Audi A6 Avant 1.8T > Reviews (4)

**Edited version with much more detail,hope this is more helpful thanks**

I never thought I would have to say anything bad about a quality built car like this Audi,but here goes please read on and learn from my mistake!!!.

True story,believe it or not and I am sure many will agree with me on this one as I found out later surfing the Web that this is a common problem that Audi would like not to admit to.I bought one of these as a 2nd work horse car,it was a 1.8i Turbo powered petrol version 1999 V reg car with business miles of around 100,000 miles.It was a good looking car,popular silver colour with grey cloth interior all in very nice order.I felt safe that it should be a reliable car based on my own experience with Audis I have owned in the past, even with this mileage,it is an Audi after all and its a quality brand so should be good for many more miles.

The car was about 5 years old at the time I bought it and looked immaculate.It had had 2 or 3 owners only and good service history,loads of money recently spent on it,included new tyres,clutch and water pump, so for £3K it seemed to be a bargain basement buy.I thought its worth running for a year and hopefully would not lose much in depreciation,a nice looking,safe well equipped car for the money.My wife loves Audi,she owned a 200 Quattro that was a real pleasure to own, so she used this A6 just as much as me to ferry the kids around on the school run.

It had drivers and passenger airbag,ABS brakes,Audi alloy wheels,good sound system radio/CD player,electric windows,airconditioning but no sun roof.
Only much later did I discover that there have been big problems long term with this particular 1.8T model that shares the same engine as the VW Passat.Unfortunately the Audi service intervals of 10,000 miles are not adequate for such a high performance turbo charged engine.Audi knew this but still did not change to a safe 6000 mile service interval or warn people about a potential major sludge build up in the oil sump.The turbo runs very hot,shredding/breaking down the oil over time and this sludge will damage the oil pump.If the oil pump fails it will end up causing catastrophic engine failure due to oil starvation.

This catastrophe happened to me only two weeks after a main dealer Audi service! I had owned the car for over a year,now @ 120,000 miles on the clock.I had paid out almost £1000 to Audi for a oil/fluids service and replacement ECU for the ABS system,that was bad enough alone,an expensive dealer only fix.I even had to return the car as the brake fluid was leaking,they admitted fault and put it right,OK.

The car two weeks later started to have the red engine oil warning light come on,so I checked the fluid,seemed ok.It then started running a little rough,but no overheating,so I decided to pull over for a rest at a pub,had a drink (Coke a cola!) and set off again.Ran ok for a few miles but sounded rough to me.Stupidly I thought I could get it home a few miles away but no and it ground to a halt after gradually losing power.

Roadside recovery guy was interesting,he said he has had no end of Audi A6 cars on the back of his wagon,not just this model either,even the newest models.I had owned the original A6,the basicly facelifted/revised Audi 100 estate,that was a great car I owned it for 5 years and covered 150,000 miles without missing a beat,it was the standard 2 litre 8V model.My father bought it off me and I can't believe it has covered 250,000 miles in it,still going today! So my view of Audis was very favourable up to this point,shame.

My car was checked over locally by a reliable independant garage and he recommended get a used/reconditioned engine replacement or scrap it.Unfortunately the damage was so bad he just could not repair it reasonably and even if he tried there was no guarentee it would work.

Finally I sold it for parts to a dealer as it was not economically viable spending another £1500 on such an old car.That will teach me not to be so mean and pay more for a younger car with much lower miles like I usually do!!
What a shame,as it was a good looking car,nice to drive,reasonable performance with 160 BHP but had a badly flawed engine and was very expensive to run.Economy was never great either at mid to high 20s mpg,so stay well clear and go for a non turbo standard 2.0 litre or try a diesel model!The 1.9 Tdi and 2.5Tdi are the best for economy and hold their value well too.

Thanks for reading my review and I hope you found it interesting.If this has been useful to you and you take time to leave Your rating it will be appreciated and hope you will take a look at my other reviews sometime.I also leave reviews on the DooYoo website about this and other items,many thanks!