Advice needed - considering an S6

[Drymarchon]

Hello all. I've been lurking around reading old threads and thought I may as well ask for some advice. I'm looking to sell my VXR8 and am considering an S6 avant or older RS6 avant. Probably looking to spend around 13-14k.

Or I'm maybe thinking of just a 535d tourer. C63amg estates are a bit out of my price range at the moment. Any suggestions or advice? My VXR8 has low mileage - 34k so I don't really want anything really high mileage wise.

Thanks.

[944fan]

At that price you will be hard pushed to go below 60k miles on a V10 S6. I bought mine recently with 65K for £12.5K and that was the cheapest one available at the time. You might be able to get a C5 RS6 (the V8) but a C6 RS6 will be a lot more. Most around your price point will be 70K miles plus on an 06/07 plate.

The biggest problem with these cars is finding one. I had to drive all the way from MK to Manchester for mine.

The C6 platform is solid. I had an A6 before and nothing went wrong. The V10 engine is reliable, I had a injector go when I first got it but that was all repaired by the garage gratis.

The car is great, mad quick. Auto gearbox is a bit of tt but you get used to it and find ways for getting it to suit your style (you work out exactly how much to push the loud pedal to get some increase without kicking down the gears etc)

There isn't much to look out for with these. Usual things like on the point service intervals. Some are on variable service and some on 12 months. The later is preferable.

Coming from a VRX8 you will be used to comical MPG and the S6 is in the same boat. I only drive a 6 mile each way commute and I burn through £95 of super ever couple of weeks.

[Drymarchon]

Thanks for that. Yeah I knew I wouldn't be getting the v10 rs6 at that money which is why the s6 is floating my boat. I barely use the vxr8 - 7k in 3yrs so mpg not a worry. Is the tax on your s6 £505 or lower? Doesn't bother me as used to paying the 500 but adverts seem to vary on what they say. Don't mind travelling a bit for one. Had to go a bit of a way for the vxr8 too.

[944fan]

Yeah my tax is 500 odd. Not sure any of the v10s are old enough for it be less. I couldn't afford an RS6 but not sure really what all the extra money got you. Two turbos and adaptive suspension. The S6 is more than fast enough. I think a C6 S6 is a better bet than the C5 RS6. The C5 platform had more issues. I had a C5 2.4 and had a few things go wrong. Little has happened on either my C6 A6 or S6, in fact bugger all.

I know from personal expereince as well that a C6 S6 can out run a C5 RS6 :-)

I love my S6. Nice grumbly engine sound, although muted. I like having bags of NA power as well, no turbo lag just old fashioned power. Big comfy seats, great spec and plus to everyone else it looks like a normal A6. Till you leave them standing.

[944fan]

This one looks good on paper, no photos yet. Its in Glasgow, which is either going to be really close to you or fking miles away!

http://www.hillingtonparkcars.co.uk/used-cars/audi...

One more thing to look for, and I ma stealing someone elses advise off here, but check the spec. Most non specialist dealers have no clue what the car came with as standard and sometimes list all these "extras" and bump the price up.

Mine is stock I think: 19 inch alloys, front and rear parking sensors, leather sports seats, carbon trim, heated and electric front seats, dab, sat nav, bluetooth, Xenons, uprated stereo (this has an amp and is much better than my old A6 (Which was newer) but it is not branded bose on the speaker, headlight washers

Edited by 944fan on Saturday 16th July 17:46

[Drymarchon]

There's one in Middlesex I was looking at. Glasgow is too far - I'm in Essex. Think I'll have to put the vxr8 up for sale first and see what I can get then may be able to spend a bit more.

[barryrs]

Almost 5 years of ownership for me and although I've looked at a change I'm struggling to find something that's less than £25k that is worth the spend over my S6 (like the C7 S6 but they are around £30k). It's no doubt a bit of a flawed car but I like it and it's almost the longest I've owned a car to date.

Couple of issues that took some head scratching, first was a failing battery that caused miss fires and fault codes and second was a broken 3 stage cyclone value that resulted in the crankcase pressure being too high.

Lots of optional extras but my favourite is advanced key and if you get one with TV there is a cheap solution to Bluetooth streaming via an external AV.

ETA

Having had a look at what's available I quite like the one at Pennine BMW Sales, Black on 72k and a good spec.

Edited by barryrs on Saturday 16th July 21:53

[IanH755]

Drymarchon said:

considering an S6 avant or older RS6 avant. Probably looking to spend around 13-14k.

As an ex-C5 RS6 owner please don't think about a C5 RS6 unless you have at least 1/2 of the buying price again spare for repairs as the bills on this car are ridiculous for 9/10 owners (that last 1/10 always gets a perfect car ). Just the Gearbox and Suspension (both extremely weak) is £6k for refurbed or £8k+ for new, then there's turbos, regular £1k brake disc replacements, £1k tyres etc, it never ends.

I spent over the buying price just fixing my car (£13K to buy, £15k+ to fix IIRC) and I thought mine was fantastic after all that and the next owner spend bugger all.

[Drymarchon]

Thanks all. I would prefer a black one to be honest. Repair wise my boyfriend is a mechanic so I wouldn't pay labour but I know parts are going to be costly. It's either going to be an S6 or 3.0tdi I think but I really would rather the S6 if I can find a nice example.

[briang9]

Hmm tricky one, probably would say don't touch the BMW diesel, hateful nasty stuff is diesel. Second bit of advice is probably not terribly helpful, but if you can save up a bit more for a C6 RS6, they are really impressive. Having said that it may not be an option. Not having driven either the C5 RS6 or the C6 S6 but I do have a D2 S8 which is similar vintage to C5 RS6, and the build quality is much better than my C6 RS6 and if you are inclined the C5 RS6 offers more flexibility if you want to tune it. However the C6 S6 is a newer generation, has newer/better technology, and is a V10. Dont know about some of the above comments on cost of tyres, brakes etc for the C5 RS6, but I have replaced tyres, and discs/pads on my C6 RS6 with oem parts for less than whats quoted in the above.

[Drymarchon]

Thanks briang9 I think I need to go sit in one really. I'm not keen on a BMW really so will probably go for Audi. Prefer to go back to 4wd now too.

[sdkrc]

I would say the S6 is a good daily car but if I was doing 3k miles per year I'd consider something a little more ridiculous.

It's very solid, comfortable and practical. The cabin will be nicer than the VXR8. The looks definitely grow on you the longer you own it. I would however say it's not going to be as much of an event as the VXR8 every time you drive it.
It's brisk but not insanely fast.
It's not boring but it's not exciting.
It does have a lot of positive aspects but I've only appreciated them once I've spent time in anything else and then hopped back in.
I do use mine as a bit of shed though.

I can't say anything about the C5 RS6 but I've heard it feels a lot faster. I personally wouldn't risk the chocolate gearbox.

If you're in Scotland I'd be happy to give you a shot of mine and talk you through what it's like to live with.

Edited by sdkrc on Sunday 17th July 18:12

[944fan]

Drymarchon said:

Thanks all. I would prefer a black one to be honest. Repair wise my boyfriend is a mechanic so I wouldn't pay labour but I know parts are going to be costly. It's either going to be an S6 or 3.0tdi I think but I really would rather the S6 if I can find a nice example.

Certain parts of the car are very specialist and often require a chunk of Audi specific tools so be aware of that.

Parts are not ridiculous but are obviously more than your average A6. Tyres at a normal tyre place will run £1K a set, but they can be bought on-line for £90 a corner so if your BF has access to tyre fitting kit then happy days.

The brakes can be costly to do. The front disks are the size of dinner plates and being a few kilos way from 2 tonnes it is heavy on brakes.

It wont take a huge rise in petrol for a tank-full to break 3 figures.

[Drymarchon]

sdkrc said:

I would say the S6 is a good daily car but if I was doing 3k miles per year I'd consider something a little more ridiculous.

It's very solid, comfortable and practical. The cabin will be nicer than the VXR8. The looks definitely grow on you the longer you own it. I would however say it's not going to be as much of an event as the VXR8 every time you drive it.
It's brisk but not insanely fast.
It's not boring but it's not exciting.
It does have a lot of positive aspects but I've only appreciated them once I've spent time in anything else and then hopped back in.
I do use mine as a bit of shed though.

I can't say anything about the C5 RS6 but I've heard it feels a lot faster. I personally wouldn't risk the chocolate gearbox.

If you're in Scotland I'd be happy to give you a shot of mine and talk you through what it's like to live with.

Edited by sdkrc on Sunday 17th July 18:12

Thank you for the offer but I'm stuck down in Essex. Having said about my mileage if I do get a car big enough to fit my dogs in then it will get used more than the vxr8. Which is why I'm wondering if I should go a bit more sensible with a 3.0tdi. But I really want something a bit more exciting.

[Drymarchon]

944fan said:

Drymarchon said:

Thanks all. I would prefer a black one to be honest. Repair wise my boyfriend is a mechanic so I wouldn't pay labour but I know parts are going to be costly. It's either going to be an S6 or 3.0tdi I think but I really would rather the S6 if I can find a nice example.

Certain parts of the car are very specialist and often require a chunk of Audi specific tools so be aware of that.

Parts are not ridiculous but are obviously more than your average A6. Tyres at a normal tyre place will run £1K a set, but they can be bought on-line for £90 a corner so if your BF has access to tyre fitting kit then happy days.

The brakes can be costly to do. The front disks are the size of dinner plates and being a few kilos way from 2 tonnes it is heavy on brakes.

It wont take a huge rise in petrol for a tank-full to break 3 figures.

Yeah this is what I'm now thinking as the whole point of getting rid of the vxr8 is to have something the dogs can fit in so I can take them to shows. And the more I use it the more it'll cost. It's bad enough I need an estate I'd still like it to be a nice one though!

[Kell]

I have the C6 3.0TDi and I often wonder if there's a better all-round car.

It's quick enough for 95% of real driving situations, quattro is great in the winter combined with cold weather tyres and 30mpg+ is not too much of a penalty.

But it's a sensible choice and lacks that extra something.

And I don't think I'm alone. A friend of mine had a DMS remapped 535d (E61) and it was really, really rapid. Relentless power on tap, but he said it was boring. No drama, no excitement. Sold it and is now running a highly modified DMS BMW 1M Coupe.

[Drymarchon]

Kell said:

I have the C6 3.0TDi and I often wonder if there's a better all-round car.

It's quick enough for 95% of real driving situations, quattro is great in the winter combined with cold weather tyres and 30mpg+ is not too much of a penalty.

But it's a sensible choice and lacks that extra something.

And I don't think I'm alone. A friend of mine had a DMS remapped 535d (E61) and it was really, really rapid. Relentless power on tap, but he said it was boring. No drama, no excitement. Sold it and is now running a highly modified DMS BMW 1M Coupe.

See this is what I'm thinking. I know the 3.0tdi will be relatively quick but not what I'm used to and I worry I'll just get frustrated. Definitely the sensible choice but I'm not sure I'm ready to be sensible!

[944fan]

Drymarchon said:

See this is what I'm thinking. I know the 3.0tdi will be relatively quick but not what I'm used to and I worry I'll just get frustrated. Definitely the sensible choice but I'm not sure I'm ready to be sensible!

You could also consider the 4.2 V8 although they are rarer than unicorn poo. I was originally looking for an A8 4.2 and there were plenty of really old ones but nothing decent and hardly any on a 08+ plate.

Having owned an S6 now I don't think I could ever go back to a slower car.

[Drymarchon]

944fan said:

Drymarchon said:

See this is what I'm thinking. I know the 3.0tdi will be relatively quick but not what I'm used to and I worry I'll just get frustrated. Definitely the sensible choice but I'm not sure I'm ready to be sensible!

You could also consider the 4.2 V8 although they are rarer than unicorn poo. I was originally looking for an A8 4.2 and there were plenty of really old ones but nothing decent and hardly any on a 08+ plate.

Having owned an S6 now I don't think I could ever go back to a slower car.

Thing is I don't want to go much older than my car - an 07 - so that wipes out the older rs6's in my budget. S6's are in budget on an 07. Or newer 3.0tdi. I just can't stand diesels!

[Tim 7-33]

Not sure this is some strange kind of pistonheads karma but just come across this thread. I've been thinking about getting out of my S6 Avant and getting something a bit more for the weekend, such as a Dax Rush or an Seight, with a banger for commuting. Mine is December 06 and has only done 52.5k, or which I've done the last 17. Smooth, refined, fast, maybe a bit too quiet, though a Miltek would cure that, rare. I've seen 27 mpg on a run, but best not ask around town. It's even got a dog guard, the presence of which I thought might put some folk off. Anyway, if you think you might be looking at an S6 I'd be happy to mail you with a few more thoughts on the realities of ownership.