out. It hadn't so the repair would be FOC thankfully! Car was sorted by the next day.
A few things to add to get this up to date but I'll make a new post for that
I've always liked the idea of fast estates, even from a young age, so after a year or two of driving an inherited Mercedes A140 I decided to start looking for a car that would meet my desires. Quickly realising that while I could afford to buy an S4 the insurance and maintenance costs would be well above my means I started to look at B6 A4s.
Pickings in Scotland were pretty slim, a local 1.8t that looked good in the advert turned out to be a complete lemon from a seemly dodgy dealer. Back to the classifieds...
A couple of days later I found, just outside Bath, a lovely looking 3.0 and after a quick exchange of phone calls to the dealer managed to arrange the AA do have an inspection of it as it was too far away to visit without buying it. The man from the AA said that despite it's age and mileage (102k) the car was a good example.
Plane tickets booked! A140 sold to my brother-in-law on the cheap.
Got to the airport and quickly found out that I had booked the tickets for the next week, seems I put the wrong date into the easyjet website! Slightly embarrassing but an additional £50 got me on the flight I was aiming to be on! Couple of hours later and £4,100 lighter I had a long drive home to Edinburgh.
Back home after a long afternoon drive, but one happy boy!
August 2013
One happy month of ownership and something is wrong, driving home from work and the engine light comes on and the engine throttle response is very lumpy...limped the car the last mile home.
Got the car plugged into a vag-com which showed misfires on three of cylinders, quick web search it seems the coil packs are on recall so a call to the local Audi dealership to see if my car had been recalled work carried out. It hadn't so the repair would be FOC thankfully! Car was sorted by the next day.
A few things to add to get this up to date but I'll make a new post for that
Edited by AndrewEH1 on Sunday 31st August 19:28
Pebbles167 said:
Nice car strongly considering either the 3.0 or the S4 as my next car.
How is the fuel consumption for the performance on offer in the 3.0. Worth it?
Thank you.How is the fuel consumption for the performance on offer in the 3.0. Worth it?
Fuel consumption is, well, not great to be honest! Usually around 20-22 mpg day to day if you're careful, drops quite a bit on more spirited drives. As for performance I don't really have a good baseline as it is much faster than my old A140 but it is a heavyish car (to be expected) but it does pull well, I'd guess not quite as well as an S4.
AndrewEH1 said:
Thank you.
Fuel consumption is, well, not great to be honest! Usually around 20-22 mpg day to day if you're careful, drops quite a bit on more spirited drives. As for performance I don't really have a good baseline as it is much faster than my old A140 but it is a heavyish car (to be expected) but it does pull well, I'd guess not quite as well as an S4.
That's a reasonable figure for a 220bhp 3.0 with 4 wheel drive I think.Fuel consumption is, well, not great to be honest! Usually around 20-22 mpg day to day if you're careful, drops quite a bit on more spirited drives. As for performance I don't really have a good baseline as it is much faster than my old A140 but it is a heavyish car (to be expected) but it does pull well, I'd guess not quite as well as an S4.
Performance wise a lot of the reviews reckon its not bad at all, indeed not much off an s4 in real terms.
Any reason for getting the estate? Or is that just what you fancied? Quite partial to an estate myself!
Pebbles167 said:
Any reason for getting the estate? Or is that just what you fancied? Quite partial to an estate myself!
I prefer the look of estates also like the idea of being able to easily load up and go away for two weeks. Also for bicycles, there was only so much space in my old car!Rowley92 said:
Custom exhaust next
Don't worry it's in the pipeline...AndrewEH1 said:
Thank you.
Fuel consumption is, well, not great to be honest! Usually around 20-22 mpg day to day if you're careful, drops quite a bit on more spirited drives. As for performance I don't really have a good baseline as it is much faster than my old A140 but it is a heavyish car (to be expected) but it does pull well, I'd guess not quite as well as an S4.
About the same as the S4 then Fuel consumption is, well, not great to be honest! Usually around 20-22 mpg day to day if you're careful, drops quite a bit on more spirited drives. As for performance I don't really have a good baseline as it is much faster than my old A140 but it is a heavyish car (to be expected) but it does pull well, I'd guess not quite as well as an S4.
BTW, does look like a well cared for example although the battery cover is missing.
Edited by caiss4 on Sunday 31st August 19:47
August 2013
Tyres
If you've spent any time in Scotland you'll know that towards the end of August the summer is starting to wind down and it gets a little wetter, so having some better quality tyres whilst attacking wet A-roads becomes pretty important. The previous owner didn't share this same opinion sadly with a mix of Haida and Accelera tyres!
So got some Pirelli P Zero Rosso's 235/40 R18 Y (95) fitted, lots more grip especially in the wet! Not the cheapest, and we'll come back to them by the end of the year...
Tyres
If you've spent any time in Scotland you'll know that towards the end of August the summer is starting to wind down and it gets a little wetter, so having some better quality tyres whilst attacking wet A-roads becomes pretty important. The previous owner didn't share this same opinion sadly with a mix of Haida and Accelera tyres!
So got some Pirelli P Zero Rosso's 235/40 R18 Y (95) fitted, lots more grip especially in the wet! Not the cheapest, and we'll come back to them by the end of the year...
Edited by AndrewEH1 on Sunday 31st August 21:52
AndrewEH1 said:
Fuel consumption is, well, not great to be honest!
What was it like on the run from Bath? I've only driven one once, but it was mainly dual carriage way with no high speed work. I thought it was juicy even though I was pussyfooting and most of it would have been in 6th.carinaman said:
What was it like on the run from Bath? I've only driven one once, but it was mainly dual carriage way with no high speed work. I thought it was juicy even though I was pussyfooting and most of it would have been in 6th.
I does get better mpg on long motorway trips can get at least 350 miles to a tank if you sit at about 70 in 6th gear. I should really do some proper mpg calcuations, I have a spreadsheet somewhere!Following on from my unruly thread hijack i've managed to pick one of these up really cheap from a friend, 2003 3.0 V6 Quattro manual in metallic grey, it's pretty much perfect condition as he really looks after his cars.
Was just wondering how you've found yours over the long term, i'm going to pick mine up tonight, reason i bought it was i thought it was really cheap, even too cheap for what it was and it would make a good load lugger/tow car for my track car.
Was just wondering how you've found yours over the long term, i'm going to pick mine up tonight, reason i bought it was i thought it was really cheap, even too cheap for what it was and it would make a good load lugger/tow car for my track car.
So far the most expensive, and time consuming, thing has been getting the timing belt done.
Parts alone cost around £500, with lots of labour on top! All the work was done by Autohaus in Edinburgh, they are great but busy guys.
I'll probably have to get the clutch replaced in the next 6 months but after 125,000 miles I think it's done a good job!
All in I think they are great cars, MPG isn't too bad, around 280 miles per tank, although I'm never planning on towing with it. It's really comfortable on long trips (been up and down the UK with it a few times now).
I guess the only downfall against the 3.0 over the 1.8t is that you can't really modify it at all although 210hp stock still means it's pretty nippy.
Parts alone cost around £500, with lots of labour on top! All the work was done by Autohaus in Edinburgh, they are great but busy guys.
I'll probably have to get the clutch replaced in the next 6 months but after 125,000 miles I think it's done a good job!
All in I think they are great cars, MPG isn't too bad, around 280 miles per tank, although I'm never planning on towing with it. It's really comfortable on long trips (been up and down the UK with it a few times now).
I guess the only downfall against the 3.0 over the 1.8t is that you can't really modify it at all although 210hp stock still means it's pretty nippy.
Well, i picked it up and overall it seems very nice.
Clutch seems very long but it's recently been done so might just take a bit of getting used to (i've mostly been driving automatics so that may explain it!).
It's quite grunty low down but not that fast, i didn't really expect it to be though so no issues there. Needs some more noise!
The seats seem a bit hard but again might just need to get used to them and adjust them a bit more to suit.
On the road the car seems planted, the ride is firm but not bouncy at all.
Bose sound system is a bit crap really, i might upgrade the speakers to some focal components and a polk audio amp i've got sitting there in and hide it all to keep it looking standard.
It's a good looking car, i might consider changing the wheels to 19" BBS CH and putting a more fruity exhaust on it but might just leave it as it is. A milltek and remap to suit would cost as much as the car!
Clutch seems very long but it's recently been done so might just take a bit of getting used to (i've mostly been driving automatics so that may explain it!).
It's quite grunty low down but not that fast, i didn't really expect it to be though so no issues there. Needs some more noise!
The seats seem a bit hard but again might just need to get used to them and adjust them a bit more to suit.
On the road the car seems planted, the ride is firm but not bouncy at all.
Bose sound system is a bit crap really, i might upgrade the speakers to some focal components and a polk audio amp i've got sitting there in and hide it all to keep it looking standard.
It's a good looking car, i might consider changing the wheels to 19" BBS CH and putting a more fruity exhaust on it but might just leave it as it is. A milltek and remap to suit would cost as much as the car!
R8Steve said:
It's quite grunty low down but not that fast, i didn't really expect it to be though so no issues there. Needs some more noise!
Bose sound system is a bit crap really, i might upgrade the speakers to some focal components and a polk audio amp i've got sitting there in and hide it all to keep it looking standard.
Obviously you're used to faster things but around 4-5k in 3rd is where I've found it to be happy to get moving quickly.Bose sound system is a bit crap really, i might upgrade the speakers to some focal components and a polk audio amp i've got sitting there in and hide it all to keep it looking standard.
Good luck with upgrading the sound system...finding the right replacement head unit loom is almost impossible!
AndrewEH1 said:
Good luck with upgrading the sound system...finding the right replacement head unit loom is almost impossible!
It's already got an aftermarket Alpine head unit so no issues there. I wouldn't have thought it was that hard to upgrade though, the harnesses can be found here -http://www.nexxia.co.uk/product.asp?s=Harness%20Adaptor&c=Audi%20ISO%20Radio%20Harness%20Adaptors&product_code=PC9-408R8Steve said:
Also just noticed yours has a nicer looking front bumper than mine, do you know if it is different from standard?
There were three styles that were available from Audi at the time I think http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/b6-bumper-opt...Mine is the GMBH/S-Line as I have the 'Sport'.
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