2001 Audi A6 review from North America

I bought my dad's 2001 A6 2.7 with Tiptronic last summer. It's a great driving car and has only 68,000 miles.

A couple of months ago I noticed that when I started the car in the morning and put it in Drive, the engine revs would speed up to 2000-2200 rpm, while the car would barely accelerate. It was as if the tranny was not engaged with the engine properly and only a tiny amount of power was going to the wheels.

As soon as this happens (virtually every morning at start-up), I ease off the gas pedal for a second or two, then press down again. At this point, the car drives perfectly for the rest of the day. If I drive somewhere, park it for an hour or two, then start it again, it drives just fine.

Lately, though, the problem has become a bit more pronounced. Sometimes I can rev the just-started engine to 2800 rpm with hardly any power going to the wheels.

My mechanic checked bulletins and found that Audi redesigned the torque converter because the original design was prone to an internal seal leaking, which would cause this problem.

It seems that the original torque converters on the 2001 A6 (and perhaps other years) were defective and Audi is sticking owners with the repair bill.

He called a buddy who works in the Parts dept. at the local Audi dealer who said "Yup, that's the problem", and that they stock these new replacement torque converters (at $970 a pop), since they sell one or two a week to suckers like me.

Though Audi recognizes that this is a problem, it doesn't do anything to mitigate the expense of replacing defective converters. By the way, labor is estimated to take 17 hours, since the tranny has to be removed.. so the total deal is like $2,100+... and that's using my own skilled and very fair mechanic. God knows what the dealer would charge.

I used to own a 1986 5000 Turbo with a manual tranny. Everything broke on that car... engine seals, alternators, window motors. I vowed at the time never to own an Audi again, but I got a solid deal on this car (8 grand) and it seemed to perform reliably for my dad, so... I fear that this torque converter bummer is just the first of many expensive fiascoes.

Shoulda kept my Accord!

Nice driving, comfy and responsive car. Excellent in snow and reasonably miserly on fuel given its performance.

Average about 21 mpg.

HOWEVER, prone to unexpected amazingly expensive repairs. Just when you seem on have the car running great, another big repair pops up.