bigltc- We've had a number of '01 Audis with the 4.2 V8, including *three* A6 4.2s. The single most important thing IMO is to make sure you get one with a *GOOD* drive-by-wire system (and hope it stays that way).
One of my A6 4.2s was so bad response-wise (never knew if it'd go when I hit the gas or whether it'd pause for a while and *then* go) that my dealer applied the whole purchase price (including sales tax, etc. :ek: ) towards my S8 even though the A6 had 12k miles on it! The owner of the dealership knew he'd be looking at a lawsuit if the problem caused an accident and everone knew the car was scary to drive.
One of the other a6 4.2s was *perfect*, no D-B-W issues at all. The other one and my '01 S8 were/are just so-so; irritating but not dangerous.
The D-B-W issues apparently *cannot be fixed*. They replaced a mountain of parts on the one car with no improvement. Owners of S6 wagons seem to be especially plagued by this problem BTW, and a friend with a S8 identical to mine (other than his marring
) has pretty bad D-B-W issues that he just lives with because he otherwise loves the car so much. But back to A6s..
Other than that, they're nice cars to drive but they seem to need lots of maintenance. Sorry, but I forget the specifics as this was quiete a few years ago. They *do* seem to go through tires, even when the alignment is kept spot-on (sorta like some NSXs in this regard). The only electrical issues I can remember were related to airbag warning lights and seat functions. I *would* however, make sure you have a dealer you can trust..Audis are simply not low-maintenance vehicles. I sold the best of our A6s to a close friend, who ended up trading it in on a Lexus just to get away from the sort of frequent, if minor, things that I take for granted. She loved driving it, but was used to vehicles that never need anything other than fluids and filters. I forget just what kinds of issues it had, but I do know that the dealer she patronized (not the dealer *I* use) sure jerked her around a lot and didn't seem to fix anything right the first time. Some coolant leak/water pump?/something issue drove her nuts.
Honestly, speaking as a guy who had a few of them, I'd think twice about getting one for your significant other unless you're prepared to put a little time/effort into its maintenance. It sounds to me like you're concerned about exactly what *I* learned to expect from these cars. I thought the one car, the "good" A6 4.2, would be *perfect* for my friend and I gave her a great deal on it, but she and her husband kinda implied that I sold them a troublesome car that was just a big headache...
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