Audi people: what do you know about 99-01 A6s?

[mrbigstuff]

I'm looking at some A6s that are in that year range and in price from about $3600-6500. I'm looking specifically at wagons, but I'm interested in hearing concerns about electrical gremlins, suspension and steering maintenance, and any other advice you care to impart on these models. tx.

[the_poochies]

I've learned to judge cars based on the number of old ones I see on the road. I live around the corner from an Audi dealer and I don't think I've seen any of the older A4s or A6s on the road.

I owned an Audi 100 wagon that was 7 years old. It was the predecessor of the A6. It was a beautiful car and fun to drive, but it was in the shop every two weeks and insanely expensive to fix.

[Markintosh]

Avoid the A6's due to premature auto tranny failures. That's why A6 wagons are cheap and plentiful - thay all have the autostick.

If you're set on an Audi - I would instead consider the non-turbo Avant Wagon (a4) of the same years...we were looking at 98-99's with a 2.8L and 5 speed trannies. Fantastic in the snow and nice to drive, pretty good on gas. My son ended up buying a 93 S4 instead...and already got a speeding ticket.

I'll be considering the older Avant wagons when we wear out our Matrix.

[guod]

My Boss used to pray that his A4 (not a wagon) would get hit by lightning.

electrical gremlins
transmission gremlins
engine gremlins

[mrbigstuff]

Well, i could deal with a 5 speed and an older car if they are reliable. Which years are considered better?

[SteveO]

Good friend has an early 00's A6. Loves it but said he WON'T get another Audi...I gasped why not and he proceeded to detail that it has cost him dearly in all kinds of crazy repair bills. He said almost from the month it was out of warranty, it started having gremlins of all kinds. Now he's got about 90-100k on it and it's still giving him trouble.

I was extremely disappointed to hear this as I am a huge Audi fan. I love the A3 and A5 models and seriously shopped both the A4 and TT in '99-'00. I am hoping to read some good [mechanical] A3 reviews sometime in the next few years!

There was another Audi thread I think sometime in the past year here. You may want to STF and read it, I do believe that unfortunately, the same conclusions were given and by more than just a few people. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I'm sure you can tell I'm as disappointed about this as anyone.

[mrbigstuff]

SteveO, I may have been that person that asked another Audi question. I guess now that I have asked two and the responses have been rather negative, I may look elsewhere. the problem, as I see it, though, is the number of Audi owners. They are few, and if there are bad stories to be told, it will probably be those that bubble to the surface.

(I asked about an AllRoad, I believe, which I really covet but has some issues, apparently)

[SteveO]

mrbigstuff...aye, you may also want to check dedicated forums like those on edmunds and maybe google for some Audi forums. Of course you'll likely want to examine all comments very closely for inherent owner bias (as exists on any forum, even a Mac forum, ha) but perhaps some of these issues were corrected in later revisions.