I just bought a used 2007 Audi A6 (53,000 miles). Last night I put one of those fast food paper cups in the cup holder under the wooden panel in my center console (the one directly behind the MMI controls). Seconds later I heard an unnerving sound coming from the cup, quickly pulled the cup out of the cup holder to find that one of the retractable grips was out of its mounting and had caused the cup to leak into the cupholder. I quickly dumped my iced tea (non-sweetened) out into the parking lot and soaked the 3/4's of an inch of tea sitting in my cup holder up with my napkins.

I have no idea if any tea soaked into the console from the cup holder, but I think some might have. Does anybody know what is under that cup holder--e.g., will I be looking forward to the day when my MMI stops working because of this incident? I stuck my finger inside the hole that the grip was supposed to be occupying/protruding from and there is a wall between the cupholder panel and the section of the console that houses the MMI, so that was encouraging, but who knows where that tea went if it did get in.

Also, my strip of wooden trim is starting to come loose from my driver's side door, which is another nice surprise only one week after buying the car. Also, just called the local Audi dealer for my scheduled service and was told that the service schedule dictates that $900 worth of flushings, etc need to be performed. I prepared for the fact that Audi's are cars that are more expensive to maintain, but I thought $900 seems a little steep!

I just bought a used 2007 Audi A6 (53,000 miles). Last night I put one of those fast food paper cups in the cup holder under the wooden panel in my center console (the one directly behind the MMI controls). Seconds later I heard an unnerving sound coming from the cup, quickly pulled the cup out of the cup holder to find that one of the retractable grips was out of its mounting and had caused the cup to leak into the cupholder. I quickly dumped my iced tea (non-sweetened) out into the parking lot and soaked the 3/4's of an inch of tea sitting in my cup holder up with my napkins.

I have no idea if any tea soaked into the console from the cup holder, but I think some might have. Does anybody know what is under that cup holder--e.g., will I be looking forward to the day when my MMI stops working because of this incident? I stuck my finger inside the hole that the grip was supposed to be occupying/protruding from and there is a wall between the cupholder panel and the section of the console that houses the MMI, so that was encouraging, but who knows where that tea went if it did get in.

Also, my strip of wooden trim is starting to come loose from my driver's side door, which is another nice surprise only one week after buying the car. Also, just called the local Audi dealer for my scheduled service and was told that the service schedule dictates that $900 worth of flushings, etc need to be performed. I prepared for the fact that Audi's are cars that are more expensive to maintain, but I thought $900 seems a little steep!

Good news and bad news, good news - no harm done to MMI. Everything under the center is relatively well protected, the insulation and carpeting under it are probably wet but no harm will come to the wiring or HVAC duct.

Bad news - 55K is a major service for the C6 and that $900 quote is about average for dealer pricing for that service. Steep? Absolutly. You can try a competent indy shop and save some money, but make sure they are Audi specialists and not a run of the mill shop.

there's a diy post in here somewhere for the 55k service as well.

Thank you so much. I was hoping that the cup holder section of the console was sequestered from the MMI wiring/etc. As far as the service goes, it did sound like the schedule called for a lot of work to be done at 55K, including flushing the Coolant, Brake, Power Steering, Transmission, Front and Rear Diff, if memory serves.

When I talked to the Audi service technician about the spill, he said they would need to pull everything out and see if any damage was done by my spilled tea, since he said he didn't know what was under the cup holder and how the cup holder connected to the other portions of the console (red flag for an Audi tech?). I think I will tell him not to do it, especially based on your post and since he will charge me an arm and a leg on top of the $900 service charge. Thanks again!

Not to defend the Audi tech, but they usually don't pull apart the center stack on a daily basis. Not to say that they shouldn't know. But I would be more worried if they said they are not sure what was under the shift gate. I only know because, well, I was really bored one lazy weekend...

Also, they get paid partially based on billable hour, even if they know nothing is damaged, pulling the dash apart means billable hours for them. FYI, diagnosing a problem that's not fixed or fixable does not count toward their hours when car is under warranty.

thats why I only allow plastic bottles in the a6. ;)

No food or beverages in my car. Maybe a plastic water bottle - but only for me. No food or beverages in my car. No picking up prepared food and taking it home (smell). My 2004 A4 still has the new car smell! Groceries are a different story.

Spill Warning!

When I brought my car in for a malfunctioning MMI, first thing they said to me was the fluid disclaimer. Total BS on Audi's part. They claim cup holders are not found in "German" cars only in US cars, hence no built in spill protection, hence no warranty.

I did notice that the owners manual says that only drinks with lids are to be used in the cup holders, as lidless drinks can spill and cause damage to upholstery and electronics. Could be Audi's basis for the "no-spill" fluid disclaimer?

I think I will follow your suggestions--from here on out any and all beverages in my car will be limited to water in plastic bottles. I had my car serviced today, and the technicians fixed my broken cup holder. They basically confirmed what Mikehw17 already said, that the MMI portion of the console is separated from the cup holder by a barrier. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I don't encounter any water/tea-oriented gremlins that pop up in the future with my MMI.

Just for fun, I thought I'd relay a story from my mother's '02 E55 AMG. She had a water bottle in and after taking a corner, a bit (1/6 bottle maybe) spilled out and ran into the area around the gear selector. This is not really unexpected for the place the cupholder is located. She wiped it up quickly. At any rate, she parked and did some shopping. When she came back, she backed out and the car wouldn't let he put it into drive and threw up an error code, stuck in the parking lot. She had to have it towed and MB required like $2k to fix it!