2011 Audi A6 3.0TDi Quattro S-Line Spec. Ed.u
Discussion
Hi everyone,
Early in January, I accepted a job offer, which meant I would no longer have a company car, so I had to go shopping. I knew I wanted an estate, as I'd never had one before, and I wanted something with space to use on family holidays and camping trips. My previous company cars had all been fairly large 4x4 types, so I have been used to having the space. My last one was a Mitsubishi L200. Previous to that I had a VW Transporter Kombi 4motion.
For the job, I was told to expect to do approx 25k miles a year, so with that in mind I wanted something comfortable, fairly quick and fuel efficient. I'd always liked the A6 so started looking around at what was available. This car came up fairly locally to me, so I went to take a look with my Dad and my little boy - my Dad was meant to be my voice of reason. Anyway, he told me to buy it pretty soon after arriving, and in front of the sales man, so he really didn't help with my bargaining strategy.
Anyway, here it is, my A6 Avant 3.0TDi Quattro S-Line Special Edition.
It's a 1 previous owner car, registered in December 2011, which was traded in at an Audi dealer and it had just under 68k on the clock when I bought it. That was mid February.
Fast forward 3 months, and I have been in my new job for 3 weeks. Today it clicked over 72k miles, and it has been fault free so far. Everything works as it should. Currently I'm averaging 36mpg, measured fill to fill. This is improving as my mileage has become mainly motorway based.
Current commute is now 94 miles each way, but I'm hoping this will reduce to 3 days a week from the current 5 before too long.
Likes: Effortless power, I like the way it looks, and it feels very well built.
Dislikes: I'm struggling to find a comfortable seating position. The pedals are offset, possibly due to the wide transmission tunnel, and I can't get the seat how I like it. Hoping I can solve this one. Has anybody else had the same problem with this car?
Also, no AMI, and no DAB - they can be retrofitted, but I wouldn't be happy paying for it so it wouldn't be worth it to me.
Anyway, lots of words so I'm going to stop here. I will try and keep this updated with running costs and issues (hopefully none) whilst in my ownership if that would be of interest to anyone.
Thanks, Swampy
Early in January, I accepted a job offer, which meant I would no longer have a company car, so I had to go shopping. I knew I wanted an estate, as I'd never had one before, and I wanted something with space to use on family holidays and camping trips. My previous company cars had all been fairly large 4x4 types, so I have been used to having the space. My last one was a Mitsubishi L200. Previous to that I had a VW Transporter Kombi 4motion.
For the job, I was told to expect to do approx 25k miles a year, so with that in mind I wanted something comfortable, fairly quick and fuel efficient. I'd always liked the A6 so started looking around at what was available. This car came up fairly locally to me, so I went to take a look with my Dad and my little boy - my Dad was meant to be my voice of reason. Anyway, he told me to buy it pretty soon after arriving, and in front of the sales man, so he really didn't help with my bargaining strategy.
Anyway, here it is, my A6 Avant 3.0TDi Quattro S-Line Special Edition.
It's a 1 previous owner car, registered in December 2011, which was traded in at an Audi dealer and it had just under 68k on the clock when I bought it. That was mid February.
Fast forward 3 months, and I have been in my new job for 3 weeks. Today it clicked over 72k miles, and it has been fault free so far. Everything works as it should. Currently I'm averaging 36mpg, measured fill to fill. This is improving as my mileage has become mainly motorway based.
Current commute is now 94 miles each way, but I'm hoping this will reduce to 3 days a week from the current 5 before too long.
Likes: Effortless power, I like the way it looks, and it feels very well built.
Dislikes: I'm struggling to find a comfortable seating position. The pedals are offset, possibly due to the wide transmission tunnel, and I can't get the seat how I like it. Hoping I can solve this one. Has anybody else had the same problem with this car?
Also, no AMI, and no DAB - they can be retrofitted, but I wouldn't be happy paying for it so it wouldn't be worth it to me.
Anyway, lots of words so I'm going to stop here. I will try and keep this updated with running costs and issues (hopefully none) whilst in my ownership if that would be of interest to anyone.
Thanks, Swampy
AudiSport said:
Great looking car. I bought a petrol version (2005) a little while ago, and love mine. I've not noticed the issue with the seating position myself, however I've heard this comment before from a friend regarding his A3.
I however have no Bluetooth, which is frustrating. But at the nearly £500 I've been quoted to have it installed - I'll be buying a Parrot visor kit for £50!
See:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=...
That looks great, I like it in Silver too. I had a parrot ck3100 in my VW T5 which was good, and I agree the retrofit costs of the OEM stuff is expensive.I however have no Bluetooth, which is frustrating. But at the nearly £500 I've been quoted to have it installed - I'll be buying a Parrot visor kit for £50!
See:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=...
Played around with the seating position again today. I moved myself closer to the pedals and leaned the seat-back, back a bit, so going to see how I get on.
I gave the car a wash yesterday. The wheels were caked in brake dust, and I like to keep it clean - not always easy doing the mileage I am doing.
Washed with the two bucket method, then a coat of Optimum Car Wax, then about an hour later a layer of Dodo Juice Red Mist. I also put a coat of RainX on the windscreen. I also waxed the wheels, and I changed the number plate bulbs for LED's.
|http://thumbsnap.com/8N46oKVw[/url]
I also swapped the fog light bulbs for LED's, but these gave an error on the dash, so I refitted the originals until I can get hold of some resistors.
Washed with the two bucket method, then a coat of Optimum Car Wax, then about an hour later a layer of Dodo Juice Red Mist. I also put a coat of RainX on the windscreen. I also waxed the wheels, and I changed the number plate bulbs for LED's.
|http://thumbsnap.com/8N46oKVw[/url]I also swapped the fog light bulbs for LED's, but these gave an error on the dash, so I refitted the originals until I can get hold of some resistors.
Edited by swampdonkeygj on Monday 11th May 09:56
[url]Edited by swampdonkeygj on Monday 19th October 17:44
TurboHatchback said:
Nice car that. I have a 2007 C6 4.2 FSI petrol which I very much like, can't say I've had any problems getting comfy (I'm 6'4"). There's so many degrees of adjustability, just keep messing around with the settings until you find the one you like!
What sort of mpg do you get from the diesel?
Thanks, my last tank was just 34mpg, which is strange as my driving style hadn't changed and I did the same mix of M/A road driving. My previous tank was 39mpg. What sort of mpg do you get from the diesel?
The only difference was the fuel. The last tank was BP diesel, the tank before that was from Shell. My best mpg for a tank was 41mpg, and the fuel was from Esso, so I have returned to Esso and although I haven't used a whole tank, the trip computer is showing that I can expect around 630 miles out of this tank. On the BP fuel it was 550 miles for the tank.
TurboHatchback said:
- 2 miles to the gym and back: 18-22mpg
- 50 mile motorway trip: 32-34mpg
That was why I asked really, was interested to know how the costs compare
.Hi everyone, the car is still running great. It needs a service in 2k miles. Quote from the local specialist was £359 for a major service, including oil, oil/air/fuel/pollen filters. My local Audi dealership charges £399 for the major service, but have told me if I book in with them, they will give me the next service for free. And I'll also get the courtesy car included.
So it will be going in to Audi over the next month for this. I will also be having the tiptronic gearbox oil changed but will have this done by the specialist, and supply my own ZF Lifeguard 6 oil, meaning it should cost under £300.
I will also be getting the car remapped by a good friend of mine, who is a Viezu dealer. I will be looking at 290bhp and hopefully a slight improvement in fuel economy for my commute.
So it will be going in to Audi over the next month for this. I will also be having the tiptronic gearbox oil changed but will have this done by the specialist, and supply my own ZF Lifeguard 6 oil, meaning it should cost under £300.
I will also be getting the car remapped by a good friend of mine, who is a Viezu dealer. I will be looking at 290bhp and hopefully a slight improvement in fuel economy for my commute.
Evening all, just checking in to update the thread.
I had the car booked in at Audi on Tuesday, for a major service and break fluid change. I was offered a service plan to include this major service, and the next interim service.
Service plan £399
Brake fluid flush £59
No other issues were found, but I am going to have to look at replacing the tyres soon. My fronts are on 3mm, and the rears are on 4mm. I currently have the Pirelli PZero Rosso's which I think are OEM fitment, but I am considering Michelin for the next set.
I have also had the car remapped by a good mate who is an approved dealer for Viezu. He runs a garage in Derby offering camper conversions, servicing, remapping etc. VW Camperworx if anyone is interested.
The ECU is Tricore, so had to be split open as it couldn't be remapped via the OBD port. I asked for a blend of performance and economy, so it possibly has around 280BHP now. The car was powerful enough before but the difference is really noticeable, and it feels completely factory.
The previous long term average was showing as 38.6 Mpg on the DIS, which I actually measured fill-to-fill as 36 Mpg overall. Since the remap I have done 4-500 miles, and the DIS average now shows 44.1 Mpg. So really happy and if this gives a real average of even 40 Mpg I'll be chuffed with that. With the mileage I am average, I think 40Mpg would save me over £400 in diesel per year.
Whilst in for the remap, I used my mates VCDS to enable the needle sweep at startup, the lap timer/oil temp/boost gauge, visual rear parking aid, and passenger mirror dip when the car is put in reverse.
For those interested; with all the costs, including fuel, servicing, the remap, insurance... it has cost me 29p a mile to run so far, however this doesn't include the depreciation. That is over 9k miles.
Thanks for reading...
I had the car booked in at Audi on Tuesday, for a major service and break fluid change. I was offered a service plan to include this major service, and the next interim service.
Service plan £399
Brake fluid flush £59
No other issues were found, but I am going to have to look at replacing the tyres soon. My fronts are on 3mm, and the rears are on 4mm. I currently have the Pirelli PZero Rosso's which I think are OEM fitment, but I am considering Michelin for the next set.
I have also had the car remapped by a good mate who is an approved dealer for Viezu. He runs a garage in Derby offering camper conversions, servicing, remapping etc. VW Camperworx if anyone is interested.
The ECU is Tricore, so had to be split open as it couldn't be remapped via the OBD port. I asked for a blend of performance and economy, so it possibly has around 280BHP now. The car was powerful enough before but the difference is really noticeable, and it feels completely factory.
The previous long term average was showing as 38.6 Mpg on the DIS, which I actually measured fill-to-fill as 36 Mpg overall. Since the remap I have done 4-500 miles, and the DIS average now shows 44.1 Mpg. So really happy and if this gives a real average of even 40 Mpg I'll be chuffed with that. With the mileage I am average, I think 40Mpg would save me over £400 in diesel per year.
Whilst in for the remap, I used my mates VCDS to enable the needle sweep at startup, the lap timer/oil temp/boost gauge, visual rear parking aid, and passenger mirror dip when the car is put in reverse.
For those interested; with all the costs, including fuel, servicing, the remap, insurance... it has cost me 29p a mile to run so far, however this doesn't include the depreciation. That is over 9k miles.
Thanks for reading...
To update, last Friday I had the oil and filter changed on the tiptronic gearbox at a local specialist.
I bought the parts from Bristol transmissions, which included the filter, gasket, and 6 litres of ZF Lifeguard 6 oil for £157.20.
The labour was 2.5 hours which cost £165.
The specialist was impressed with the kit I had, and showed me the old oil and filter, which still looked in really good shape. He cleaned the magnets on the sump too, and said that were no alarming big chunks of metal, just the very fine stuff you'd expect. I can notice that the changes are smoother now.
Next on the agenda is 2 front tyres. I've had a quote from the tyre place I normally use - £266 for 2 x 255/35/19ZR Pirelli P Zero Rosso's in AO fitment.
Do I have to stick with the AO fitment, or am I ok going with other brands that don't have this? The same size Michelin Pilot Sports are £299 fitted from the same place, but they are not AO only.
I bought the parts from Bristol transmissions, which included the filter, gasket, and 6 litres of ZF Lifeguard 6 oil for £157.20.
The labour was 2.5 hours which cost £165.
The specialist was impressed with the kit I had, and showed me the old oil and filter, which still looked in really good shape. He cleaned the magnets on the sump too, and said that were no alarming big chunks of metal, just the very fine stuff you'd expect. I can notice that the changes are smoother now.
Next on the agenda is 2 front tyres. I've had a quote from the tyre place I normally use - £266 for 2 x 255/35/19ZR Pirelli P Zero Rosso's in AO fitment.
Do I have to stick with the AO fitment, or am I ok going with other brands that don't have this? The same size Michelin Pilot Sports are £299 fitted from the same place, but they are not AO only.
Edited by swampdonkeygj on Tuesday 30th June 11:21
Faxo said:
Interesting that the indie charged you 2.5hrs labour. I'm an Audi tech, and we charge out 0.7hrs. Also, it's a fixed price for 3 years and over, at £175 - this is parts and labour, so only £20 more than your parts bill?
Audi really look after 3+ owners, so always worth checking their prices. Also, we price match with a valid quote
Are you talking about the multitronic gearbox? Mine is tiptronic.Audi really look after 3+ owners, so always worth checking their prices. Also, we price match with a valid quote
Oil alone from Audi for the tiptronic box comes for £180 for 6 litres... The tiptronic oil change at the Audi dealer was close to £600.
Not updated this for a while, and want to keep it going for my own record and also so others considering one of these can see running costs and experiences etc....
I've done around 9k miles since the last service, and took the car to cornwall and devon for a couple of weeks camping. So bought some roof bars, a roof box and some bike carriers for it.
I previously mentioned the car was due for some new tyres, and these were fitted at the end of July. I went for Michelin PS3's, in 255/35ZR19 size, and paid £639.77 fitted. These were fitted at 80,074 miles. I'm hoping to see 30,000 out of these tyres if the reviews are to be believed.
Since then the car has been faultless and I am averaging 35mpg overall, measured on the road trip app. Before fitting the new tyres I was averaging 36mpg, so the change from Pirelli P-Zero Rosso's has made a slight difference.
I have also just had a hunter 4 wheel alignment done at as I wanted to ensure everything was perfect with the car. Below are before and after printouts, as you can see it wasn't too bad before. £78 altogether, and this work was carried out at 85,377 miles.
Next week I am having the oil and filter changed - trying to keep to 10,000 for oil changes as I intend on racking up big miles in this car.
Cheers
I've done around 9k miles since the last service, and took the car to cornwall and devon for a couple of weeks camping. So bought some roof bars, a roof box and some bike carriers for it.
I previously mentioned the car was due for some new tyres, and these were fitted at the end of July. I went for Michelin PS3's, in 255/35ZR19 size, and paid £639.77 fitted. These were fitted at 80,074 miles. I'm hoping to see 30,000 out of these tyres if the reviews are to be believed.
Since then the car has been faultless and I am averaging 35mpg overall, measured on the road trip app. Before fitting the new tyres I was averaging 36mpg, so the change from Pirelli P-Zero Rosso's has made a slight difference.
I have also just had a hunter 4 wheel alignment done at as I wanted to ensure everything was perfect with the car. Below are before and after printouts, as you can see it wasn't too bad before. £78 altogether, and this work was carried out at 85,377 miles.
Next week I am having the oil and filter changed - trying to keep to 10,000 for oil changes as I intend on racking up big miles in this car.
Cheers
Edited by swampdonkeygj on Tuesday 20th October 12:40
Time for another update:
The car had an oil and filter change on 26th of October, at 86,006 miles. This cost me £112.99, and included a 1L bottle of Castrol Edge 5W30 in case I needed a top up. I priced up oil alone and it was going to cost around £80, so it was a no brainer to have it done at the garage in my opinion.
And today the car has been for an MOT. I thought the car came with a 12 month MOT when I bought it in Feb last year, but after talking to a friend on Friday, I checked online, and it had expired on November 6th!! I took the car in to Derby Audi today and it passed with no advisories. They replaced a number plate bulb which I told them was faulty, and the total cost was £50.31 - £49.99 for the MOT with MOT protection insurance for next year, and 32p for the bulb.
The tyres which I replaced at 80k miles ago are all at 5.0mm. I am now on 89,900 miles.
The total cost to run so far, including fuel & servicing, tyres, tax and the remap, but not including insurance and depreciation, has been 25p per mile.
Needs a good wash now!
The car had an oil and filter change on 26th of October, at 86,006 miles. This cost me £112.99, and included a 1L bottle of Castrol Edge 5W30 in case I needed a top up. I priced up oil alone and it was going to cost around £80, so it was a no brainer to have it done at the garage in my opinion.
And today the car has been for an MOT. I thought the car came with a 12 month MOT when I bought it in Feb last year, but after talking to a friend on Friday, I checked online, and it had expired on November 6th!! I took the car in to Derby Audi today and it passed with no advisories. They replaced a number plate bulb which I told them was faulty, and the total cost was £50.31 - £49.99 for the MOT with MOT protection insurance for next year, and 32p for the bulb.
The tyres which I replaced at 80k miles ago are all at 5.0mm. I am now on 89,900 miles.
The total cost to run so far, including fuel & servicing, tyres, tax and the remap, but not including insurance and depreciation, has been 25p per mile.
Needs a good wash now!
Time for another update as the car went into Audi for another oil and filter change today, along with a health check. No problems to report. The tyres are now down to 4mm tread depth, so at the current wear rate I think they should do another 10k miles before they are down to 2mm. If they do, then that's around 25k miles on this set which I will be quite happy with.
I recently machine polished the car ready for a friends wedding, and put a coat of Auto Finesse Tough Coat on the paint - it's not completely swirl free, but I wasn't expecting it to be. I'm pretty happy with how it looks though for saying it's used so much.
My long term average fuel consumption has gone down to 34.1mpg, but I think this may be down to the colder temps over the winter, and hopefully this should improve again slightly as time goes on.
I've now done over 27k miles, completely trouble free, and now just coming up to 95k miles on the odometer. Over that mileage the car has cost 25.9 pence per mile to run, not including the cost to buy it, which I think is pretty good for a car like this.
Thanks for reading.
I recently machine polished the car ready for a friends wedding, and put a coat of Auto Finesse Tough Coat on the paint - it's not completely swirl free, but I wasn't expecting it to be. I'm pretty happy with how it looks though for saying it's used so much.
My long term average fuel consumption has gone down to 34.1mpg, but I think this may be down to the colder temps over the winter, and hopefully this should improve again slightly as time goes on.
I've now done over 27k miles, completely trouble free, and now just coming up to 95k miles on the odometer. Over that mileage the car has cost 25.9 pence per mile to run, not including the cost to buy it, which I think is pretty good for a car like this.
Thanks for reading.
Edited by swampdonkeygj on Monday 21st March 15:15
Smitters said:
Lovely car - looks in great condition.
I have an older 2.7TDi and I've found that if you really want economy out of the old girl, you have to cruise at about 65. Then I can easily get 50+ on the OBC. Might be worth totting up the time versus fuel. I know its not very PH, but extra 20 minutes on 2 1/2 hours of M4 fun is the difference between 35mpg and 55mpg for me.
Thanks Smitters.I have an older 2.7TDi and I've found that if you really want economy out of the old girl, you have to cruise at about 65. Then I can easily get 50+ on the OBC. Might be worth totting up the time versus fuel. I know its not very PH, but extra 20 minutes on 2 1/2 hours of M4 fun is the difference between 35mpg and 55mpg for me.
I think sitting at 65 would drive me mad - my commute is 94 miles each way, 3 days a week. Also, the OBC lies to me. Mine says my long term average is 41.5mpg, which I know isn't the case. I do a fair bit of local driving at the weekends which does kill the economy quite a bit.
Budleigh said:
Great looking car - there's something so very nice about an A6 Avant. Don't feel quite the same about the sedan. Have you managed to get comfortable with the seats yet?
Sorry I missed this reply - yes I am very comfortable in the seat now. I think it just took me a while to find the right settings for the seat. And then it's annoying when I take it for a service and I have to find the right seating position again after the technician has been in it.Smitters said:
swampdonkeygj said:
Thanks Smitters.
I think sitting at 65 would drive me mad - my commute is 94 miles each way, 3 days a week. Also, the OBC lies to me. Mine says my long term average is 41.5mpg, which I know isn't the case. I do a fair bit of local driving at the weekends which does kill the economy quite a bit.
I can imagine - mine's an occasional one, so easier to bear and make a game of, but daily it would be much harder! I just imagine I'm Clarkson doing at A8 fuel test to Edinburgh and back... little things to amuse my little mind!I think sitting at 65 would drive me mad - my commute is 94 miles each way, 3 days a week. Also, the OBC lies to me. Mine says my long term average is 41.5mpg, which I know isn't the case. I do a fair bit of local driving at the weekends which does kill the economy quite a bit.
ETA - interesting to see your tyre mileage too - I don't get anything like that from mine, which I suspect speaks volumes about my commute route and my view on "reasonable" roundabout speeds...
Small update: A van driver ran into the back of my car on the M1 J23 on Wednesday. Only slow speed so mininal damage, and it's off to the repairers on Monday. I have a hire car coming for the which the paperworks states the insurance company are being charged £387.10... per day!!! Unbelievable.
blueg33 said:
dandam said:
I thought if someone runs into the back of you it is always their fault, they were too close, didn't react, etc, how could you be to blame ?
Nice A6 btw, I've always been a big fan of these
Not always. Say a car pulled into the 2 second space and immediately braked, or there were faulty brake lights. Nice A6 btw, I've always been a big fan of these
An insurer can challenge the need for a hire car. Is there access to another car? Would a cheaper hire car do the same job
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