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Thread: Extended warranty costs... exorbitant???

  1. #19
    Registered User nistah's Avatar
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    Get the warranty if you can, cost is only an issue in the absence of value. Mine was transfered from PO with a $50 transfer fee & the contract has paid out over 10K...so do the math folks! IMHO the warranty on these beasts is like AMEX don't leave home with out it unless you have $$$ to throw out the window
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  2. #20
    Registered User mmaturo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lswing View Post
    From what I've read over the last year, mmaturo has had the worst experience, thankfully covered by warranty. My assumptions are that a combination of hard driving and poor quality replacements/mechanic work caused the issue to be so bad. Luckily I've only had the TC swapped on mine and I'm third owner at 92,000 miles now. I'm putting a good amount of extra power into the car and know that one day the trans will pay for it. That said I do my best to care for it without too much flogging. Rebuilt the TC right away with ACE. My drive to work is about 3 miles city, so I can get away with reducing wear and saving the hard driving for weekends.

    mmaturo, I wonder if you would have had them rebuilt out of pocket it might have been worth it and kept you in the RS6? I'm guessing you expected the problem to be fixed though, that's a bummer of a story. All that time down must have been a pain, but looks like you've got some good car options.

    When/if the trans goes, get a rebuild that is stronger, along with the TC. Sounds like that has been good to many folks. I've heard a few people talk about our trans still being a "normal" one, so rebuild isn't too crazy, certainly nobody wants to spend $5k for rebuild and labor. A rebuild or new trans on a newer M5 is $10-15k, we don't have it so bad. Personally I think the shifting is great for an auto, certainly acceleration! And tip mode gets the job done on back roads.

    I had the TC covered by the dealer, or at least $2k of it, and put another $4k or so into various repairs in the last year. Many of these repairs should last a long time, and the beast has been great. Although I've got a cv or control arm clicking on occasion in the front, my car seems to like eating cv joints
    No on the out of pocket part or indy shop as these things were new or rebuilt units straight from ZF with certainly quality RS6 Audi techs working on the car each time in a major city. I trust they did it correctly. And they did last each over a year...just not much more than that, But to add up the rest of the parts I could make a really long post...the car eats parts (and tires) so just was to me getting too $$ when i could get into a newer car if one existed (S5 was a good choice). I owned it as long as I could waiting for the next RS6 or RS5 just took to long so now finally I have the RS5 coming and I am certain I will never see the same level of issues again as I think Audi learned from the RS6 to spend more time on the engineering. The tranny in our cars was a hardened A8 unit rated for torque just about/above what the car actually puts out and just can't take our lovely slow shifts that Audi reprogrammed the car with for the US market. Its the reason the MTM TCU tune is most important. The European cars shift faster and put less tress on the components.
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  3. #21
    Registered User lswing's Avatar
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    Thanks for the continued input on this mmaturo! Agreed the biggest thing is being aware of some future costs, some big, some a few hundred here and there. I might never have bought this car if a close friend wasn't a great Audi/VW mechanic.

    I'd agree with most all of your thoughts, but a few differences. I worry about the rebuild quality from Audi, I got a steering rack from them that was bad from the factory, cost me $1k in labor. Driving style is the most important thing, of course you don't want to have to baby this thing all the time. I've tried to be meticulous with fluids, and yes the MTM chip went in my car right away too.
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  4. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by nistah View Post
    Get the warranty if you can, cost is only an issue in the absence of value. Mine was transfered from PO with a $50 transfer fee & the contract has paid out over 10K...so do the math folks! IMHO the warranty on these beasts is like AMEX don't leave home with out it unless you have $$$ to throw out the window
    As you put "if you can"... does anyone know of a legit company still willing to write these cars? The good companies are upwards of $9k to cover these for 3 years. Having worked for an insurance company myself I know they get smarter about how to price these contracts / policies, so $9k is probably right. The key is to find a good company / contract that hasn't caught on to the high claims frequency.

  5. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by mmaturo View Post
    No on the out of pocket part or indy shop as these things were new or rebuilt units straight from ZF with certainly quality RS6 Audi techs working on the car each time in a major city. I trust they did it correctly. And they did last each over a year...just not much more than that, But to add up the rest of the parts I could make a really long post...the car eats parts (and tires) so just was to me getting too $$ when i could get into a newer car if one existed (S5 was a good choice). I owned it as long as I could waiting for the next RS6 or RS5 just took to long so now finally I have the RS5 coming and I am certain I will never see the same level of issues again as I think Audi learned from the RS6 to spend more time on the engineering. The tranny in our cars was a hardened A8 unit rated for torque just about/above what the car actually puts out and just can't take our lovely slow shifts that Audi reprogrammed the car with for the US market. Its the reason the MTM TCU tune is most important. The European cars shift faster and put less tress on the components.
    Would an entry point into the car of the low $20's change your perspective? I may be looking at this wrong, but this is a hell of a lot of car for the current market price, so even if I spend $10k over the next few years I can rationalize buying this car over other alternatives. So by the time you buy it, maintain it and repair it, someone can expect to have $30-35k into the car over time, with a residual value of ~$15k down the road... seems like a reasonable investment for the performance and enjoyment of the vehicle. That said, down time would be a real bummer if this car lives in the shop.

  6. #24
    Registered User marklar182's Avatar
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    Total Service Protection

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  7. #25
    Registered User mmaturo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by eanders View Post
    Would an entry point into the car of the low $20's change your perspective? I may be looking at this wrong, but this is a hell of a lot of car for the current market price, so even if I spend $10k over the next few years I can rationalize buying this car over other alternatives. So by the time you buy it, maintain it and repair it, someone can expect to have $30-35k into the car over time, with a residual value of ~$15k down the road... seems like a reasonable investment for the performance and enjoyment of the vehicle. That said, down time would be a real bummer if this car lives in the shop.
    Sure I guess...obviously I'm coming at this from taking a bath on the sucker as I bought it barely used in early 05 for $70K so depreciation from there on and then the large cost of ownership even under warranty is crazy on this thing due to tight packaging and parts...in the early days we had few choices but best example was OEM rotors at $1400 a set in front and pads at over $300 for the fronts...oil changes at the dealer were $240 but they didn't dare charge the real number so paid $100 but the dealer took a hit with the work involved to drop the stabilizer bar. But please understand I think you have EXACTLY the right attitude and approach and the cash available. I would just not want to see anyone drop $20K on the car and have a tight budget thinking it a used car and gee how bad could it really be...and end up with a very large paper weight. Enthusiasts that know what the car is and the $,$$$ it takes to run it this thing have what is still in my mind the best all around performing passenger car I have seen...I never replaced it as MB and BMW simply do not make a 4 wheel drive beast that handles and takes any weather as well (getting closer but I'm not buying). This thing was awesome in the snow, on ice, in heavy rain...on a wet track...etc etc. The countless times I out ran M5s and AMG with it off the line and stayed ahead in anything but dry pavement (and then i still got off faster every time to 60) is just priceless. The day i traded her in i got a last run with a spanking new Gran Sport Vette and outran it from 60 up...didn't think it could but it did. So yes its crazy how cheap these are and worth every penny as long as you have a piggy bank with more pennies. I can't wait for the next RS6 that crossing my fingers it really is coming this time...S6 is so good already that's coming later this year, the RS6 will be worthy.

    Yeah the first 6 months i owned the car in 05 it was bad...it spent 3 months of it in the shop (not exaggerating at all) in 3 week intervals for over-boost then limping and trans/TC issues...nothing like paying for an RS6 and driving an A6 3.2. I know my service writers and techs a little too well over the years...I miss them now...I never need to take the S5 in. Since the first pile of time in the shop it did spend twice a year or more in 3 or 4 week stints waiting on parts and getting fixed. I got good loaners anyway and the customer loyalty points I built up actually paid my last timing belt change 100% so that was a silver lining : )
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  8. #26
    Registered User Thor's Avatar
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    Just thought I'd chip in as a very new RS 6 owner... Firstly, hello everyone here.
    Just last week I got my car and I was very adamant the Platinum level Fidelity Warranty was transferred into my name as soon as possible. Good thing too, as I had a tranny seal, wheel bearing and a couple other issues my local Audi dealer found while performing my state emissions and safety inspection. Aud called Fidelity and they honored the claim-minus my deductible. I am very glad this car had the extended warranty and I would recommend it...

  9. #27
    Registered User marklar182's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thor View Post
    Just thought I'd chip in as a very new RS 6 owner... Firstly, hello everyone here.
    Just last week I got my car and I was very adamant the Platinum level Fidelity Warranty was transferred into my name as soon as possible. Good thing too, as I had a tranny seal, wheel bearing and a couple other issues my local Audi dealer found while performing my state emissions and safety inspection. Aud called Fidelity and they honored the claim-minus my deductible. I am very glad this car had the extended warranty and I would recommend it...
    Welcome! Love the Red Beast!
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  10. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by mmaturo View Post
    You guys all need to read deep in these forums if you think the trannys are ok. I drove the car like an RS6 for 6 years as a daily driver, but as i said above the last one went even though i drove it very lightly the last year and not daily with no track or even jumping off lights as was coming off warranty and knew I wanted to sell or trade it in. The first transmission (the original) was failing when i bought the car a year used and it was driven by a lady in Orlando as a daily driver...I don't think she was jumping on it much. I have had plenty of other cars and now my S5 with Stasis tuning to 400hp with zero issues and same driving style including a couple of track days...my TT zippo. The transmissions and TCs fail in these things people. I posted elsewhere also yesterday that all but one former or current RS6 owner I personally know had replaced a trans/TC...one at 13K from new, That number including mine is 6 out of 7. I have seen personally 3 for sale more recently that i looked at for others and one for a forum member here that was at auction and it was so far gone the car could only go into reverse and the other two were slipping or hesitating (when coming to a stop a long and abrupt shift into first gear is a good sign its going).

    That said though your budget of 3 to $4K should do you just fine as long as you do not loose a tranny and or even if it does it will average out over time. I'm just worried about people who buy these things and do not prepare like you do for what will be high costs due to parts that are weak on the cars and the fact that most everything needs to be shipped from Germany and is $$$ as these are low production special cars. The only cheap parts are the common A6 pieces and thankfullyfor you guys cheaper brake/rotor/pad combinations now. MTM TCU reprogramming is defense number one though. I loved my RS6 and regardless was one of the most fantastic cars I have owned and I'm on my 6th Audi with an RS5 coming in a month so I'm not negative on Audi or the cars but this one you got to know what you are getting into. It could go well but more than likely I think it will be $$$$ to own over the long haul.
    Just a quick question that shows I have a lot to learn. What is the MTM TCU reprogramming you are referring to?

  11. #29
    Registered User mmaturo's Avatar
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    Check out website...Hoppen Motorsports in US...you send them your TCU and they reprogram it. Adjusts the shift speed to quicker like European RS6s

    http://www.hoppenmotorsport.com/Audi.RS6.C5.Engine.htm
    http://www.mtm-us.com/en/Audi/RS6/4-...o?FZID=RS6331Q
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  12. #30
    Registered User Jimmy's Avatar
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    http://www.horchaus.com/Car_imports.html

    Hoppen is no longer in business !! These guys up North can get the MTM chip into your TCU....def a smart mod, if not the smartest mod for an RS6.
    SOLD ! 2003 RS6 Mugello/Silver -MTM
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  13. #31
    Registered User Thor's Avatar
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    Thanks Jimmy for posting where we can still get MTM service/products. I have the MTM ECU/Tranny tune on my car but I have been searching frantically for where (if needed) I could call for help with MTM issues.
    2004 RS 6 Misano Red, MTM ECU/TCU, Milltek

  14. #32
    Registered User makaveli42's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy View Post
    http://www.horchaus.com/Car_imports.html

    Hoppen is no longer in business !! These guys up North can get the MTM chip into your TCU....def a smart mod, if not the smartest mod for an RS6.
    i have Vipers TCU chip....its just as comparable right?
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  15. #33
    Registered User Jimmy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by makaveli42 View Post
    i have Vipers TCU chip....its just as comparable right?
    I can't comment on the Vipers chip based on my no experience with it/them...however, I would suspect ANY TCU tune is better than what we USA owners got as OE.
    SOLD ! 2003 RS6 Mugello/Silver -MTM
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  16. #34
    Registered User mmaturo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy View Post
    http://www.horchaus.com/Car_imports.html

    Hoppen is no longer in business !! These guys up North can get the MTM chip into your TCU....def a smart mod, if not the smartest mod for an RS6.
    Oops, thanks for correcting me!! Kinda wondering why the links were a little weird and thought I heard that but everything was still online...you would think people would close down their websites or DUH maybe MTM would refresh their dealer list as I suspected it but Hoppen still came up as the rep on their site. I would go MTM...proven over the years with no issues and very inexpensive for the benefit...was just over a $100 in the Hoppen days if i remember correctly.
    2012 R8 GT #275 Suzuka, 2014 RS7 Suzuka/Lunar Silver, 2013 RS5 Suzuka/Lunar Silver
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