Looks like I'm not on my own here.
The A6 is growing on me all the time and I like the understated looks of the saloon. I suppose I also think that pretty much everyone has the A4 and I'd like to be a little bit different.
The A4 I'm sure is the more sporty chassis and will be more of a sporty drivers car in S-Line spec with a more powerful engine, but I'm sure an A6 in the right spec could also be nice to drive and serve up the odd thrill or two with a dollop more refinement. As ever, I need to drive all of them before I make my choice.
Whilst the V6s sound really great, I may opt for a 2.0 TDi 170 and remap it but I'd be interested to see how the resultant torque delivery affected the handling and the life of the front tyres. Also I'd be interested to hear what people pay for the timing belt services on these engines.
It'd be interesting too to see how the 2.0 handles compared to the heavier V6s.
From what I've seen the 2.7 and 3.0 are very similar engines in that they are both V6s and are chain driven (i.e. not timing belts that need changing every 4 or 5 years). The 3.0 has a larger capacity and I'm sure has a larger turbo.
Both engines appear to have been updated in/around late 2008 and are much improved from this date onwards giving more power, lower emissions, better economy and improved reliability.
From 2008 the A6 has the updated user interface with the bigger colour screen. The rest of the interior was given an update too around this time.
I've read of numerous owners of both engines having covered mileages of in excess of 160,000 so these things can hack the higher mileages.
Problems seem to involve failing gearboxes so oil changes of the box itself are recommended.
Dual mass flywheels can also give up the ghost after 100-140k miles and these cost upwards of £1000 to replace.
Turbos often pack up beyond 100k miles but I'm sure this is due to the usual diesel traits of sticking vanes and becoming sludged up. Cleaning/servicing of the EGR valve and intake manifolds is really important. Personally I'd blank off the EGR as soon as the warranty expires and have it mapped out to avoid future problems.
I've also heard of the odd timing chain tensioner issue here and there which isn't too costly to fix provided its spotted early.
Apart from this then there's just the typical Audi electrical gremlins that crop up here and there.
The manual gearboxes are pretty rare on the V6s as most people seem to like an auto in this class. The manuals give better economy and lower CO2 emissions though.
That's pretty much all I've gleaned from my research on these cars so far so I hope this is of use. I'm sure if I'm talking ****** on anything here I'll be put straight soon enough
All in all most people seem happy with the A6 and those that complain about having had problems could've avoided them with a bit more car knowledge and by using this site! Also, some of the dealers don't sounds like they are much cop.
Hope you manage to source something nice pretty soon that works for you.
J