The Return of the Suzuka Grey A6 Avant!

[lnferno]

Last year, with our first child on the way, I figured it was time to get an Avant. I got a pretty nice B7 A4 Avant (6 spd manual, Bluetooth, Cold Weather package, etc). I'm 6'2" and with the rear facing baby seat, it was pretty cramped. That, coupled with the day trips to see my family, we'd load up the Avant with the stroller, pack n' play, etc, it just was not quite enough room.

In January of this year, I started frequenting the "Avants Only" forum here and saw a lot of impressive C6 A6 Avants, but what cinched it for me was Bryzf1's (Bryan) Suzuka Grey Avant thread. That was the sexiest looking Avant that I'd ever seen. I learned in that thread that it was likely the "only" Suzuka Grey A6 Avant in the U.S. Bummer! I fell in love with that car and color the second I laid eyes on that thread. Unfortunately, I was about 6-7 months late to the party - - Bryan had sold his beautiful C6 A6 Suzuka Grey Avant last summer.

Oh well, since that was out of the question, I started my search for the perfect C6 A6. I wanted the Prestige package w/Cold Weather and it had to be the 3.0T supercharged engine. Suzuka Grey was pretty much out to the question since I learned that you had to custom order that color, so I figured I'd settle for an Ibis White or Silver A6 Avant. I searched everywhere you can possibly imagine online, but unfortunately, there were not that many to choose from and none of them had the cold weather package. I succumbed to the fact that I'd have to compromise. I finally settled on a 2011 Prestige Silver Avant. It was clear across the country and I really wasn't thrilled about it, but from the limited # of Avants to choose from (based on my earlier requirements), it was probably going to be my best bet. I exchanged several phone calls and emails with the seller and finally came to an agreement on the selling price. This was on a Friday a couple of weeks ago. I told him that on Monday, I'd wire the funds to him.

Despite the fact that I had pretty much finalized this deal, I still did my daily search for "my perfect Avant". That Sunday, I came across an ad that completely blew my mind. "2011 Suzuka Grey A6 Avant for Sale"!!! I was like W T F!?!?!? I thought that Bryan had the only Suzuka Grey A6 Avant!?!? It turned out that this was his car! The 2nd owner put it up for sale. The seller is actually an accomplished musician and tours, but as much room as this Avant has, he needed more room.

The timing couldn't have been better. I was literally hours away from wiring the funds to this other A6 Avant that I felt I was compromising on. I quickly contacted the seller of this Suzuka Grey Avant - - checked out all of the service records, etc and bought the car! I couldn't be happier with this purchase! It's ironic that I was finally able to get THE very same car that actually inspired me to get a C6 Avant in the first place!

As a lot of you probably remember, Bryan had done some very impressive mods to the car such as wheels and suspension (dropped). I'm sure the first question that I'm going to get asked is "What are you doing to do to it?". I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm actually going to keep it stock - - at least while it is still under warranty. After the warranty is up, then I'll likely put coilovers on it and maybe an ECU flash. Well, that's not entirely true. I actually did my first mod today. I hard-wired my radar detector (hey, that counts, right?).

I'll keep this thread updated as I have new updates to the car.

Anyways, I know these pictures aren't as impressive as how it looked when Bryan owned it (dropped w/wheels and all), but I still think it's sexy as hell!

[DucatiTorrey]

wow, very nice!!!

[GramCracker]

FUCK YEA!!!! You're back dude! I can't wait to see what you do with this car (if anything)

[lnferno]

FUCK YEA!!!! You're back dude! I can't wait to see what you do with this car (if anything)

Thanks, man. I've been following your S4 Avant for a while. Can't believe you are selling such a fine gem.

[mixtery]

such a beauty. I really love the color. I'm in the same boat right now. Expecting our first born in 2 weeks and I can't bear to think of getting rid of my A4 Avant but the baby seat is installed and it's tight. 6'2 here as well. Damn these rear facing baby seats. Gonna try to hang in there and see how it goes but might have to go bigger at some point.

[Charlescrs6]

Congrats! You have a very impressive garage. Love how you keep it all in the family.

[TCHUN003]

OMG I want sooo badly!!

[streetsoffire]

It's amazing how that avant left the fold, and is now back in the hands of another Audizine member. Great find.......

[D's Avant]

Looks great, duh... You could go with some light mods like some spacers and a Polo/MKV rear wiper conversion.

[OB1]

Nice!

[A6Avant]

Looks great!

just so you know coilover and spacers WILL NOT void any part of your warr. IF you get Audi to purchase and install coilovers they recommend (Bilstine, H&R, and KW all make the mark). I know because my wife and I have been seriously looking at new Avants from Audi. It was one of my first questions I had for them....

[bryzf1]

Congrats, it's great to see the car back here on Audizine again. I couldn't believe my old thread had over 20,000 hits... ppl love the C6! :)

[kneel]

this is awesome!

[lnferno]

such a beauty. I really love the color. I'm in the same boat right now. Expecting our first born in 2 weeks and I can't bear to think of getting rid of my A4 Avant but the baby seat is installed and it's tight. 6'2 here as well. Damn these rear facing baby seats. Gonna try to hang in there and see how it goes but might have to go bigger at some point.

First off, congrats on your soon to be newborn! Parenthood is definitely one of the most rewarding experiences you'll ever have!!!

As far as the A4 vs A6 Avant goes, my stance is certainly not that you CAN'T make it work in the A4 Avant - - it was just more cramped than I was willing to deal with. I have family ~50 miles away that we see often and make a day out of it, so packing all of the essentials got to be more trouble than it was worth. Plus, we'll likely have another child in the near future. So for me, it was a no brainer moving up to the A6 Avant. I don't know if you are considering getting an A6 Avant - - I can tell you that there is significantly more room. As a test, I positioned the driver's seat to my liking (keep in mind I'm 6'2"), then sat in the rear seat directly behind it and it was comfortable. You know as well as I do that is not possible in the A4 Avant, but if you don't need to carry adult passengers in the back seats, then it may be a non-issue. Also, it's a LOT easier to fit all of the baby stuff in the back cargo area now. I will be honest in saying that the one thing that I do really miss from my A4 Avant was the manual tranny. I wish that was an option for the A6.

Looks great!

just so you know coilover and spacers WILL NOT void any part of your warr. IF you get Audi to purchase and install coilovers they recommend (Bilstine, H&R, and KW all make the mark). I know because my wife and I have been seriously looking at new Avants from Audi. It was one of my first questions I had for them....

Thanks for that info. I'll have to hit up my dealer and see if they'll be cool with me putting on coilovers. Even if they are cool with it and I do end up putting on coilovers, I wouldn't drop it that much - - probably only an inch or so. The roads here in my city SUCK, plus we sometimes do get a fair amount of snow here in Colorado, so I wouldn't want to drop it too much.

Thanks all for the compliments on the car. I'll keep this thread updated when any mods are done to it.

[lnferno]

I think for the first cosmetic mod, I'm going to black out the rings in the back.

[nnnick]

Interesting! Was one of the sellers Audi North Scottsdale? If so, I've seen this car IRL, beautiful!

[lnferno]

Interesting! Was one of the sellers Audi North Scottsdale? If so, I've seen this car IRL, beautiful!

Yup! That's the dealer that bought it last summer!

[nnnick]

Yup! That's the dealer that bought it last summer!

Sweet! Glad it ended up in the hands of another enthusiast, I saw the car there and was so worried someone would buy it not knowing how special/rare Suzuka was.

[tankdeer]

Car looks awesome, glad to see that it's back in the AZ family.

Looks great!

just so you know coilover and spacers WILL NOT void any part of your warr. IF you get Audi to purchase and install coilovers they recommend (Bilstine, H&R, and KW all make the mark). I know because my wife and I have been seriously looking at new Avants from Audi. It was one of my first questions I had for them....

This is a partial truth. You don't need to have Audi install anything. Legally, they can only void your warranty if they can prove that the modification you installed caused the failure, and even then it's only the warranty for that part, not the entire car. For instance, if you install coilovers and you engine takes a dump on you, they can't void any part of your warranty simply because the car has coilovers. However if you install coilovers and it causes say a control arm bushing to go bad, they may have a valid cause for denying that claim.

[Anthony]

It's amazing how that avant left the fold, and is now back in the hands of another Audizine member. Great find.......

Congrats, it's great to see the car back here on Audizine again. I couldn't believe my old thread had over 20,000 hits... ppl love the C6! :)

So very true!

[lnferno]

So, here's my first mod. It's not much, but I figured that I'd keep this thread updated. I hard-wired my Escort 9500 radar detector and smart cord. I thought about doing a stealth install and drilling the ashtray, but I really don't want to hack up this car, so the next best location was by my right knee. It's out of sight from both the passenger and out of sight from anyone standing outside the driver's side (wink wink). The location is good also because it's directly in my line of sight right in between the two right side steering wheel spokes.

[VroomVroom]

Fun reading this thread....what a great car! That color....slurp.

[Richard]

Dante -

I am glad you are back! I saw your last car for sale while I was in Mexico, and was honestly debating coming home early to grab it from you.

I cannot wait to see what you do with this car, and as always, you know I have photographers who would LOVE to get your final product in front of their lens.

Richard

[illusive45]

you are one lucky man. Love that car!

-From one C6 Avant owner to another!

[lnferno]

Dante -

I am glad you are back! I saw your last car for sale while I was in Mexico, and was honestly debating coming home early to grab it from you.

I cannot wait to see what you do with this car, and as always, you know I have photographers who would LOVE to get your final product in front of their lens.

Richard

Hey Richard,

Thanks - - would love to get someone who actually knows what they are doing with a camera. Obvsiously, I'm about as amateur as one can get :) It will be a while before it's worthy of a photoshoot. I actually love the stock wheels believe it or not. I will get coilovers eventually and drop it a bit, not slammed or anything though. Probably only 1-1.5 inches. At that point, I'll hit you up. Would love to get in your mag again :)

[lnferno]

Any photoshop gurus in here? I'm curious what this picture would look like with black rings. What would guys recommend - flat/matte black or satin black rings?

?

[D's Avant]

What about Plasti-Dip to try it out? I you do not like it, you can just peel it off.

http://www.dipyourcar.com/

[lnferno]

What about Plasti-Dip to try it out? I you do not like it, you can just peel it off.

http://www.dipyourcar.com/

Yah, I've seen that. I think on the front it wouldn't look bad as it would blend in better with the grille, but I don't think that's my style for the rear rings.

[Richard]

Here you go with the black rings....IMO it cuts into the cleanliness of the car. And black rings are overdone. But that's just me
dante.jpg

[lnferno]

Thanks, Richard.

I think that looks really good. I have some time off next week. Going to try to get it done next week.

[lnferno]

Well, I bit the bullet and did my first TD1 mod haha. AKA APR Stage 2+ (pulley + v2 software). Keep in mind I did this coming from bone stock - - I didn't have any performance mods previously. Holy crap - - It feels like my Avant just did a line of coke and chased it with a red bull! I haven't been on it too much, but I did do a quick low mph pull today and it did a good job of pinning me and wifey to the back of the seat! I haven't done any high mph pulls yet, but I'll be making a 100 mile round trip (mostly highway) this weekend. I imagine it should shine even more in the higher gears at the higher RPMs.

[tankdeer]

Sounds awesome

[GramCracker]

Well, I bit the bullet and did my first TD1 mod haha. AKA APR Stage 2+ (pulley + v2 software). Keep in mind I did this coming from bone stock - - I didn't have any performance mods previously. Holy crap - - It feels like my Avant just did a line of coke and chased it with a red bull! I haven't been on it too much, but I did do a quick low mph pull today and it did a good job of pinning me and wifey to the back of the seat! I haven't done any high mph pulls yet, but I'll be making a 100 mile round trip (mostly highway) this weekend. I imagine it should shine even more in the higher gears at the higher RPMs.

The Avant must scoot now! The 3.0T is really amazing with only a tune and a pulley. I wish you were local so I could get a ride and check it out. Anyway, what are your plans for an exhaust?

I was merging out of traffic on a highway hear me and did a 2-3-4 pull, passing a guy in a huge jacked up truck with his window down, and once he caught up to me he just kept staring . Man, I wish I knew what was going on in his head... "What is that? It's a wagon, so it couldn't have possibly been fast... But it was a fast wagon..." Your Avant's color is so unique I'm sure you'll be turning heads in no time!

[lnferno]

The Avant must scoot now! The 3.0T is really amazing with only a tune and a pulley. I wish you were local so I could get a ride and check it out. Anyway, what are your plans for an exhaust?

I was merging out of traffic on a highway hear me and did a 2-3-4 pull, passing a guy in a huge jacked up truck with his window down, and once he caught up to me he just kept staring . Man, I wish I knew what was going on in his head... "What is that? It's a wagon, so it couldn't have possibly been fast... But it was a fast wagon..." Your Avant's color is so unique I'm sure you'll be turning heads in no time!

If you are ever in Colorado, hit me up.

As much I'd love to get exhaust, I really don't think that I'm going to be doing any more go-fast mods. Gotta keep the wife and the baby happy. I'm at 6500' altitude, so going stage II+ basically brought the performance back up to where it normally is at sea-level. It is so disappointing how much power we lose up here at altitude. I essentially lose ~25% power just being up here at 6500' altitude. It feels a bit more torquey and maybe pulls a a bit harder in the higher RPMs than it did at sea-level, but comparing it to when it was stock up here at altitude to now is a HUGE difference.

I'm sure you've left a lot of people scratching their heads with your car. The performance just isn't proportionate to how the car looks to them. haha

[lnferno]

Did the following vag com mods today:

Disable Seatbelt Chime
[17 - Instruments] [Coding - 07] -> Long Coding Helper -> Byte 0
Bit 2-4 – Seat Belt Warning inactive

Enable Gauge Test/Needle Sweep
[17 - Instruments] [Coding - 07] -> Long Coding Helper -> Byte 1
Bit 0 - Check the box for "Gauge Test/Needle Sweep active"

Enable Lap Timer
[17 - Instruments] [Coding - 07] -> Long Coding Helper -> Byte 1
Bit 3 - Check the box for "Lap Timer active"
Lap Timer Tutorial

Enable Hidden menu in MMI
[5F - Information Electr.]
[Adaptation - 10] -> Channel 6
change 0 to 1
Use this hidden menu at your own risk.
To get to the hidden menu, press and hold Car & Setup for about 6 seconds ..... and once in tread VERY carefully
Caution: Keep away from the "Bootloader"

[lnferno]

Painted the rings Flat Black!

Before:


After:

[lnferno]

Putting on new rubber today - - Bridgestone Pole Position RE970AS

[name.goes.here]

Love the A6 Avant! Very nice!

[lnferno]

Added the obligatory Audi Sport License Plate Frame

[GramCracker]

Putting on new rubber today - - Bridgestone Pole Position RE970AS

I did this the other day too! Also, the flat black rings look great