Audi A6 2 Litre Ultra Black Edition - any good?

[Actus Reus]

Looking for a replacement for my Golf R and the A4 lease prices caught my eye, whereupon I stumbled across a good deal for the A6 2 litre Ultra Black Edition - with a growing family these look plenty roomy enough and also brisk enough for family transport, but what's the general view - are they any good? Certainly seems to be enough standard kit - for the first time ever I might not raid the options list at all...

[AMDBSTony]

Actus Reus said:

Looking for a replacement for my Golf R and the A4 lease prices caught my eye, whereupon I stumbled across a good deal for the A6 2 litre Ultra Black Edition - with a growing family these look plenty roomy enough and also brisk enough for family transport, but what's the general view - are they any good? Certainly seems to be enough standard kit - for the first time ever I might not raid the options list at all...

I have had loads of these and they are really good cars - having said that BEWARE of the 7 speed auto with the 2.0 diesel engine.

I got my last one in March 2015 so it was the 2015MY 2.0 Ultra Black Edition Estate and thought I would treat myself to an auto. The car was sold in Nov 15 as in my opinion turned out to be potentially lethal. The issue for me was the auto box as it was non responsive from standstill and then all the power came in. I set off from one junction, the car bogged down and then spun its wheels....a very regular occurrence. I used to get circa 18 - 20k miles out of a set of front tyres and this thing did 13.5k and was ready for a set.

Another annoyance was the adblue on the Ultra model. It needed a top up after 7k miles and its not cheap!! It drank this stuff for fun, having consumed its dealer top up and then a further 10L before I got shut of it.

The 8 speed in the biturbo seems fine, as were all my 2.0 diesels with manual boxes. Adblue is an inconvenience!!

There will be some that disagree but I would certainly be aware of these points and definitely test drive and take into consideration before you buy.

Hope this helps

[Actus Reus]

Thanks for that - was thinking of a manual for sure. In the last half hour though I'm starting to think that I might prefer the A4 again afterall...

[dunmow70]

I'm in one at the moment (courtesy car). I've had it about a week and I'll be glad to hand it back.

As above, the power band is atrocious and god forbid you forget to turn the start/stop function off. I've found myself on a few occasions approaching a junction, briefly stopping before pulling out, the engine has stopped immediately, I've gone to pull out, the engine takes half a second to restart, the (7 speed auto) gearbox feels like it is slipping a clutch as you're going nowhere fast, so more gas is added to exit the junction and then it lurches forward before promptly running out of oomph.

Overtakes are a heart in mouth situation where you are unsure if the gearbox will drop a gear, instantly red line and change back up again. Even if it manages the gears well, it still runs out of ponies when it feels like it should still be accelerating.

Other feedback:

- with a mix of driving it has done 300 miles on 3 bars (from 8) of the fuel gauge, so not too bad there.
- heaters take an age to pump out warm air.
- I couldn't find a comfortable or supporting seating position.
- in the wet, the powerband can lead to juddering/wheelspin as the front wheels scrabble for grip.
- the Audi rings look cool illuminating puddles under the front doors.
- the diesel drone and wind noise seem particularly loud.
- as an s-line, the comfort car setting was still rather crashy.
- it does look rather nice.

[Actus Reus]

Hmmm... Pushing me back toward the A4, though the cheap lease deals I was looking at are only really good on the 1.4 TFSI and I have my reservations when dropping back from 300hp to 150 - though in the family runabout I hope that won't matter too much.

As an aside with a username like that, Dunmow, is Stansted Audi your local stealer? I'm in Sawbo.

[custardkid]

have 177bhp black edition manual, 42k miles in 21 months

bose stereo is good, and interior is much nicer quality than the A4 (altho the just released A4 is probably good)
its quick enough for daily driving, and can be hussled, went for the 10mm lower sports suspension, and dont find it crashy
i think the grip issue is the Yokohama tyres, car has been much better in the damp on Uni-royal rainsport 3s, even better than the winters. - (would usually go Goodyear F1s, but these came highly recommended)
it is a long car... but has lots of space

custard

[Chiefbadger]

Actus Reus said:

Looking for a replacement for my Golf R and the A4 lease prices caught my eye, whereupon I stumbled across a good deal for the A6 2 litre Ultra Black Edition - with a growing family these look plenty roomy enough and also brisk enough for family transport, but what's the general view - are they any good? Certainly seems to be enough standard kit - for the first time ever I might not raid the options list at all...

I ran one for 18 months (14 plate BE Avant Ultra) and it was a great, practical good looking hold-all. The interior is great and it's a very nice place to be. Ride comfort is great - even with sports suspension - and they are absolutely fine in terms of speed on motorways etc. Zero fun though and they do seem to have a fair amount of wind noise.

Re adblue - very dependant on your mileage. If you do 10000 a year it's a minor annoyance. If you do double or treble this, it would be a bit of a pain.

I had the s tronic box and it does take quite a while to adjust to. It does tend to be very on or off and I certainly had a few hairy moments wondering where the hell the power was. You learn to drive around it, effectively pulling out earlier than you otherwise would to compensate - to the point I never noticed it. That was until I switched to the S4 and realised how could the gearbox could be.

If you can cope with the width of the car (it will not get through most multi storeys without some nasty wheel issues) and the general diesel clatter, I'd say it's a great load carrier.

[dunmow70]

Actus Reus said:

As an aside with a username like that, Dunmow, is Stansted Audi your local stealer? I'm in Sawbo.

I grew up in Great Dunmow but left 20 years ago and now live on the South Coast. I use Crawley Audi as they've always been good to me since I started driving Audis 7 or 8 years ago.

[Actus Reus]

Thanks for the comments chaps - the Merc GLC has made a late entry into my thinking. Quite a bit more than the A4 and a bit more than the A6, but it's an appealing car.

Dunmow - almost made a similar move myself some years ago, but things with that girlfriend went South and ended up back here after years in London and Munich...Stansted Audi are...well, let's just say they're typical of this area!