I’ve been a member of Pistonheads pretty much from when it all began when I was looking into buying my first TVR back in 2000, a 4.2 Cerbera. That is the origin of Pistonheads, originally a TVR dedicated online club which has evolved into what it is today. If you’re a petrol head then surely you’ll have heard of Pistonheads! 3 years later I owned one bought from the classifieds.
Anyway, this month I decided to tentatively put my car up for sale on their classifieds as I’ve done with many cars over the years.
In fact I bought the 6 from a dealer (something I said I’d never do) advertising on Pistonheads after looking for an RS4 avant for a long time, a car I’d hankered to own for years since I had my B6 S4 avant. Fast forward 10 years, I now have 3 kids that need carting around with my wife and I, so when looking at the RS4 I realised just how small they were in the back, something I’d forgotten about from owning the S4 which inside is essentially the same. So I started to look at the e60 M5 (I had a nice e46 M3 at the time). I went out in a couple and loved the engine note and power, but they felt heavy and the interior looked a bit dated. Reading up on all the horror stories of vanos failure, SMG3 pumps going, the notorious M big end bearing failure, oil pumps failing, and many other common problems I decided against one, and started looking at the RS4’s bigger brother, the RS6. I thought at the time these would be stupid to go for, a 5 litre v10 twin turbo, with a boring auto box, big, heavy, and cumbersome, nope…not for me. Until I drove it, and realised how well this car hides its weight and size, and how slow it made the RS4 feel in comparison. The car was recently stage 2 MRC tuned to 735bhp and 1043Nm, and I got out of it feeling a little whoosey, leaving saying to myself it is too much for the road, especially for an occasional family lugger, why would I need so much power. But 3 days later I couldn’t get the car out of my head, it was a crazy thing to own, something that no manufacturer is ever going to re-create, and you only live once so sod it, I rang the dealer up and said I’m having it!
The car is such a tool, you don’t need to wring its neck to extract all the horses it produces – and I rarely do, it makes such progress on part throttle using the masses of mid range torque, the family (2 upright car seats and a booster in the middle) fit, just….and the kids love it! Mine had a rear entertainment package added to it by a previous owner, and the kids love being able to watch DVDs with their headphones on for the longer trips.
Initially I was only getting 12mpg on my 6 mile commute through traffic to work in Oxfordshire. I’ve since moved (for work) to the south of France, and still commute in the car. But the longer 30km commute with less traffic and much better driving roads, has increased this to 20mpg. Still, not great, but it is better. My journey here also gave an obd reading of 24mpg average for the 850 miles. Granted this was probably optimistically wrong, but really, owning an RS6 v10, I didn’t expect it to be frugal!
So anyway, Sunday morning I received a message from a friend of mine saying ‘my actual car’ was on the front page of Pistonhead’s, in an article about the C6 RS6! Sure enough, when I logged on, there was my car advert on the front cover listed as ‘The brave pill’! Now, I’m not desperate to sell my car, I absolutely love it. A true wolf in sheep’s clothing do everything well car, that I honestly think will be hard to better. The only reason I was planning on selling was to get a newer C7 version, as I love the more aggressive looks, and the fact it is newer. So I created my advert and forgot about it, until I’d had some interest from potential buyers sending me emails. I didn’t think it would be easy to sell as I’m not in the UK, so a potential buyer has to rely on my advert, pictures and my explanation, and trust me enough to make the effort to get on a plane and fly to Marseille and then drive the car back, something that will cost about £500. I thought about driving it back to the UK to leave with my brother to sell for me, but as I said, I’m not desperate to say goodbye to the car just yet, so decided to just see what happens.
I’ve had some offers, but not quite what I’d be happy to let it go for, especially considering the extra outlay for the 6 year younger model upgrade (30k!), which has made me think do I really need to bother! I’ve got a French family car over here now too, so the RS6 only gets used by me only to commute, and the odd trip at the weekend for a nicer car to travel in when we visit places here. We’ve so far taken it on about 3 skiing trips in the winter, to Argeles sur mer, to St Tropez, and are planning a road trip next month to Cannes, Frejus, Monaco, and possibly into Italy too. I’ve thought about buying a run around for here, and keeping the RS6 in the garage for the weekend and the aforementioned family trips, but it doesn’t appeal to me as this type of car. So this led me to start looking at the R8 as they’re similar prices now to the C7 RS6, but the wife wants the RS6 to stay, and I kind of agree with her that the R8 would get used far less, and be a waste of money sat in the garage most its life. That’s what is so great about the versatility of the 6, it is quicker than most things on the road, really comfy for cruising, a great stereo, and feels planted and safe for the family. I’m amazed also at the amount of appreciation the car gets over here, people video it, take pictures and comment on how nice it is to see it, I honestly didn’t realise the French we’re into their cars like that.
Anyway, a very boring read so far many of you may say…so I’m sorry about that, but my main point was that Pistonheads have written a piece about the C6 RS6, and used 'my' advert as the basis of their story. When you go to the discussion forum about the article, you get all the haters comments saying how bad the RS6 is from people who have most likely never even been in one let alone driven one! One chap comparing the appalling handling of his A6 tdi to the RS6! Seriously….
I have to agree the RS6 isn’t the best handling car out there with its hefty weight, but I do think it is pretty good, and not what the author of the article makes it out to be.
It’s made me question if including my car in his story, has hindered my potential sale, or helped it giving more publicity etc. The comments sure won’t help, but I guess if you’re looking for a C6 RS6 you will over look these pub talk like comments, as you’d have done your own research!
Here is the article, at least he has read my advert well to give him some credit! I thought I’d share it with the community on here.
https://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph ... pill/40627
