Which engine - Audi A4 Quattro (B6)
Which engine - Audi A4 Quattro (B6)
Author
Discussion

Kirk280

Original Poster:

122 posts

174 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
Advice time chaps - I'm thinking of switching my W124 E320 for something a little more modern and fancy trying an Audi A4 quattro. Does anyone have any advice re: which engine to go for? Here's my thoughts at the moment:

1.8T - probably the one I'll pick, but I'm concerned about sludging issues.
3.0 petrol - I mainly do urban driving / short journeys so maybe a bit thirsty?
2.5d - belts etc can be expensive (?)
1.9d 130bhp - I've not driven one, but used to own a 110bhp fwd A4. That was decent enough.

I'm only going to do about 5k miles a year hence I'm thinking 1.8T petrol. I have got used to 6 cylinders and an autobox though! What are the tiptronic boxes like on the 3.0Ls? My budget is £2-4k so the cars will have ca. 100k miles on the clock.

Advice appreciated!

northwest monkey

6,370 posts

220 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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You do similar journeys / mileage to me & I was told to go nowhere near a diesel.

So the 3 litre petrol it is thenhehe

mwstewart

8,607 posts

219 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
The 1.8T in the B6 is really very good; it feels a lot more refined than it did in the B5 and no where near as slow, despite only having 16bhp more.

The 2.4 is to be avoided at all costs, and the 3.0 is also very thirsty.

Kirk280

Original Poster:

122 posts

174 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
It sounds like the 1.8T is the one to go for. Is the 190bhp version worth much of a premium over the 163bhp?

Kirk280

Original Poster:

122 posts

174 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
It sounds like the 1.8T is the one to go for. Is the 190bhp version worth much of a premium over the 163bhp?

rb5er

11,657 posts

203 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
The 3.0 is a juicy and suprisingly gutless engine when in an automatic A4.

What about a nice V8? Juicy but at least it has some grunt and a lovely noise.

Kirk280

Original Poster:

122 posts

174 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
You mean the S4? Bit overkill for my commute to work in stop start traffic!

valais

59,925 posts

186 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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You could pick up an A6 for similar money, very comfy place to be if you want a barge.

rb5er

11,657 posts

203 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
Kirk280 said:
You mean the S4? Bit overkill for my commute to work in stop start traffic!
Only just noticed your budget. The S4 is out anyway then.

If all you want is economy then go for the diesel, depressing motoring though.

carinaman

25,293 posts

203 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
I've driven a 3.0 manual quattro and found it juicy. The 2.5 V6 TDi quattro I've encountered is very noisy outside.

4 cylinder TDi for economy and ease and cost of maintenance with chip tuning as an potential upgrade?

Kirk280

Original Poster:

122 posts

174 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
Economy isn't my primary concern (my w124 is a bit thirsty!), and I quite liked my old 1.9tdi. I just fancy a quattro next. 22-25mpg around town would be fine.

valais

59,925 posts

186 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
From experience, I would not drive the 3.0 diesel on short journeys unless you can get it up to temps. It does horrible things to the service interval and oil quality.

They are an excellent long haul barge though.

Russ T Bolt

1,779 posts

314 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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doogz said:
My 3.0 petrol was awful on fuel.

My commute was mostly along the motorway to work. In the A4 I was averaging around 22mpg. In my 45bhp more powerful Impreza WRX PPP, I was averaging 28mpg.

Lovely car, nicest interior of any car I've ever had, if that's your thing, but fecking thirsty.

Oh, and my 3.0 had a manual box, which was in fairness, superb. No idea about the autoboxes though.
I found exactly the same, but an STi in my case.

The A4 was also slow by comparison, in fact it was just slow for the amount of petrol I put in it.

carinaman

25,293 posts

203 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
valais said:
From experience, I would not drive the 3.0 diesel on short journeys unless you can get it up to temps. It does horrible things to the service interval and oil quality.
The 3 litre petrol quattro I've driven can have what looks like headgasket failure mayonnaise due to too many short runs.

rallycross

13,762 posts

268 months

Monday 19th August 2013
quotequote all
3.0 petrol is a lovely smooth responsive engine tends to be very nice spec and great value as people scared off by the fact it's a big petrol.

2.5 diesel is a rough old truck engine in comparison and not that good on diesel either.

30v

100 posts

178 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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3L petrol, all day. Silky smooth, pulls well and as its a big, unstressed NA unit; minimum borkage. Mated to a proper quattro drivetrain it'll do everything well and in all weathers. Worth the extra few quid a week on petrol given the daily dose of V6 creaminess and how little it should depreciate.

Manual flavour ideally.

Sir Fergie

795 posts

166 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Very little to add - except to say - that - imo - the A4 Quattros seem to have low enough ground clearance.

Now to be fair its not completely ridiculously bad but if your thinking of buying one to "beat the snow" or drive on rough roads in the country - then its worth noting.

Feel free to ignore the above

msduk

86 posts

235 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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if the 1.8t get an 1 litre increased oil filter and change regularly

Kirk280

Original Poster:

122 posts

174 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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Sir Fergie (good name btw) yes I'm thinking 'beat the snow' but ground clearance should be ok. I know winter tyres are the way forward (all seasons fitted to my w124 are ace) but fancy trying 4wd. I've thought about x-types, legacies etc but the cabin quality of the Audi is a pull.

This will be a 2nd car, I just want something decent to sit in and reliable that will move in the snow when our BMW F11 is stuck!

jamieduff1981

8,092 posts

171 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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A friend of mine had the 163bhp A4 1.8T Quattro and used it for mainly urban commuting. He complained of sub-25mpg fuel consumption pretty much all the time. Don't know how much worse the 3.0 would be though?