Hi everyone. My first post here. I've owned a certified pre-owned '04 allroad 4.2(black), purchased with 38K miles since April. Though it's been in the shop three times (first time for ten days: failed front crankshaft oil seal requiring engine removal, second for brake work, third time for another oil leak at oil cooler) I do love the car..........not sure OTOH how I'd feel if it wasn't under extended warranty coverage.
My greatest complaint is with gas mileage. Question #1 - Why oh why did Audi choose to produce this car with only a 5 speed automatic, and not six?
Given the engine power/torque it just makes no sense. Most of my mileage is at highway speeds.........and it bugs the heck out of me to be doing 80mph
when the tachometer reads about 3,000 rpms. The dealership lent me an '07 A6 3.2 for five days last time around...........with a 6th speed, the car revved at merely 2300 rpms while doing eighty.

Question #2- Is it true that the transmission is a "sealed unit" that requires no owner maintenance whatsoever.....i.e. no fluid dipstick etc. The automatic transmission is barely mentioned in the owner manual, except as concerns shifting. When I first start the car and move down my neighborhood roads slowly, I hear a mild whining sound that always goes away after about a mile. Is this normal or a sign of impending doom?

Thanks for any input.
Anton

 

#1 are you driving in sport mode as this keeps the revs high for performance only,
#2 you can change the fluid but your not supposed to know that ( its not a sealed unit ) a mild whining is normal until the fluid heats up and gets round the system

 

Dave, I do most of my driving in normal drive mode, using Tiptronic and S mode infrequently. The car revs at
roughly 3,000 rpms (and maybe a bit higher) doing 80 mph. Where was Audi's head at in fitting a five speed to this otherwise wonderful car?

Anton

 

I know what you mean about the high revs and poor gas milage on a 4.2. When I boughtmy car, the dealer didn't have a 4.2, so I test drove a turbo tiptronic, and didn't notice the engine speed. I'm wondering if the problem is on 4.2s only. Does anyone with the turbo tiptronic know what the engine turns at highway speeds? How about with the manual transmission?

 

As far as I know the A6 didn't have a 6 speed in 2004 either. 2004 was a very long time ago in the evolution of these cars. Back then a 5 speed was pretty much state of the art.

My experience with German cars (mostly Audis, Mercs and Porsches) is that they are geared to run at high revs at high speeds. My dad's Buick runs 75mph at 2500 RPM, but then again he also gets 30mpg inthis full size car with a big V6. The Buick doesn't drive like an Audi though. It drives like a barge.

 

Listen, while it is very likely true that five speed transmissions were state of the art back in 2004, not having six speeds has nothing whatsoever to do with the choice of actual gear ratios that Audi engineers chose for the 4.2 allroad back in 2004. Higher gear ratios in fourth and (especially) fifth gear were well within the HP/torque ratings of this car
(even taking its weight into account), and definitely would have resulted in better gas mileage and lower rpms at higher speeds. I can't imagine anyone saying this isn't so, or wouldn't be practicable. They made a mistake.......and I think it hurt their marketing efforts for an otherwise wonderful automobile.

 

1-Probably a money issue I'm guessing.
2-No it's not a sealed unit, and you should change the fluid sometime between 40-60k miles. It helps prevent the TC gasket from failing.