Ask the Car People.SM


Audi A6

6920 messages,  Last post on Dec 26, 2012 at 7:05 AM

You are in the Audi A6 Forum.

What is this discussion about? Audi A6, Sedan

Messages Page 181 of 693

#1799 of 6920 Pirelli and Dunlops by bertram60

Aug 30, 2001 (11:44 am)

The Dunlop SP9000's were on another 1998 A8 that was owned by my best friend, the road noise was unbelievable. He now has an S class with staggered sp9000's and with 9500 miles so far is staring to develop some road roar.
 
As he had his car while I had my A6, I opted for the Pirelli p7000's (all four). They were quiet for a little while, but at about 10k miles they started to hum and were roaring full force at about 18k miles. Interestingly, I was cleaning up my 18"s Sunday and noticed that there is a huge amount of tread separation on one tire. It doesn't look like I had far to go before the whole tread cap blew off. Of course this is on the tire with the least amount of tread left (below wear bars)so I'm not going after Pirelli. The other's were horribly cupped (even though I rotated religiously every 5k miles). This showed me one flaw in Audi's service program, and I'm inclined to follow the old school of aligning every 10k miles especially if I out the 18's back on. Apparently FL has a great amount of crushed shells and coral in the concrete mix they use combined with our high heat, works tires pretty hard.

#1800 of 6920 steveh by bjbird2

Aug 30, 2001 (11:55 am)

There are numbers and facts that can help us make our decisions on which car to buy. The crash test statistics from the government and insurance institute, while not perfect, are good indicators of how a car will do in a front end crash (by the way, the Passat scored highest in both these tests, which is rare. Most vehicles do well in one or the other). Other numbers are performance related, acceleration, braking, slalom speed, etc. Then there are the reliability stats from thousands of owners from J.D. Power and Consumer Reports.
I don't think I judged my spouse by her performance stats, measurements and reliability, but then again...

#1801 of 6920 Test drive a W8 questions??? by markcincinnati

Aug 30, 2001 (12:41 pm)

All the posts pertaining to the Passat W8 make it sound pretty interesting.
 
Clarification please: The new W8 Passat will be based on or identical to the current 2001.5 New Passat, true?
 
If true, the New Passat (W8) will not have a wheelbase that is as long as the current A6, also true?
 
If both are true, then the W8 would be inbetween an A4 and an A6?
 
And, based on what I have read, the W8 will be less than $40K?
 
OK so I reread Car and Driver for their comments on Passats (old and new) -- they like the Passat, perhaps it is not a stretch to say they love it. But, while the comments are generally glowing, they compare the Passat to Accords and Camrys (and perhaps even certain Mazadas) and generally say that it is a top class European Family Sedan. And this is not meant to be a Japanese bash, it would be somewhat different if they said the New Passat was like a Lexus or Infinity -- since this board is is some fashion comparing the Passat to the Audi (A4 or A6 depending on who's posts you read).
 
They also rave over the A6 (one of the C&D 10best) and they use terms like Sport Sedan, which they also save for BMW and some Mercedes reviews and editorials.
 
To read the review of the New Passat for example is to read a review that makes the car seem simultaneously Audi like and in the very next sentence, Lumina like. Uh, er, is this the "best of both worlds" -- I thought that Piech was positioning the VW marques to go up against Mercedes -- I guess we have to wait for the D1 for that. That, BTW, was a question or at least a request for this erudite group's thoughts on the subject.
 
Thanks.

#1802 of 6920 OOOPS by bertram60

Aug 30, 2001 (2:26 pm)

Just finished with the Tirerack. While they were unwilling to say it was their fault, they are sending me four HR rated Goodyears and taking mine back. The rep said that he had suggested upgrading but noted that "The customer ordered the wrong speed rated tire". We had a little "clarification" discussion where I reminded him the upgrade we spoke of was a plus zero upgrade and that while I don't know everything, I do know that if the manufacturer puts on one speed rating as OEM you don't put a lesser one on the car. They were quick to say that these definitely are the wrong tires with too low a speed and load rating for the torque, horsepower and weight of this car. My new tires will be in next week, but I will have to pay to have them mounted and balanced. I think I'll just take it to the dealer and have them do it and ship the "old" tires back from there.

#1803 of 6920 OOPS by markcincinnati

Aug 30, 2001 (2:44 pm)

You will then have Goodyear LS at 225x55x17, correct? Good to hear they owned up to the error.

#1804 of 6920 Of A6's and W8's by timcar

Aug 30, 2001 (3:36 pm)

Jared's information certainly looks authoritative, and while both my German and recollection of metric conversions are a little rusty, I have no reason to doubt his data. The inescapable conclusion is that the table, which lists Audi platforms, erred in showing the W8 Passat being built on the same size platform as the A6's. Though I still think that Auto Week's photos of the W8 looked larger than the normal Passat, but of course, that could just be the photos.
 
However my information concerning the marketing intent for the W8 is different than Jared's. My perusal of auto mags, particularly Autoweek, suggest that VW, or at least VW o A, plans to try to position it as virtually a separate model, despite having the Passat designation. Time will tell. The mags have also suggested that you won't see many of them, intending that it is to be a "hallo" car that rubs off on the rest of the VW line. Plenty of leather, wood, Bi-xenons and electronic goodies.
 
As Mark observed, the current Passat has a wheelbase and track between that of the old A4 and current A6. I know that the '02 A4 is bigger, though I don't recall the dimensions, which would have to mean it's closing in on Passat size. Saw some decent photos of a bunch of new A4's over at AW, they are GOOD looking cars.
 
The prices I've seen quoted are around $40K, but if it's anything like Audi prices, I'd suspect it to end up north of there, particularly if they're in limited supply. I think one of the biggest steps forward for VW, is the new warranty. Believe it's 4/50K. I think that more than anything will begin to elevate VW's perception in the U.S. But while Piech wants VW to compete with Mercedes, I think it will be a long time coming in the U.S. And I think that's is why journalists looking for easy comparisons are more comfortable comparing a Passat to a Camry than an E class.

#1805 of 6920 Tires by bertram60

Aug 31, 2001 (6:16 am)

Yes, I'll have 225/55/17 HR rated tires back on the car. I think I'm going to get the S8 sport suspension and refinish and put fresh rubber on my 18's for a while.
 
The only thing that irritates me at this point is that Tirerack is making me pay the shipping back on the old tires and will probably not include the 1st set of shipping charges in my refund. I will also be on the hook for 4 additional mount and balances as well. I'm going to wait until I see a refund before I start to complain, I have, after all, put about 500 miles on these tires and don't know what they plan on doing with them when I return them. Trust me, if I don't get 100% of my money back the calls and letters will start flying.

#1806 of 6920 W8 Questions by nedzel

Aug 31, 2001 (6:56 am)

MarkCincinnati asked:
 
"Clarification please: The new W8 Passat will be based on or identical to the current 2001.5 New Passat, true?" True.
 
"If true, the New Passat (W8) will not have a wheelbase that is as long as the current A6, also true?" True.
 
"If both are true, then the W8 would be inbetween an A4 and an A6?" Certainly in between the 2001 A4 and the A6. My recollection is the same as timcars that the 2002 A4 has a wheelbase that is a couple inches longer than the 2001 A4. Dunno the exact numbers or how that compares to the Passat's wheelbase.
 
"And, based on what I have read, the W8 will be less than $40K?" It's been a while since I read an article about it, but yes, that seems to be my recollection as well.
 
I'm not aware of VW planning to market the W8 Passat separately from the standard Passat, as timcar suggested. On the one hand, it would make sense since there's a big spread in price between a strippo 1.8T Passat GLS (~$20k) and the W8. On the other hand, the cars will look almost identical on the outside, so how do you market the same car two different ways?
 
The Passat is certainly tuned to have a relatively soft ride. Too soft for my tastes. It isn't marketed as a sport sedan. Thought I'd read on VWVortex a while back about folks putting on Audi A4 factory sport suspension parts on Passats. But I may be hallucinating. Certainly there are aftermarket solutions, but most folks buying a $40k Passat won't be interested in that sort of thing, I suspect.
 
I agree with timcar about the warranty issue. The previous 2 year warranty was a joke.
 
I think the bigger issue is going to be the VW stealerships themselves. I have a hard time seeing a typical BMW/Lexus owner walking into one of these dumps, getting treated poorly by the typical VW salesman, getting treated even worse by the service dept., getting a Chevy Cavalier loaner car (after waiting 45 minutes for the local rental car people to deliver it), and then being happy they bought a $40k VW. VWOA has a LONG way to go to bring their dealerships up to par.
 
Jared

#1807 of 6920 oh, btw by nedzel

Aug 31, 2001 (6:57 am)

timcar, I'm sure your german is much better than mine, since I don't speak any. I translated that web page using babelfish...
 
Jared

#1808 of 6920 Performance Anxiety by blehrlich

Aug 31, 2001 (7:54 am)

I've been reading about PSK swaybars and Eibach sport springs being installed (at dealerships) by many A6ers over at AW. Could someone explain in English what this does? Does the ride become overly harsh? It seems like a relatively inexpensive way to have some fun.

Messages Page 181 of 693

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement