I have a 2001 A6 2.7T with 163,000 miles on it and I was wondering what the life expectancy for these turbos are? When I went to the mechanic one of the sidenotes they left me was that the turbos had large leaks in them.

 

I'm at 214k with original turbos and I ask myself that question every few months. The car was chipped at 85k and while I don't pound on it, I have been known to accelerate hard (just not often). My indie shop has told me one of the turbos has been leaking for about 50k miles now, so a leak in and of itself may not be fatal. Your best bet is to make sure the oil is changed with full syn every 8-10k. I've seen posters complain their turbos failed at low (<100k) miles and I have see quite a few 2.7T owners post that they have over 200k, like me. You might want to restart the post "at what mileage did your factory turbos fail" and poll some answers.