CBeau
March 23rd, 2014, 17:36
905122. Early or late? Metallic black with gray & carbon. Not near car now to check build date. Original title issued 11/08/04 was from Sunnyside Audi Middleburg Heights, OH to VW Credit Leasing. My friend who I bought from, his VA title issued 04/2006 @ 42,680mi. So yeah, wow - never really noticed this before, it was driven those first couple years. Holy sh-t that's like 2.4k mi. a month LOL. 80 mi.s a day, I guess in reality that isn’t so so over the top.
So anyway, after that revelation realized just now, I bought it about a year ago w/ 85k mi. from second owner friend. I have had many cars over years mostly European majority Porsches but all kinds. I am really good at acquiring them but really really bad at parting with them. LOL My weak spot (outside of Porsche anyway) is for high-end and rarer but super depreciated cars like RS6, CLK Black, Bentley GT cars like that. I’ve mod.ed a lot of them, do fair amount of track things and most of my own mechanicals short of engine/trans builds and advanced fab. I have what amounts pretty much to a fully commercially fitted garage w/ lifts, good tire equip. etc. which helps me to live amicably with my bad habit.
Friend I bought from is very active as instructor and driver in PCA and Audi Club racing/track events via that he apparently has some kind of Audi corp. connection and also via the fact that Audi/VW and now I blv. also Lambo and Bugatti but I don’t blv. Bentley NA HQ is right here in our backyard near Dulles airport. He and his wife used car as semi-daily normal car. He swears he only drove it twice at Audi Club DEs and he is honest guy and I don’t really care. He has lots of cars, GT2, crazy gray market Porsches, Euro series Cup cars etc. and he is pretty mechanically knowledgeable and I know maintains his cars well.
He said never really had any issues w/ car. He says he had the dampers/? DRC system replaced 2 maybe 3 yr.s ago under some recall but that an Audi contact of his told him to wait some period of time from when he initially inquired on recall process b/c he=contact could soon get new / revamped parts possibly from new RS6?? Is that possible at all? He said something like that but I don’t fully recall and there really is no paperwork on it in folder I got. I need to ask him about that again.
I probably overpaid some, paid him $25k but it included us sending it to excellent shop of long-time dealer Audi tech and fellow Porsche nut friend for time belt and water pump and generally going over compression / leak-down etc. which didn’t yield any other big finds. There is also a fair amount of value to me in buying a car from someone I know and trust and know they maintained well and treated respectfully and responsibly. I had always liked these cars ever since they were a press darling way back when and almost bought a couple others over past few years, ones I’d spotted sitting in dealer lots mostly direct trades couple auction cars, and I’m glad I have this one and not more of an unknown, although I really would have preferred silver w/ black. Interior is spotless which is good for that light gray, exterior is all straight but I’d put paint at a 7 of 10, I’m going to have front bumper and rockers refinished - just your basic battle scars - and wetsand & polish rest really well. Don’t like owning black cars even if metallic.
Few years ago when I was thinking abt. Getting one I already knew trans was weak and I started researching a little bit incl. on this forum - which btw has really excellent info. and knowledge base compared to most other car forums – and I read some little bits on manual trans swap and I figured “ok if I get and start tweaking it I’ll just do that” but now after having for a while and researching further it seems a bit too involved for me. I have other fast and way faster cars and ones I can tweak way easier than this one and I like the way this one drives as it is anyway. And because no big trans etc. issues yet I’m thinking to just not mess with it, maybe exhaust, better bars, maybe coilovers but I need look further into ups and downs of doing those too. But it really needs to be lowered a good inch. I’m not worried about effecting resale val. Like all my other BS I’ll never get rid of it. Bc I like it LOL. All I’ve done since got is put a set of RS4 wheels I’ve had laying around for a while on it. I really have not driven much in the yr. I’ve had it, maybe 1.5k but I do start and drive little bits to maintain, stabilize fuel etc. I’m getting ready to start driving it more.
Only issues I know of are airbag light that time belt tech guy said for some reason he couldn’t get off I have his notes but not too worried about it will investigate with scanner when I get around to it. And a small lubricant leak seems to have developed in what would pretty much be directly under shift console, I’m pretty sure its motor oil (? Rear main) but I need to get in air and look further. And by small I mean maybe a teaspoon in a couple weeks’ time and does leak at rest. I did do one big drive with Ferrari friends few months after I got it, couple hours pretty hard pounding on back roads in MD and PA chasing around w/ bunch of 458s and Scuds etc. and the car performed amazingly well and raised a lot of eyebrows. Esp. uphill w/ sweeping turn to really maximize AWD and TQ…. I was totally in their asses LOL. But truth be told a lot of them aren’t the best drivers either but nonetheless car, brakes (I think pads are stock), all were phenomenal …. Leak may have started after/during that escapade. I was pushing it prob. 8/10ths for abt. 2 hr.s almost straight nonstop.
Got the Bentley manual. First on my to do list is change / upgrade trans fluid. I have read some fluids threads on here but I was planning to use appropriate RedLine products for all unless really instructed otherwise. I use them for most all things in all cars and so do lots of friends w/ pretty much universal great results.
Anyway… cool car. Glad I got one and that there is this very knowledgeable community to support. After learning more and reading more here I will say the car overall is seemingly prone to be more problematic than I thought, and I already had a pretty high expectation of that relatively speaking. Pretty lame that Audi would make what was supposed to be a world-beater in the super sedan class and cost more than the AMG etc. and have such a weak trans. The period E55 trans will take well over 1,000 ft lbs I believe. I like it anyway, and no probs. Yet knock on wood. The main reason I like it so much is its rarity.
So anyway, after that revelation realized just now, I bought it about a year ago w/ 85k mi. from second owner friend. I have had many cars over years mostly European majority Porsches but all kinds. I am really good at acquiring them but really really bad at parting with them. LOL My weak spot (outside of Porsche anyway) is for high-end and rarer but super depreciated cars like RS6, CLK Black, Bentley GT cars like that. I’ve mod.ed a lot of them, do fair amount of track things and most of my own mechanicals short of engine/trans builds and advanced fab. I have what amounts pretty much to a fully commercially fitted garage w/ lifts, good tire equip. etc. which helps me to live amicably with my bad habit.
Friend I bought from is very active as instructor and driver in PCA and Audi Club racing/track events via that he apparently has some kind of Audi corp. connection and also via the fact that Audi/VW and now I blv. also Lambo and Bugatti but I don’t blv. Bentley NA HQ is right here in our backyard near Dulles airport. He and his wife used car as semi-daily normal car. He swears he only drove it twice at Audi Club DEs and he is honest guy and I don’t really care. He has lots of cars, GT2, crazy gray market Porsches, Euro series Cup cars etc. and he is pretty mechanically knowledgeable and I know maintains his cars well.
He said never really had any issues w/ car. He says he had the dampers/? DRC system replaced 2 maybe 3 yr.s ago under some recall but that an Audi contact of his told him to wait some period of time from when he initially inquired on recall process b/c he=contact could soon get new / revamped parts possibly from new RS6?? Is that possible at all? He said something like that but I don’t fully recall and there really is no paperwork on it in folder I got. I need to ask him about that again.
I probably overpaid some, paid him $25k but it included us sending it to excellent shop of long-time dealer Audi tech and fellow Porsche nut friend for time belt and water pump and generally going over compression / leak-down etc. which didn’t yield any other big finds. There is also a fair amount of value to me in buying a car from someone I know and trust and know they maintained well and treated respectfully and responsibly. I had always liked these cars ever since they were a press darling way back when and almost bought a couple others over past few years, ones I’d spotted sitting in dealer lots mostly direct trades couple auction cars, and I’m glad I have this one and not more of an unknown, although I really would have preferred silver w/ black. Interior is spotless which is good for that light gray, exterior is all straight but I’d put paint at a 7 of 10, I’m going to have front bumper and rockers refinished - just your basic battle scars - and wetsand & polish rest really well. Don’t like owning black cars even if metallic.
Few years ago when I was thinking abt. Getting one I already knew trans was weak and I started researching a little bit incl. on this forum - which btw has really excellent info. and knowledge base compared to most other car forums – and I read some little bits on manual trans swap and I figured “ok if I get and start tweaking it I’ll just do that” but now after having for a while and researching further it seems a bit too involved for me. I have other fast and way faster cars and ones I can tweak way easier than this one and I like the way this one drives as it is anyway. And because no big trans etc. issues yet I’m thinking to just not mess with it, maybe exhaust, better bars, maybe coilovers but I need look further into ups and downs of doing those too. But it really needs to be lowered a good inch. I’m not worried about effecting resale val. Like all my other BS I’ll never get rid of it. Bc I like it LOL. All I’ve done since got is put a set of RS4 wheels I’ve had laying around for a while on it. I really have not driven much in the yr. I’ve had it, maybe 1.5k but I do start and drive little bits to maintain, stabilize fuel etc. I’m getting ready to start driving it more.
Only issues I know of are airbag light that time belt tech guy said for some reason he couldn’t get off I have his notes but not too worried about it will investigate with scanner when I get around to it. And a small lubricant leak seems to have developed in what would pretty much be directly under shift console, I’m pretty sure its motor oil (? Rear main) but I need to get in air and look further. And by small I mean maybe a teaspoon in a couple weeks’ time and does leak at rest. I did do one big drive with Ferrari friends few months after I got it, couple hours pretty hard pounding on back roads in MD and PA chasing around w/ bunch of 458s and Scuds etc. and the car performed amazingly well and raised a lot of eyebrows. Esp. uphill w/ sweeping turn to really maximize AWD and TQ…. I was totally in their asses LOL. But truth be told a lot of them aren’t the best drivers either but nonetheless car, brakes (I think pads are stock), all were phenomenal …. Leak may have started after/during that escapade. I was pushing it prob. 8/10ths for abt. 2 hr.s almost straight nonstop.
Got the Bentley manual. First on my to do list is change / upgrade trans fluid. I have read some fluids threads on here but I was planning to use appropriate RedLine products for all unless really instructed otherwise. I use them for most all things in all cars and so do lots of friends w/ pretty much universal great results.
Anyway… cool car. Glad I got one and that there is this very knowledgeable community to support. After learning more and reading more here I will say the car overall is seemingly prone to be more problematic than I thought, and I already had a pretty high expectation of that relatively speaking. Pretty lame that Audi would make what was supposed to be a world-beater in the super sedan class and cost more than the AMG etc. and have such a weak trans. The period E55 trans will take well over 1,000 ft lbs I believe. I like it anyway, and no probs. Yet knock on wood. The main reason I like it so much is its rarity.