I am checking into a private sale on the last generation Audi A6 4.2 near my house, but I am wondering how is the quality on the Audi cars. I like Audi, but I heard that they have had problems. Can anyone share with me what kind of problems they have experienced? Was it costly? Will I be fixing left and right if I were to buy an Audi?

Thanks!!!!


DC

 

do a search on jd powers , they give good reliability ratings.

 

Wow this is why I came here. We have an 05 A6 4.2L and recently had her in for a bevy of repairs/fixes. Here is what we took her in for:
1. Adaptive lighting failure code being thrown every day. We had her in for this once before, they said there is nothing wrong, we cleared the code. Next day came back on immediately. They "repaired the drivers side headlight"

2. Fog light has condensation in it, they said it's "normal"...was coming here to check out if they should have resealed it which is what I would think they would have done.

3. MMI: First I noticed the mute/on/off button would work intermitentaly. Then the whole thing cut off one day and we could not get it back on for three days. They replaced the button. It works.

4. Sunroof would not close all the way sometimes. Had to re-open it and then click by click w/ the wheel close it, waiting between clicks till it moved all the way.

5. Hood rubbing up by the headlight. They adjusted the hood "foot" so it wouldn't rub anymore.

Honestly, for as much as we are paying for the car, we should not have the problems. At least they covered it under warranty.

 

let me clarify we LOVE the car! Would only trade it in on an A8L LOL...but honestly we do love it, it has mad power and handles like a dream!!! Them fixing it made us happy.....even paid for a rental car for us on their dime!

 

I hear good performances, but with costly repairs. I only fear to buy this A6 4.2 for about $16000 and end up spending more just to repair it or mantain it to a working condition.
I have yet to find out what year this A6 is. It looks like an early 2000 A6.
I got to call the owner to find out more about this car and do a test drive.

 

By the way,

That's a great looking 350Z. It is on the top of my list, too.

 

Have 2005 A6 4.2 and this is what I can say about it. Make no mistake - Audi is not as reliable as Toyota or Honda, but it is by far an 'strong above average' in terms of quality. Being on these forums for a while I noticed that some ppl have pretty bad problems with the car, but most do just fine without a single trip to dealership. From what I see - every car has 'carma', and if you are buying a used one - you are shooting at a better chance of having a car with 'good carma' as if it survived till now, most probably it will be ok for quite some time.

If you are familiar with MTBF curve (mean time between failures) it is the steepest in the beginning (i.e. when car is new) and at the end (i.e. when it becomes so old it just starts falling apart). For 2-3 year old car - if it is still running, no noise, everything is working - chances are you are going to be a happy owner (well, that doesn't free you from being 'extra ****' when you test drive it).

Another thing I noticed, that 2006 electronics and software is WAY better that those of '05 models - looks like Audi fixed many issues found in '05 models (we all know how bad version 1.0 of any software is :-)))

As to the problems that I had:

- rain sensor / daylight sensor failure (seems like a standard failure, always comes up and goes away on its own - dealer wasn't able to fix it - so I am just living with it, comes 'away' after MMI soft reset)
- some squeaking here and there (got used to it - there are some cars though that are rattle free
- condesation in left rear stop light - have to see dealer on that one yet...
- rear trunk pops up by itself sometimes :-)

MMI is fine, advanced key is fine, engine is fine - happy camper otherwise. And with 4.2 this is what I like - if you are driving 90mph and some really rude dude passes you at 100mph, you can always press on gas and leave him in the dust at 120mph. This freaking V8 is UNBELEIVABLE!

Cheers,
Admiral

 

One addition to the speaker before me - I wouldn't trade 05-06 A6 4.2 for A8L for the following reasons:

- spacewise 05 A6 4.2 is a big roomy car with huge trunk
- I like consistent seamless dashboard design MUCH more than toy-ish lcd screen pop-up feature in A8
- you have 4.2 V8 engine as in A8, but you have lighter and smaller car - runs / handles better and better performance

I choose A6 over anything els any day. My 2 cents...

 

Seems like many have experienced light condensation.
rear trunk pops up by itself sometimes sounds dangerous and things can be stolen from there, too.
The owner says he mantains his car well, the reason he is selling the car is due to an arrival of a second child, and they bought a mini van to replace the Audi.
It is a 2000 A6 4.2 with sports package. $16500 sounds like a good deal.
But no extended warranty. I can Buy it from a third party for $2000 which will cover the car to 100,000 miles. The car is already at 75000 miles.
If my stocks do well, I might get the car.

 

Sorry, I didn't notice it is about 2000 model. But the statements holds - Audi is not the most reliable car. Somebody on this forum said (about later model though) "You should buy extended warranty, whatever it costs...". There is some truth in these words, but you have to decide for yourself - how willing you are to deal with issues that will come up.

Story from my own life: bought a chrysler lhs 95yr 7 years back with 94k on it. All friends of mine bought mitsubishi's and told me that I will be a 'platinum member' in the car repair shop down the street... 2 mitsubishi's transmissions and 6 years later they bought hondas, and I am still driving my chys lhs from time to time (aka when I need to park in The Bronx :-) with 170k and original transmission on it! My biggest repair on it was 2k gran when my wife drove it into the back of a new beautifu acura tl...

In other words - life is beautiful man! Make sure you like the car, there are no strange sounds, its clean, its carfax is clean and there is no visible damage... Don't want a hassle and / or don't have a good mechanic who is also your best friend - buy warranty, ready for some hands-on repairs, **** carshop negotiations and googling audi forums during work hours - don't buy warranty!

May the Force be with you!