A4 Avant (B7) 3.2 V6 Quattro

[BlindandLost]

Hi all,

Due to an imminent arrival, I've got to trade my Golf GTi in for something more practical. Since my wheelchair takes up all the space in the Golf's boot, I've come to the conclusion that it's going to have to be an estate.

I'm looking at Audi A4 Avants (B7 2.0 Turbos in particular), but I have seen a couple of 3.2 V6 Quattros for sale and I was wondering what the general consensus is about them? I fancy the idea of a V6... I've looked at B6/B7 S4s before but as far as I know, the maintenance costs and some parts on S4s are much higher than the regular A4. I think the V6 may be a nice compromise between the 4 pot turbo and the all too tempting V8.

So a few questions if I may?

• How does the performance match up to the 2.0 turbo?

• Is the published fuel economy achievable/realistic? I'm not too bothered about mpg as I don't do too many miles, but I wouldn't want to be making teens on the mpg on a daily basis if I can help it . I appreciate it will be affected by driving style etc, but is it massively optimistic?

• Are there any massive problems with the engine etc. that I should be wary of?

All opinions and info is much appreciated. Thanks

Edit to remove horrendous spelling of 'wary'

Edited by BlindandLost on Tuesday 6th January 17:45

[Cupramax]

I ran a 3.2 quattro B7 cab for 5 years, nice engine and suited the car, quite a bit more grunt that the 2.0t but the power is a little further up the rev range, but its still a very tractable engine, will pull happily from just over 1000rpm in top gear. Didnt have any mechanical issues with mine whatsoever and liked it so much ive now got an A5 with the newer vvt version which has slightly more power, 265 as opposed to 252hp.

Just make sures its had regular oil changes and it should be fine, only thing to be aware is any post March 23rd 2006 cars will be in the scary £485 a year tax bracket, so if you can find a 05/55 or very early 06 youll save 200 a year on car tax.

[Cupramax]

Just to add my Trip computer showed when i sold it 23.5mpg, thats mostly town, on a long run it would do 33/34mpg bearing mind that was a quattro and a cabriolet so abot 250kg heavier i wasnt too bad

[BlindandLost]

Cupramax said:

I ran a 3.2 quattro B7 cab for 5 years, nice engine and suited the car, quite a bit more grunt that the 2.0t but the power is a little further up the rev range, but its still a very tractable engine, will pull happily from just over 1000rpm in top gear. Didnt have any mechanical issues with mine whatsoever and liked it so much ive now got an A5 with the newer vvt version which has slightly more power, 265 as opposed to 252hp.

Just make sures its had regular oil changes and it should be fine, only thing to be aware is any post March 23rd 2006 cars will be in the scary £485 a year tax bracket, so if you can find a 05/55 or very early 06 youll save 200 a year on car tax.

Thanks for the info in both your replies . I forgot to mention in my OP that I'll be getting an auto (no alternative for me as I drive with hand controls). Was yours auto or manual? If auto, do you have to service the gearbox? I've read varying advice that either say it's sealed for life and not to service or get it serviced anyway. Either way doesn't bother me as I have a DSG atm which needs servicing, but it would be useful to know when checking service history.

Tax isn't an issue for me luckily. The fuel economy you were getting is encouraging as well...

[Cupramax]

No, these have a ZF tiptronic box which is supposedly sealed for life, but common sense says an oil and filter change at 100k is sensible. Apart from that they rarely give problems.

[Adrian E]

Worth doing the ZF boxes before 100k - the oil will be horrid by then. If the car you're looking at has 50-60k on it, get it done at the next service and then every 4-5 years after. It doesn't cost much at a ZF specialist for the peace of mind you get.

Ref the engine - lots of sensors on the 3.2 and not all of them reliable. Friend had this engine in his A6 and it required cam chains which cost 4 figures to resolve, so same league as the S4 for that job....

Modern pushchairs take up a whole lot of space so you may find the estate is too small even. We had an A6 Avant and we struggled with that if we wanted to pull the cover over to hide it away. If your chair will go upright in the boot you might manage it but most estates have a much higher boot floor than hatchbacks so worth checking

[BlindandLost]

Cupramax said:

No, these have a ZF tiptronic box which is supposedly sealed for life, but common sense says an oil and filter change at 100k is sensible. Apart from that they rarely give problems.

I knew they had a ZF gearbox but didn't know about changing oil & filter. Worth checking to see if a potential purchase has had it done. Thanks .

Adrian E said:

Worth doing the ZF boxes before 100k - the oil will be horrid by then. If the car you're looking at has 50-60k on it, get it done at the next service and then every 4-5 years after. It doesn't cost much at a ZF specialist for the peace of mind you get.

Ref the engine - lots of sensors on the 3.2 and not all of them reliable. Friend had this engine in his A6 and it required cam chains which cost 4 figures to resolve, so same league as the S4 for that job....

Modern pushchairs take up a whole lot of space so you may find the estate is too small even. We had an A6 Avant and we struggled with that if we wanted to pull the cover over to hide it away. If your chair will go upright in the boot you might manage it but most estates have a much higher boot floor than hatchbacks so worth checking

Thanks for the info re: the gearbox and the engine. Very helpful . I suppose for the chains it would be a similar check to the S4 - listen to a cold start up and see if the rattle lasts longer than a second or so... That's interesting about the boot space. Obviously I will check with both wheelchair and pushchair to see if they fit, but that's quite surprising that you struggled with an A6 Avant! I was hoping I'd get away with an A4 size car... I've spotted a local-ish dealer with a 2.0T A4 that I'll go and have a look at this weekend I think. Scope out the boot space...

[Maracus]

I had a B7 2.0T auto Quattro for 3 years. Rarely saw 30mpg, even on a long run.

It was an ok cruiser, but couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. It could definitely have done with a remap.

I sold it 2 1/2 years ago at 7 years old and 86k. The only faults were a coil pack and rear parking sensor. The oil never needing topping up. It was probably the most reliable car we've owned.

Prices have hardly moved in the past two years!

[Audi Avant Racer]

The 3.2 is a great platform. My wife and I have a 2006 A4 3.2 Avant with a MT6, and from what I understand there were only 24 shipped to the US. We are currently at 145,000 highly abusive miles and the only issue was a 1 time carbon cleaning and some oil leaks. At 125k we replaced the stock Suspension with a more trackable setup, a new clutch, and B7 S4 seats. The car has been used as my wife's track day car and sees the track 4 times a year without any issues. We talk about replacing it with a faster Audi, but due to our experience we will probably drive it into the ground. This is my wife at Laguna Seca in the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_mUR4Ys4_o

[AudiSport]

I ran an A6 3.2 Quattro, and thought it was great. More here:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...