Selling my modified 2003 C5 RS6 - Project car for someone, hopefully
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2023 6:06 pm
14/11/24 - PROVISIONALLY SOLD
09/11/2024 - One whole person has made the trip over to see her. Nice guy, but I don't think was fully prepared for what would be involved if going all out on the rebuild. Also, wanting to tow and getting a decent MPG, this isn't the right car
. Guys, I don't want to see her sit through another winter on my driveway and it is a pain to get the dogwagon out of the driveway every day, she needs to move on.
Still haven't advertised her anywhere else except for here, No time or desire for random tyre kickers via Autotrader etc. just yet.
If that means as a parts car then so be it, we need to break the sentimental attachment. I have NOT phoned the breaker as I still don't like the fact that they lowball one single price regardless of how much the particular parts on the car are worth. With that said, I have removed some of the extra parts off the list that I was including and I will let her go for the price that the Breakers seem to offer, as she sits, £4000. I don't really want to waffle tons over the phone about the car like I have done with so many no-shows really if I can help it now, if you want her, come and get her, job done
***28/08/2024 - Still haven't advertised her anywhere except for here, dropped a smidge off the price too. I now have an RS E-Tron GT as well as the C8 RS6 on the driveway, need to actually say goodbye to the old girl now and get back space!***
Hi guys
Sadly, the time has come for me to sell my modified C5 RS6. TL;DR, she is a project car, she is not in drive-away condition! She is fairly well known on here, I have owned her since late 2011 and she is the only car that we have held on to for over a decade! I am located in Mytchett, Surrey.
Spec -
2003 RS6 Avant in pearlescent ebony black
92067 Miles
MRC Stage 2 Remap (555PS/832Nm)
Milltek Non-Resonated Exhaust System
Milltek 100-Cell High-Flow Catalytic Convertors
Wagner Intercoolers with Carbon Fibre Shrouds
ITG Panel Filters
Bilstein PSS9 Adjustable Suspension
H&R Anti-Roll Bars
OZ Superturismo LM Alloys
Custom-Made (BG Developments) C6 direct-fit (no spacers) front discs & C6 6-Pot Front Calipers, Brembo pads all round
Later-gen RNS-E Head Unit with HD screen, Bluetooth/Phone prep & AMI Interface, coded in by NHN (well-known retrofitter and great guy!)
In.Pro Rear Light Clusters (OSR needs taking off, cleaning and re-sealing, developed a leak while sitting on the drive)
55W HID Xenon upgrade (MOT-legal with headlight washers)
Various other little mods
Assorted guff about my adventures with the old girl are on this thread, with various shortcuts on that particular post to bits of work that were done to her - http://forum.rs246.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 90#p499709
The gearbox (suspected Torque Convertor failure) finally started dying properly in late 2019, straight after having one of many gearbox oil services carried out during my ownership. Prior to that, I'd had the fairly occasional thunk on kickdown indicating that something wasn't perfect, but the gearbox kept on going happily 99.x% of the time. By this time I was very unwell with long-term health issues and working myself to death to boot. Covid then came along, we pootled around in her a bit and then made the decision to lay her up on the driveway, with the intention to get everything necessary done to her as we couldn't part with the old girl.
I periodically turned the engine over (with fuse 29 removed to just circulate oil mostly, occasionally fully running the engine) and moved her a few feet forwards/backwards.
Lots more happened in life, I got a lot sicker, we still didn't have the heart to sell her (came close!), then life got better over the summer and I looked into getting her fixed up finally. Unfortunately, my preferred specialist bowed out of the running and with my job now ramping back up to insanity levels, I have made the sad call to sell her as I just don't have the time spare in life to put in without it affecting my career. I went a bit mad and bought a 2023 RS6, turns up tomorrow.
The main bad points that I can think of currently, outside of what has already been mentioned -
1. Sitting on the drive for all that time has taken its toll. At some point earlier this year a coolant leak developed somewhere within the 'V' of the engine, rendering her immobile
.
2. The NS front wing, which I believe was resprayed by the previous owner, started developing lacquer/paint failure while sitting on the drive too, I have taken a good few photos of it, but it isn't pretty! That panel will need a respray.
3. The adhesive in the rear Alcantara headlining, like with sooooooo many C5 avants, has decided to separate, I took the best pic I could and it is included in the folder link below.
4. Playing the illness card, not the stupidity one, but I decided to put a big desiccant bag into the car just to make sure that things stayed fresh in there just in case. In a genius move, I hung it from the NEW replacement, self-dimming rearview mirror and over time, it pulled the mirror off the windscreen...... The cables/connector appear to be fine on both ends, but the mirror mount will need to be re-adhered to the windscreen.....
5. the NS front headlight could do with a polish.
The details of my specialist's report in September 23, where I had the car flatbedded across to him, is shown in the link below -
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=144057&start=15#p974718
MOT History is available here - https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/re ... calls=true
The K1 WTF registration IS NOT INCLUDED in the sale. The V5 is back on the original LS03 WGJ registration.
I have a chronologically ordered lever arch file containing her entire history since I bought her in late 2011 and that will of course be included.
To give you a little bit of an idea of how well I tried to keep her in full working order (the below doesn't include parts/work I did myself during that time period, those are covered in the "Purchases" section of the file mentioned above), here is the maintenance log from the beginning of 2017 to when I laid her up, deciding not to tax the failing gearbox any more -
03/07/2020 - 91764 Miles - ABS Pump was removed, sent away to a specialist (work details included in paperwork) and rebuilt/refitted - £305.01
29/11/2019 - 90910 Miles - Replacement Lambda sensors, gearbox oil service, Replacement OE Oil Cooler and pipework - £3208.70 - (It was after this gearbox service that the gearbox started heading south)
07/11/2019 - 90910 Miles - Service & MOT - £298.98
01/08/2019 - 89936 Miles - Replace both rocker cover gaskets - £733.08
08/11/2018 - 88733 Miles - Service & replacement coolant temperature sensor - £322.48
08/11/2017 - 83816 Miles - Replaced OSF upper rear suspension arm - £149.46
07/11/2017 - 83816 Miles - Service, replaced NSF upper rear control arm & replaced low/high tone horns - £608.47
07/06/2017 - 82304 Miles - Replaced rear brake pads and both rear calipers - £378.40
13/03/2017 - 81657 Miles - Diagnostics & refitting of charge pressure hose - £102.00
06/01/2017 - 80740 Miles - Service, Gearbox oil service, replace NSF & OSF door locks with customer-provided units - £962.55
There is far more history of course, but all that is included in the folder, I would be typing forever if I put it all on here.
I am including a few bits & pieces with the car -
1x second-hand OE Torque Convertor, unknown condition internally, ready to be sent off to be rebuilt to whatever spec you want!
1x Pair of OE rear light clusters, removed from the car in 2012
1x Pair of brand new OE mirror assemblies as the original ones on the car are faded & cracked
1x Cabin Air Filter
1x OS Air Intake Scoop
I have taken a fair number of pictures, left them at original quality, so you can all zoom away! I have only given her a quick handwash, she will need a proper clay bar etc. to look better -
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing
In case there are any issues with displaying the images via Google Drive, I have zipped up all the same images for download here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NNJPzX ... sp=sharing
The price for my old girl, warts & all, is £4800. - NOW £4000, same price as the Breakers offer regardless of parts/spec, see the edit at the top! Looking at how much the aftermarket parts cost me and how much they sell for on eBay alone, I don't think that price is unfair at all. Yes, I am a bad dad for leaving her on the driveway for all that time, but we really had no choice, it was a few-years-long storm of one bad thing after another and here we are. I had every intention of getting her running perfectly again, but I am not the right person for that now and I really, really hope that there is someone out there that does want to take the job on and get to love this car as much as Wifey and I do.
The car is located in Mytchett, Surrey and will need a flatbed transporter/trailer to take her. I can provide contact details for the local flatbed guy I used recently, who is significantly cheaper than anyone I tried, did a perfectly good transport job.
CheeRS,
Nick.
09/11/2024 - One whole person has made the trip over to see her. Nice guy, but I don't think was fully prepared for what would be involved if going all out on the rebuild. Also, wanting to tow and getting a decent MPG, this isn't the right car
. Guys, I don't want to see her sit through another winter on my driveway and it is a pain to get the dogwagon out of the driveway every day, she needs to move on.Still haven't advertised her anywhere else except for here, No time or desire for random tyre kickers via Autotrader etc. just yet.
If that means as a parts car then so be it, we need to break the sentimental attachment. I have NOT phoned the breaker as I still don't like the fact that they lowball one single price regardless of how much the particular parts on the car are worth. With that said, I have removed some of the extra parts off the list that I was including and I will let her go for the price that the Breakers seem to offer, as she sits, £4000. I don't really want to waffle tons over the phone about the car like I have done with so many no-shows really if I can help it now, if you want her, come and get her, job done
***28/08/2024 - Still haven't advertised her anywhere except for here, dropped a smidge off the price too. I now have an RS E-Tron GT as well as the C8 RS6 on the driveway, need to actually say goodbye to the old girl now and get back space!***
Hi guys
Sadly, the time has come for me to sell my modified C5 RS6. TL;DR, she is a project car, she is not in drive-away condition! She is fairly well known on here, I have owned her since late 2011 and she is the only car that we have held on to for over a decade! I am located in Mytchett, Surrey.
Spec -
2003 RS6 Avant in pearlescent ebony black
92067 Miles
MRC Stage 2 Remap (555PS/832Nm)
Milltek Non-Resonated Exhaust System
Milltek 100-Cell High-Flow Catalytic Convertors
Wagner Intercoolers with Carbon Fibre Shrouds
ITG Panel Filters
Bilstein PSS9 Adjustable Suspension
H&R Anti-Roll Bars
OZ Superturismo LM Alloys
Custom-Made (BG Developments) C6 direct-fit (no spacers) front discs & C6 6-Pot Front Calipers, Brembo pads all round
Later-gen RNS-E Head Unit with HD screen, Bluetooth/Phone prep & AMI Interface, coded in by NHN (well-known retrofitter and great guy!)
In.Pro Rear Light Clusters (OSR needs taking off, cleaning and re-sealing, developed a leak while sitting on the drive)
55W HID Xenon upgrade (MOT-legal with headlight washers)
Various other little mods
Assorted guff about my adventures with the old girl are on this thread, with various shortcuts on that particular post to bits of work that were done to her - http://forum.rs246.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 90#p499709
The gearbox (suspected Torque Convertor failure) finally started dying properly in late 2019, straight after having one of many gearbox oil services carried out during my ownership. Prior to that, I'd had the fairly occasional thunk on kickdown indicating that something wasn't perfect, but the gearbox kept on going happily 99.x% of the time. By this time I was very unwell with long-term health issues and working myself to death to boot. Covid then came along, we pootled around in her a bit and then made the decision to lay her up on the driveway, with the intention to get everything necessary done to her as we couldn't part with the old girl.
I periodically turned the engine over (with fuse 29 removed to just circulate oil mostly, occasionally fully running the engine) and moved her a few feet forwards/backwards.
Lots more happened in life, I got a lot sicker, we still didn't have the heart to sell her (came close!), then life got better over the summer and I looked into getting her fixed up finally. Unfortunately, my preferred specialist bowed out of the running and with my job now ramping back up to insanity levels, I have made the sad call to sell her as I just don't have the time spare in life to put in without it affecting my career. I went a bit mad and bought a 2023 RS6, turns up tomorrow.
The main bad points that I can think of currently, outside of what has already been mentioned -
1. Sitting on the drive for all that time has taken its toll. At some point earlier this year a coolant leak developed somewhere within the 'V' of the engine, rendering her immobile
.2. The NS front wing, which I believe was resprayed by the previous owner, started developing lacquer/paint failure while sitting on the drive too, I have taken a good few photos of it, but it isn't pretty! That panel will need a respray.
3. The adhesive in the rear Alcantara headlining, like with sooooooo many C5 avants, has decided to separate, I took the best pic I could and it is included in the folder link below.
4. Playing the illness card, not the stupidity one, but I decided to put a big desiccant bag into the car just to make sure that things stayed fresh in there just in case. In a genius move, I hung it from the NEW replacement, self-dimming rearview mirror and over time, it pulled the mirror off the windscreen...... The cables/connector appear to be fine on both ends, but the mirror mount will need to be re-adhered to the windscreen.....
5. the NS front headlight could do with a polish.
The details of my specialist's report in September 23, where I had the car flatbedded across to him, is shown in the link below -
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=144057&start=15#p974718
MOT History is available here - https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/re ... calls=true
The K1 WTF registration IS NOT INCLUDED in the sale. The V5 is back on the original LS03 WGJ registration.
I have a chronologically ordered lever arch file containing her entire history since I bought her in late 2011 and that will of course be included.
To give you a little bit of an idea of how well I tried to keep her in full working order (the below doesn't include parts/work I did myself during that time period, those are covered in the "Purchases" section of the file mentioned above), here is the maintenance log from the beginning of 2017 to when I laid her up, deciding not to tax the failing gearbox any more -
03/07/2020 - 91764 Miles - ABS Pump was removed, sent away to a specialist (work details included in paperwork) and rebuilt/refitted - £305.01
29/11/2019 - 90910 Miles - Replacement Lambda sensors, gearbox oil service, Replacement OE Oil Cooler and pipework - £3208.70 - (It was after this gearbox service that the gearbox started heading south)
07/11/2019 - 90910 Miles - Service & MOT - £298.98
01/08/2019 - 89936 Miles - Replace both rocker cover gaskets - £733.08
08/11/2018 - 88733 Miles - Service & replacement coolant temperature sensor - £322.48
08/11/2017 - 83816 Miles - Replaced OSF upper rear suspension arm - £149.46
07/11/2017 - 83816 Miles - Service, replaced NSF upper rear control arm & replaced low/high tone horns - £608.47
07/06/2017 - 82304 Miles - Replaced rear brake pads and both rear calipers - £378.40
13/03/2017 - 81657 Miles - Diagnostics & refitting of charge pressure hose - £102.00
06/01/2017 - 80740 Miles - Service, Gearbox oil service, replace NSF & OSF door locks with customer-provided units - £962.55
There is far more history of course, but all that is included in the folder, I would be typing forever if I put it all on here.
I am including a few bits & pieces with the car -
1x second-hand OE Torque Convertor, unknown condition internally, ready to be sent off to be rebuilt to whatever spec you want!
1x Pair of OE rear light clusters, removed from the car in 2012
1x Pair of brand new OE mirror assemblies as the original ones on the car are faded & cracked
1x Cabin Air Filter
1x OS Air Intake Scoop
I have taken a fair number of pictures, left them at original quality, so you can all zoom away! I have only given her a quick handwash, she will need a proper clay bar etc. to look better -
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing
In case there are any issues with displaying the images via Google Drive, I have zipped up all the same images for download here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NNJPzX ... sp=sharing
The price for my old girl, warts & all, is £4800. - NOW £4000, same price as the Breakers offer regardless of parts/spec, see the edit at the top! Looking at how much the aftermarket parts cost me and how much they sell for on eBay alone, I don't think that price is unfair at all. Yes, I am a bad dad for leaving her on the driveway for all that time, but we really had no choice, it was a few-years-long storm of one bad thing after another and here we are. I had every intention of getting her running perfectly again, but I am not the right person for that now and I really, really hope that there is someone out there that does want to take the job on and get to love this car as much as Wifey and I do
.The car is located in Mytchett, Surrey and will need a flatbed transporter/trailer to take her. I can provide contact details for the local flatbed guy I used recently, who is significantly cheaper than anyone I tried, did a perfectly good transport job.
CheeRS,
Nick.