[ritedhawan]

Good buy.
"One of the cars which one would buy just to see her age gracefully!"
That's the thought that comes to mind when I see this Audi A6. 3.0 TDi.

The future expenses course you have charted is the best way going forward for anyone looking to buy premium cars. Frankly, ASS people are good enough till engine oil and oil filter change , bring to their attention anything remotely complicated and they start on their parts replacement spree!. If that's how modern day cars can be maintained than we are better off buying those parts from independent websites and handing them over to someone on whom we can trust and on top of that , oversee the installation of those parts.

Happy ownership!

[ash22]

Best wishes man.
You got real guts on spending this amount on a used German which is straight away avoided by most of our TeamBhp members.

Can you share us the points to remember or how to buy used German cars.

[pptk1158]

Congratulations on your sweet ride!
Looks classy is every sense. For a 90k run car, the paint job still looks phenomenal.
Wishing you many safe miles on your ride!

[Puneet0051]

Awesome Review Man. I am sure threads like these make others think of old Germans which for cost of ownership most of us skip. What if.. And it ends thr

You said 15-20lac bracket for your 10 Yr old Audi, ain't that too expensive. The way Audi depreciates or for that matter Germans do, I was expecting a price less than 10 lacs.

In Delhi Ncr we can't even drive these old beauties

[911CarerraS]

Originally Posted by Puneet0051

In Delhi Ncr we can't even drive these old beauties

Yes brother we are truly doomed. My uncle had to sell his 320d which was in pristine condition for paltry 5 lacks because it was nearing its end in delhi. A truly sad state of affairs

[DCharger]

That one is a hell of a beast Man...Congratulations and many happy miles ahead.

We bought a 35TDI in Apr-2015 in exact same color as yours. I feel the only difference between 2011-2015 is 2015 has a 4-zone climate control(Didn't have it in any of our cars till now) and top-end had LED light setup.

I could imagine the pleasure of driving a beast with 2 more cylinders than what I had. Our main concern was GC always. We do at least 2/3 inter-state round trips in a month. Every time we encountered a large speed breaker, we had to literally STOP the car, raise the vehicle up(Air suspension) and then cross the breaker. As we self-drove always, we planned to shift to a crossover as most of the luxury sedans would have similar GC.

We had to bid adieu to our A6 in 2017(took a heavy depreciation hit though) and a MB-GLC220d entered our garage as mile muncher in Aug-2017. The GLC did a good job till now and continues at it. Most recently we took the delivery of the First 2021 4X2 Toyota Fortuner in our state. This one is specifically used for site visits and we are mostly chauffeur driven.

You seem to have a knack of finding proper spares on Alibaba, a couple of additions if you have not already ordered

• Steering wheel seems to be worn-out, nice leather cover
• Gearshifter Knob
• Nice set of floor mats.

BTW I am from Hyderabad too..

[bhargav2015]

Kudos brother... so glad I can find someone here on Team BHP who thinks on similar lines. I picked up an older A6 C6 V6 (it rhymes! and isn't my doing) 3.0TFSI. 290 horses and 420 whoops and I GET each word of what you say. I really need to source parts for my car too and there's no way I can afford an A.S.S. Please get in touch, cuz I don't think I'm allowed PMs.

[ruchiragrawal]

Great job on the buy!

I feel many people are apprehensive about buying a relatively old luxury German car. But I feel the key to note and be wary of is the past ownership.

If you find a car with a one-person long ownership, along with low kilometers, then you know that the car was relatively babied. So, in this case, even if the car is old, it is still good and reliable. Add the fact that, if the past owner had a driver, the car was probably washed routinely, and rarely driven hard (since, when with the owner, drivers tend to drive as gently and comfortably as possible). Also, even minor issues would usually get taken care of immediately, and from the dealership garage.

I am saying this from experience since we have a 2012 BMW 520D. It is babied, and hence has proven to be quite reliable till now. We have many acquaintances willing to buy this car over other 15 lakh generic cars. My guess would be primarily for the reasons mentioned above.

It is indeed rare to find these kinds of scenarios for these cars, however, when you do, they turn out to be true gems.

Couple the knowledge of doing some fixes of your own + having known experienced mechanics around, and the car would easily go till atleast 150,000 km.

Cheers!

[viXit]

Originally Posted by sj_car_boy

Periodic Scheduled Maintenance

The first thing I was determined to get done was a 90K kms scheduled service. I read through the user manual and plotted the scheduled service plan as below.

Congratulations on the car! She looks great!

These cars are great with a little bit of DIY and research, like you have done.

Which garage have you used for the work done?

Originally Posted by DCharger

BTW I am from Hyderabad too..

I saw that both of you are from hyd.
Why don't you join our telegram group.

refer this link (The 2018 Team-BHP Hyderabad Meet Thread)
message Senior BHPian ecosport_rules, his number is here. He shall add you to the group

[Guru_Shikhar]

Congratulations on your new (used) buy. Great choice!!
I was mesmerized by beautiful Audi cars after watching legendary movie 'The Transporter'.
Beautiful and sleek car (or any automobile for that instance) design is a gift to Europeans.
Please keep updating the thread as this will be followed by many enthusiasts who are interested buying a used legendary German car but hold themselves for some reason.

Cheers.

[raunaqv471]

I think you have taken the plunge where most of us Bhpians would hesitate to. Buying a used out of warranty german luxury sedan and taking the benefit of depreciation. The A6 is a classic piece and has a timeless design.Takes a great deal of guts and dedication to go for the same. Am also glad that the car runs and drives as expected and was babied by the previous owner. At some point all of us have thought of picking up one of these beauties but the cut throat maintenance and horror stories get the better of most of us. Besides finding a well maintained example ain't easy by any stretch of imagination. Do keep the thread updated with regular maintenance , driving experiences as well the checks you undertook as due diligence before purchasing the car etc as a lot of us would be curious and awaiting to follow in your footsteps :

Regards....

[sandeepmohan]

Great buy. Preventive maintenance like what you have done and will be doing is one way to extend the life of the car. You can easily get about 200K's (and above) from this engine. If there is one thing that will hold up on this car, its the engine for sure. The presence of air suspension is news to me. I thought this was present only on the A8.

This generation of 3l German diesels was probably the first to get camp of petrol heads to take notice of the performance of these engines. They were just as fast as their petrol variants and a lot more frugal. All you need to live with is that diesel drone that filters into the cabin. Its something you get accustomed to.

[sj_car_boy]

Thank you all for the dopamine hits. Oh, what an amazing feeling it is. (Did you know that dopamine cleanse, i.e, no dopamine for a day/week is actually a thing in the Bay Area now. Fortunately - we have yoga)

Conviction to buy an out-of warranty 10 year old German

Originally Posted by GTO

I personally wouldn't buy an out-of-warranty German luxury car or one that's so old, but hey, different strokes for different folks .

Originally Posted by revvedup

Great car, how did the ascertain the condition of components like the Turbo and the injectors before purchase.

Originally Posted by ash22

You got real guts on spending this amount on a used German which is straight away avoided by most of our TeamBhp members.
Can you share us the points to remember or how to buy used German cars.

Originally Posted by raunaqv471

I think you have taken the plunge where most of us Bhpians would hesitate to. Buying a used out of warranty german luxury sedan and taking the benefit of depreciation. The A6 is a classic piece and has a timeless design.Takes a great deal of guts and dedication to go for the same.

Well - I found conviction due to the following -
1. Past horrors - The previous owner was a car enthusiast and took good care of it. I know he didn't cut corners and the car meant a lot to him. The only way to ascertain this, is to meet them.
2. Future maintenance -

Competency, Diagnosis and Repairs - I'm willing to spend time on the car should something go wrong. There are now tons of YouTube videos for the most common problems and how to fix them. My favourite yet is of Manish bhai from Agra. He has made amazing videos. His videos were handy for - how to service the car, how to diagnose & fix air suspension, air conditioner, fuel line, water pump, suspension overhaul, engine timing & overhaul, ECU, rear AC vents etc..

Parts - The markup on the parts of these cars is crazy. Some parts upto 10x. The cabin filter sold by Audi should cost around 7K at the dealership. The same thing in China (from the same factory) should cost around 300-400 Rupees. I don't fancy paying for the real-estate that the deanship is sitting on - mostly to a local politician? All filters are nothing but a sheet of special paper folded in a particular shape, IMO.

Similar story with all other commonly replaceable parts - air suspension struts, Engine mounting, fuel pumps, spark plugs, fuel injectors etc. Since the A6L was launched in China and is decently popular there - I was confident I will get the parts. For parts that I don't find in China - I was able to spot them on Ebay.com and Ebay.co.uk. It helps that the car is decently popular in US and Europe.

Example - The entire ORVM assembly (left) with paint job was available for 5,000 in China. Freight and import taxes added - could cost around 10-12K. May not be original but will be 80% of the original for 20% of the cost. The whole premise on which one should buy a used car.

Access to cheap parts and up-skilling material - gave me the conviction to go ahead.

On the inspection check-list, this is what I followed -
1. Learn about the owner
2. Check if everything seems functional and in-place. Get an experienced mechanic to verify.
3. Be prepared for breakdowns - no two ways to this.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by vigsom

Why don't you consider getting the windscreen buffed from a detailer or an independent glass polisher? I've got two of my cars' windscreens buffed this far with success. If it doesn't give you results to your satisfaction, you've at least tried. This should cost you no more than 1500 bucks, unless someone sees the logo and goes overboard.

Thanks for your kind inputs. Shall consider this now.

Originally Posted by lemedico

With all the bans on the China run portals like Alibaba / Aliexpress etc., where exactly are you sourcing the parts from?

Aliexpress will not ship. Alibaba still works. You will have to contact suppliers and they will ship it. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Used car prices in Hyderabad are only lower in comparison to Bangalore I believe.

Yeah. Very high compared to MH. But it is, what it is. Fortunately, real-estate is cheaper for the overall population.

Originally Posted by mufeez1234

Congrats on your buy. Indeed A6 is one of the best pre-worshipped buy one can buy in the market primarily because of its capabilities and secondarily because of low demand vis-a-vis Merc E or the 5er.

I once saw a video of converting a 2011 A6 to a 2015 one by changing the bumpers and head and tail lights. They added the Matrix one. Maybe you can give it a try.

Also, would like to the FNG at which you get your car serviced as it is difficult to get a competent FNG for European steeds in Hyderabad.

You're spot-on. Not considering the Matrix upgrade anytime soon (no budget :P). FNGs - Wazi bhai from Carz Doctor (Nagole) and Indar bhai from Garuda Garage (Alwal). Do let them know that you heard about them from me.

Originally Posted by Puneet0051

You said 15-20lac bracket for your 10 Yr old Audi, ain't that too expensive. The way Audi depreciates or for that matter Germans do, I was expecting a price less than 10 lacs.

The thumb rule that worked for me in Hyderabad is - 50% every 5 years. So - a ten year old car is worth about 25% of it's invoice value.

Originally Posted by DCharger

I feel the only difference between 2011-2015 is 2015 has a 4-zone climate control(Didn't have it in any of our cars till now) and top-end had LED light setup.
BTW I am from Hyderabad too..

The 2011-2015 A6 too has 4 zone climate control. The changes I noticed were - DSG became standard, new head/tail lights, bumper tweaks, boss mode.

Originally Posted by bhargav2015

I really need to source parts for my car too and there's no way I can afford an A.S.S. Please get in touch, cuz I don't think I'm allowed PMs.

Hey Bhargav, I'm not allowed PMs too. You should be able to find the parts on alibaba, Ebay.com or Ebay.co.uk. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Great buy. Preventive maintenance like what you have done and will be doing is one way to extend the life of the car. You can easily get about 200K's (and above) from this engine. If there is one thing that will hold up on this car, its the engine for sure. The presence of air suspension is news to me. I thought this was present only on the A8.

This generation of 3l German diesels was probably the first to get camp of petrol heads to take notice of the performance of these engines. They were just as fast as their petrol variants and a lot more frugal. All you need to live with is that diesel drone that filters into the cabin. Its something you get accustomed to.

Thanks for the kind words sirji. I've seen well maintained Jettas touch 1.8L kms - just like you said.

[Akshay1234]

Congrats on the car, the A6 3.0 tdi is certainly a competent machine. A great buy.

But, while sourcing parts from China is fine for cosmetic things, I would avoid it for mechanical parts. Even like filters. Having experienced firsthand a lot of these parts, compared to the OEM parts. I would say the original OEM part quality is by far the best. There are lower grade parts available too, manufactured in Turkey, etc. And at the bottom of the rung is china.

You mentioned a filter is a sheet of special paper folded in a particular shape. Well how do you know the special paper is doing what is it supposed to, how do you know what the micron rating is? Forget things like air suspension parts.

My honest advice, don't look for the cheapest option, look for the best quality OEM parts, they will be more expensive than the China stuff but still far cheaper than the workshop.

[sj_car_boy]

Originally Posted by Akshay1234

Congrats on the car, the A6 3.0 tdi is certainly a competent machine. A great buy.

But, while sourcing parts from China is fine for cosmetic things, I would avoid it for mechanical parts. Even like filters. Having experienced firsthand a lot of these parts, compared to the OEM parts. I would say the original OEM part quality is by far the best. There are lower grade parts available too, manufactured in Turkey, etc. And at the bottom of the rung is china.

You mentioned a filter is a sheet of special paper folded in a particular shape. Well how do you know the special paper is doing what is it supposed to, how do you know what the micron rating is? Forget things like air suspension parts.

My honest advice, don't look for the cheapest option, look for the best quality OEM parts, they will be more expensive than the China stuff but still far cheaper than the workshop.

This makes a lot of sense. Thanks sirji. Shall only consider OEM parts. Thanks a ton.