Buying S6

[gors32]

Hi everyone. I am from Croatia and I am looking to buy 2013 S6. Can you tell me something about maintenance, running costs and what to watch when buying? We have bad choice of cars in Croatia so I would import one from Germany. I am planning to put Milltek valvesonic catback with RS6 rear diffuser with RS6 exhaust tips. Can you recommend me what downpipes and ECU tuning to get? I was looking in APR tuning and downpipes.

Thank you for your help

[OlyS6]

Hi everyone. I am from Croatia and I am looking to buy 2013 S6. Can you tell me something about maintenance, running costs and what to watch when buying? We have bad choice of cars in Croatia so I would import one from Germany. I am planning to put Milltek valvesonic catback with RS6 rear diffuser with RS6 exhaust tips. Can you recommend me what downpipes and ECU tuning to get? I was looking in APR tuning and downpipes.

Thank you for your help

Depending on the mileage, some of the bigger issues owners commonly face are having to replace a failed oil separator and failed motor mounts. Overall the reliability of this platform is excellent. You can't go wrong with an APR ECU tune on this platform. The tunes have also shown great reliability on our cars. An EPL tune gives you the flexibility of flashing both the ECU and TCU from home over wifi, rather than having to go to an APR dealer, so also a good choice. The APR downpipes work fine, and will allow you to upgrade from the Stage 1 ECU tune to the Stage 2 ECU tune from APR for free, assuming you buy the downpipes new. The downpipe design is not as nice as AMS downpipes, but less expensive.
When buying the car, you may wish to see if the seller will disclose the results from the launch counter for the transmission, as well as misfire counters from the engine, which may give you an indication of how hard the prior owner drove the car.

[brilliant_black]

If I were you I would save up and get a 2015 instead.

2013 models had some issues with stuff like the coolant lines.

[shoe3k]

If I were you I would save up and get a 2015 instead.

2013 models had some issues with stuff like the coolant lines.

This x2.

You should really get the facelift because it's worth the few extra thousand you would spend.

[brilliant_black]

This x2.

You should really get the facelift because it's worth the few extra thousand you would spend.2016 is the face lift. 15 is the last year for pre face-lift

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[gors32]

Thanks everybody for answers. What about reliability with APR/EPL tune? Any problems with car? I have read something about cylinder misfire with APR tune.

[Prak98]

2016 is the face lift. 15 is the last year for pre face-lift

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I believe that our 2016 model year was the 2015 model year for Europeans, I may be wrong though.

[zcd2.7t]

Thanks everybody for answers. What about reliability with APR/EPL tune? Any problems with car? I have read something about cylinder misfire with APR tune.

I saw mention of misfiring with APR's RS7 tune, but not with the S6/S7 version... Maybe I missed it?

As far as overall reliability, the platform is about as solid as Audis get, in my opinion. Even the '13s are troublesome - there are just a few "service actions/recalls" that should be performed at no cost by the dealer - no big deal.

[OlyS6]

Thanks everybody for answers. What about reliability with APR/EPL tune? Any problems with car? I have read something about cylinder misfire with APR tune.

I've had both EPL and APR tunes. (Recently switched to APR in order to go Stage 3, as EPL doesn't have this available just yet). I've not had any reliability issues with either vendor. EPLs customer service is excellent, and the ability to flash from home is great. It was also great fun to drive with. The only downsides in my opinion were that it did not remove the speed limiter, and if you use APR downpipes, you need to use O2 spacers on the rear cats in order to not throw a CEL. (The APR tunes 'code out' the downstream cats, so no need for spacers).
I've been logging misfires that do not trigger any CELs, and have no evidence that they are directly related to either tune, as there are plenty of folks who've been logging misfires bone stock as well.

[gors32]

I've had both EPL and APR tunes. (Recently switched to APR in order to go Stage 3, as EPL doesn't have this available just yet). I've not had any reliability issues with either vendor. EPLs customer service is excellent, and the ability to flash from home is great. It was also great fun to drive with. The only downsides in my opinion were that it did not remove the speed limiter, and if you use APR downpipes, you need to use O2 spacers on the rear cats in order to not throw a CEL. (The APR tunes 'code out' the downstream cats, so no need for spacers).
I've been logging misfires that do not trigger any CELs, and have no evidence that they are directly related to either tune, as there are plenty of folks who've been logging misfires bone stock as well.

So basically both tunes are pretty much the same. I like EPL better because I can flash from home. Nearest APR dealer is 200 km from me. What is the price for stage 1 and TCU tune?

[OlyS6]

Not sure what the going rate is. Email [email protected]. He’ll hook you up with whatever you need. You might also check the classifieds for good deals. I believe 16AudiS6 has his up for sale currently at a great price


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[Alister]

I believe that our 2016 model year was the 2015 model year for Europeans, I may be wrong though.

You are correct. The facelift A6/S6/RS6 was released in 2015 for Europe and 'Rest of World' markets.

[shoe3k]

2016 is the face lift. 15 is the last year for pre face-lift

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He lives in Croatia so it would have been a facelift model we were talking about if it was a '15.

[c99]

2016 is the face lift. 15 is the last year for pre face-lift

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He is from Europe, here facelift started in 09/2014.

[Deleos]

Depending on the mileage, some of the bigger issues owners commonly face are having to replace a failed oil separator and failed motor mounts. Overall the reliability of this platform is excellent. You can't go wrong with an APR ECU tune on this platform. The tunes have also shown great reliability on our cars. An EPL tune gives you the flexibility of flashing both the ECU and TCU from home over wifi, rather than having to go to an APR dealer, so also a good choice. The APR downpipes work fine, and will allow you to upgrade from the Stage 1 ECU tune to the Stage 2 ECU tune from APR for free, assuming you buy the downpipes new. The downpipe design is not as nice as AMS downpipes, but less expensive.
When buying the car, you may wish to see if the seller will disclose the results from the launch counter for the transmission, as well as misfire counters from the engine, which may give you an indication of how hard the prior owner drove the car.

OlyS6, I'm looking into a 2013 S7 and asked for the information you suggested. I asked for the launch counter info and the misfire counters However this is what the dealership responded with. Would you have any suggestions on what I don't understand, or what they might not understand?

"For a list of misfire’s and launches left I took your question to our shop foreman who has been working on Audi’s for over 13 years could not find this on our shop scanner."

[OlyS6]

Not certain which software the dealership is using, but in VCDS, it is simple to look at the engine module, select ‘advanced measures’ and then select the check boxes for ‘number of misfires cylinder 1’ and each of the other cylinders as well. In the transmission module, selecting ‘advanced measures’ and then clicking the check box for ‘launch counter’ gives you the number of launches. I find it a bit hard to believe that they don’t know how to check the number of misfires on their own brand of car, which would make me suspicious. If you take it for a test drive, you may want to see if you can borrow a vagcom cable from someone and see if the dealership will allow you to check it yourself


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