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Despite the fact that I haven`t had any major malfuntions (touch wood!!) with my RS6 I`m starting to wonder what happened to Audi reliability.
The more you read this section the more disturbing the fact becomes that there are so many "common" failures with the RS6.
Is it the case that Audi produced this ridiculously quick car but to keep it from being priced in the realms of 911 turbo territory they simply skimped with the development and also with the quality of some of the major components??
Gearbox - common failure
DRC - Common failure
Secondary air pump - common failure
Intercoolers - common failure
The list goes on and on and actually makes one quite paranoid about ownership.
Surely regardless of the performance of a particular model it should be as reliable as the base version??

Nah... totally disagree... Its a performance car, its to be expected that there are potential issues with such a beast now being 7 years old and 90,000 miles on the clock. DRC, yes, but can be replaced for about a grand, which is not far off the cost of a load of tyres

911s are not without their heart stoppingly expensive maintenance options either.

If a 911 996 twin turbo weighed as much as an RS6 then it would be intersting to know how the PASM, and tiptronic on one would last on the miles our cars do.

Most Porsches do 6000 miles per annum, so ours are more used, if not more abused as the extra weight etc bursts our components more.

I think on reflection (even though it's annoying to pay the cost) the RS6 running costs are good for the performance and practicallity mix, and I remembered the bill for new suspension and routine servicing of my last 993 being a lot more than the RS.

Doug at MRC told me that out of 10 RS6`s he does health checks on, 8-9 will have leaking intercoolers. Now my car had only done 47K when I was told this so I dont think its a mileage issue.

Yeah, I'm a bit paranoid as well, but how many "my car is running fine and has been for 2 years now" topics have you seen?

I think a lot of people post only when they get a problem and need advice so you get the impression that all the cars are terribly unreliable. I'm pretty sure it'd be the same thing on a ford focus ST forum.

That said, the IC thing is annoying. They're hardly a recent invention and the only reason for leaking is poor design / manufacturing. Not cheap either.

I don't think there's any denying that the DRC is anything other than total <beep>. Shame on you, Audi. But Bilstein still know how to make suspension at least.

I have never had such an unreliable car. In the 3 years of ownership it has had the suspension replaced twice, the cam belts, part of wiring loom, brake discs, four new tyres, and has had satnav, warning lights and countless other small things fixed.

as much as I love Audi's, I havent found them the most reliable cars and have found them costly to repair. . . though iv not yet had the experience of another manufacuter to compare against

Christ - thanks lads; I can't wait to pick up my Avant this weekend now! Maybe i'll just park it at MRC / Unit 20 and get my wages transferred into their bank account on a monthly basis?

hehe. It's not that bad. I've had mine since the beginning of the year and other than DRC and CV boots, nothing to complain about...

(touch wood... a lot)

I had a lot more trouble with my M3. For info, BMW stealers are no better than Audi one.

Ive had mine 3 years now and apart from the DRC failing countless times....the only thing that needed changing is a brake light switch, which was about £8 from euro.

(im touching wood while writing this )

Obvioulsy there is servicing costs but you expect that anyways........ohhhh and FUEL !!!

wraffers wrote:Christ - thanks lads; I can't wait to pick up my Avant this weekend now! Maybe i'll just park it at MRC / Unit 20 and get my wages transferred into their bank account on a monthly basis?

Don't worry Paul--yours has been sorted by Grizz!

Don't worry Paul--yours has been sorted by Grizz![quote]

Ha, hello Tim - I'll be up for it soon, scouts honour. Don't go driving it like you've stole it now - you bend it , you mend it whilst it's yours. lol!!