Opinions sought: potential purchase of Audi A6 estate (Nreg -1996) 2.6 litre V6 petrol

I think the 2.6s are pretty reliable engines - I've got a 2.5TDI A6 Estate and have done loads of miles in it in the last year with no major problems. Just the usual car things really - make sure it's been regularly serviced all its life, and make the sure the cambelt's been done fairly recently, if not knock off about £400 to get it done. Check all the electrics work, if there are any dash lights out knock them down as I've heard these can be a real pain to get to the bulbs. But other than that, if it runs well and all is good, then buy, but try and knock them down on price as much as you can!

Peter

More like £200, it's not worth anywhere near that sort of money for such an old car with a high mileage. Bodywork isn't always what you go for, the engine also matters together with all the other mechanical items.

Leave it well alone, £2k is a laugh. He would be lucky to get £30 at a scrapyard.

(top posting corrected)

I wish there were more people around that thought like you, then the better quality second hand cars could be had for nothing, not just the shit ones.

Peter

Err yeah right, well if you see any going for £30 then I'll pay you £500m for them.

Takes about 5 minutes, ignore the manual. Pull the steering wheel all the way out & all the way down. Remove the screw that holds the trim on below the dash Pull that end of the trim out & slide sideways to remove. Undo the screws that hold the instrument panel on, tilt forwards, replace bayonet fitting bulb & then reverse previous instructions

KNown faults, cambelt failure, if you don't want to DIY it then budget for it if it hasn't been done. For £2000 you exepect a full service history at that mileage but that's about the right price for a good clean one with no faults.

Hadn't read the manual, but would have done soon as the bulb for the oil pressure gauge/battery gauge/clock went on me a month or two back. That was after it always needing a thump to get working (then it'd work for the rest of the day) ever since I got the car!

Ah, goodo. Doesn't sound too bad. I'll have to check the haynes manual to see what long winded method they recommend. I remember doing the tie-bar bushes on an old mk3 escort of mine. The only method I could find in the Haynes manual was "tie bar removal and refitting", whick required me to undo the big nut at the end, plus undo another 4 or so little bastard nuts and bolts that would probably have rounded off or snapped off.

The much easier way was to just separate the track rod end and bottom balljoint so that the suspension leg moved freely in all directions, the undo the big nut at the end of the tie bar, then it just pulled out. Much much easier, but no mention of that in the haynes manual!

Peter

That's the contact to the circuit board, clean carefully & it improves. There should be 1 bulb each for those.

One thing I forgot to mention was to check the anti-roll bar bushes (often referred to as compliance bushes by mot testers). My A6 TDI Avant failed on these at 120,000 miles. Not a terribly difficult job to do, but knock off a couple of hundred if they look knackered (steer the wheels to full lock each way to get a look each side). Apart from that I haven't had any problems with my A6, apart from normal wearing parts you could expect with any car (brake discs/pads, split CV boot etc)

Peter

Thanks to all who replied. It changed hands for £1750, which is just above Parker's price for a "private buy (poor)". It has a full main dealer service history up until a year ago. It does not appear from the service history that the cambelt was changed at the recommended

I did have some trouble opening the boot - the manual says the boot lock cylinder has to be pushed in to open the boot, whereas in fact there is a catch above the number plate which does this.