# Questions about A6 before I buy one...



## MillerAPF92Fox (Feb 24, 2014)

I may have the opportunity to buy an Audi A6, but being unfamiliar with Audis, I thought it would be wise to ask a group of owners...
First, the current owner THINKS the car is a 1999 Avant Quattro, and thinks it has the 2.8l na engine. We only KNOW it's a wagon and has the automatic transmission. More info will be forthcoming as I gather it.
My questions would be - what kinds of things particular to the make and model should I look out for? Are there any dealbreaker issues I need to be aware of? And, from a personal preference standpoint, how difficult is it to swap out the automatic transmission for one of the manuals? I'm not really a 4-door wagon kind of guy (a VW Fox wagon would be great!), but this car might still make an interesting toy, if it's not going to be too big a PITA to own...
Any/all advice and input is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance - Chris


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## wuffy (Sep 7, 2015)

MillerAPF92Fox said:


> I may have the opportunity to buy an Audi A6, but being unfamiliar with Audis, I thought it would be wise to ask a group of owners...
> First, the current owner THINKS the car is a 1999 Avant Quattro, and thinks it has the 2.8l na engine. We only KNOW it's a wagon and has the automatic transmission. More info will be forthcoming as I gather it.
> My questions would be - what kinds of things particular to the make and model should I look out for? Are there any dealbreaker issues I need to be aware of? And, from a personal preference standpoint, how difficult is it to swap out the automatic transmission for one of the manuals? I'm not really a 4-door wagon kind of guy (a VW Fox wagon would be great!), but this car might still make an interesting toy, if it's not going to be too big a PITA to own...
> Any/all advice and input is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance - Chris


It's probably too late for a reply but hope this helps anyone else ... we have a 2004 2.7t with 156K miles.... I saw your comment about the Fox wagon 1.8L ... one of the best cars I ever owned - I drove it into the ground (at least I think I broke a valve spring or two by over-revving it) with 84 GTI rims on it, and an audi 80 exhaust donut upgrade - it was just a fun little car that kept up with many 2.0L cars.

A lot depends on mileage with an A6...

The older 2.8 16V engines were pretty bullet proof, non-interferance engines. The newer ones like yours would have the 5V per cylinder design which breath better, but require timing belt replacements on a regular schedule since they have higher compression than the older 2.8s and thus, they are interference engines (no different than most other V6 OHC vehicles available in the late 90s). 
Audi automatic transmissions are made by ZF ... usually fairly reliable units, unless the car has had a lot of city driving. It's good to make sure the owner had had transmission serviced at least with every timing belt changed or more regularly if it was a city car. Not sure if yours is a FWD unit, but the AWD units have fluid that is supposed to be sealed for life ... ummmmm, yah, no. The older FWD units had standard ATF units - not sure about yours.
Some pesky electrical faults are also in your future ... some things you can just live with, others can be a bear. Dash cluster digital display illumination is usually non-existent on a 99 ... door locks and immobilizer issues can arise. Power sun-roof switches can become unreliable
Exhaust emissions (air pump / kombi valves) where equipped, catalytic converters, O2 Sensors can all become costly maintenance nightmare(err "expenses") ... but that's probably the same even if you have a Camry V6 

I once had a VW Cabrio converted from an automatic to a manual (with a 256K miles, it still runs well) At this age though, the cost of having that done would probably be cost prohibitive - might as well just find a car with a manual. That said, my buddy just swapped a 6 speed into his RS6, so it's certainly possible - just not entirely free from headaches.


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