Mike141

Currently have an 05 A8 and it's getting up there in mileage and looking to trade her in prior to anything big busting on it. I was looking to get an 05-08 A6, 3.2L. Has anyone on here have any strong, firsthand knowledge of this car? Want to know how it compares to our D3s, reliability, stereo, fuel economy, etc. I have driven them, but would like to know from the community here. I'd ask this on the C6 forum, but it seems like when you want to know something, you get the right answer here; as I have for the past 3.5yrs. Also take a look at the pic, it's the left side of the engine of the one I looked at yesterday, there was some oil there but it was not moist, anyway to tell if valve cover leak had been fixed or this was just spillage from a fill?

jakematic

We had an 08 3.2 for about 3 years, solid vehicle.
Lots of power, very responsive.

The stereo is very good, not quite the same as the D3, but close.
Mileage was a little better, around 18 in town and 25 highway.

The one thing I didn't like was the ride.
You could feel every little stinking thing compared to the D3.

With the rear seat down the thing is cavernous and was always used for warehouse club trips.
We retrofitted NAV and it came with AMI so it was pretty well decked out.

No major problems to speak of.
Oil changes, tires, and brakes were the only service items over ~40k miles.
I did replace one $45 tail light bulb receptacle early on as they are known to have wonky connections and I didn't want to fart around with it once it starting showing bulb out errors.

There was some 'suspicion' of a transmission hesitation issue, which I think could have been taken care of with a flush.
But it was approaching 100k miles, not mine, and 'time for a change' so it was traded...

MP4.2+6.0

issues w/ the FSI and fouling on the 3.2. Being on the Q5 forum where the 3.2 was the higher power motor compared to the 2.0T before they switched it out for the 3.0T, my sense is the 3.2 was essentially almost proverbial ground zero for FSI fouling type stuff. Audi did extend warranties on it in the Q5 context, so you might want to at least check that in the C6 vein too.

Specific vehicle aside, I get the sense folks thought the 3.2 was fine performance wise in its time at least in the Q5 (weighs very similarly to A6's BTW), but the folks w/ 3.0T's who previously had a 3.2 Q5 (or older 2.0T) seem very happy about the 3.0T step up.

hahnmgh63

What he said about the FSI engines, which also applies to the early 2.0T engines. Audi has found a way around the fouling now on FSI engines with dual injectors which has solved the carbon fouling problem. But it does affect the early 2.0T, 4.2FSI, and 3.2 engines. The only other 3.2 specific issue is that they having timing chains which one would think is an improvement over the belt but they've had problem with mid to high mileage 3.2's having the chains stretch. The chains are expensive to replace as the engine has to be pulled as it's on the back of the engine instead of the front.

Mike141

Damn, I'd figure a timing chain was better than a belt...is there any way I'd been able to tell if the cars timing chain had stretched?

da9th_one

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THE 2 WHEEL DRIVES FROM THAT ERA...!!!
I had and 07 A6 for less than a month...drove like a dream...then one night i started the car and all gears on the instrument cluster were flashing PRNDS and I couldn't get the darn thing our of park...

i had it towed to an audi specialist in the area called "Lord Of The Rings" and the owner advised to get ride of the thing as fast as i could b/c some transmission sensor was faulty...4-6k to fix...and it only affects the 2 wheel drive and NOT the quattro...he cleared the code and it drove fine again..i had to buy a generic code reader just to clear the code whenever it decided to go in the fritz again...

after a little searching online, i verified it's a common issue for those cars...

long story short, i ended up trading it in for my current a8...save urself the hassle...