Running Costs of a C6 RS6

[HPattern]

Hi I'm new here! For the longest time I've wanted to buy a C6 RS6 but now that I've left the USA and moved to Germany I've been eagerly looking to scoop one up.

I anticipate running costs on these will be high with everything being crammed into the engine bay, but I'm wondering how much you spend in keeping yours in top shape.
I'm not interested in fuel, insurance, or modifying costs, but everything from regular maintenance items to the major failure points that will probably need addressing at some point.

Just want to make sure I have enough budgeted to treat the car right. Thanks in advance!

[HPattern]

As a baseline I had a D2 S8 in the US (https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-audi-s8-24/), and looks like I spent about $5k (USD) in maintenance (replace tired suspension bits, brakes, tires, batteries, bulbs, fluid flushes, fixing oil leaks, etc.) and another $4k swapping it to a manual transmission over about 2 years of ownership.

I did just about everything myself so saved a bunch of money there and I know a lot of these were one time expenses or something I wouldn't have to touch again for several years had I kept the car. I would have estimated the car to continue costing me on average $1000 per year just to keep in good shape if I did the work myself.

I no longer have the facilities to do the work myself so feel free to factor in the labor costs in your estimates. I'm sure they'll be high...

[don0301]

Hi

I've had mine about 7.5 years.

Suprisingly little has gone wrong.

From memory, failed right rear light, replaced by firm I bought car from.

Engine fault which was an air flap (dunno proper name) had gone past the guard for it. Flicked back into position by MRC, never repeated.

Coolant lines in driver's wing repaired. Common fault, but as far as I'm aware only affects RHD cars.

Oil pump seal deteriorates, common fault. Probably from engine bay heat. I've used Forte seal restorer with every annual oil change. Has never got worse.

Rear wiper drooped, replaced with new by myself. Had to dremer it off through corrosion.

No start fault, which was the fuel pump fuse, on top of the battery, which had cracked through fatigue(?). Replaced by me.

Two oil lines replaced due to corrosion.

I do low mileage so that may be a factor.

Still love the car, been stage 2 for about 7 years with no problems.

[Jim Haseltine]

Maintenance costs?
More than you'd think and a lot more than you'll admit to your other half.
Just about every part comes with a £500+ price tag attached - some require specialist processes to fit and most work forwards of the passenger compartment requires the engine and box to be removed.
I'd rather not frighten myself by looking at invoices.

Mine cost me over £700 in my second week of ownership then next to nothing for the next year.

[HPattern]

Thanks for the input Don, Jim. Luckily I have no "other half" I need to justify my purchases to haha.

What was the 700GBP for?
Honestly I'm not terribly concerned about that amount of expense every once in a while. I know better than to think the RS6's engine is the "Lambo/R8 engine" but I figure they're probably similar when it comes to running expenses... Now if I need to expect multiple 1000GBP services week after week, that would be a different story...

[Jim Haseltine]

Replacement of a rear DRC hose, recharge of that half of the system and replacement of the suspension spring that side as the service department said that it was broken. Can't confirm that it was as I didn't see it. Normally replacing a spring would have been DiY for me but I was due to visit my daughter the next day and needed the car.
This Monday I replaced a leaking LH rear shock which cost me a touch under £600 for the shock, the 'always replace' fittings and a litre of DRC oil. Luckily I managed to buy a VAS6544 DRC recharge kit last year so I wasn't faced with a couple of hours dealer labour again - at the moment the kit and the shock means this week's job has cost me £2100 but a few more jobs like that and the kit will have paid for itself. Judging by the state of the other shocks it won't be long before that happens.
My other big bills so far:
Car set of discs & pads. Bought the discs when ECP ran a big discount, paid about half what they should have been, think they were about £1500 in total. Pads were about £300 I think.
Full set of injectors - £1300
Coolant pipes - £200. Looking back, I did these during a few weeks into my second year of ownership - the scars on my left arm will be with me for the rest of my life.
PCV and breathers - around £4-500
Then there's what rebuilding the turbos and dealing with the oil seal cost me.
According to the parts manager at my local dealership they had a car in for replacement turbos last summer which left it's owner facing a 5 figure invoice.

[HPattern]

Thanks for the detailed response. The turbo job is about as frightening as I expected.

Gotta get my own space to work on cars ASAP, but probably won't be for at least another year, maybe two...

[Stiggles]

Replacement of a rear DRC hose, recharge of that half of the system and replacement of the suspension spring that side as the service department said that it was broken. Can't confirm that it was as I didn't see it. Normally replacing a spring would have been DiY for me but I was due to visit my daughter the next day and needed the car.
This Monday I replaced a leaking LH rear shock which cost me a touch under £600 for the shock, the 'always replace' fittings and a litre of DRC oil. Luckily I managed to buy a VAS6544 DRC recharge kit last year so I wasn't faced with a couple of hours dealer labour again - at the moment the kit and the shock means this week's job has cost me £2100 but a few more jobs like that and the kit will have paid for itself. Judging by the state of the other shocks it won't be long before that happens.
My other big bills so far:
Car set of discs & pads. Bought the discs when ECP ran a big discount, paid about half what they should have been, think they were about £1500 in total. Pads were about £300 I think.
Full set of injectors - £1300
Coolant pipes - £200. Looking back, I did these during a few weeks into my second year of ownership - the scars on my left arm will be with me for the rest of my life.
PCV and breathers - around £4-500
Then there's what rebuilding the turbos and dealing with the oil seal cost me.
According to the parts manager at my local dealership they had a car in for replacement turbos last summer which left it's owner facing a 5 figure invoice.

Not to rub salt in the wound for discs, but if you check car parts 4 less, they're usually about 330 a side after discount.

Usually there's only a few percent difference between ecp and cp4l, but for whatever reason the rs6 discs seem to be astronomical on ecp.

Might save a few guys a big chunk of change if looking discs

[ATinOf]

Replacement of a rear DRC hose, recharge of that half of the system and replacement of the suspension spring that side as the service department said that it was broken. Can't confirm that it was as I didn't see it. Normally replacing a spring would have been DiY for me but I was due to visit my daughter the next day and needed the car.
This Monday I replaced a leaking LH rear shock which cost me a touch under £600 for the shock, the 'always replace' fittings and a litre of DRC oil. Luckily I managed to buy a VAS6544 DRC recharge kit last year so I wasn't faced with a couple of hours dealer labour again - at the moment the kit and the shock means this week's job has cost me £2100 but a few more jobs like that and the kit will have paid for itself. Judging by the state of the other shocks it won't be long before that happens.
My other big bills so far:
Car set of discs & pads. Bought the discs when ECP ran a big discount, paid about half what they should have been, think they were about £1500 in total. Pads were about £300 I think.
Full set of injectors - £1300
Coolant pipes - £200. Looking back, I did these during a few weeks into my second year of ownership - the scars on my left arm will be with me for the rest of my life.
PCV and breathers - around £4-500
Then there's what rebuilding the turbos and dealing with the oil seal cost me.
According to the parts manager at my local dealership they had a car in for replacement turbos last summer which left it's owner facing a 5 figure invoice.

Damn I could have done with that DRC tooling last week, had a weeping hose fitting replaced.
Would you be willing to loan that out at all Jim in the future, for a fee of course?

[ATinOf]

Apart from the first job listed which I had unit 20 do when I got the car, Do all my own work, apart from the DRC.... and ive probably missed the odd job

Ignoring general services and rounded off figures from memory-
under arch water cooling pipes, oil pump seal, gearbox fluid change, oil level sensor, plugs replaced and general service 4k
Gearbox complete refurbishment (all seals/all frictions/some steels), Torque converter while it was out, Rocker cover gaskets, Top oil cooler seals, cam adjusters oil seals, vacuum pump seal, PCV hoses, PCV oil separator, aux belt and tensioner wheel, all while gearbox was out about 2.5k. She's not leaked a drop of oil or missed a beat since then.
Battery 125
rear shock 800
rear quarter light £? cant remember
prop shaft 1.4k
ARP front discs and bells, ferodo pads 1.5k
front calipers refurbished, 500 (This includes a spare caliper I bought while doing this as its my daily driver but didnt need it)
rear DRC pipe/fitting 500
rear discs, ARP front discs and ferodo pads again (awaiting delivery) 1.5k
gearbox fluid change is due again, and secondary air pump is flagging an error needs looking at - next job

I use MPS4S tyres and theyre getting towards 1k a pop nowadays and generally i get 12-18 months running out of them

I have a spreadsheet logging all parts and costs but I tend not to look at the total; its there as a record for the lucky bugger when I do finally come to sell, but I've no plans to move her on just yet

Ive put 65K on her in my ownership, shes approaching 110K now

[ATinOf]

I knew Id forget a job, both rear springs - and £? cant remember

[ATinOf]

Oh and front drop links (that was only last month, showing my age with my memory !!)

[Jim Haseltine]

Would you be willing to loan that out at all Jim in the future, for a fee of course?

Odd - I'm certain that I answered this earlier tonight, wonder what happened?
Short answer - no reflection on people here as I've not met any of them, but having been burned a few times I don't lend out tools any more. However, I'm quite happy to provide drain/recharge services either here (York) or within a reasonable distance in the North of the country.

[IanH755]

Odd - I'm certain that I answered this earlier tonight, wonder what happened?

I've had this recently happen a few times too, the forum just "vanishes" my post a short while after I've seen it post (so I've definitely hit Submit).

[c3nturi0n]

Not much to go wrong... however, when it does
- expect high 3 figure, low 4 figure bills
- ALWAYS, ALWAYS opt for maintained example with records to show what was done to it
- every 7-10years seals deteriorate (due to heat)
- plus the usual issues with coolant, oil seal and gearbox (mainly applies to high mileage cars that were tuned early in their life)

It's a fine piece of motoring and still turns heads... with not many V10s on British roads these days .

Advice - if you can get one, go for it!