The Merits of an RS6 Daily Driver

[P1054]

I wholeheartedly second nubcake's response. "By the book" is crazy expensive. Even doing stuff yourself can be expensive until you have worked on it a bit and get to understanding the car. I have now pulled an engine 4 times and reinstalled one twice (today/tomorrow will be the third, and the fourth was a part-out). The fourth engine pull took me about 6 hours, mostly by myself but with a little help from my brother when actually removing the engine/transmission.

The auto transmission is a known weak link, but I see nothing wrong with your idea to buy one, drive it till the trans goes or you get tired of it (my first one went, my second one lasted 1 month before I got tired of it). As for the shocks, there are plenty of folks on this forum who seem to have good feedback on Koni sport shocks with the factory springs for an inexpensive option, or KW's if you can spend a bit more. Engine wise, my impression is the internals are pretty bulletproof as long as you take car of them (standard maintenance). There have been a few reports of plug threads stripping and causing damage, but other than that I can't think of any common issues.

As for miles, I tend to drive my cars a fair amount, and I would agree too that at 100-130k there's a lot of life left, provided the car was maintained for those miles. Definitely make sure any one you buy has been properly maintained. If it hasn't, catching up on the maintenance could quickly double the cost of the car.

Timing belt can be done for much much less than list price if you do it yourself. The last one I did cost around $550 for parts, but there are even better options that I've come across since then. $550 spread over 40k miles isn't really all that bad.

If anything else goes wrong, just ask on the forum here. Chances are others have run into the same thing, and may have found a better way to fix it than just buy and replace parts.

And finally, if you do get one, you're right up I5 from me. If you end up going with a manual conversion, feel free to get in touch. There's a few of us around here with RS6s, and at least one other (GreggRS6) who have gone through or are going through the swap.

[OneBayShop]

Some excellent advice, which is why I joined the forum!

Welcome OneBayShop!

I used my RS6 as a DD when I lived in California as there was room to boost.
Now living in Wa in the crowded area east of Seattle, driving the RS6 was frustrating as non-RS6 drivers in PNW rarely drive 5mph over the posted. Having the ability to go rapidly from 60 to triple digits in a blink, that was lost...

Suggested Free Guidance:
1. Find an indy shop that knows how to work on an RS, not a BMW shop that has worked on a RS in the past.
2. Find an Audi dealership that has a qualified RS tech.
3. Shop here for a good example -> look here is one with Euro Recaro seats->bakes
4. It seems that the rule of RS6 thumb ownership is to have $5k handy.
5. The auto box with paddle shifting was adequate and fun, the 6 speed would have been ideal.
6. Have two sets of tires/rims (summer - Michelin Super Sports/winter - Blizzaks).
7. An RS typically needs to be flogged and hard (meaning like shift 1-2-3 to 6k) routinely.
8. 92/93 octane
9. Timing belt at a dealership is $1600/$2200 unless you can do it yourself and the frequency is 40k miles.
10. The lowest mile example is typically NOT the best one to purchase.

Fear of snow???? What's that?

I should have been a little more charitable to my lovely wife. She loves snow, she just fears my driving a fun rear-wheel-drive car in it.

I live at 1,200 feet and have hill-climb opportunities on the way to and from work. My current DD gets bogged down on those climbs.......1-2-3 at 6k will be a much better experience.

I wholeheartedly second nubcake's response. "By the book" is crazy expensive. Even doing stuff yourself can be expensive until you have worked on it a bit and get to understanding the car. I have now pulled an engine 4 times and reinstalled one twice (today/tomorrow will be the third, and the fourth was a part-out). The fourth engine pull took me about 6 hours, mostly by myself but with a little help from my brother when actually removing the engine/transmission.

The auto transmission is a known weak link, but I see nothing wrong with your idea to buy one, drive it till the trans goes or you get tired of it (my first one went, my second one lasted 1 month before I got tired of it). As for the shocks, there are plenty of folks on this forum who seem to have good feedback on Koni sport shocks with the factory springs for an inexpensive option, or KW's if you can spend a bit more. Engine wise, my impression is the internals are pretty bulletproof as long as you take car of them (standard maintenance). There have been a few reports of plug threads stripping and causing damage, but other than that I can't think of any common issues.

As for miles, I tend to drive my cars a fair amount, and I would agree too that at 100-130k there's a lot of life left, provided the car was maintained for those miles. Definitely make sure any one you buy has been properly maintained. If it hasn't, catching up on the maintenance could quickly double the cost of the car.

Timing belt can be done for much much less than list price if you do it yourself. The last one I did cost around $550 for parts, but there are even better options that I've come across since then. $550 spread over 40k miles isn't really all that bad.

If anything else goes wrong, just ask on the forum here. Chances are others have run into the same thing, and may have found a better way to fix it than just buy and replace parts.

And finally, if you do get one, you're right up I5 from me. If you end up going with a manual conversion, feel free to get in touch. There's a few of us around here with RS6s, and at least one other (GreggRS6) who have gone through or are going through the swap.

Thanks for the insight into the maintenance, mileage, and suspension components. It's nice to know there's somebody close by if I need some advice.

Any thoughts on whether it's better to find an example that somebody has already performed the 6spd swap vs doing it yourself?

[atikovi]

Any thoughts on whether it's better to find an example that somebody has already performed the 6spd swap vs doing it yourself?

If you like Mugello Blue I can help ya out on the latter as the transmission is acting up the last 2 years.