added RS6 to the fold

[Frazz82]

Since getting the C5 its shown how small the B5 is inside. Your RS4 looks tiny compared to the RS6

[IchBautAuto]

Yep, real MG midget territory. Good place to be though.

I'm still getting over the ton of electrics in the '6. Solar sunroof, electric adjustment of the steering wheel, couple of hundred page manual for the radio, sound system speakers everywhere, and you can hear them too. If you managed to get rid of all the surplus bits this would be one hell of a car.

Found the first retrograde design, the armrest lid. One hinge piece cracked. No problem, I have a spare B5 unit, except they aren't the same. The B5 design is far sturdier. So, I've been reinforcing the hinge arms and changing the catch to magnetic. Oh, and removing the telephone cradle, what a waste of space literally. One thing is if I continue to have problems with the hinges, the telephone cradle will provide some possible parts to make up another hinge design, but hoping not to have to go there.

[IchBautAuto]

Some 5 months on, and following the usual raft of fix'em up jobs following any purchase, I've finally managed to get some miles under the (new) rubber. Round trip of 2,500 Km. Some good roads and some very C class so the suspension got a good workout. The RS6 replaced an allroad so many miles under the car in a C5 platform. What did I think?

The interior is much the same and the view from the drivers seat pretty well identical. The seats are absolutely excellent over long distances, better than the "comfort" option in the allroad and that's saying something. Once at cruise on a steady throttle, the cabin noise is actually quiet despite a full Milltek. Acceleration and braking got a bit of a workout over the distance and proved to be "adequate", i.e. did everything expected and needed without a sweat.

Fuel economy proved to be a real standout. 10.9 Ltr/100 Km over the distance. Pretty much in the allroad range and the bigger tank was a bonus.

Trouble? a squeak in the drivers door gave me the irrits over the distance on the poor road sections. Otherwise totally uneventful. Fingers crossed this is the beginning of a long and uneventful relationship. My B5 RS4 has been totally trouble free over nearly 7 years so not something that is completely out of reach.

[ahoooga]

Fuel economy proved to be a real standout. 10.9 Ltr/100 Km over the distance. Pretty much in the allroad range and the bigger tank was a bonus.

Thats about 25.8 mpg !!! Rule 30 applies
viewtopic.php?t=94654

[Shoppinit]

Yup. Must try harder. I don’t think I’ve ever got better than 12/100 out of mine. And that was pussyfooting it for the whole tank on a long trip. These days I only use the car for fun and it’s more like 28-30.

[IchBautAuto]

All too true. Mostly at 110 KPH on cruise. Followed the same HWP car for over 100 Km in a 100 zone so that was sloooow. Still the pedal got well used for overtaking and as you know, 160- 180 is normal by the time you're level with the cab of our longer truck combinations.

Frankly, for maybe half the trip the roads aren't good enough to travel at any real speed. The trucks chop up the road a lot and getting airborne (or rather the landing afterwards) on public roads isn't high on my list of cockups worth doing. You get to see quite a few outcomes on these trips where the driver stuffed up, with totaled single vehicle accidents common. The results can stay on the side of the road for ages before collection. If you're crossing the Nullarbor, they leave them there as examples.

I've had more than my share of 10mpg cars so this is a bit of OK. Considering it's from the same stable, it really is quite different to the RS4, which over-encourages some exuberance.