What have you replaced

[Jay_g]

afternoon all!

Trying to gauge some bits and bobs before delving into RS6 ownership...

From what I read on here, it's made to sound like the '6 is on of the most unreliable cars on the planet!

So tell me, what have people replaced, what miles and to what cost and whether the work was done themselves?

We can ignore the normal gearbox and DRC if people so wish!

[Shoppinit]

You're always going to get a skewed view of the reliability since you get way more people posting about the bad sh1t that happens than the good. A lot of people sign up just to get answers to problems.

You can get a hideous bill with any car. Look at Porsche with their Hari Kari engines, BMW with their spontaneously splitting subframes, etc. You go onto any specialist forum and you'll get the impression that any car you buy is about to explode in a shower of big invoices. You can even get a 3k bill on a boggo Volvo diesel when it's DP takes a <beep>.

Having said that, the RS6 responds to love and attention and *will* bite you if you don't provide them in spadefuls. You reap what you sow with these cars to a large extent.

In the 6 and a bit years I've owned mine I've changed the intercoolers, suspension, CV joint as significant repairs. I'm probably forgetting some stuff. Averaged out, it's probably cost less to run than a Clio. To be fair I'm excluding the stuff I'm doing to it right now but even that is fairly reasonable in terms of cost.

[Daveperc]

The cars aren't actually unreliable - it's just that not many people come onto the forum and post "Drove to Tesco's today and back - car ran fine!" - though if I did for all 20,000 miles I do each year it would certainly push my post count!

OK - so apart from obvious fluids, plugs, bulbs, wipers, brakes/disks, tyres, cambelt (+water pump, thermostat etc as routine) etc, what have I replaced (nb still on DRC - works great!!)

• Gearbox
  Exhaust (Miltek) plus decatted DP's
  Both upper Lambdas done at same time (as engine was out)
  Intercoolers plus hoses (Performance)
  Brake light switch
  Various suspension parts (car has done 150K on some pretty rough roads at times!
  door locks (both failed)
  RNSD Sat nav disk (to update maps etc)
  GPS Puck
  Small cooling fan (next time the front is off) + controller already done
  Rear spring (told you I drive on rough roads!)
  Both front propshafts + CV Gators various
  Centre bearing on propshaft
  Rear wiper motor spindle (at least twice)
  SAI pump removed
  Rear bumper sensors

That's all I can think of off the top of my head - and if you want to know what it cost... then you can't afford to run an RS6!

[Shoppinit]

• Various suspension parts (car has done 150K on some pretty rough roads at times!
  Rear spring (told you I drive on rough roads!)
  Both front propshafts + CV Gators various
  Centre bearing on propshaft

Dukes of Hazzard much?

[Daveperc]

Yep - it was just like that... only I landed in the water IIRC!!

Suppose I should have added about 800 wiring connectors to my list of things replaced after I drowned the old one!

[Rstoney]

I've had my RS6 for exactly 1 year. I bought it with excellent service history at a mileage of 84000 miles, it's now done 90,000. And I have spent the following on necessary parts/servicing:

Rear wheel bearing £225 inc fitting
Bosch battery £150
4 new pilot super sports £850 inc fitting
Boot lock and actuator £80
2 rear top mounts £90
8 new control arms and ARB links £405
Labour on control arms £136
2 rear calipers £320
Rear brake hose £50
Front brake pads £270
Rear brake pads £40
Investigation of front suspension knock £160
Cambelt service £850 + vat
Cambelt labour £442 + vat
20k service parts £350+ vat
20k service labour £153 + vat
Gearbox service £150 + vat
Gearbox labour £55 + vat
Cam cover gaskets £85 + vat
Cam cover labour £204 + vat
Gearbox seal and flange £220 + vat
Gearbox seal and flange labour £204 + vat
And some other bits and pieces that I've probably missed. I'll leave you to add it up, I just smile and drive the thing.

[Nobby]

I've spent about £20k on mine in about 3 years, but that includes petrol, insurance, everything etc

Did 900 miles last week in it though. Never missed a beat. £300 in petrol though

[Jay_g]

I completely understand the whole notion of 'people never post the good times' and infact I have been telling a mate that when he's been trying to talk me out of the 6.

Cost doesn't bother me, what will be will be. I'll be doing 5kish a year in one as it will be entirely a weekend toy, with another car as my daily work hack.

But thank you guys, keep em coming!! Very surprised at how cheap some of them prices have come back.

[ChrisRS6]

I've done about 45k miles in mine after around 6 years of ownership.
Yes, I've replaced consumables like tyres, brake discs and pads, a few driveshaft gaiters but I tend to think of those as normal servicing costs.
I've had it serviced correctly and done preventative servicing of the gearbox too.
DRC was replaced by a previous owner.

The things that spring to mind to fix broken items were:

Coolant radiator - around £1k
Some kind of sensor for the air-con: £50 from a mobile air-con man
Gearbox output shaft oil seal - can't remember but assume it would have been around £400ish?
Replacement switch for interior alarm sensors replaced - think it was about £25.
Chip in windscreen repaired for free from insurance.
...and that's about it.

No broken gearbox, knackered turbos, leaky intercoolers or anything else that other people have suffered with so far.

Think some of the bushes in the front suspension are next on the replacement list. Came up as something to look at more closely in 6 months or so during my last service.
Almost a complete guess but I wouldn't be surprised if the complete set will be £1.5k?

I've done nothing myself! Always sent it to Audi Newbury or MRC Banbury for any work.

[IanH755]

This is only the list of things I had to replace due to failure in the year I owned mine. I've not included the dozens of bits I replaced because I wanted too (old & worn but still got life or upgraded etc) or bits that were changed as part of servicing (brakes, belts, filters etc).

Gearbox - 1st to 2nd gear change slipping
DRC - 2 failed struts
Rear Gearbox output seal - leaking
Rear rght Cailper - Bleed nipple broken off
Rear Upper Arms x2 - seized bolts
Headlight ballast x2 - lights flickering or not on
Rocker cover gaskets - leaking
Rear Left Door Speaker - Crackling
CF Ashtray Trim - locking tabs broken, fell off.
4x tyres - worn
2x tyres - punctured

The "other" list is three times as big

[Jay_g]

Really good stuff that guys, cheers. Definitely improved my faith in it 10 fold! My first time owning a car like this, so it allows me to go in with eyes open.

[spurtle]

Late to the party but I found threads like this useful when I bought the '6 so I'll add my 2p.

I told myself that I would buy carefully and maybe pay a bit of a premium but look after it and hopefully it would reward me with lower running costs. Perhaps that has been true to a degree but there is no question that these cars are expensive to run and they're at an age where things do go wrong.

I've had mine about 7 years and I've done about 40,000 miles in it. Current mileage is just shy of 80k. Main bills have been as follows:

Gearbox (well, torque converter, but same difference)
DRC (replaced with Bilstein PSS9) + topmounts
2 pairs intercoolers + proper hoses
2 x alternators
2 x batteries (one probably unnecessary but I couldn't believe it was the alternator again)
Headgaskets and associated seals and gaskets
3 x cambelts and associated gubbins (every time the front was off, thought I might as well)
4 x CV boots
2 x EGT sensor
4 x lambda
2 x MAF
Pipes to front-mounted oil cooler
Thermostat
Front wiper motor spindles
Rear parking sensors
4 suspension arms
ARB links
2 sets front pads
Refurb front discs
New front discs (painful)
4 x full sets tyres
Brake pedal sensor
Various buttons, valves and sensors
Usual consumables (oil, filters, wipers)

Most of the work was done by MRC but some of the sensors and brake stuff I did myself. Car runs like a dream - certainly a luxury but worth the expense and occasional hassle when things do go wrong. I still don't think there are many cars on the road that will give you similar performance-per-pound.

[dubbed_up_daz]

My only failures in two years has been a box (88k) and a cv joint. Everything else I've replaced has been upgrades or routine/preventative maintainance. I've done nearly 15,000 miles and the smiles are bigger than the bills

[SchrickRS6]

wow thats some long lists I see.

I've only had mine 4 months ish....

new voltage relay on the generator
new battery
new CV joints front
oil change (because I think the oil change interval is too long)
seals around rear luggage door
new coilovers - old ones (HR) were in a very bad state
split intercooler hose - all hoses replaced with Wagners
replaced "dangerous" tune with original tune (big shout out to Sweegie!)

to do:-
passenger front electric window not working
rear luggage door lock filled with gunk - needs replacing
drivers cup holder needs replacing (though it still works with a little provocation)
slightly cloudy front headlight lenses to fix/replace
cabin air con fan is starting to sound a little louder than normal
Gearbox oil/filter change (last one was done at 120 000km's, now on 217 000km's)
rear brake discs (very worn)
new lower control arms - front
new control arms rear

maybe a Stage 1 tune a little later.