Buying guide · quattro GmbH & Cosworth · 2002–2004 · 4.2 V8 biturbo
Audi RS6 C5
Everything that decides whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.
22-page guide, A4 and phone · 4-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included
In the guide
What the Audi RS6 C5 guide covers
- 01Every fault this engine has, and how much work it is
- 02The gearbox, the torque converter inside it, and the two-minute test that tells you whether this car carries a four-figure bill
- 03Six places to check for corrosion on this bodyshell, including one on the Avant that nobody looks at
- 04What is simply twenty years old — and can be left alone
- 05The inspection card: the whole viewing on paper, in order, to take with you
- 06What to say to the seller, and what to keep to yourself
From the guide itself
This is how it reads
This is what one of the twelve looks likeLast Real Engines
4 · Front discs and pads: eight-piston Brembo, 365 mm
Half a day · expensive part, easy access
This is not an A6 brake service. Monoblock Brembo calipers on 365 mm discs, made for one model over two years, and priced the way scarce performance parts are priced. Good alternatives to the original discs exist and it is still a real number. How you notice it: a lip around the edge of the disc, scoring, and thickness measured on the lift rather than guessed through the wheel. Also look at the caliper faces for weeping and at the pistons for corrosion — seized pistons on a caliper of this value are a repair, not a replacement.
Expect it within a year or two even if it just about passes now. And budget it properly: this is the item buyers of these cars most often underestimate.
And this is how the card readsLast Real Engines
- 1 · The cold start · do nothing else
- 2 · The engine bay, cold
- 3 · The tops of the front dampers · the quickest DRC check, in two minutes
- 4 · Round the outside
- 5 · The boot
- 6 · Inside, ignition on
What €24 buys, put next to what it saves
A torque converter is two or three days in the workshop. A pair of turbochargers is two or three days and the most expensive parts on the car, and a leaking intercooler is one of the things that takes them there. The guide is €24. It will not stop any of that from being needed — but it does tell you which of them you are looking at before you agree a price, and that is the whole of the difference between paying for a car and paying for someone else's postponed maintenance.
VAT included · sold by Lemon Squeezy as merchant of record · questions first? buyersguide@lastrealengines.com
Start with the free guide
The six questions that decide whether this car is a good buy
- The gearbox, and specifically the torque converter.
- Dynamic Ride Control: original, leaking, or converted?
- What the boost is doing.
- The intercoolers.
- A seal at the gearbox.
- What has already been paid for — and here the usual advice is inverted.
Start with the free guide: what this car is, and the questions that decide whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.
Before you buy
Questions
What exactly do I get?
The full guide as a PDF, 22 pages in A4, plus a phone edition to read at the car; and the inspection card, 4 pages to print and take to the viewing. €24, VAT included.
How is it delivered?
Straight after payment you get a download link for the guide, the phone edition and the card. No subscription, no account.
Can I get a refund?
EU consumer law gives you fourteen days to change your mind. For digital content that right ends the moment delivery starts, provided you agreed to that at the checkout. If the file will not open, or you were sent the wrong car, write to us and we will fix it or refund it.
Who handles the payment?
Lemon Squeezy, who sell the guide to you as merchant of record. They charge the VAT at the rate of your country, send the invoice, and email you the download link. We never see your card.
Why are there no prices in it?
Because a price we cannot verify is worse than no price, and because a price would be wrong for most of the people reading it: workshop rates across Europe differ by a factor of two or three. What does not change is how much work a job is, so every point says whether it is an hour, half a day, a day, or a week in the workshop. Ask your own workshop for its hourly rate, and every hour in the guide becomes your own number.
Is this advice about a specific car?
No. A guide tells you what to look at; it is general information about the model and not advice about a specific car. Have every car inspected before you buy by someone who knows the engine.
Going to look at a Audi RS6 C5?
Take the guide and the card with you.
22-page guide, A4 and phone · 4-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included