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Hi there,

I have had Golf VR6's for some years now. I currently have a show car, leather dash, roof lining, fully smoothed body, audi a6 handles, tt filler flap, ceramic polished RS301 wheels with gold bolts....

Anyway, point is for a good few months now I am getting bored of having a car that is sat in my garage for 99% of the year. If it rains I can't take it out, the wheels will tarnish, being a MK3 it will probably rot at the site of water anyway !

I have decided it's time to move on and the path I have decided is something that has a V8 !

Having looked into various Merc's and M5's I keep finding myself coming back to the RS6.

I am about 90% sure now that the C5 Avant will be my next car.

I have been poking around here as a guest for some time now but only made the account today so that I can ask a few questions and start to get to know a little more about the car I will hopefully get in the coming months.

My only real issue with this car is the Gearbox issues it seems to be plagued with. Now I know they are flakey and need servicing regularly, but will it eventually need a rebuild anyway ? Regardless of servicing ? Does servicing only prolong the inevitable ?

This question leads me on to my next question regarding the "Plus" model. Does the extra power from this model put any extra strain on the box ? Are the plus models more prone to failure ?

I see really decent examples of the regular RS6 for anywhere between £10-12, but the plus models appear to be upwards of £15k and more. Whilst I understand they are special end of line editions, are they really worth this extra money ? From what I read, aside from a few cosmetic options they are pretty much the same as the regular car, but with a 30bhp hike in power and a lower ride height ? 20mm ? And since most of the suspension is removed for coilovers it seems the extra £3-4k buys only the cosmetic changes and 30bhp ? Which seems kind of steep.....

Anyway, I don't want to make the post to long and boring so I'll leave it about here and look forward to any replies and helpful information.

Mark.

FON
Welcome along Mark.

Seriously, everything you need to know is already in the C5 forum. Have a good read through for a few days.
Box is hit and miss, standard cars can last upto 40k miles or 100k miles, tuned cars the same.
Don't worry about the extra power in the Plus model doing any more damage the gearbox, see above.

Are you after a loon or avant? There are a few nice examples for sale on here already and imo at good prices!

good luck with the search.

I would just add (and you will read this in the forum as look though the archives) that fixing stuff on this car is expensive.

It' really helps if you are handy on the tools yourself as a lot of people buy one of these, 3 months later they have a 5k bill to get it running again. Cheap repairs tend to come in at £800.

Also, the way the turbos sit at the back of the engine means they have to come off to get the gearbox out, which in turn means the engine comes out. Even the starter motor change is technically an engine out job!

Also being turbocharged, there is a lot more hardware knocking around to support those (just look in a S6 engine bay to see the difference) and more things to go wrong. Saying that the engines themselves tend to be pretty reliable.

The higher value of the plus reflects more the relative rarity, not the extra power. As the cars appreciate, the plus will appreciate much more, as it is with all limited editions.

All slush boxes die. It's just a question of when. Some RS6s gets through them a bit quicker than other cars. I personally suspect it's down to manufacturing tolerances and a couple of weak parts in some boxes (which were inherently under-capacity anyway) causing premature failure. Lots of RS6 are still on the original box. Regular servicing helps because you're removing the abrasive swarf every time you do it.

Also calling Rule 1 on the VR6 show car.

FON.

IMVHO, the gearboxes as having about an 80K life before they need a rebuild. Perhaps more if you service regularly, but that's a decent ballpark for starters.
While doing the gearbox, it's worth going large and checking/replacing turbos, EGTs Lambdas etc.
And once it's done - it's done - another 80K of life in everything.

So a car that's had the the big rebuild done - is worth substantially more than one with 80-90K on it and everything starting to fall due.

The gearbox is actually decent enough - the truth is that ZF published a maximum torque figure for the box - and Audi put an engine on it that goes right up to the max spec.
Loads of cars use the same box - Other Audis, BMW, Jaguar, Landrover - it's just that old school auto boxes have a life, and that life is a bit shorter the more power you put through em.

FON.

Plus what Chinky said.

FON, also calling rule 1 on the vr6 . A mate of mine is into his show golf's and although not my thing you have to admire the amount of work that goes into them.

Thanks for all the input guys, really appreciate it.

I need to put the golf up for sale and get it gone to free up a bit of cash so I am not to stretched when making the purchase. I do think that I need to look for one with a gearbox rebuild done at some point fairly recently. Or buy a dirt cheap one and do everything, so I know it's done.

I have seen a few on eBay recently for as little as £6-7k, but I honestly think that sounds a little cheap ? Even given the fact that it might need everything doing to it engine wise ?

I would be looking to spend maybe £13-14 on the car itself, which would hopefully be enough to make sure most of the major work has been done. I will still have a couple of k on the side as a little slush fund. Spending more on the car would leave little for repairs should the worst happen and I don't think for this sort of car I should break the bank to buy it and be unable to repair it.

As for Rule 1 ? I take it that is to provide pics of the car ? If so I shall get some up later tonight.

Also another thing.... FON ?

Hi Mark
Welcome to the forum. I dont know if its of interest, but I am about to put mine up for sale. Been a hugely happy owner for just over a year, but new baby coming soon means I need something bigger and more boring. Will be gutted to see it go, have loved every minute of it. 2003 avant, 72k, great condition. FSH, if you're interested please pm me and ill send some pics. Not sure about price yet, was thinking in the £11-12k ish mark
Cheers
Jonno

Yes bud if you have a look in the off topic forum there is a list of unofficial rules which are definitely worth a read . Your correct rule 1 is pics or it didn't happen . FON is explained too . But it's meant in a warm light hearted way

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=94654


Oh as a side note I bought one that had 24k plus worth of recipes thinking mechanically wise it would to sorted and would only need the repaint and a few other small odds and sods .
Sadly 2 months after I bought it the damn thing sh*t a turbo seal . Engine and box out to get them off . I went down the hybrid rebuild route but still ended up dropping a very large chunk of change on it . But that said , do I regret buying the old bread van? Do I bo**x.

Thread read..... Now I understand FON !

Trying to upload pics of the golf but keep getting invalid replies, weather I upload here to the site or link via Photobucket....

I appear to have fixed it ! Here's some pics then......

Apart form the stretched tyres and the fiesta in the back ground on the first pic, I like!

bam_bam wrote:FON.

Plus what Chinky said.

^^^^^ why is your phone being racist again?