Looking like I am selling what is left of my old girl....

[Mr Footlong]

Hi guys.

As much as I don't want to be doing this, the butterfly effect of my wife crashing cars is still causing me car-related grief over two years on... I work from home all the time, regardless of this covid stuff. Wife's company was bought out and is working from home all the time now too.

My wonderful old 6 has decided to start eating the big things now, all within the last 12 months almost exactly. I have gone to a few different places looking for somewhere that will come even close to just sorting it all for me, but realistically nowhere wants to get involved and I just don't have the time or fight in me now. She sits for weeks and months at a time on the driveway going nowhere and I just hack about in my beaten up Shogun dropping the toddler at her grandparents. I just have NO time between family life and woefully sh!t job from hell to deal with this anymore sadly.

Issue one - I had a routine gearbox service carried out last October or so by my usual guys that do it ever two years/10k miles or less, the gearbox came back working like absolute crap. The car has been on a tired Torque Convertor since I bought her back in 2011, so this has been coming.

As it stands, the changes in 1st/2nd/3rd are not good and very recently she has sometimes gone from 1st to neutral when say slow speed manouvering out of parking spaces etc. I have a random boxed replacement TC sitting on a shelf, but the condition of that is unknown, was purchased from another owner on here a few years ago, I never evben opened the packaging.

Adding insult to injury, I had to pay around £1700 for a new transmission/oil cooler as the garage working on her refused to assemble the custom pipework fix for the old cooler and with the car there and not here, as well as no time, I bit the bullet and bent over for the new cooler.

So, engine pull and it would be mad not to refurb the turbos at the same time if it was me at least...

Issue two - The EGT sensors are failing. I have a new replacement set, but nobody is prepared to fight with the back of the car trying to sort them without pulling the engine.

Issue three - If memory serves, she is now due a replacement timing chain and is a smidge over 90k miles now.

Issue three - The custom BG Developments disc rotors are due to replacing soon. They stop perfectly, but the J hooks cut into the discs have just about all disappeared now.

Issue four - the headlining adhesive in the boot area has failed, leading to the alcantara sagging on the left and right sides of the boot area.

Issue five - I noticed last weekend that the clearcoat on the NSF wing is starting to go on the top.

Issue six - Not a major one, but an annoyance. The Oz alloys are doing their usual and eating their CF centre caps. I think this is the third set of centre caps I have bought.

I think that is about it. I love the car, but with all the money I have put into her over the years (since 2011) and the hassle of trying to get all of bits fixed. She is lovely to drive and has so much punch in 4th and 5th (the two gears that still behave pretty perfectly!), wife really wants me to fix her up, but she can go away, she never has to lift a finger with any of this.

The car specs/mods etc are all listed in the signature link below. What sort of financial bath do you think I will be looking at taking for her if I admit defeat and sell on?

Thanks,

Nick

P.S. I may edit this if I think of anything else.

[Shoppinit]

"The things you own end up owning you."

What about getting this bloke to refurb your box and do your EGT while it's out and access is easy?

Known Gearbox rebuilders
£1600 gearbox rebuild all in, apparently. Awaiting feedback: http://www.autotransuk.com

Then sell it if you still want to. It'll be easier if everything is working ok.

[Mr Footlong]

Thanks, but that will involve me still getting one outfit to yank the engine, then I have to get the gearbox (god knows about the torque convertor) across to random gearbox guy, then get the box back to engine yankers to refit, then refurb the turbos or uprate them while out, timing chain, the list goes on.

Then I have to get the car over to somebody to sort the roof lining, then I have to get the rotor replacements sorted and then I have to get the wing resprayed, all with time I simply don't have Shopp. Somebody with a more normal life and the time/skills to deal with a lot of that themselves could do it and have a blood lovely old car, but I just can't.

I already have a fairly silly price in my head about the potential worst case sale price, but what ridiculous price would you think for someone that had the skills to deal with a lot of that themselvbes and get her back to top condition?

[Jayjay101]

Hi guys.

As much as I don't want to be doing this, the butterfly effect of my wife crashing cars is still causing me car-related grief over two years on... I work from home all the time, regardless of this covid stuff. Wife's company was bought out and is working from home all the time now too.

My wonderful old 6 has decided to start eating the big things now, all within the last 12 months almost exactly. I have gone to a few different places looking for somewhere that will come even close to just sorting it all for me, but realistically nowhere wants to get involved and I just don't have the time or fight in me now. She sits for weeks and months at a time on the driveway going nowhere and I just hack about in my beaten up Shogun dropping the toddler at her grandparents. I just have NO time between family life and woefully sh!t job from hell to deal with this anymore sadly.

Issue one - I had a routine gearbox service carried out last October or so by my usual guys that do it ever two years/10k miles or less, the gearbox came back working like absolute crap. The car has been on a tired Torque Convertor since I bought her back in 2011, so this has been coming.

As it stands, the changes in 1st/2nd/3rd are not good and very recently she has sometimes gone from 1st to neutral when say slow speed manouvering out of parking spaces etc. I have a random boxed replacement TC sitting on a shelf, but the condition of that is unknown, was purchased from another owner on here a few years ago, I never evben opened the packaging.

Adding insult to injury, I had to pay around £1700 for a new transmission/oil cooler as the garage working on her refused to assemble the custom pipework fix for the old cooler and with the car there and not here, as well as no time, I bit the bullet and bent over for the new cooler.

So, engine pull and it would be mad not to refurb the turbos at the same time if it was me at least...

Issue two - The EGT sensors are failing. I have a new replacement set, but nobody is prepared to fight with the back of the car trying to sort them without pulling the engine.

Issue three - If memory serves, she is now due a replacement timing chain and is a smidge over 90k miles now.

Issue three - The custom BG Developments disc rotors are due to replacing soon. They stop perfectly, but the J hooks cut into the discs have just about all disappeared now.

Issue four - the headlining adhesive in the boot area has failed, leading to the alcantara sagging on the left and right sides of the boot area.

Issue five - I noticed last weekend that the clearcoat on the NSF wing is starting to go on the top.

Issue six - Not a major one, but an annoyance. The Oz alloys are doing their usual and eating their CF centre caps. I think this is the third set of centre caps I have bought.

I think that is about it. I love the car, but with all the money I have put into her over the years (since 2011) and the hassle of trying to get all of bits fixed. She is lovely to drive and has so much punch in 4th and 5th (the two gears that still behave pretty perfectly!), wife really wants me to fix her up, but she can go away, she never has to lift a finger with any of this.

The car specs/mods etc are all listed in the signature link below. What sort of financial bath do you think I will be looking at taking for her if I admit defeat and sell on?

Thanks,

Nick

P.S. I may edit this if I think of anything else.

I’d say you are looking at £5k to £4K to sell it as is and then all that’s going to happen is it will get broken up for parts-guy I know on Facebook does it and he’s done 5 now and sells the bits all over the world but please don’t let that happen to yours!!!!!-can you not throw a cover over it till you have the time to sort it?once all this COVID stuff sorts it’s self out I’m more than happy to help yank the engine-takes me a day to do.


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[Mr Footlong]

Thanks, £5k is the number I had in my head as the lowest I would possibly take, as the parts sold off her will make an awful lot more money if she got torn apart! I forgot that I paid to have the rocker cover gaskets replaced twice by two different outfits between September last year and Jan this year, after the first outfit ignored my specific requests to replace things like half moon seals etc. and I was right... I also had the ABS pump rebuilt in spring after it developed a fault too.

Thanks for the kind offer, but unless I quit the same job for the second time this year, there is just no chance of me ever having the time to do any of the DIY myself sadly. As she has sat hardly moving for the last four months but I still have her, you can tell that this isn't an easy decision to make. I have had this girl for 9 years now, yet easily parted ways with the C7 I bought and modded in under one.

[Shoppinit]

That price included labour. So the box would be out, and plenty of space to access the EGT.

[ChrisA]

If I didn’t have a toy car taking up space in the garage I’d be tempted to take this on myself.
Sadly it will likely become a breaker if you can’t do it yourself. I agree with coving it and reevaluating it in a few more years. I doubt it will depreciate over the years and if things do change for you you’ll be able to jump straight on it.

[steve2003rs6]

Sorry you have decided to sell on. For your info. I was looking at trading mine in last year for another RS6.
They offered me 6.5k which was a total joke as I had just paid out 7k at one garage and 5 k at another garage for repairs and upgrades.
Out of curiosity I contacted wbac and they offered me 4.5k again a joke.
Not surprisingly I kept the car and pleased that I did.
I really don’t know why these cars are so under valued when you want to sell on or trade in. Yes they are getting on in years. But most owners will have spent £1000,s on them over the years.
My honest opinion would be to keep her unless you have really decided to get rid
Best of luck mate with whatever you decide.

[Gregstv]

Tarp it up and get back to it a later date. If you enjoy the car you might regret selling it later on. You never know what will happen down the track in life. One thing I have noticed though, as you get older things change, kids take up less time and you have more time for the things you enjoy.
I don't think values will drop much more, so don't rush unless you need the money.

[IchBautAuto]

There are a lot of common reasons why we own a C5 RS6 and then there are a lot of different reasons too. In my view you need to be a real dyed in the wool enthusiast to keep coming back for more with the RS6. OK for those that scratch the itch and move on, they may be car enthusiasts but not RS6 enthusiasts.
17 years on there are a lot of cars that will basically match the RS6 in performance terms, and they may only be S models like a 2016 s4 V6 with supercharger and a chip. More modern, easy to get parts for the mechanic etc.
Downside, nowhere near as well made in my view.
I have two R cars, 20 and 17 years old, 280000Km and 112000Km. For me, I do all my own work and have the time to do it. There is a surprising amount of commonality between the RS4 and RS6 in maintenance and parts, special tools etc. So for me I can afford, in time and equipment terms, to indulge my passion for the B5/C5 R cars.
If you're really time poor, young family and get a mechanic to do everything then just walk away. I think that years of sitting under a tarp would blunt my attraction for just about anything and it would just decay, imagine all the rubber parts lying in wait to ambush you when you finally get to the time where you can play with Mrs full support.
There is a time where you are close to a point where you will be able to see a future with a specific car and at that point keeping it may be viable.

[Mɐʇʇ]

@Tony - We are very similar.
@Footlong - I know a man who knows a man - if you want to pop your one into storage for a while, indoors, secure, but cheap too - let me know and I'll see if I can hook you up. It's over in Odiham,.

OK for those that scratch the itch and move on, they may be car enthusiasts but not RS6 enthusiasts.
Downside, nowhere near as well made in my view.
For me, I do all my own work and have the time to do it.

[Mr Footlong]

Thanks guys. I have owned her for nine years now and up until the gearbox finally deciding that it doesn't like me anymore, never skimped on any work. I used to do the basic repair work myself and the majority of the simpler mod work, but as said, just no time whatsoever these days and I don't see that changing.

As IchBautAuto has said too, I hate the idea of sticking a cover over her and leaving her to just rot. As much as it pains me as I loved this car more than any other I have owned and have poured a ton of time and money in to her over the years, I would much rather ideally sell her to someone that can put her under proper cover and work on her as she is a pretty damn good spec really, just needs the big stuff done now that has all come along......

£5k and not a penny less would take her (sucks), otherwise I would try to somehow find the time to part her out myself (very unlikely though) and make a load more. Still can't believe I am mentally preparing myself to do that.

[Mr Footlong]

Matt, thanks for the input and offer, I will have a serious think still as I don't need the money at all, it has never been about money for me, I am just so bloody attached to this old barge.

[srichards]

They don't fetch much due to the chocolate gearbox that is £5k so any trader knocks off £5k immediately. Mine is still the best money I've ever spent. I hardly use it and always think I'll sell it. I drive it and change my mind immediately. It's on a trickle charger in the garage so if it eats something expensive then I can just park it up in there and ignore it for a few months if necessary.

There is the Collecting Cars auction type site to sell it on. That might be one to try. Higher class than fleabay. https://collectingcars.com/

No idea where you are in the country but I'd think Unit 20 would sort the lot out for you, as would PSI Tuning that I use. Ditto MRC. Normal garages are a waste of money as they don't do these cars often enough. If you can drive it onto a car trailer you can take it anywhere. I'd find a specialist that wants a longer fill in job. You may get a better deal than with one that wants it in and out as fast as possible. I'd get it to one and get a price. Then see if the Mrs still thinks it's a good idea....

[Shoppinit]

If you can get a refurb box fitted for 1600 quid all in, why wouldn't you do that? Then sell it. You'll easily make that money back.