Is the A6 worth it?

Hi all,

I have the option of purchasing an 2003 52 plate A6 Avant 1.9 (130) TDi Sport, from a used car dealer.

It has 92,000 on the clock. I've had a look at the service book and it has only been serviced at Audi main dealers. The stamps seem to be every 20k (Don't they need 10k services?)

The garage want £9k for the car. Seems a lot for a car that's getting on for 100k.

My question is, does that seem a fair price? Should I be worried about the service book? Any common problems that I may encounter? I previously had the same spec but in an Passat estate, and was happy with that.

What Car give the A6 two out of five for reliability, and say "Restless ride, lacklustre drive, poor manual box"

The 20k service intervals are only if a longlife service has been done. Is the longlife box ticked in the service record? (top left corner).

I paid £10,800 for a 2003 Avant 130 SE and that was the book price 4 months ago.

Glad I got the dealer to put a years warranty on, it's going in to have a noise investigated on Friday!!

I've bought petrol cars with over 100k on them, 90k on a diesel with a FSH is no problem.

I'm pretty sure id did have long life service ticked. As it's only coming from a used car dealer it will have a three month warranty. Guess I could buy another.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prophet

Hi all,

I have the option of purchasing an 2003 52 plate A6 Avant 1.9 (130) TDi Sport, from a used car dealer.

It has 92,000 on the clock. I've had a look at the service book and it has only been serviced at Audi main dealers. The stamps seem to be every 20k (Don't they need 10k services?)

The garage want £9k for the car. Seems a lot for a car that's getting on for 100k.

My question is, does that seem a fair price? Should I be worried about the service book? Any common problems that I may encounter? I previously had the same spec but in an Passat estate, and was happy with that.

What Car give the A6 two out of five for reliability, and say "Restless ride, lacklustre drive, poor manual box"

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That seems like top book price to me. There are plenty of others on the market which are more competitively priced.

Can't vouch for reliability, I've had mine 4 months and done just over seven thousand miles (it now has 174K on the clock) and haven't had any issues! The ride is restless, but not uncomfortable. Gearbox seems fine to me.

Have you driven it yet? I agree with the lacklustre drive to certain extent - which is fine for me as I do most of my driving on the motorway and very little B road driving. In essence the A6 is a long distance cruising machine.

Bear in mind though that the Sport model has stiffer suspension and thinner tyres, which will make the steering feel more responsive, so less lacklustre. Depending on when What Car did there review, Audi tightened up the suspension from late 2001 onwards (I think from memory).

Granted the car is no 5 series, but still it's still a decent motor car in my view.

Yes I have driven it. The car seems very tidy. The drive seemed nice to me. Didn't appear to have quite the go that my Passat did, but I think the A6 is a heavier car.

The car looks in superb condition apart from a mark on the paint of the boot, and the luggage cover is a bit tatty.

(PS, am I right in thinking that the Sport has electric lumbar support, but the SE don't have any adjustable lumber support?)

Prophet

I have the 130 sport in the saloon version.
It does indeed have electric lumbar support.
I find the drive to be a little bit 'wallowy', but it has been suggested on here to upgrade the anti-roll bar and that will sharpen it up nicely....I have no idea of cost yet......anyone???

Also aan ECU 'economy' remap will get an extra 30-35 bhp, torqoe up to about 300 (I think!!!) and 5 MPG better...all for about £250 - £300!!!

Try to batter him down a bit and spend the difference on the Mods, you'll have a great car...!!!

Hope this helps

jon

This should be fine on this engine, they are always described as bomb proof and yes an economy remap will add you a little bit more power and push your MPG up.

I bought my 03 A6 Avant 2.5Tdi with 60k on the clock for £12,995 from a dealer about 3 months ago.

One thing about the long life services... my book has all audi service stamps, apart from the most recent which was the used car dealer itself. It has the long life tick in the book, but my service indicator has dropped from 8900 miles to 3500 miles and I've only covered 2000 miles in that time. I'm quite gentle driving it, averaging 37mpg between fills so I can only think at this point the dealer used rubbish oil and it's not actually a long life service. Just don't be surprised if your service indicator drops rapidly if a non Audi dealership services the car before you get it...

I think the car has to be told it has had a longlife service. You'll probably need a licensed version of VagCom to do it yourself.

I used to work in the Commercial world where we had an oil that only required changing at 100km!!! Problem was, if servicing was left that long, other things wouldn't be picked up before they became a problem. That's why I'll probably go for normal servicing when it's due.

If it's top book price, get them to throw in an extended warranty. It'll cost them less than it's value to you.

The SE doesn't have lumbar support, just electric fore/aft adjustment.

Hi all
I have a 53 plate 1.9 TDI Sport Saloon 130bhp. I bought it about 9 months ago with 33k on the clock, it is now on 45k and have had no problems. I would reccommend you take yours off the longlife service seen as it is getting towards 100k (though I'm sure some people will tell you not to bother). I have no problem with the ride, sure it's sporty, but I like it! Also mine has the 5 speed box, which eradicates the endless gear changing issues! I bought mine for £11,499 so if I was you I would try and knock him down a little... But for the right price, you should get a good car.
Paul

i ve an a6 quatro 2.8 with full audi service history it has done 189000 miles

The 2.5Tdi Multitronics are the most sought after and the Avants hold their value far better than the saloons.

You're often lucky to find many Audi Tdi's with low mileage, most of those I saw under £10K were 130K plus.

Just make sure it's had the cambelt changed (and water-pump), it's had it's longlife services (Audi only), gearbox oil changes (if a multitronic).

Get the reg number and give your AUdi dealership a call to verify the service history. (whilst you're looking at the car it's always good to phone the garage in the service book as they may have better records than the Audi database).

You might be able to knock them down - especially if it's not had all the recalls applied to it etc.

Cheers

Rob

Agree with some parts of this thread and not others.
I too think my A6 is "wallowy" but that's after driving a 944S2 for 7 years so I'm biased. Good tip about the roll-bar - would like to know more about that.
Mine is the SE and has the lumbar support.
Having had an Audi 100E and a Coupe Quattro before I strongly believe that until the readies are available for a 4.2tdi A8 then the next best thing is the 2.5TDi Q SE (IMHO). My neighbour has the A6 19.tdi and as a passenger see little difference. As a driver of course that's different.
Summary? £8,100 for a 52 plate A6 (180 bhp) with all the big stuff working fine - bargain. Intend to keep this car for a long while and after reading the feedback after the recent remap session I'm up for the next one :biglaugh:

Thanks for all the advice guys. I was undecided and eventually thought "better the devil you know" and went for another Passat TDi sport estate.

This will do me for now and I will look at the A6 next time around (and hopefully get the current style)