RS6 buying advice
Discussion
I have the chance to buy a cheap but legit 03-plate Audi RS6 saloon for around £5k less than it's worth, just after a bit of advice.
now the car is hpi clear, full Audi dealer history, done 53k but just had 60k (inc. cambelt), tyres seem ok but wont last too much longer, small dent to front wing.
i'm only 24 but the insurance seems reasonable (<£1k), and the finance is slightly higher than i wanted to pay, but affordable.
i don't plan to keep the car long, ultimately i have one other vehicle and a company car and wont be able to afford the service and running costs for too long but plan to buy it as a bit of summer fun.
is there anything i should know about RS6's that means they may explode or drop like a stone in value before august?
if you were in my situation would you?
this oppertunity is likely to never present itself again, but i'm erring on the side of caution...
cheers,
Gareth.
now the car is hpi clear, full Audi dealer history, done 53k but just had 60k (inc. cambelt), tyres seem ok but wont last too much longer, small dent to front wing.
i'm only 24 but the insurance seems reasonable (<£1k), and the finance is slightly higher than i wanted to pay, but affordable.
i don't plan to keep the car long, ultimately i have one other vehicle and a company car and wont be able to afford the service and running costs for too long but plan to buy it as a bit of summer fun.
is there anything i should know about RS6's that means they may explode or drop like a stone in value before august?
if you were in my situation would you?
this oppertunity is likely to never present itself again, but i'm erring on the side of caution...
cheers,
Gareth.
Try http://www.rs246.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2
The people on there will give you some good answers to your questions.
The people on there will give you some good answers to your questions.
www.rs246.com and numerous recent threads on here should answer any questions, but a massively concise version:
DRC will fail at some point and is expensive
Tyres are expensive
Brakes are expensive
Servicing is expensive
Fuel is expensive
Hard driven cars can give frighteningly expensive gearbox woes
In all seriousness, have a thorough read of here and RS246 to get your head well around any potential issues. I've seen some real dogs of RS6s lately so be careful about anything that seems cheap.
DRC will fail at some point and is expensive
Tyres are expensive
Brakes are expensive
Servicing is expensive
Fuel is expensive
Hard driven cars can give frighteningly expensive gearbox woes
In all seriousness, have a thorough read of here and RS246 to get your head well around any potential issues. I've seen some real dogs of RS6s lately so be careful about anything that seems cheap.
i'll be honest, i'm a car salesman and its just come in as part-ex, and avaliable as i'ts not something we would retail (work for toyota) before we trade it on, the boss wants somewhere around the £17k mark for it, an audi garage has bid £17,500 without even seeing it.
i can afford to buy it but want to get as much info as possible so will be scourering RS246.com now for infomation...
it hasn't been through our workshop yet but any deal i do would be subject to it being passed by a technician... a similar vehicle is going in the classifieds for nearly £23k!!!
edited to add there's 41 RS6's on PH (saloon and avant) and 12 saloons on autotrader (although some are the same) is there a reason why there is so many?
i can afford to buy it but want to get as much info as possible so will be scourering RS246.com now for infomation...
it hasn't been through our workshop yet but any deal i do would be subject to it being passed by a technician... a similar vehicle is going in the classifieds for nearly £23k!!!
edited to add there's 41 RS6's on PH (saloon and avant) and 12 saloons on autotrader (although some are the same) is there a reason why there is so many?
Edited by littlegearl on Thursday 15th May 21:20
Sorry, but i owned one a couple of years ago. It was rubbish!! Very expensive to service, brakes cost a fortune, fuel consumption was lousy! (avg 11mpg) And on top of all that i got more fun out of driving my diesel Mondeo estate!!!
Nothing on these cars is cheap!!!
Just my views!
Oh and a nightmare to sell!
Dell
Nothing on these cars is cheap!!!
Just my views!
Oh and a nightmare to sell!
Dell
imclueless said:
I would expect many are coming to the expensive part of their lives.....
Was there ever a cheap stage?Edited by imclueless on Friday 16th May 07:34
IMO the RS6 was a bit ill-conceived, trying to make something big and heavy do something best left to the small and light. I've driven them a bit and always got the feeling the RS6 was trying to fight physics with money.
I've just brought a 'minter' from an Audi dealer to run for 12 months until my GTR arrives, and did lots of research beforehand as to the usual problems and running costs - within a week it was back in for all of the dampers and the turbo vacuum pipes to be replaced; they missed this on the PDI and my local dealer picked up on it instantly when I asked them to have a quick look as the suspension was knocking slightly and I knew the DRC was a common fault... 
Buy one without a warranty at your peril is all I can say! Go to www.RS246.com for lots of advice. Without the warranty or a main dealer guarantee, mine would have set me back £4k+ within a week of buying!
I would pay a local Audi dealer an hours labour to look over the car for you and check the suspension, turbo's, vacuum pipes, etc. And then find a decent warranty package!
If maintained properly they are great cars and the ultimate stealth, but if you buy a snotter then you're in for a financial raping!
Needs to have Bose, Nav+, Tiptronic and full Audi service history if you want any chance of reselling it without getting too stung...
Bargains can be found within the Audi network, complete with 12 months full warranty - you just have to go looking
: http://usedcars.audi.co.uk/carview.aspx?id=5019989...
Buy one without a warranty at your peril is all I can say! Go to www.RS246.com for lots of advice. Without the warranty or a main dealer guarantee, mine would have set me back £4k+ within a week of buying!
I would pay a local Audi dealer an hours labour to look over the car for you and check the suspension, turbo's, vacuum pipes, etc. And then find a decent warranty package!
If maintained properly they are great cars and the ultimate stealth, but if you buy a snotter then you're in for a financial raping!
Needs to have Bose, Nav+, Tiptronic and full Audi service history if you want any chance of reselling it without getting too stung...
Bargains can be found within the Audi network, complete with 12 months full warranty - you just have to go looking
: http://usedcars.audi.co.uk/carview.aspx?id=5019989...Edited by john_r on Friday 16th May 21:02
I was looking at buying one a few months ago . . . I was put off by the DRC problems which *everyone* I spoke to said was a real issue. That said if you can find one with standard sussies retrofitted (Fontain occasionally has one) then you might be laughing.
That is, if you can afford the £1-2k a year of upkeep in addition to fuel costs. I could have done but I'm fed up of owning something and waiting for bits to fall off and then find they are NOA. RS6 front wings, for example.
That is, if you can afford the £1-2k a year of upkeep in addition to fuel costs. I could have done but I'm fed up of owning something and waiting for bits to fall off and then find they are NOA. RS6 front wings, for example.
I've had mine for over three years and am struggling to find something to replace it.
It’s the best car I’ve owned by a country mile and does everything I need. It may ‘only’ be an Audi but it’ll stay with most supercars all day and that’s with your kids and a boot full of crap
Admittedly, for the last couple of years, it’s been my wife’s runaround, but she gets 19 to the gallon. Fair enough I can get that down below 10 on a hoon (damn that AMD remap
) We do about 10K per year so there’s a service (say 500 quid) and a set of tyres every 18 months (800 quid) You do get the odd interval service that’s expensive but what do you expect for a car that as standard has 450bhp.. Someone said the brakes are expensive, well they’re good enough to put on the baby Lambo and the RS6 weights ½ Ton more. Would the brakes be expensive is this was a Lambo thread?
So, it’s not cheap to run and bits go wrong every now and again so the sensible thing to say would be “Don’t buy an RS6 if you want Budget motoring” as if you don’t look after it you will be just adding another dog to the list. It’s the same with all (initially expensive) cars as they depreciate and look affordable. If every time you take it out the demon on your shoulder is saying "what if this goes wrong?” “What if that happens?” then you’ll only end up with a negative attitude towards it.
It’s the best car I’ve owned by a country mile and does everything I need. It may ‘only’ be an Audi but it’ll stay with most supercars all day and that’s with your kids and a boot full of crap
Admittedly, for the last couple of years, it’s been my wife’s runaround, but she gets 19 to the gallon. Fair enough I can get that down below 10 on a hoon (damn that AMD remap
) We do about 10K per year so there’s a service (say 500 quid) and a set of tyres every 18 months (800 quid) You do get the odd interval service that’s expensive but what do you expect for a car that as standard has 450bhp.. Someone said the brakes are expensive, well they’re good enough to put on the baby Lambo and the RS6 weights ½ Ton more. Would the brakes be expensive is this was a Lambo thread?So, it’s not cheap to run and bits go wrong every now and again so the sensible thing to say would be “Don’t buy an RS6 if you want Budget motoring” as if you don’t look after it you will be just adding another dog to the list. It’s the same with all (initially expensive) cars as they depreciate and look affordable. If every time you take it out the demon on your shoulder is saying "what if this goes wrong?” “What if that happens?” then you’ll only end up with a negative attitude towards it.
DELLSMITHUK said:
Sorry, but i owned one a couple of years ago. It was rubbish!! Very expensive to service, brakes cost a fortune, fuel consumption was lousy! (avg 11mpg) And on top of all that i got more fun out of driving my diesel Mondeo estate!!!
Nothing on these cars is cheap!!!
Yes, they are expensive to run. If you weren't prepared for the costs and are used to a car that can be run for not much dosh then I can see why that would dampen your enjoyment. These cars are not for everyone and nobody will tell you they can be run on a shoestring.Nothing on these cars is cheap!!!
Yertis said:
Was there ever a cheap stage?
No, but for the performance on offer a good one with a good warranty is only what you'd expect for the performance. Obviously if you drive hard you'll eat a set of brakes and tyres every 12 months or so.Yertis said:
IMO the RS6 was a bit ill-conceived, trying to make something big and heavy do something best left to the small and light. I've driven them a bit and always got the feeling the RS6 was trying to fight physics with money.
Fair comment, they're not for everyone and very different in character to something like an M5. It's on my list to own one though, simply for the experience. There are a lot of 5 and 6 owner cars out there for this reason. 1/2 two owners are the exception to the rule.john_r said:
I've just brought a 'minter' from an Audi dealer to run for 12 months until my GTR arrives, and did lots of research beforehand as to the usual problems and running costs - within a week it was back in for all of the dampers and the turbo vacuum pipes to be replaced; they missed this on the PDI and my local dealer picked up on it instantly when I asked them to have a quick look as the suspension was knocking slightly and I knew the DRC was a common fault...
I would pay a local Audi dealer an hours labour to look over the car for you and check the suspension, turbo's, vacuum pipes, etc. And then find a decent warranty package!
Needs to have Bose, Nav+, Tiptronic and full Audi service history if you want any chance of reselling it without getting too stung...
Surprised a main dealer would gloss over/miss a DRC fault - it's not that difficult to spot with it up on the ramps. Agree on the inspection, plenty of good, reputable specialists around who can do this for you too.I would pay a local Audi dealer an hours labour to look over the car for you and check the suspension, turbo's, vacuum pipes, etc. And then find a decent warranty package!
Needs to have Bose, Nav+, Tiptronic and full Audi service history if you want any chance of reselling it without getting too stung...
Whoozit said:
I was looking at buying one a few months ago . . . I was put off by the DRC problems which *everyone* I spoke to said was a real issue. That said if you can find one with standard sussies retrofitted (Fontain occasionally has one) then you might be laughing.
Where DRC fails there's no guarantee it won't fail again. As you point out we fit Coilovers to replace (can tune ride/height as you like). H&R kit for road cars which is about 1300 quid all in or the Bilstein PSS kit at 1800 if someone wants something really special for track work etc. Complete DRC replacement at a main dealer can run to over 3k.krusty said:
I've had mine for over three years and am struggling to find something to replace it.
Still got the 'RS6 grin' going? 
Dr G said:
DELLSMITHUK said:
Sorry, but i owned one a couple of years ago. It was rubbish!! Very expensive to service, brakes cost a fortune, fuel consumption was lousy! (avg 11mpg) And on top of all that i got more fun out of driving my diesel Mondeo estate!!!
Nothing on these cars is cheap!!!
Yes, they are expensive to run. If you weren't prepared for the costs and are used to a car that can be run for not much dosh then I can see why that would dampen your enjoyment. These cars are not for everyone and nobody will tell you they can be run on a shoestring.Nothing on these cars is cheap!!!
Interesting!!
If you look at my profile i currently run a Superleggera before that a Gallardo coupe, before that a 360!!!! I have not once commented on the purchase price/maintenance cost of these cars, (even though i did 15,000 miles in the Gallardo, and have done over 6,000 in the 4 months i have owned the SL) that is because they offer great rewards for the admittedly substantial cost. I point i was trying to get across was that it is not worth the Expense that it cost to run! I never tried to run it on a shoestring either? The running costs didn't dampen my enjoyment.
The car did!
It was nice of you to assume i couldn't afford to run it though? Thanks!!
Dell
Sorry Dell I hadn't intended to cause any offence and apologies if I did. Your post implied to my eye at least that it was the costs you mentioned that turned you off the car, rather than a driving experience. Stating that a diesel Mondeo is more fun gave me the impression that low running costs were what you had wanted.
As I say, I hope you can accept my apologies if I misunderstood chap
As I say, I hope you can accept my apologies if I misunderstood chap
Whoozit said:
Hey DG - let me know if you get an A6 4.2 in dark grey or black anytime soon, I'll be in waving a chequebook furiously. There aren't many around . . .
Drop me an email if you like, unfortunately they're very, very scarce beasties. The old model wasn't enough different from an S6 to really justify and the new model is too thirsty and too expensive to tax for a 'normal' car.Edited by Dr G on Monday 19th May 10:10
Whoozit said:
Hey DG - let me know if you get an A6 4.2 in dark grey or black anytime soon, I'll be in waving a chequebook furiously. There aren't many around . . .
Now they are a performance bargin! I know someone that's just got a 56 plate with 15k on it for just a wisper over £20K, only draw back being that it's a white avant and looks like the ghostbusters ambulance.Gassing Station | Audi, Seat, Skoda & VW | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff