Mintyjim
10-01-2017, 08:00 PM
Hi all,
Having had numerous BMW's and Mercedes (all 3.0 diesels - 335d, X3, C350 and thoroughly enjoying them) I thought I'd try an Audi for a change.
I typically drive 20k miles a year so a diesel is better and obviously a V6.
I took a punt on an unloved 2012 A6 Avant Quattro SE spec - 18" wheels, 3 spoke steering wheel, Audi USB connection thing, DAB and ambient lighting.
I had to give it a full service and replace some missing trim, but £12k with 100k on the clock I thought it was worth it.
Servicing was easy except the air box was a little fiddly. Fuel filter was fine, I didn't use VCDS just pressed the ignition on and off a few times and you can hear the fuel pump working.
I'm glad I removed the scuttle panel, everything was blocked so it was reassuring to clean that area and open all the drain holes etc.
First impressions:
The satnav is embarrassingly poor quality to look at with standard system and updates are £300 odd so I won’t be relying on that too much! My 2009 C350 was far superior quality. To be far the ’09 X3 and my mates ’12 Disco 4 are of equally rubbish quality.
But it’s comfortable; has a respectable turn of speed for a big quattro estate car; nice level of toys and good lights.
7 speed S-Tronic gearbox is smooth and well matched to the engine.
I like the high profile 18" tyre comfort but combined with SE suspension it was poor on the corners compared to what I was used to. However, 5k miles on and I'm totally used to the handling and rarely miss the M-Sport or AMG Sport's of my past.
Gearbox was easy to service. I did the whole job so that was new gasket, oil strainer and the external filter for less than £200 and managed to get out about 6 litres of oil - which actually looked pretty clean.
This is where things went a bit wrong...
We had the car on my mechanic mates' lift to make the job easier. We used the replacement external oil filter housing that came with the Meyle service kit. 500 miles later the car's gearbox went into limp mode and refused to drive. Getting it back up on the ramp and you could see that the filter housing was off!!
It had completely emptied of oil :(
Needless to say I was glad I was wearing my brown trousers that day.
Further investigation showed that the replacement housing lacked the "belt and braces" outer engagement locking teeth on the flange of the original. Whether that was the reason for the housing coming off or not I'll never know but I reused the old one, replaced the filter again and put in another 6 litres of DSG oil.
The gearbox engaged immediately but I still carried out the VCDS clutch and sensor re-calibration anyway!
After 1000 miles it threw up an error code which came and went in 1 second:
"9473 - Sensor for Gear Actuator 2 - P17E1 00 [032] - Mechanical Malfunction"
I cleared this, checked the filter housing again and it's tight so I just hope it's not the sign of imminent problems. I've since done another 500 miles without issue.
One final note; as a result of the system peeing oil everywhere under the car under pressure it's obviously filled some nook or cavity because when I'm idling on a hill I can smell gearbox oil inside the car!
Normal driving gives no smell. It's a bit annoying but will hopefully clear soon!
Sorry for the rambling first post! In summary I really like the car and will keep it as long as I can especially now I've invested in VCDS for messing around.
Servicing is simple, it's huge, practical, economical, comfy and fast enough.
One question... Is it easy/safe to remove the boot opening seal and refit as some of the carpet has come out I want to correct it all.
One final note - wow the expansion tank was filthy and impossible to see the level! My wife's 11 year old focus's is still crystal clear, why is the Audi so ingrained with rust/dirt, photos on google show that it's not unusual!
Cheers,
James
Having had numerous BMW's and Mercedes (all 3.0 diesels - 335d, X3, C350 and thoroughly enjoying them) I thought I'd try an Audi for a change.
I typically drive 20k miles a year so a diesel is better and obviously a V6.
I took a punt on an unloved 2012 A6 Avant Quattro SE spec - 18" wheels, 3 spoke steering wheel, Audi USB connection thing, DAB and ambient lighting.
I had to give it a full service and replace some missing trim, but £12k with 100k on the clock I thought it was worth it.
Servicing was easy except the air box was a little fiddly. Fuel filter was fine, I didn't use VCDS just pressed the ignition on and off a few times and you can hear the fuel pump working.
I'm glad I removed the scuttle panel, everything was blocked so it was reassuring to clean that area and open all the drain holes etc.
First impressions:
The satnav is embarrassingly poor quality to look at with standard system and updates are £300 odd so I won’t be relying on that too much! My 2009 C350 was far superior quality. To be far the ’09 X3 and my mates ’12 Disco 4 are of equally rubbish quality.
But it’s comfortable; has a respectable turn of speed for a big quattro estate car; nice level of toys and good lights.
7 speed S-Tronic gearbox is smooth and well matched to the engine.
I like the high profile 18" tyre comfort but combined with SE suspension it was poor on the corners compared to what I was used to. However, 5k miles on and I'm totally used to the handling and rarely miss the M-Sport or AMG Sport's of my past.
Gearbox was easy to service. I did the whole job so that was new gasket, oil strainer and the external filter for less than £200 and managed to get out about 6 litres of oil - which actually looked pretty clean.
This is where things went a bit wrong...
We had the car on my mechanic mates' lift to make the job easier. We used the replacement external oil filter housing that came with the Meyle service kit. 500 miles later the car's gearbox went into limp mode and refused to drive. Getting it back up on the ramp and you could see that the filter housing was off!!
It had completely emptied of oil :(
Needless to say I was glad I was wearing my brown trousers that day.
Further investigation showed that the replacement housing lacked the "belt and braces" outer engagement locking teeth on the flange of the original. Whether that was the reason for the housing coming off or not I'll never know but I reused the old one, replaced the filter again and put in another 6 litres of DSG oil.
The gearbox engaged immediately but I still carried out the VCDS clutch and sensor re-calibration anyway!
After 1000 miles it threw up an error code which came and went in 1 second:
"9473 - Sensor for Gear Actuator 2 - P17E1 00 [032] - Mechanical Malfunction"
I cleared this, checked the filter housing again and it's tight so I just hope it's not the sign of imminent problems. I've since done another 500 miles without issue.
One final note; as a result of the system peeing oil everywhere under the car under pressure it's obviously filled some nook or cavity because when I'm idling on a hill I can smell gearbox oil inside the car!
Normal driving gives no smell. It's a bit annoying but will hopefully clear soon!
Sorry for the rambling first post! In summary I really like the car and will keep it as long as I can especially now I've invested in VCDS for messing around.
Servicing is simple, it's huge, practical, economical, comfy and fast enough.
One question... Is it easy/safe to remove the boot opening seal and refit as some of the carpet has come out I want to correct it all.
One final note - wow the expansion tank was filthy and impossible to see the level! My wife's 11 year old focus's is still crystal clear, why is the Audi so ingrained with rust/dirt, photos on google show that it's not unusual!
Cheers,
James