A6 reliability - Deciding whether to keep and extend the warranty

[Sw1000]

I was wondering if some long term owners of their A6 could share their views on the perceived reliability of the A6, I have heard on various reliability surveys the A6 is quite far down the pack.

I've had mostly stress free motoring with my A6 Ultra Blackline since I purchased new back in May 2014, I'm debating whether to keep or hand it back.

If I do keep it I will be extending the warranty, however in the last month I've had a number of niggles starting to creep in which makes me wonder if this is the sensible option, these include:



Driver side mirror not folding down, I usually have to turn the switch several times for it to work.
ACC (Automatic Cruise Control intermitently breaking and saying "not available", usually this is on long journeys and it then starts working randomally again. The worse thing is it feels the need to tell me every 5 seconds with loud beeping noises (imagine this on a 200 mile motorway drive).
Recently after a long drive (250 miles) the engine warning came on telling me to "switch off immediately" due to low coolant levels, double checked coolant and engine temp and there was nothing wrong with it, the message hasn't happened since.


I've got the car booked in for these (soonest they could see me in Basingstoke was 20th Feb...) .

My concern is that this is the start of more fundamental things starting to go wrong in the longer term, would be good to get views from long termers.

p.s. I only have 35,000 miles on it as I'm home based most of the time

Thanks,

Stuart

[KevTrem]

My previous car, a Peugeot 407 was very sensitive to battery condition, if the battery was starting to get low it would throw lots of weird and strange unrelated errors up, would change radio stations etc. Do you still have your original battery on and have you had it checked out?

My car, a 2012 3.0TDi Multi is currently on about 74000 miles and apart from the general things like tyres, brakes and servicing its not needed anything yet, but I don't have ACC or the dipping mirror etc

[Scott K]

There's a user on here(Rhyso) who has over 100k on his. He has had very few issues.
You don't say which model you have. On your mileage I would be tempted to keep it as long as you are still happy with it.
With yours being an ultra I would think you get cheap VED. Any new car you get will cost at least £140 per year and £450 if it is over £40k rrp.
That money would almost cover the warranty cost.

[RhysoTDI]

There's a user on here(Rhyso) who has over 100k on his. He has had very few issues.
You don't say which model you have. On your mileage I would be tempted to keep it as long as you are still happy with it.
With yours being an ultra I would think you get cheap VED. Any new car you get will cost at least £140 per year and £450 if it is over £40k rrp.
That money would almost cover the warranty cost.

Dont think thats me lol. Im about to clock up 89,000 in my November 2011 3.0 though!!

In my first year of ownership I've replaced the brakes all around, gone through a set of tyres amd had a full service. Oh and it's been remapped for 15,000 miles :)

Runs sweet as a nut...... (goes and hugs large tree!)

[Scott K]

Sorry, getting you mixed up with JoJo I think. Knew you had a few miles on yours. Mine was on 51k when I sold it with no issues. Had a handle sensor and the boot unlock sensor (the kick motion detector thing) replaced under warranty. Miss it greatly, S3 is good but not so comfortable.

[Sw1000]

Thanks for all the replies, I have a 2.0 avant black edition s tronic ultra... very nice spec actually.

It's a good point made about the tax increases, I do indeed only pay 30 a year at the moment, think I will stick with it.

I have to pay for a service shortly anyway so running cost should be low for the next year or two.

[Tripletrouble]

Sorry, getting you mixed up with JoJo I think. Knew you had a few miles on yours. Mine was on 51k when I sold it with no issues. Had a handle sensor and the boot unlock sensor (the kick motion detector thing) replaced under warranty. Miss it greatly, S3 is good but not so comfortable.
That's what I was looking at replacing my A6 with. Not impressed?

[istate75]

Sorry, getting you mixed up with JoJo I think. Knew you had a few miles on yours. Mine was on 51k when I sold it with no issues. Had a handle sensor and the boot unlock sensor (the kick motion detector thing) replaced under warranty. Miss it greatly, S3 is good but not so comfortable.

I've had 1 A4 and 4 A6's in a row. I generally keep them until they hit 75k-85k miles before I replace them.

2000/x 1.9TDi SE Saloon manual. Sold at 2-1/2 years old and 76k miles. No problems at all
2002/ 52 1.9TDi Sport Avant manual. Sold at 3-1/2 years old and 89k miles. No problems at all, apart from a fuel contamination issue (not the cars fault).
2006/56 2.0TDi S Line Avant manual. Sold at 6-1/2 years old at 86k miles. Had the EGR valve go about 6 months before I changed it (cost £500). It was left unused on my driveway for 6 months when I worked in the US just before it went, so may have affected it
2013/13 2.0TDi S Line Avant Multitronic. Sold at 3-1/2 years old at 79k miles. Had a data controller fail at 6 months old (under warranty). After that, no problems at all.

Current car only has 3.5k miles on it, so not even really run in yet.

Overall a good ownership experience when you think of the miles I do.

[cjmcb]

Sorry in advance- silly questions time; how long is the standard warranty and what do Audi charge to extend it?

[ukgroucho]

3 years and 60K miles - although I think the first 2 years are direct from Audi and the 3rd is from Audi UK.

Audi direct warranty extension is a bit pricey (varies by model too) ... there are often alternatives offered by dealerships that provide the same cover but are more competitive. I think I paid £1200 - £1400 to extend mine to 6 years and 80k miles.

[Scott K]

If you extend it when you buy the car, it is quite cheap.

[Scott K]

Hi Tripletrouble,
the S3 is great. Really quick, reasonably comfortable and spacious but the ride is quite choppy on less than perfect surfaces. No surprise on a performance car but I miss the A6 comfort. The steering is so much better than the A6 but they are completely different animals.
We also thought that a smaller car is a good idea as our oldest has gone to Uni. Not the best idea on our part-still have too much stuff to carry about! Ideally I would keep it as a second car but with 1 teenager driving and another away to start it may be too much. Insurance is a killer.

[zulfario]

Dont think thats me lol. Im about to clock up 89,000 in my November 2011 3.0 though!!

In my first year of ownership I've replaced the brakes all around, gone through a set of tyres amd had a full service. Oh and it's been remapped for 15,000 miles :)

Runs sweet as a nut...... (goes and hugs large tree!)

Hi I have a 3.0 what have your gains been with the remap and has it made much difference

Thanks


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[RhysoTDI]

Hi I have a 3.0 what have your gains been with the remap and has it made much difference

Thanks


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Around 40bhp and over 100lbs ft torque. Mine is an early 245bhp and the torque was lower at 369lbs ft. Later cars came with 400ish from the factory

MPG is up (when not booting it). Mid range is superb. 4th gear is my gear of choice for overtaking. It will pull hard from 30mph all the way around :D