2005 A6 compared to older models

I'm thinking of getting a 2005 A6 with 37,000 miles, and I ask a
friend how he likes his A6 … he does, but said it's cost him a lot of
money to keep it running. Well his is a 1999 so my guess is the is a
big enough difference that I can't really compare the 2. Would most of
you agree with that?

Are there things I should be watching for with a 2005 A6, and if so,
what?

I'm not rich enough to purchase a car, and then have to put a ton of
bucks into it over the next year or so.

I put on about 25,000 miles a year (all highway), but don't care to be
somewhere and have the car breaking down. Yes I know this can happen
with just about any car, but is this car more likely then others or a
different year A6 to breakdown?

skip

On Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:59:18 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

>I'm thinking of getting a 2005 A6 with 37,000 miles, and I ask a
>friend how he likes his A6 … he does, but said it's cost him a lot of
>money to keep it running. Well his is a 1999 so my guess is the is a
>big enough difference that I can't really compare the 2. Would most of
>you agree with that?
>
>Are there things I should be watching for with a 2005 A6, and if so,
>what?
>
>I'm not rich enough to purchase a car, and then have to put a ton of
>bucks into it over the next year or so.
>
>I put on about 25,000 miles a year (all highway), but don't care to be
>somewhere and have the car breaking down. Yes I know this can happen
>with just about any car, but is this car more likely then others or a
>different year A6 to breakdown?
>
>skip
>

I have a 2000 A6 2.7T, Quattro, manual transmission, 107,000 miles. I
had a few things done under warrenty (mostly recalls), but very little
that I had to pay for - mostly routine maintenance - the major item
was timing belt (and associated) parts and, of course, tires. I still
have the original brake pads and disks. YMMV

Bruce

On Nov 20, 9:59*am, wrote:
> I'm thinking of getting a 2005 A6 with 37,000 miles, and I ask a
> friend how he likes his A6 … he does, but said it's cost him a lot of
> money to keep it running. Well his is a 1999 so my guess is the is a
> big enough difference that I can't really compare the 2. Would most of
> you agree with that?
>
> Are there things I should be watching for with a 2005 A6, and if so,
> what?
>
> I'm not rich enough to purchase a car, and then have to put a ton of
> bucks into it over the next year or so.
>
> I put on about 25,000 miles a year (all highway), but don't care to be
> somewhere and have the car breaking down. Yes I know this can happen
> with just about any car, but is this car more likely then others or a
> different year A6 to breakdown?
>
> skip
>
>

Well, these cars DO require more (expensive) routine maintenance than
an appliance like an Accord or Camry. They are more complex, as well,
with the quattro and a full boat of electronic assists and aids. So
you need to know that going in. Still, with 37lk on the clock, I
wouldn't think you'd be looking at any major service until the timing
belt is due.

Dan D
'04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
Central NJ USA

On Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:59:18 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

>I'm thinking of getting a 2005 A6 with 37,000 miles, and I ask a
>friend how he likes his A6 … he does, but said it's cost him a lot of
>money to keep it running. Well his is a 1999 so my guess is the is a
>big enough difference that I can't really compare the 2. Would most of
>you agree with that?

I own a 1999 A6 (2.5 Diesel) manual since new. 125.000 miles. In these
almost ten years I had the routine maintenance all done by Audi.

Long Life Service is due every 22.000 miles. No oil changes in between
(Engine's been visually inspected also internally and everything is
fine). No blue smoke, nothing. That's maintenance roughly every 1,5 to
2 years.

Price of that routine maintenance is around $300 excl. oil.

Apart from that routine maintenance, what else happened:

- 2 x front suspension, the suspension arms both sides. That's a
weakness
- A set of front brake pads discs roughly every 25.000 miles. Discs
every 50.000
- Rear brake pads ~every 50.000 miles. Discs I have only replaced once
so far.Brake parts and pads are fairly cheap at second source
suppliers. Not worth visiting Audi for those.
- I'm still on the first clutch by the way (manual).
- Belt once at 75.000 miles. That's around $1000 including waterpump
here. Next belt is due at 150.000
- One Fuel injection main pump. That was the only hefty thing with
around $3000 at Audi. That happened around 100kmiles

Then some things which I did because I felt them to be prudent:

- exchanged the flexible brake lines once (they all get soft and
spongy over time)
- This spring it got a set of new shocks.. new car now *s*

The car's got no rust, looks nice. Superb seats still (cloth, not
leather.. Leather looks bad after 10 years IMO). Good ride. still
quiet.

I thought about buying something new, but really, whatever I buy, the
pure financing cost is more than the maintenance per year. :-)

Long post..Sorry ;-)

Regards

Wolfgang

How much will you budget per year for repairs?
$2500 per year (only $0.10 per mile) might be good to set as a budget!
Some years maybe more will be spent, but probably most years less!
At least you will be driving something that you want to drive! ;-)

Does anyone have a more accurate budget?
Regular maintenance should be the key to reducing larger problems. ;-)

JMHO
--
later,
(One out of many daves)
1997 Red A4 1.8tq auto

> wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of getting a 2005 A6 with 37,000 miles, and I ask a
friend how he likes his A6 … he does, but said it's cost him a lot of
money to keep it running. Well his is a 1999 so my guess is the is a
big enough difference that I can't really compare the 2. Would most of
you agree with that?

Are there things I should be watching for with a 2005 A6, and if so,
what?

I'm not rich enough to purchase a car, and then have to put a ton of
bucks into it over the next year or so.

I put on about 25,000 miles a year (all highway), but don't care to be
somewhere and have the car breaking down. Yes I know this can happen
with just about any car, but is this car more likely then others or a
different year A6 to breakdown?

skip