# A6 Avant



## thefishchris (Jan 29, 2013)

Hey guys im from the mk4 VW section, so I don't know much about Audi's (well their reliability).
I'm looking for something new that I can use as a daily that will go above 60 without rattling and that certainly isn't my mk4 Golf 2.0.

http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/cto/4174999474.html

I'm curious if you think I could be getting a decent deal on this, I havent gone to see the car or anything yet. I just emailed the guy asking for some more details on what could be wrong with it. Will this car go for much more than 200,000 miles? Or is it not even worth my time investigating?

Thanks a lot guys!


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## markcm (Jun 19, 2009)

I have a 1999 A6 avant with 220k and it runs strong and rides great. I love this care but I've done a lot of work myself saving thousands of $$$. At 200K we took to massive road trips in it, both over 2000 miles each and didn't miss a beat.

In my opinion, to own an audi of this generation you pretty much have to be able and willing to work on it your self. If you can, they "can be" amazing. If you cannot, then there is a "good chance" the maintenance will force you to sell it. I have several friends who had early 2000 All-roads, both looked mint condition and were very nice but for them, they didn't do any maintenance themselves and once a month they had something happen that cost them $500-1500 so they both sold them.

Cam tensioner seals are common to leak, the dealer will get you for about $1000 to replace these $3 seals. It's a bear of a job for a novice too. Control arms go out but they are actually pretty easy to change if your mechanical.

At high mileage you might look at things like the exhaust, the flex pipes in the exhaust. I just put new Cat's in ours for less than $250 from "mr converter", the lowest hack quote I got from a shop was $800 plus tax... CV joints or boots may be going bad, I buy Cardone A axles for about $60 each from Rock Auto and put them in my self, big savings! Brakes and rotors are simple to do and cheap for the parts from Rock auto or Arizona Autohaus (both amazing stores with quality parts and fantastic service and prices) but a shop will ding you big for a "break job".

Some cars happen to just be more reliable than others, no matter what the make, model, or year so my suggestions are only based on my personal experience although I've owned this car for 10 years and also had a 99 A4 2.8 which was exaclty the same; very good and reliable with the exception of Cam Tensioner seals and a few onsie twosie things. I now have a 2002 and a 2004 A4 avant 1.8t, I prefer the 1.8t as it's easier to work on and gets better fuel economy. I still have the 99 A6 avant too.


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