High Mileage S6/7 Owners

[mr_dennis_s]

I am trying to decide between an C7 A6 3.0T or S6. I plan on keeping the car for ~5 years but I put about 30,000 miles on it annually. I was leaning toward the A6 for "lower" maintenance costs but after test driving them both today the S6 just felt so much better. My wife has a '13 Audi S4 6MT and that thing pulls so hard so I figured the 3.0T wouldn't be that far off from the S6. Boy was I wrong!! As many of you already know there is a very noticeable difference. But I digress..


Has anyone put a significant amount of mileage on their S6/7 since purchase? If so, has there been any major issues with the higher mileage examples?

[redrocker55]

Not to one up you on miles per year but I run in the 35-40,000 miles per year range. I went through this same consideration when I was deciding between a 2010 S-line 2.0 A4 and the 3.0 TFSI S4.

I thought about extra maintenance, etc. I owned that car to nearly 150,000 miles. I could not be happier w/ the decision to go with the S4. The transformation if the drive/ experience is similar to the difference between the A6 to the S6. From a reliability and cost perspective I would say it was minimal. My S4 was bullet proof. No out of pocket repairs at all. Only basic maintenance. Heck..the car was still on the original battery and it was turning over he engine strong.

So when I went shopping for a slightly larger vehicle I really only considered the S6. I did think about the TDI due to my huge amount of highway miles...but in the end...the roar is ability of the 4.0 TFSI in the S6 was something I just could not pass up. I am not in the camp that big HP V8 engines will be around much longer...so I wanted to get my hands on one of the best V8's ever produced so I could enjoy the thrill of that engine. The other consideration is the DSG in the S6. I am addicted to direct shift gearboxes. This is my 3rd one...all VAG units. All have been bulletproof. Hope this helps even though it does not directly answer your question.

[mr_dennis_s]

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear that someone else went through a similar decision. Sounds like you don't regret it at all. On other note I see you chipped your S4... do you plan to chip the S6?

[arrivalanche]

I have both and MAN, the gas milage is really bad on the S6 compared to the A6. I get around 8mpg with the A6 and around 18-22 with the A6. If your driving that much, dont even look at the S6.

[AnTarbh]

I have both and MAN, the gas milage is really bad on the S6 compared to the A6. I get around 8mpg with the A6 and around 18-22 with the A6. If your driving that much, dont even look at the S6.

Woah 8mpg. That is really bad for a car estimated at 18-22. That probably has to due with your driving style or something is wrong. My Q7 gets better mileage and I drive the piss out of it (pedal down 100% of time :))

[hubris]

Woah 8mpg. That is really bad for a car estimated at 18-22. That probably has to due with your driving style or something is wrong. My Q7 gets better mileage and I drive the piss out of it (pedal down 100% of time :))

Gotta echo that! I do 25-27 MPG average on highway trips in my S6. Average over the last 20k miles = 21.5 MPG. So either arrivalanche's foot is glued to the floor when he drives or that thing is broken! Since he only gets 18-22 in the A6 I'm leaning toward the former...

[cdubya19]

Wow 8mpg. I used to have a C6 A6 got about 20-26mpg. Moved into a C7.5 S6 and getting about 14mpg mixed driving and closer to 20-22 when do more highway miles. 8mpg? Did you bypass cylinder deactivation and only shift at high rpm?

Sorry OP. Don't do anywhere close in mileage. Can tell you the S6 air suspension is much more comfortable than A6 especially if you plan rack up the miles. I tested drove different setups on the A6, then a S6 back to back. Could definitely tell the difference. Would be interested to know if anyone will high mileage having issues with the air suspension especially since OP plans to rack up 150k.

I have both and MAN, the gas milage is really bad on the S6 compared to the A6. I get around 8mpg with the A6 and around 18-22 with the A6. If your driving that much, dont even look at the S6.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[AnTarbh]

Also, my '14 A6 was a great car but the s6 was way more comfortable. I expect my comfort seats in the s6 to be even more comfortable than my test drives with diamond stitching.

I hated that I couldn't adjust thigh padding in my A6 long drives (~4k miles) it didn't feel good. But it still felt better than my Q7.

[S4Per]

I thought I was going to do better in the S6 vs the SC'ed RS4. I use fuelly.com religiously, and had average MPG of 14.9 for the RS4 over a period of 2 years. For the S6, two months in, I'm closer to 13 than 14...and it's not all lead foot :/

[zcd2.7t]

One thing to consider is that the S6's air suspension may require maintenance as the miles pile up. Steel spring suspensions like the A6's have fewer parts to fail/wear out, and will be less expensive to repair/replace.

The 3.0T is an awesome, super-responsive motor. The thermostat is extremely likely to fail or need replacement at some point (mine went at about 80K miles), and some have had motor-mount issues, but overall, it's a great powerplant.

I don't know of any such issues with the 4.0T, but I also don't know of anyone who has high miles. It's only been available in the US since 2013, so that's not surprising.

Regarding fuel mileage, I'm also a fuelly.com user, and my S6 is averaging 21.xx mpg so, far, identical to my S4's average over 90+K miles. To me, that's impressive given the 100+ extra HP and 500+ lbs more weight.

[hubris]

I thought I was going to do better in the S6 vs the SC'ed RS4. I use fuelly.com religiously, and had average MPG of 14.9 for the RS4 over a period of 2 years. For the S6, two months in, I'm closer to 13 than 14...and it's not all lead foot :/

Does that correlate with the MPG monitor in the car computer?

[kouzman]

WOW guys!

I bought my rs7 back in January and I have put about 7.5K miles so far and that is a record for me and for all the cars I have owned! But it is not a dedicated daily driver also...

[zcd2.7t]

Does that correlate with the MPG monitor in the car computer?

Onboard computer has been ~10% optimistic on each of the 8 Audis we've owned...

This can be adjusted with the VAG-COM tool if desired...

[hubris]

Onboard computer has been ~10% optimistic on each of the 8 Audis we've owned...

This can be adjusted with the VAG-COM tool if desired...

What! I had no idea this occurred. Found an article from Car & Driver chronicling this process, and mentioning calibration: http://blog.caranddriver.com/why-you...how-to-fix-it/

VAG-COM instrucitons from AW:

Correct Fuel consumption in DIS (C7): (Revised)

[17-Instruments]
[Coding - 07] > [Adaptation - 10]
Scroll down about 20 items in the drop down list until you see something like fuel consumption adaptation - change the value from 100 to higher or lower:
Example - if your DIS is consistently off by 7% to your actual calculated mpg:
You RAISE the number to the percentage if DIS is OVER reporting mpg (i.e. 107)
You LOWER the number to the percentage if DIS is UNDER reporting mpg (i.e. 93)

[zcd2.7t]

What! I had no idea this occurred....VAG-COM instrucitons from AW:

Those instructions are also available on AZ, in multiple locations. Here's one:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...-complete-list

There's even a similar list on THIS forum, but it's not a "sticky", for some reason.

[arrivalanche]

My biggest problem is I live in LA where my average speed is like 11mph. I brought this up to another member with an RS7 and she is getting around the same. I assumed it was more than just the traffic.

[sciblades]

my tuned s6 had 58k when i traded it in and and that was over 37 months of ownership, it had many drag strip runs and over 375 launches. Never had any issues that only time anything went wrong with the car was a cam adjuster went bad, but that is because i was revving it when it was cold (started up in a parking garage) so that one was my fault but audi replaced it under warranty and it was good to go.

If you want long term reliability i think the s6 is a very solid option, but that said the 3.0t engine is also a very solid platform. I for one am not a fan of the transmission that comes in the standard a6 and that is my biggest quam because the a6 with a pulley and tune is not that bad a stage II 3.0t has about the same power as the stock s6 but the transmission will never allow it to feel the s6.

I would suggest if you are going to put that many much mileage on the car to pick up a cpo s6 or s7 that way you have a 100k warranty and don't have to worry about the premium for a new car there are some pretty nice pre facelift cars out there that are under 15k mileage and ripe for the taking.

[S4Per]

My biggest problem is I live in LA where my average speed is like 11mph. I brought this up to another member with an RS7 and she is getting around the same. I assumed it was more than just the traffic.

I think you're on to something with the traffic piece...it may actually be just that (hearing other's inputs seems to support that). I've been spending quite some time in rush hour here in Seattle (more than I seemingly did before) and was thinking it may be impacting the mpg more significantly than I'd imagined.

[ny_s6]

i just purchased my s6 and would also love to hear about high mileage cars, I will put about 15k a year.

How do the tuned cars hold up to high mileage?

[AnTarbh]

I think you're on to something with the traffic piece...it may actually be just that (hearing other's inputs seems to support that). I've been spending quite some time in rush hour here in Seattle (more than I seemingly did before) and was thinking it may be impacting the mpg more significantly than I'd imagined.

When I left Seattle in '08 traffic wasn't that bad. Moved back in '12 and wtf 100x worse, I just assumed this was your mpg problem ha.

[S4Per]

When I left Seattle in '08 traffic wasn't that bad. Moved back in '12 and wtf 100x worse, I just assumed this was your mpg problem ha.

Ha! Yeah :) I live near the I90 bridge..once they started tolling the 520, things just got way worse :/

[IngolstadtTech]

I would not want to own a high mileage 4.0l just for the simple fact that you have to pull the motor for just about any repair. Even spark plugs take about 3 hours to put in and they are covered in small brittle vacuum lines.the intake manifolds and exhaust manifolds are reversed so if you have any fuel injector issues, carbon issues, or variable intake runner issues, which we all know these motors will start to at higher mileages, the motor will have to come out to correct them. This is just something to consider when the car is out of warranty

[GameBreaker]

I have both and MAN, the gas milage is really bad on the S6 compared to the A6. I get around 8mpg with the A6 and around 18-22 with the A6. If your driving that much, dont even look at the S6.

I feel your pain. I've seen the same and worse, but then I live in Chicago. MPG is great on the highway, but I generally do that only on holidays or the summer.

[AudiA6A5]

get a CPO A6 w/ sport (for paddles) and go stage 2

[redrocker55]

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear that someone else went through a similar decision. Sounds like you don't regret it at all. On other note I see you chipped your S4... do you plan to chip the S6?

I am definitely tuning my S6. Probably in the next 3-4 months I will get it. Gotta spread out the funds a bit...getting new summer wheels and tires in February.

[Steeletro]

What are people at in 2020 for kms / miles . Thanks I'm at 167xxxkm