IanH's 955hp V10 Audi RS6 - Another Car Diary!
Discussion
Hi all, I did a Car Diary for my previous C5 RS6 - Here - which I sold last year following a job change. Well skip forward to this summer and yet another change has meant I could rejoin the Audi family again, although to be fair I was also extremely tempted by the Jaguar XFR. I decided not to redo all my previous work with another C5 which left the newer C6 V10 RS6 as my car of choice. Initially I was after a Saloon but at the time of buying these all seemed to be commanding a price £6k-10k over that of the Avant which narrowed my choices slightly (subsequently those prices have narrowed). I decided that the only two colours I really liked were the Mugello Blue and the Daytona (same as my C5).
After a month of searching, a few test drives of "perfect in the Advert, Dog in real life" cars, one of which needed at least £3k-4K spending the second you bought it, I finally found the Daytona Avant I was looking for at a specialist VAG dealer in Colchester "George Kingsley" who were fantastic to deal with. The car had an up to date service history, new brake all round and looked in fantastic shape. However, when I asked about the car straight away they told me there was an issue with a faulty sensor causing an intermittent "Brake Pads Worn" message so, while I waited, they replaced the pads for me, temporarily curing it (it came back a few days later - see below).
One thing I had noticed during my various test drives was that even though the C6 was a much nicer car to be in than my C5 (better interior, electronics, comfort etc) and it was slightly faster it didn't actually "feel" as fast, as the turbos came on boost in a much more gentle, refined way rather than the brute force C5 method. So I'd already decided that which ever car I bought, if it was standard, I'd be sending it straight down to MRC for a Health Check and then a Stage 2 Re-Map which produces on average 720+hp and 730+ft/lbs, which should be fun!
So less than a week after I bought her I made my way up to Banbury from Kent so make sure I hadn't bought a Lemon! Happily everything came back healthy so it was on to the re-map. After a few hours of exhaust work removing the secondary Cats, adding some high flow Air Filters and a Gearbox Re-map she came off the rollers with 735hp and 740ft/lbs - right on spec!
The drive home was a very different experience to the drive there, trust me!
So, knowing that I go overboard this is what I've done -
Fitted 4 New Michelin MPSS Tyres - It had Michelin Primacys which maybe OK on a "normal" car and even coped well when the car was stock but with over 700hp their limits were very obvious.
Fitted New AP Racing front brake discs - The stock brakes are very poorly cooled in my opinion and retain far too much heat so, as I plan a few track days, I thought I'd look around for better replacements and they literally do not come any better than this without going Ceramic. As a bonus these also turned out to be cheaper to replace than stock after buying the initial set.
DS2500 Pads all around and ATE Super Blue fluid - As above really, stock was "OK" but I had some awful fade after a "spirited" drive which didn't fill me with confidence so the swap to AP Racing discs allowed me to use Nissan GTR pads (FRP3133H).
VW Phaeton vented brake backing plate - A direct swap for stock but these never arrived so I'm currently running without any backing plate at all for maximum cooling.
Update the Nav & 2G MMi - The Nav disc was a simple 5 minute job but the MMi has 3 CD's, takes over an hour and has a whole bunch of options that I've no idea about so I've left that for the time being.
Custom Exhaust - Exactly the same as my C5 I chopped the back boxes off and fitted a flanged straight though pipe on, allowing me the option of a stock exhaust Mon-Fri and a straight through (resonator only) at the weekends. It only take 10 minutes to swap and makes a much nicer sound, although it's far too loud to be used early in the mornings, just ask my very annoyed neighbour!
Charity Trackday - Once again I did the ASDA "On Your Marks" day where we hope to beat last years total of over £56K! The car came back with a few mechanical issues which were simply but expensive to cure.
Nurburg Ring in September for my birthday - Well, you got to really! Apparently you don't
My knackered propshaft from the ASDA trackday killed the Nurburg Ring trip for this year.
Silicon Intercooler pipes & clamps - One of mine constantly pops off the manifold so I replaced the jubilee clip with a proper Clamp and it's been great since. I also noticed the pipes were very soft so I'll probably replace those too (6 in total).
Gearbox service & H&R Anti-Roll Bars - Just to keep the gearbox smooth MRC recommend doing it every 20K miles on a tuned car so I did this straight after the trackday just to be safe. I also fitted H&R ARB's at the same time and they make the car feel a little stiffer too.
Here's a whole bunch of pics -
After a month of searching, a few test drives of "perfect in the Advert, Dog in real life" cars, one of which needed at least £3k-4K spending the second you bought it, I finally found the Daytona Avant I was looking for at a specialist VAG dealer in Colchester "George Kingsley" who were fantastic to deal with. The car had an up to date service history, new brake all round and looked in fantastic shape. However, when I asked about the car straight away they told me there was an issue with a faulty sensor causing an intermittent "Brake Pads Worn" message so, while I waited, they replaced the pads for me, temporarily curing it (it came back a few days later - see below).
One thing I had noticed during my various test drives was that even though the C6 was a much nicer car to be in than my C5 (better interior, electronics, comfort etc) and it was slightly faster it didn't actually "feel" as fast, as the turbos came on boost in a much more gentle, refined way rather than the brute force C5 method. So I'd already decided that which ever car I bought, if it was standard, I'd be sending it straight down to MRC for a Health Check and then a Stage 2 Re-Map which produces on average 720+hp and 730+ft/lbs, which should be fun!
So less than a week after I bought her I made my way up to Banbury from Kent so make sure I hadn't bought a Lemon! Happily everything came back healthy so it was on to the re-map. After a few hours of exhaust work removing the secondary Cats, adding some high flow Air Filters and a Gearbox Re-map she came off the rollers with 735hp and 740ft/lbs - right on spec!
The drive home was a very different experience to the drive there, trust me!
So, knowing that I go overboard this is what I've done -
Fitted 4 New Michelin MPSS Tyres - It had Michelin Primacys which maybe OK on a "normal" car and even coped well when the car was stock but with over 700hp their limits were very obvious.
Fitted New AP Racing front brake discs - The stock brakes are very poorly cooled in my opinion and retain far too much heat so, as I plan a few track days, I thought I'd look around for better replacements and they literally do not come any better than this without going Ceramic. As a bonus these also turned out to be cheaper to replace than stock after buying the initial set.
DS2500 Pads all around and ATE Super Blue fluid - As above really, stock was "OK" but I had some awful fade after a "spirited" drive which didn't fill me with confidence so the swap to AP Racing discs allowed me to use Nissan GTR pads (FRP3133H).
VW Phaeton vented brake backing plate - A direct swap for stock but these never arrived so I'm currently running without any backing plate at all for maximum cooling.
Update the Nav & 2G MMi - The Nav disc was a simple 5 minute job but the MMi has 3 CD's, takes over an hour and has a whole bunch of options that I've no idea about so I've left that for the time being.
Custom Exhaust - Exactly the same as my C5 I chopped the back boxes off and fitted a flanged straight though pipe on, allowing me the option of a stock exhaust Mon-Fri and a straight through (resonator only) at the weekends. It only take 10 minutes to swap and makes a much nicer sound, although it's far too loud to be used early in the mornings, just ask my very annoyed neighbour!
Charity Trackday - Once again I did the ASDA "On Your Marks" day where we hope to beat last years total of over £56K! The car came back with a few mechanical issues which were simply but expensive to cure.
Nurburg Ring in September for my birthday - Well, you got to really! Apparently you don't
My knackered propshaft from the ASDA trackday killed the Nurburg Ring trip for this year.Silicon Intercooler pipes & clamps - One of mine constantly pops off the manifold so I replaced the jubilee clip with a proper Clamp and it's been great since. I also noticed the pipes were very soft so I'll probably replace those too (6 in total).
Gearbox service & H&R Anti-Roll Bars - Just to keep the gearbox smooth MRC recommend doing it every 20K miles on a tuned car so I did this straight after the trackday just to be safe. I also fitted H&R ARB's at the same time and they make the car feel a little stiffer too.
Here's a whole bunch of pics -
Edited by IanH755 on Friday 11th September 16:32
Ecurie Ecossie - Here's a C5 vs C6 comparison I did for a guy on AudiSRS.
The next part is more tricky and long winded so here's the headlines - "For me" a Stage 2 C6 is better than my stage 1+ C5. However a stock C6, whilst it's a better car, doesn't "feel" as quick as a stock or mapped C5, even though it is actually faster.
Here's why -
Power - This is the big difference for me. Although there's very little difference from 0-100mph in any of these, mapped or not, maybe 1 second at best, the big difference is 100-200mph and the way the power is delivered (this was the make or break issue for me).
I think a stock C5 "feels" as quick as a stock C6, even though it is slower, due to the way modern cars are mapped for a gentle surge of torque over 2-3 seconds (which is better for the gearbox) rather than the more old school C5 which hits you like a sledge hammer for a brief second but slowly destroys the gearbox everytime you do it
A re-mapped C5 feels much MUCH better than a stock C6 even though, again, it's actually a little slower, although not by much.
A re-mapped C6 however is stupidly fast, utterly stupidly fast, and hilarious! It is much quicker than a re-mapped C5 from around 80mph+ where it just pulls away slowly at first til about 130mph then it leaves the C5 for dead.
I bought my C6 already knowing that I was getting it mapped, if I was keeping it stock I'd be very disappointed I think.
Noise - Both sound too quiet for me so I'm copying what I did on my C5 on my C6 and chopping the back-boxes. I do really like the little "fart" the C6 makes going up or down gears though!
Handling - A stock C6 handles as well as my Bilstein'd & H&R'd C5 ever did but you have to be careful with the weight transfer, these are heavier than a C5! C6's suspension is also infinitely more reliable than a C5's "has it failed today" DRC.
The C6 has 3 settings on it's suspension (Comfort, Dynamic, Sport) and Comfort is only good for normal A6 driving, not RS6 driving. Almost every RS6 owner leaves it in Dynamic which feels like my C5 and is great. Sport is far too hard for anywhere but a track.
Brakes - Both are about equal in performance but C6's need more careful heat management to avoid fade which I never had in the C5, even on the track but have already felt in the C6 on the road.
Gearbox - This is a known massive weak point on the C5 yet the C6 one seems indestructible, changes feel less "slushy" and the 6th gear is handy on the motorway.
Interior - Oh god a C6 wipes the floor with a C5 all day long, end of discussion. However it'll take you a week to figure out what the hell all the billion and 1 different settings are and do! The Avant has a great rail system in the back which works brilliantly. The steering wheel shape is better in the C5 (not a huge fan of the C6 square bottom) but the steering feel is better in the C6.
Exterior - The C6 is a much bigger car than the C5 and parking can be a hassle but the rear camera helps massively. The accessible engine bay is actually smaller than the C5 which makes working on it a nightmare and the bay retains a ton of heat (literally 6 hrs later it'll still be hot to the touch!)
Overall - As per my statement at the top, keep the C5 unless you're mapping the C6 because you'll just be disappointed in a stock C6 every time you floor it, even if it is a much better car! However, with a mapped C6 you too will be a grinning maniac with the best of both worlds!
The next part is more tricky and long winded so here's the headlines - "For me" a Stage 2 C6 is better than my stage 1+ C5. However a stock C6, whilst it's a better car, doesn't "feel" as quick as a stock or mapped C5, even though it is actually faster.
Here's why -
Power - This is the big difference for me. Although there's very little difference from 0-100mph in any of these, mapped or not, maybe 1 second at best, the big difference is 100-200mph and the way the power is delivered (this was the make or break issue for me).
I think a stock C5 "feels" as quick as a stock C6, even though it is slower, due to the way modern cars are mapped for a gentle surge of torque over 2-3 seconds (which is better for the gearbox) rather than the more old school C5 which hits you like a sledge hammer for a brief second but slowly destroys the gearbox everytime you do it
A re-mapped C5 feels much MUCH better than a stock C6 even though, again, it's actually a little slower, although not by much.
A re-mapped C6 however is stupidly fast, utterly stupidly fast, and hilarious! It is much quicker than a re-mapped C5 from around 80mph+ where it just pulls away slowly at first til about 130mph then it leaves the C5 for dead.
I bought my C6 already knowing that I was getting it mapped, if I was keeping it stock I'd be very disappointed I think.
Noise - Both sound too quiet for me so I'm copying what I did on my C5 on my C6 and chopping the back-boxes. I do really like the little "fart" the C6 makes going up or down gears though!
Handling - A stock C6 handles as well as my Bilstein'd & H&R'd C5 ever did but you have to be careful with the weight transfer, these are heavier than a C5! C6's suspension is also infinitely more reliable than a C5's "has it failed today" DRC.
The C6 has 3 settings on it's suspension (Comfort, Dynamic, Sport) and Comfort is only good for normal A6 driving, not RS6 driving. Almost every RS6 owner leaves it in Dynamic which feels like my C5 and is great. Sport is far too hard for anywhere but a track.
Brakes - Both are about equal in performance but C6's need more careful heat management to avoid fade which I never had in the C5, even on the track but have already felt in the C6 on the road.
Gearbox - This is a known massive weak point on the C5 yet the C6 one seems indestructible, changes feel less "slushy" and the 6th gear is handy on the motorway.
Interior - Oh god a C6 wipes the floor with a C5 all day long, end of discussion. However it'll take you a week to figure out what the hell all the billion and 1 different settings are and do! The Avant has a great rail system in the back which works brilliantly. The steering wheel shape is better in the C5 (not a huge fan of the C6 square bottom) but the steering feel is better in the C6.
Exterior - The C6 is a much bigger car than the C5 and parking can be a hassle but the rear camera helps massively. The accessible engine bay is actually smaller than the C5 which makes working on it a nightmare and the bay retains a ton of heat (literally 6 hrs later it'll still be hot to the touch!)
Overall - As per my statement at the top, keep the C5 unless you're mapping the C6 because you'll just be disappointed in a stock C6 every time you floor it, even if it is a much better car! However, with a mapped C6 you too will be a grinning maniac with the best of both worlds!
Love a fast estate.
Again 735bhp mental
Often thought about trying one but the sheer weight and size put me off a little... Though I might be tempted for a c7 next year, I believe there gains are very similar, but much better box and a bit lighter with slightly better economy??
But again maybe a bit too big for my liking, really love the b8 rs4 but will be pedestrian in comparison
Again 735bhp mental
Often thought about trying one but the sheer weight and size put me off a little... Though I might be tempted for a c7 next year, I believe there gains are very similar, but much better box and a bit lighter with slightly better economy??
But again maybe a bit too big for my liking, really love the b8 rs4 but will be pedestrian in comparison
Trexthedinosaur said:
Awesome, nothing else to describe it!
Probably wouldn't own one as I'd prefer a 'sports' car package (in terms of style / practicality) + a daily but this really is the do everything and do it well car.
Congratulations, I enjoyed reading about your C5 too.
I just sold my daytona grey 700bhp RS6 to do precisely this, bought an e92 m3 and am on the hunt for a Shogun/landf Cruiser etc as a hack...Probably wouldn't own one as I'd prefer a 'sports' car package (in terms of style / practicality) + a daily but this really is the do everything and do it well car.
Congratulations, I enjoyed reading about your C5 too.
The RS6 was immense, very capable and hugely fast but a bit big, heavy and unwieldy on the little roads up here. What a machine though and I'm very glad I got to own one for a while.
ChrisRS6 said:
When people used to ask me about mine and told them of the BHP etc....I could see them thinking "whatever"!!!......but I knew the truth.
Absolutely true story this, I went to Maidstone Exhaust Centre to look at having the boxes removed and got chatting the owner and told him the power and a mechanic 5ft behind me did the coughing "bullsh*t" thing twice! I didn't act like a mature, calm & sensible person and instead reacted very poorly with a choice comment of "Does Mr bullsh*t want to see the dyno, does Mr bullsh*t know *anything* about tuning a twin turbo'd 5L V10, well..................thought not, ****" and I thanked the owner for his time and left.
I'm a little more thick skinned now
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