Considering 07 S6 - what do I need to know?

After I heard the exhaust note on a Milltek S6, I fell in love. Good god. Yes, there are more economical vehicles with similar power and torque. But no V10.

I’ve read the info dump and read up on the engine (engine itself seems quite reliable). I’m just curious about all the little things - like the intake manifold, the PITA-to-reach-O2 sensors, etc. And does anyone bother with an aftermarket warranty in case SHTF? How much do you budget for unexpected repairs? All the basic maintenance - oil changes, brake jobs, etc. - I can do myself (or with the help of my mechanically skilled brother who is essentially an A4 master tech at this point with all the work he’s done). I might even be able to convince him to help me with a carbon cleaning :slight_smile:

A guy I know has a well-kept, 07 with 62k miles on it and would be selling it for a steal of a price that is all too tempting! I’m at the point in life where 4 doors makes more sense than 2, I’d be downsizing from a car and motorcycle to just 1 car, and owning this car would be just a freaking dream!

BTW - this place is by far the best resource I’ve found for info on S6s. Great work! :thumbsup:

Welcome! I know there’s a lot of threads to weed through, but nearly all of the threads in this forum pertain to the C6 S6 so you should definitely spend some time browsing. A new S6 owner recently posted a thread asking what all he needs to know, and his thread is full of lots of info, check it out: http://audirevolution.net/forum/index.php?topic=4199.0

I have the Milltek exhaust myself, and while it does sound sexy, it does nothing for performance, despite the nice sound. Look into selling it and getting the JHM exhaust. It isn’t on their website yet, but they can sell you one if you contact them directly. Other than that, after you’ve read that thread let us know what other questions you have!

Oh, and one last thing… I LOVE LOVE LOVE my S6. It’s truly my dream car. Passes trucks on snowy highways, gets my kid to school, sounds like a lamborghini, can lay waste to a mustang, all in the comfort of a german luxury sedan ;D I’d buy another one in a heartbeat.

Also, I did not bother with an aftermarket warranty. Many do, but I’m glad I didn’t. It would have been a waste of $5k. The warranty offered was only for 20k miles, and after 20k miles my car had needed less than $1k in repairs, half of which wouldn’t have even been covered. But at least one other S6 owner got more than his money back on the warranty, when it turned out his cylinder walls were scored and he needed a replacement motor… so that’s really a personal decision, whether you want to take the gamble or not. Also keep in mind that aftermarket warranties don’t cover everything, and it’s almost always a battle to get them to pay for anything. Since you know the current owner of the car, I’d highly recommend taking it to a shop and, at the very least, pull the valve covers and intake manifold to see what’s going on. These blocks are VERY durable, so as long as it’s in good shape, you probably don’t need a warranty.

If I had to take a wild (VERY wild) guess at how much annual maintenance should cost, I would guess $2k or so. Obviously this varies a lot. I just spent WAY more than that on maintenance on my car, but it also probably had very little (if any) maintenance done in the previous 5 years. Just make sure you stay on top of it, and you should never end up with a maintenance bill that you can’t handle. Let it get out of control and it can start to add up quick, ask me how I know :-\

Oil change is no different than any other car, it just costs $120 instead of $20 ;D These beasts take almost 12qts of expensive synthetic oil. JHM sells oil change kits with 10qts plus a filter for good prices, but you still need to come up with like 1.6 more quarts since for some reason they don’t sell a 12 quart kit. On the plus side, you should be good for 5-8k miles between changes, just keep an eye on consumption and top it off between changes if you need to.

Brake job, as far as I know, is also the same as any other 4-wheel-discs car, except that the rear brakes have to be opened through the ECU, so either a good mechanic has to do it, or you can buy a Rosstech VAG-COM and do it yourself. You should have one of those anyways, for an infinite number of other reasons. Brake parts don’t cost a fortune, unless you want upgrades. JHM brake discs aren’t cheap, but they reduce the rotational mass by quite a lot, so it may be worth it to you if you ever need new discs.

While my car has almost every S6 upgrade you can do, it’s all been done over the course of the last 2 months and I haven’t had a chance to try any of them firsthand yet. Keep an eye on my JHM thread and CountVohn’s V10 performance thread.

wow thanks for all of the info c.scott! looks like i have some reading up to do :slight_smile:

You’re welcome! It’s worthwhile, and fun reading! There are a lot of smart guys in here, all of which are very passionate about the V10. I’m still in the learning process myself, I’m an acoustical engineer not a mechanic, so these guys have been teaching me a ton. Enjoy the forums, and feel free to ask anything, there are no stupid questions here.

Scott already gave you a great run down on everything.

Maybe to just back up what he said and to add a few more bits.

If your gettting a friends car make sure to get a compression test that will let you know a ton

Check the intake manifold thats a 2k bill right there if the intake is bad.

carbon clean is going to be something you want to do the second you get the car. Carbon left unchecked will cost you more that just time. Once carbon gets into the injectors your going to have a costly bill

like scott said these cars are very well built and very relyable but the only stay that way if you keep ontop of the maintantence

The average maintantence cost is hard to say as really the car only needs a few regular things like oil general fluids and a carbon inspection every few years.

The big cost comes from second or third ownership where the last owners didnt replace the plugs or replace the PCV system oil seperator or fuel filter. That alone with no carbon clean its going to cost you all of those things at once. plus possibly more

The good news is in the last few years as scott mentioned there has been a top ratted shop (JHM) that has gotten involved with these cars. JHM has a BIG rep for getting involved and making better more cost effective solutions for platforms. When I say better I mean better than OEM for less…

So to answer your question more directly. You will know if you need a warranty after you get the car inspected. And PLEASE remember this comunity here is all about eachother so if you get an inspection post up what you find here. Nobody here has an interest in now being honest.

As scott said. The money you spend on the warranty might be better spent on getting all the maintenance stuff done. After the big chunk of money is spent on things like control arms, spark plugs, motor mounts, other mounts, bushings, acc belt and tensionor, fluids, gaskets and other filters, brakes, carbon clean with JHM intake spacers and other bits here and there. Its a enjoy and drive car. They really are not maintenance whore cars once you get everything updated.

i checked into what an aftermarket warranty would cost, and you could probably overhaul the entire car for as much as these places are asking :o

so far it just seems like the biggest things are keeping intake temps down (JHM spacers) to keep things cool and then keeping the valves and injectors free of carbon by routinely cleaning. and since JHM makes a cleaning kit, that makes life a lot easier as long as you have the time (rather than paying ~1k to have a dealership do it)

Yep, if it were me, I’d just do what I can to make sure the block is in good shape, and if it is, just skip the warranty and use that money for overdue maintenance + reliability upgrades (jhm tune, intake spacers, etc). I don’t really want to exactly suggest that to you, because if your motor blows you’ll blame me first ;D Just saying the direction I’d probably choose if it we me in your position, but there’s not really a wrong answer.

Again to back up what scott said. Get a good compression test and have the car looked over before you get it. After that take and see what records of maintantence were done and when it doubt change it out. So if you dont know the last time the fuel filter was done change it out same with the plugs the coil packs and the coolant. It also isnt a bad idea to get your injectors cleaned or at least tested.