Im thinking of purchasing one off a friend. Im normally one for E34 BMW's, I know 200k miles on those motors is nothing to be worried about however I am unfamiliar with the Audi's. It's a 1999 A6 2.8l, he has had it for the past 4years with no real motor issues. He has kept it in good shape and has replaced quite a bit of stuff on it. New timing belt, alternator, water pump, starter, seals, abs module, etc.. It has 175k miles on it. I am considering buying it to drive across country(FL to CA) and if it was a BMW I would have no worries but like I said I really dont know these motors to well.

Is it common for these motors to exceed 200k miles with no worries? I mean, obviously the maintenance is all kept up and done, the car doesn't really smoke at all or burn any oil and i know a car will last almost as long as it is kept up(which this has been). Guess Im just wondering how many of you have seen these models with 200K+ miles that are still operating just fine.

 

We have a 1999 A6 Quattro automatic with over 250K miles that my wife drives every day. It's the first foreign car I've owned, and I have to say it's been surprisingly durable.

 

Yeah, I found a couple of posts where people are reporting 200k+ miles.. He did what seems to be most of the major maintenance so im thinking things should hold up well for the next few years. Im just worried because where Im going I wont have access to a second car or tools if I needed to do a big repair.
That, and I really had no idea about how many miles these motors go for.

 

The good news is you have no turbos to worry about, and I understand those eventually go. It might be worth getting an independent check out of the car, but it you keep up with all the maintenance and treat it well, there is no reason it should not last a lot more miles. They key is good maintenance during the last 12 years.

 

I know that it has been maintained well over the last 4 years. Most if not all the major mechanic maintenance has been taken care of. Should I not be afraid of this car crapping on me? It has 175k now on it and runs well, just minor stuff like sometimes the drivers window needs help getting up and the sunroof switch needs to be reglued. Im not worried about things like that though.

Also, he had cut the stock springs. Will this be damaging to the AWD system at all? He has had it like this for over a year now

 

Considering the high (175k) mileage, you should make sure that the TRANSMISSION is solid. If you're going to move to the bundocks without a second car, make sure that at least the tranny doesn't crap on ya.
Otherwise you'll lose a friend, dineros, lots of hair strands and neurons. be warned.

 

I don't see any reason you can't get 250 out of that engine. I certainly expect mine to last at least 220+. I have 171k now with no major issues. Will my transmission last to 220+....who knows, but they do on their BWM sisters. The early 2000's (00, 01, 02...) e46's used the same ZF transmission (rwd version of course) and they are known to last forever. There are not a lot of high mileage Audi's around in the C5 generation compared to high mileage e46's. Guess Audi owners must drive less. We also own a 02 e46 and frequent e46fanatics.com daily. Our prior e36 had 240k on it when we sold it for the e46 and it was running great. My Volvo 850 had 334k miles on it when I traded it for the A6. With that said, I expect my A6 to make it 220+ and see no reason it can't. The 2.8 is a solid VW engine and people over on passatworld.com running their 2.8ls easily get well over 250k all the time.

Guess I'm getting at, 175k isn't a lot of miles on a well maintained car. **** will break, fix it and move on. For reliability, e46 = A6 < e36 well at least so far. If you can pick the car up real cheap it would be worth it.

 

I just talked to him, sounds like just taking the front bumper off gives you access to everything, which is comforting. He has done alot of maintenance and although im a little scared of it, I expect it to hold up for awhile. Ill be happy with 2years out of it. The rear bumper was in a small fender bender but im not worried about that, I'm Picking it up for $3500. Silver/black