I just purchased w/ 81,000 and am interested in any qwerks I should keep an out for. 1 Prior owner with no mechanical repairs according to Carfax. Any and all suggestions and comments about the engine reliability/issues, electrical, suspension ect. is GREATLY appreciated!

 

At that mileage without any previous maintenance, get ready to dump a lot of money into it right off the bat to "catch up" with recommended service.

The biggest one being the timing belt, along with everything else associate with the job. All in on the 4.2, look to spend around 1400 to 2000 at a dealer for this job. This is an important maintenance task as the timing belt keeps the timing in order and the vales from hitting the pistons and vice versa. Also at the same time of doing the timing belt, inspection of the valve cover gaskets and cam chain tensioner gaskets should be done. These are known to leak on the 4.2 (Read: Almost any Audi engine) and are best to change while doing the timing belt replacement since many of the tasks to do both are the same. Look to spend another 800 to 1000 to have the valve cover gaskets done.

Some suspension components might be on their way out at 80,000 miles. Lower control arm bushings usually start to show wear around 70,000 or so, but these are generally replaced on demand / when they begin to wear out.

 

I appreciate the input you provided but my 07 A6 4.2 has a timing chain not belt. this was something I reviewed carefully prior to purchase based upon forum comments. the valve gaskets is something I will take a look at in the near future. thank you for your input it was appreciated.