I recently purchased my first Audi, a 95 A6Q in beautiful dark green with beige leather. It has an auto box which I wanted after shifting my last 5 cars.
My previous ride was a 91 Mitsubishi Galant VR4 so AWD was important in selecting it's replacement. I don't think I made a bad choice! :)
I bought the car off eBay from a well recommended wholesaler in CT. The car has 62k on odo. When I picked it up, the dealer mentioned that the brakes would need to be replaced soon. I brought the car to my local Audi dealer and had him check it. He said it needed brakes. That was it. I was surprised. Of course, it needs a 60k mile work over too... So I had the dealer do a brake job at about $600. From what I have read, thats reasonable.
I had another issue come up tho. Last week, the key got stuck in the ignition! I tried everything - restarting, shifting gears, moving the steering wheel but nothing seemed to work. A while later after driving it, I was parked in my garage and frigging with the key when I heard something click and the key came out. I put it right back in, started the car, moved it and couldn't get the key out again. In the process of pulling, well... pop! Out came the ignition switch!!! DOH! AAA graciously hauled it to my dealer. He replaced the switch along with the brakes. Total - $889. Nothing I see unreasonable for dealer service here.
Get the car home, key comes right out. Take the A6 out that evening, key wont come out! ARGH! I get the "I hate this car" from my wife... She gets the "look" from me.
So I take the car to work this morning with the plan to drive to the dealership at lunch.
Get to work, try to take the key out and of course, it won't. So I'm wiggling it, careful THIS time not to pull the switch out. I restart the car, shift gears, wiggle the steering wheel and put it back into park. Then something odd struck me. I grabbed the gear shift and shift to reverse. Hmmm... It moved WITHOUT me pushing down on it.... Into neutral and it pops up. Push it down, into reverse and into park, doesnt pop up, can't get the key out. Can't push it down to take it out of park but slip it into reverese then neutral and it pops up. Do this a couple more times and finally in park, the gear shift pops up and voila! The key comes out of the ignition.
So! Whats up with that!?!?!?

A quick update. Went out at lunch today and to the bank. It shifted normally until I got to the store. As I moved the lever from reverse to park, it simply did not just slip into park and then pop up. In fact, as I was being very deliberate and light fisted with it, I could not, without considerable effort, get it into park and then when I did, it did not pop up. Closer inspection seems to show that there is something just below the surface of the shifter gate that is interfering (probably the switch that releases the key and locks the steering wheel).

First, welcome to the forum, and welcome to Audi ownership! ;)

Sounds like the issue is not with the ignition switch but something to do with a switch that prevents shifting without the key on, and from shifting out of park without the brake. When you depress the brake, you should head a sort of 'click' from the shifter area. I really don't know what all could be wrong with that since I haven't had any problems with mine.

Was the $600 for brakes for front and rear? If so, that's reasonable. Pretty high if it was for the front only. Mine were $500 for the fronts only (pads/rotors) at the dealer, and $600 for F&R through an indy shop buying my own upgraded parts.

For your 60k service, In addition to what the service book lists, you should do:

Timing belt, tensioner and idler, water pump, thermostat, serpentine belt, fuel filter change, air filter change, coolant flush, brake fluid flush (if not done when you had your pads replaced) and spark plugs. I think I paid about $650-$700 for all the items to be done.

Again welcome to the forum and enjoy your A6!

I havent noticed the click but I do recall that when this "instance" occurs, I needn't press the brake pedal to shift. So something is not completing it's cycle.

Yeah, it was for fronts and rears, rotors and all.

Mine does the same thing. Everything works fine, except occasionally the shifter does not pop up when put into park. I've never had a case where a little wiggling won't take car of it. If the shifter is not popped up, the key won't come out.

Haven't done anything about it yet though.

I get the same problem sometimes... Or at least it sounds like the same problem. Drove me crazy!

In my case, I found that the shifter knob sticks sometimes. It doesn't quite pop all the way back up when you put it in park and let up on the shifter knob. If the knob doesn't pop all the way up, the key will not be released.

My fix: I simply pull up slightly on the shifter knob when I put it in park, to make sure it's not sticking. The key is released just fine every time now that I've gotten into this habit.

I figure there's a way to un-stick the shifter knob, but I've found that this new habit solves the problem at no cost.

Let me know if this works for you, or if I'm just totally off-base in understanding your problem.

wrightspace
1996 A6 Q

I have noticed that when this occurs, I can pull the shifter up but then I noticed that it is more difficult to then shift back out of park.
Wiggling does seem to work. Will probably talk to the dealership and get back to you guys.

My A6 has only two months left on the Audi Assured warranty, so please let me know what you hear from the dealership.

If it's something that would be covered under warranty, I want to get it taken care of before August 31!!!

Thanks!