I am thinking about buying a 2002 audi a6 with about 40 K. I have been hearing a lot of horror stories about problems and repair/maintenance costs of A sixes. How much does a tune-up normally cost? Common prblems? I LOVE that car but I don't wanna make a mistake...Any ideas? Thanks!

 

Suggest you search the forum a bit. This has been covered many, MANY times. Lots of good reading out there for you.

That said, the Audi A6 is an OK car in terms of reliability -- not a great one, but a good one. IF you take care of it and keep on top of things. Also IF you are willing to tackle minor things yourself. If you want to have everything done for you, it can get expensive. I really think the answer you're going to get depends on people expectations. If somebody has got Lexus reliability in mind, the A6 may be a disapointment when it comes to reliability. Conversely, most A6 drivers wouldn't trade their car for a Lexus -- the prefer what makes the Audi speical (more on that below). The good news (for YOU as a potential used A6 driver) is that they don't hold their value like a Lexus would. Meaning, you can get a lot of car for the buck. I bought a $46k car for $21.9 when it had less than 29k on the odo. That's a LOT of car/dollar for a vehicle that only 20% into its service life.

You're asking your question of an Audi forum -- as such, the people answering are self-selected Audi fans. We're not going to be the ones that will tell you to get a Lexus instead. What we'll tell you is that the technical sophistocation, design elegance, performance & luxury combination, and joy of owning an A6 outweighs any reliability concerns owning this car may come with.

"Tune-up" cost is not something that can really be stated. It all depends on where you are on the service maintenance schedule. A simple oil change and inspection may be $50. A timing belt change (typically done at around 75-90k miles) may run you $1-1.5k.

Your best bet will be to search and read through the forum. You will find MUCH more info here of value to you than you will ever get in response to a post that has been seen many, many times before.

 

i got a 2001 4.2L for sale 41k miles only and im looking for a quick sale! $20,000.00 obo

 

Okay, here is the horror story you don't want hear.

I always buy used imports with enough warranty left to cover the initial abuse. The thinking is that if the car breaks down in the first 3 month because of my driving style, then it will last afterwards and it won't cost anything extra. If you get an A6 you want to drive it hard, it just comes natural. Speed limits don't matter anymore (as long you drive "polite" without tail gating or driving safe otherwise).

My '02 Avant A6 (41K/6 mo. warranty left) developed a leak in the gas tank and I noticed it after a filling up and parking in the garage. Pretty dangerous but also highly unusual. Repair cost $3000 (warranty covered), 5 days in the shop, including a wheel alignment because the rear suspension had to be lowered in order to replace the tank. Then the break pedal started to make squeaking noises. Had to bring into the shop twice because lubrication didn't cure the ill. Root cause, the power booster was faulty and needed replacement (I break pretty hard....). Last item, after I drove from the shop, power dropped inexplicitly upon acceleration and "normal" driving. Cause, a faulty break pedal switch (go figure how that's related..). All repairs were done under warranty and I am now 3 month past the 50k/4yr period without any problems. Knock on wood.

Yes, it's risky from a cost perspective, but I enjoy the car every minute I drive it. If it's past warranty, test drive it thoroughly, prefer cars from women owners (they are typically easier on cars). Ask the owner if he watches F1 races on the Speed channel (and don't buy if he/she does !) I did research on the web and found that the '02 year was more reliable than previous years. But it all depends.

Now I wish I had the S6 instead, or better the RS6, and become M. Schumacher for a day.

Good luck,

 

I've got a 2002 A6 2.7 and it has had enough problems through the years. Flood of water in the passenger side, Broken fuel tank, Two broken CV boots on front, Replaced brakes because of severe warping, Radio replaced, Transmission replaced, Computer box replaced, Front suspension arms and links, numerous little items and I have 90,000 easy, not hard, miles on now. Hoping the bugs are worked out by now, because the certified warranty is running out in 10,000 mi. Audis are not known for reliablity. My next car purchase will more than likely be a Lexus or an Infiniti. I love the car but the trouble it causes is krazy. I will see how many miles I can push this A6 though. Who knows, maybe it will go 350,000 mi. with less trouble. I doubt it, but maybe. It would be best to buy a certified car or steer clear of Audi if your worried.

 

What did you mean by At times my A6 seems sluggish, also I get a noise when driving on the highway, if I tap the breaks real quick it goes away. Was thinking maybe they're dragging...?

 

The driving conditions I experienced weren’t just “sluggish”. Power would drop suddenly and unexpectedly. Nothing would happen if you push the gas pedal down, but after a few seconds the car would accelerate again. The worst part was convincing the service tech that there was a problem, because when he test drove the car the symptom wouldn’t show up.

I insisted on a computer read-out, which at last revealed a fault in the brake system. The culprit was a semi-malfunctioning switch that controls the brake lock for the gear lever (the one that activates/deactivate the brake symbol light near the lever). The tech explained to me that this switch causes sudden power drops when faulty, which he explained as a “safety” feature by design. If this switch is completely kaputt, the car wouldn’t move at all.

Great, so I asked him how many mechanics knew about this problem in the shop and why the service advisor couldn’t figure it out. His answer was pretty shocking, only one out of 50 mechanics in this busy San Francisco shop went to factory training in Germany, the rest just get by being trained on the job…