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Hi,

After many months of looking, a decent RS6 Avant has come up under a mile from my house. It is an 03, 75,000 miles, full Audi service history in a very strange light blue colour that I've never seen before. Cream leather / alcantara inside. It looks great except:

1) How do I know if the suspension has been sorted or not? There is not much paper work other than a few receipts and the service book.
2) The front discs seem to be scored quite bad
3) There is some (very) minor corrosion appearing on the rear wheel arches at the very bottom. The guy said he'd sort it which is fine, but I'm more worried about why it is there in the first place? Is this normal? Would this still be covered by Audi?

He's asking £10,650, but will include an RAC platinum warranty for 12 months. Not that the warranty will help with the suspension, brakes or corrosion!

I've read the FAQs, but anything else you think I should look out for on the test drive?

Any help / advice would be VERY much appreciated.

Lets have a go at answering your questions.

1) How do I know if the suspension has been sorted or not? There is not much paper work other than a few receipts and the service book. - If it's on the DRC then it only a matter of time before it does brake or at least need some work doing on it. Coilovers are as they are called, a shocker with a spring coiled over it. You'll also find the ride is a little lower on coilovers, the top of the tyre will be very close to the wheel arch.

2) The front discs seem to be scored quite bad - change them, it's an easy job to do yourself.

3) There is some (very) minor corrosion appearing on the rear wheel arches at the very bottom. The guy said he'd sort it which is fine, but I'm more worried about why it is there in the first place? Is this normal? Would this still be covered by Audi? - The arches are like a magnet for stones and it's common for them to be chipped, you can get a them protected with clear covers. As for Audi covering them under warranty I'd say unlikely as it's from the inside out that they usually covered and not stone chips.

Good luck and as for the RAC warranty that'll no doubt be worthless. I had one on a car a few years back and wasn't worth the paper it was printed on at the time.

From the limited info available my first thought is "walk away".

So many things can be mechanically wrong with these cars that don't show up superficially..and this one doesn't sound like it was maintained to the highest standard. You're best off getting a car from a forum member really, or at the very least have a professional check out the car before buying. I'm willing to bet if Grizz looked over your example he'd discover quite a few things that even the owner might not be aware of.

Something you can check easily too. Pull the front grills off, and have a look to see if the intercoolers are leaking. You might want to take a torch. A refurb of the intercoolers is about £500 iirc, but you want to budget £1.5k for Wagners, and another £1.5k for Coilovers as DRC breaking is a matter of 'when' not 'if'. Remeber the timing belt needs changing every 40k miles/4 years and that is a grand minuim, front brakes are another grand and a new set of tyres, yep you've guessed it, another grand!

thats all because when you drive a c5, its grand!

Thanks for the tips. I'll certainly check the intercoolers! Are the grills easy to pop off?

I managed to get a few pics, they are pretty dire but thought they might help anyway. Its off my awful blackberry so don't really help much but...

Here's the discs:



And here is the corrosion:



As I say, I know the pics are really poor. And I did say the corrosion was minor!

They both look slightly worse in real life. I'll try and get some better pics and a flash camera photo for under the arches to see the suspension.

Thanks again. (and sorry for the cross posting onto the other RS site!)

Should of got an IPhone for the pics wait's for the BB fanbois to chime in

Those marks on the discs look like the pad pins have started to wear the disc. As for the corrosion good luck trying to get Audi to pay.

Yep, classic pagid pin damage that. Poor show by the previous owner. The disks look reasonably worn, too. Min thickness is 32mm IIRC. It'll be stamped on the bell.

Rust is weird. Looks like it's where the bumper has rubbed on the bodywork.

Looks like an Avus silver, to me.

Shoppinit wrote: Looks like an Avus silver, to me.

No, again, that's the blackberry pictures! Here's a better couple:

Shoppinit wrote:The disks look reasonably worn, too. Min thickness is 32mm IIRC. It'll be stamped on the bell.

Sorry, what does that mean?

If that is sitting on DRC shocks then we need to see it on flat ground and not on a kerb as from that pic the suspension isn't right but that could be an incline too..

Mr Footlong wrote:If that is sitting on DRC shocks then we need to see it on flat ground and not on a kerb as from that pic the suspension isn't right but that could be an incline too..

Yeah, its sitting on a slope AND on a kerb on that photo! I'll try and get a better one...

Sorry if we all seem so anal about these but there are sooooo many things things that can be wrong with these.

Scotland wrote:

Shoppinit wrote:The disks look reasonably worn, too. Min thickness is 32mm IIRC. It'll be stamped on the bell.

Sorry, what does that mean?

I'm not sure how to say it any other way. Which bit is giving you difficulty?

Shoppinit wrote:

Scotland wrote:

Shoppinit wrote:The disks look reasonably worn, too. Min thickness is 32mm IIRC. It'll be stamped on the bell.

Sorry, what does that mean?

I'm not sure how to say it any other way. Which bit is giving you difficulty?

The bit about it being stamped on the bell. What's a "bell"? And what will be stamped on it?

Sorry, remember I'm an amateur!

Mr Footlong wrote:Sorry if we all seem so anal about these but there are sooooo many things things that can be wrong with these.

Not at all, its fine. I never thought I'd say this in my life but.. anal is what I'm looking for