Thinking of buying one of these two cars, advice needed!!

[Jonno1888]

Hi, great forum!

I wonder if anyone can help me with some advice I am thinking of buying one of these two cars and have been viewing them on auto trader for a while. I've been wanting an rs6 for the first time for about a year and have always been an armchair fan, for several years. I feel I've done a fair bit of research in terms of ownership reviews and pitfalls and so on (gearbox and suspension issues etc).

Do any current owners have any view on either of these 2 listings?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... &logcode=p


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... &logcode=p


Clearly the first one is significantly cheaper which is appealing, but has been for sale on autotrader for about 2-3 months now which raises a possible concern. The second one is dearer and has more miles but appears to have a £2k gearbox replacement and also the suspension has been replaced. My budget could stretch to this one just about but the relatively low price of the first one is also appealing. Of course just because the latter model has had more money spent on it doesn't guarantee much for the future and both have pretty low milages. The first one seems odd to have been for sale for this length of time with a low price and low miles. Other higher milage more expensive c5 models have come and gone during this time.

Any advice or help would be great fully appreciated!!

Many thanks
Jon
Jonno1888
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Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 11:32 pm

[IanH755]

For the £1k extra I'd go for the more expensive one.

The other maybe £1k cheaper but when the DRC (definitely) and gearbox (probably) need replacing you'll be £5k-7k worse off. Plus the cheaper one looks a bit unloved with a terrible exhaust fitting, cheap chinese tyres, and it needs rear brake discs (£600-£800 etc) which is why it's been for sale for so long where as the more expensive one looks like it's been properly cared for.

PS The replacement gearbox he mentioned is a minimum of £3k-5K, it's the suspension he replaced which cost £2k and Bilsteins are fantastic.

[Rstoney]

On the face of it I would pick the first one as my first choice. But you need to go and have a look at them and check the service history. I personally wouldn't be worried about the gearbox having been replaced as a good thing, although I'm sure a few here would beg to differ. My RS6 has just done 90k and is on its original gearbox, had 4 fluid changes in its lifetime and works perfectly.

Similar thing with the Bilsteins, a car with working DRC would be preferable to Bilsteins IMO. Then at least it's up to you to repair/change when it does go wrong.

Also find out when the Cambelt was last done as that could be an expensive bill to add on in the near future. My car for example cost me a similar amount exactly 1 year ago, with 86k on it. Excellent service history, very anal previous owners (2) and 6 months later needed the belt doing. Took it MRC and they found out it needed the gearbox flange seal replacing (slight weep) cam cover gaskets and a few other minor jobs (1 control arm, but I had all of them done for piece of mind) and got a bill for about 1/3 the price of the car.

It's true what people say, they do need a lot of care and they will cost you a lot to keep going. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the car may be £12k but you need to keep a fair chunk aside for the things that will arise in the near future, no matter how good it is when you buy it.

[dubbed_up_daz]

I'd definitely lean towards the second one out of those two. I'd be hesitant to believe no expense spared as there is no mention of cambelt change and a 2k box change can be done but can open a can of worms as no other preventative maintainance will have been carried out. Also no mention of who done the work.

[paul14]

If you really mean " my budget could stretch to this one just..." suggestion-do not buy an RS6.
Things WILL go wrong and they are expensive...
Former RS6 owner.

[Jonno1888]

Hi all

Many thanks indeed for the excellent and very quick responses. I really appreciate it.

Yes the first one i've been looking at for about 3 months, and did wonder about the replacement exhaust system. I spoke to the dealer and he couldnt have been less interested if he tried, basically said he had 3 people about to buy it that day so i'd better hurry. I also called a second time a few weeks later after more info and got the same response, needless to say its still for sale. It was just the very low milage that interested me.

I actually called up my local Audi dealer this morning for the first time and got through to one of the technicians for a bit of advice. Nice chap basically said yes DRC can be a problem and some owners do replace them, but in his experience he hadnt seen many gearbox problems. I guess its luck of the drawer to an extent. Of the current C5's for sale only 2 mention gearbox work, and the last 5-10 that have appeared have not mentioned this either. There is also one for £15k on autotrader now which has had a complete gearbox replacement at 45k miles, unbelievable really for a brand such as Audi to need this doing so soon.

Half of me feels i should go for a much cheaper higher milage one, and save the cash for repairs.

IanH755 - the guy regarding the gearbox didnt say it had been replaced, he just said £2k worth of gearbox work, plus £1200 approx on the new coilover suspension. Dont know if that is a good or bad thing.

Any more comments gratefully received.

Cheers
Jon

[Rstoney]

Have you looked at the black plus on pistonheads? It's got a brown/biscuit coloured leather? Might be worth a look, unless you are really only after a Daytona with black leather?

[Jonno1888]

I did - I think it was about £16k which is out of my range really. I can afford £12k and a bit over for running costs, but not £16k really. Much as I would like a Plus version!

[Rstoney]

Probably worth holding fire for a while then. To be fair neither of the above ones seem 'right.' Just remember that whichever one you get will need money spent on it within the first year...and every year after. So you need to add that onto your budget. A good number is £4k regardless of service history. I'm sure a nice one will turn up in the classifieds section on here at some point.

[Jonno1888]

Cheers - I feel like i've been waiting for some time though. I am in no massive rush, but could it be one of those things where you wait for ever for something that is perfect which doesnt really exist. Tricky one, I guess I am also keen just to get one and start enjoying it!!

[Jonno1888]

Hi again

Thanks for the previous advice. Going to look at this one later, any comments from owners would be extremely helpful indeed.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... &logcode=p

Also - I am an AA member and called up to ask about an AA inspection pre viewing this car. I found out they dont offer inspections to any RS models, which is frustrating. Have any previous owners tried something similar? Bearing in mind the car is 180 miles away from where I live, so if i am going to see it, I need to be pretty sure Im going to buy it. Have had a good few conversations with the owner already, and relatively convinced by what I've heard so far

Many thanks
Jon

[IanH755]

Looks well cared for (boot liner, good paint, tyres & clean interior) & looks lowered too so check for aftermarket suspension. Just had it's 60K mile service inc belts etc too so probably done properly. If the history checks out (make sure you get a copy before you travel) it looks like it could be a nice car.

[Mɐʇʇ]

The thing, above all else, I'd do on one of these is to take a copy of VCDS with me, plug it in and scan for gearbox errors (specifically, TC Locking up).
DRC - easy to check if it has it or not, and if it has it, it costs 500 quid + labour to replace with Konis.

[Jonno1888]

Many thanks for the quick replies guys, this is great info. I've requested the history documents, and asked about the suspension. It didnt look lower to me than any other one, from the images but I am not an expert. Seems well cared for - but 5 previous owners is possibly a concern. But then again I was thinking, maybe people have these cars for a couple of years, enjoy them and look after them, then go back to something more 'sensible'?

Plugging in VCDS - I am lost on this, what do you mean exactly, bearing in mind I am not a mechanic?

Thanks again
Jon

[Jonno1888]

Ah, just done a search on this, and now I know what you mean. Is there a version of VCDS you recommend, as there seem to be dozens of different ones available to buy.?

Thanks again