Faults:

There was a leak in the engine after about a year of ownership, but the warranty covered it. Otherwise, it would have been a $1000 default to fix. Besides that and a minor recall, it has been reliable and never broken down.

General Comments:

This car is very luxurious and comfortable. The cabin has extreme quality and a satisfying interior design. The $1,500 premium leather was well worth the money because it added to the luxury.

The "Cold Weather Package" was a smart move for living through cold winters. It includes not only a ski sack, front and rear heated seats, but a heated steering wheel as well.

Another wonderful point of this car has got to be its safety. My A6 was equipped with the "Enhanced Safety Package" which included Xenon HID headlights and rear seat mounted side impact airbags. The headlights greatly improved visibility in bad weather while adding a touch of sportiness.

The sound system was another raving point of the A6. The $1,200 Bose premium sound was well worth it. It was a 200 watt increase over the standard stereo and include a hidden sub-woofer in the trunk. It also included a six disc CD changer.

The pickup is excellent and steering is very responsive. The big seller for Audi is their "Quattro" all-wheel drive. It wasn't any different in my case because I do a lot of snow driving. What else can I say other than it is a thoughtfully designed and impressive automobile.

Faults:

Right front headlight and right rear brake lite bulbs blew out after one year of ownership, but not at same time. Both times, the dealer replaced either the wrong (good bulb) or with wrong type of bulb. The heated steering wheel worked for part of first season and then stopped. We just found out this dealer sold us the car with 5 open campaigns on it and never performed the work during routine service!

At last week's oil change, (using new Audi dealer) they found and replaced leaking Cam tensioner gaskets ($800). At the same time, several recalled parts were replaced. This was the LQ15 recall involving the bumper, ashtray, washer caps and GUI. During drive home, we found the cruise control no longer works (worked day before). The fuse is OK, but we also found that the headlamp washers are not working either. Electrical problems? Back to the dealer on Monday...

General Comments:

All of our previous cars were large Oldsmobile 98's with full options. The A6 is far superior which is no surprise. We were splendidly surprised at the feel and performance/handling during our test drive.

We do have to question whether there is some sort of electrical problem with this car.

Glad Audi will be correcting bumper problem!

Faults:

I have an Audi A6 Wagon. I had a horrifying experience driving in a snow storm last night. I had the car on cruise control and was traveling on Highway RT 89 North in New Hampshire. I was traveling up a hill when the car accelerated to maintain the cruise speed. Before I knew it the car had accelerated from 68mph beyond 75mph and was increasing. I tapped the brake, turned off the cruise control. The car did not respond and continued to accelerate as though I had pressed the gas pedal to the floor. I tapped the brake again, and then pumped the gas pedal. There was no response from the car. I applied constant pressure to the brake, but the car continued to accelerate to 85mph. I put both feet on the brake pedal and applied full pressure and the car fought back continuing to accelerate. I pushed with both feet with all my strength and the car slowed. The engine was still racing and it took me over half a mile to bring the car under 25mph at which point I shifted into neutral. When I shifted into neutral the tachometer red lined at over 7000. I pulled off the road as quickly as I could and shut the car off.

If my wife had been driving I do not believe she would have been able to stop the car. This could have very easily resulted in a fatal accident. This is the second time this has happened in the last month. The last time, my wife was driving in town. The last time we had the car towed to the location where the car was purchased. They did a repair and commented that they recently had repaired a number of Audi's with the same problem. When I called today to report a repeat of the problem they said they had had several cars with similar repeating problems.

I have been on line and read about problems with the 1998 A4 and A6 pertaining to acceleration problems. I have also read about the problems with the 5000. There appears to be a history here. Has anyone experienced these problems?