A couple of these have turned up locally and I'm especially interested in one that happens to be a manual one.
Now, I was never a big fan of the Audi 100 that morphed into the early A6, I always found them nose heavy, understeery and generally not my keg of beer. Are the later ones better? Anything specific to look out for that's likely to break? Expensive maintenance?
Most of this applies only with less power. I'd take the C4 based 5000/100/A6 over the later Passat based C5 hands down. The newer they are the worse they get.
They aren't great handlers, but they are pretty damn nice highway cruisers. Drive trains are rock solid, but the little piddly stuff will drive you nuts. Ashtrays and cup holders always break, CEL will be on, and maybe the occasional window regulator that happens to be half of the door will crap out. Timing belt change is a little pricey, but not bad if you do it yourself.
Not great handlers, hmm. Kind of a turn off, that - if I draw a line from our house to work, it goes something like straight - straight - straight - wigglewigglewiggle over the 7300' pass - straight. The bit over the pass is the fun part so it would be nice if I had something with half decent handling.
BTW, I just noticed that the only spec that is showing on kbb and edmunds for these is the 2.8V6 and I recall them being pretty juicy from when I occasionally got to borrow an A4 with that engine in Germany. or am I off here?
In reply to BoxheadTim:
I think you are off. I recall that engine being somewhat of a dog.
Err, "juicy" as "likes a drink", not "juicy" as in "good".
We enjoyed my wife's 2001 A6 2.7T. We bought it new. It was a magnificent highway cruiser. Very cushy, but it cornered flat. And the twin-turbo 30-valve V6 was a work of art. Only mistake was keeping it too long. Those turbos are expensive to replace!
The 2.7T is the one to have. I read a review from back in the day, and the reviewer preferred the 2.7 to even the 4.2.
The ones around here that are within my budget are all 2.8V6 N/As.
Having owned or driven Audis and the Passat of that era quite a bit, I like (and still own) the pre-facelift B5 V6 5-speed Passat. Same build quality, crazy quiet at speed, nice interiors and fewer little electronic doodads to go wrong. In FWD form it never ever feels like a dog unless you're really used to >300 hp cars. It's got 5-10mph on my E34 535i at the end of my usual highway entrance ramp. The handling is competent but understeer-y. Classic Audi.
The A6 Quattro is pretty joyless and feels pokey compared to the Passat. The A4 feels a bit cramped inside in comparison. The Passat is happy middle ground. They all sell for more or less the same amount on the used market unless you're stepping up to 2.7T power (with the aforementioned maintenance issues).
Miles and years being equal, I'd go older. Miles and years aren't equal, though. The C4's are starting to get up there in age and aren't anywhere near as safe in an accident.
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