Hi everyone

After a very happy 11 year relationship with my BMW E39 528i (fitted with 17” wheels and Eibach pro springs with standard BMW dampers), I am looking at buying a new A6. This would be a 2009 model 3.0 TDI quattro.

My problem is as follows. Here in Australia the A6 has had some bad press coverage in regard to it’s ride quality, basically saying it can be quite harsh and jittery over rough roads, without the feeling of comfort you would expect from a luxury car. Note that this is for the car fitted with standard suspension. In Australia the A6 is only available with one factory optional suspension package, the “sports suspension” that lowers the car by 20mm and includes stiffer dampers and springs. When I Google more about this as well as the S-line suspension that lowers the car by 30mm and I assume is even stiffer, all around the world I read bad reviews on A6’s with factory sports or S-line suspension, basically saying the harshness of the ride is terrible away from smooth roads, and that people should avoid these and only buy a car with standard suspension..

I have only driven the standard A6 and while it rides smoother than my modified BMW, it does feel a bit on the harsh side to me, so I can understand how the optional factory sports suspension if it is a lot worse could be too uncomfortable for daily use. When compared to the latest model E class and the Jaguar XF there is no doubt that they ride a lot better than the A6. The BMW M Sport with run flat tyres I think feels worse. There are a limited number of A6’s available for sale with the options I want at the price I want to pay. The front running car is fitted with the sports suspension, and based on my research I would probably prefer it didn’t have this and had standard suspension instead. By the way, all versions of these cars are fitted with 245/40 x 18 tyres as standard equipment in Australia. I like a car that corners and handles well and I love the way that my BMW drives, but my wife is going to share the car with me, and I also have two young children, so I really want it to be softer than the BMW, while ideally not being too far behind it in the handling department. Unfortunately I can’t test drive the car before buying it as it is located in another state. Also, none of the local dealers have a car fitted with sports suspension that I can test drive.

I have been doing a bit of browsing on the internet reading about the Koni FSD dampers. If I buy this car and decide that the ride is too rough to live with, will fitting the FSD dampers while keeping the factory Audi sports springs improve things to a standard that would suit my needs? I guess one option is to ask the Audi dealer to retrofit the car with standard springs and dampers, but I believe that this would be very expensive. I also think that there is a good chance that the sports springs/FSD dampers combination may in fact give a better final compromise between ride and handling. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated, including possible alternative solutions.

Thank you in advance

John