Car Model Guide/ Audi/ A6/ C6

Audi A6 Saloon, C6

The quiet one of the executive three, better built inside than an E60 and less interesting to drive, with a gearbox question that decides the whole purchase.

Overview

The C6 is the sedan Audi A6, built 2004–2011 and facelifted in 2008. 5 standard engines are documented here, each with its own issue list, inspection sequence and price band. Asking prices across the standard range run €2,650–€11,400, and 2 of the 5 carry a risk level of 4 or 5; the facelift cars sit at a premium over otherwise identical pre-facelift ones. The 2.0 TFSI BPJ is both the cheapest way in, from €3,450, and the lowest-risk engine of the range, which makes it the obvious starting point. Prices are illustrative placeholders rather than a sourced market sample. See the methodology.

Audi A6 sedan (C6) · photo Audi A6 C6 by IFCAR · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Body style	sedan	Production	2004–2011
Platform siblings	C6 Avant wagon	Facelift (LCI)	2008

What changed at the 2008 facelift

Revised grille, LED daytime running lights and bumpers; Supercharged 3.0 TFSI replaced the 3.2 FSI; Common-rail 2.0 TDI replaced the pump-duse engine; Revised MMI. The engine changes are the ones that matter, a car built in the changeover year can carry either engine, so check the engine code on the block rather than the registration date.

Engine matrix: pre-facelift, 2004–2007

The 3 variants sold before the 2008 facelift. Power and years come from the variant records; prices are illustrative, not sourced.

FilterFuelGearboxRisk ceilingGood buy under3 of 3

Badge↕	Engine	Fuel	Years↕	Power↑	Torque↕	Risk↕	Issues	Price band↕	Good buy↕	Verdict
2.0 TFSI	BPJ	petrol	2005–2007	170 PS	280 Nm	R3	12	€2,650–€6,650	€3,450	Buy w/ conditions	View
2.7 TDI	CANA	diesel	2004–2007	190 PS	400 Nm	R4	14	€3,050–€8,100	€4,000	Buy w/ conditions	View
3.0 TDI	BMK	diesel	2004–2007	233 PS	450 Nm	R3	13	€3,800–€10,450	€5,000	Buy	View

Engine matrix: facelift / LCI, 2008–2011

The 5 variants sold from the facelift on, priced at a 9% premium over the pre-facelift car.

5 variants from the facelift on, carrying a real market premium of roughly 9% over an otherwise identical pre-facelift car. Variants appearing in both tables were sold either side of the changeover, the build month decides which one you're looking at, not the model year.

FilterFuelGearboxRisk ceilingGood buy under5 of 5

Badge↕	Engine	Fuel	Years↕	Power↑	Torque↕	Risk↕	Issues	Price band↕	Good buy↕	Verdict
2.0 TDI	CAGB	diesel	2008–2011	170 PS	350 Nm	R4	13	€3,500–€8,800	€4,550	Caution	View
2.0 TFSI	BPJ	petrol	2008–2011	170 PS	280 Nm	R3	12	€2,900–€7,250	€3,750	Buy w/ conditions	View
2.7 TDI	CANA	diesel	2008–2011	190 PS	400 Nm	R4	14	€3,300–€8,800	€4,350	Buy w/ conditions	View
2.8 FSI	CCEA	petrol	2008–2011	220 PS	280 Nm	R3	13	€3,500–€8,800	€4,550	Buy w/ conditions	View
3.0 TDI	BMK	diesel	2008–2011	233 PS	450 Nm	R3	13	€4,150–€11,400	€5,450	Buy	View

Market availability varied by country; check the engine code stamped on the block rather than the badge on the boot. · Compare every engine side by side →

Model-year availability

Which engines were on sale in which year, from the year ranges in the variant records. Availability varied by country.

Variant	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11
2.0 TDI CAGB					◐	●	●	●
2.0 TFSI BPJ		◐	●	●	●	●	●	●
2.7 TDI CANA	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
2.8 FSI CCEA					◐	●	●	●
3.0 TDI BMK	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●

● full year · ◐ arrives or leaves mid-generation. Years from 2008 in the accent colour are facelift (LCI) cars. Verify the engine code, not the model year.

Rating map, price against risk

Good-buy price plotted against risk level for every standard engine, so the value corner is visible at a glance.

Every standard engine in the chassis, plotted at its good-buy price against its risk level. Cheap and low-risk is the top-left; expensive and fragile is the bottom-right. M cars are excluded, they would stretch the price axis and tell you nothing about the rest.

Buy / strong buy Buy with conditions Caution / avoidLeft is cheaper, up is safer. The top-left corner is where the value is.

Prices across the range

Where the money sits across the whole chassis. Every figure here is an illustrative placeholder, not a sourced market sample.

Every standard engine on one euro axis: the bar spans the 10th to 90th percentile of asking prices, the tick is the median and the green marker is the good-buy figure. S/RS cars are excluded; they sit an order of magnitude above the rest.

Cheapest good buy€3,4502.0 TFSI BPJ

Median good buy€4,550across 5 engines

Dearest good buy€5,0003.0 TDI BMK

Full range€2,650–€11,400P10 to P90

Every standard engine · cheapest first · 3.0 TDI BMK highlighted as best value

€5k€7.5k€10kGood buy

2.0 TFSI BPJ€3,450 2.7 TDI CANA€4,000 2.0 TDI CAGB€4,550 2.8 FSI CCEA€4,550 3.0 TDI BMK€5,000

at or under the good buy · good buy · median · bar spans the 10th–90th percentile

Chassis-wide issues, every engine inherits these

Faults recorded against the bodyshell and running gear rather than one engine, so every variant on this page inherits them.

Front-drive cars carry the multitronic CVTA6 platform€1,800–€4,000

Shuddering at low speed, hesitation as drive takes up, and eventually slipping or a refusal to move. Most front-drive C6 cars use the multitronic CVT, which is the most expensive gearbox failure in this database. Quattro cars use a conventional tiptronic automatic instead, so which car you're looking at changes the risk completely.

Check: Establish whether it's front-drive or quattro before anything else, then drive it from cold feeling for shudder as it takes up drive, and ask for the fluid service record.

TransmissioncommonPartly detectableevidence: documented120–200k km

Front control arm bushing wearE9x chassis€300–€700

Knocking over bad surfaces, vague or wandering steering, uneven front tyre wear, steering shimmy under braking. The front lower arm bushings are a known wear item on this chassis and go well before the ball joints.

Check: Drive over a rough road at low speed with the windows down and listen. Check the inside edges of the front tyres for feathering.

SuspensionuniversalDetectable at viewingevidence: documented80–150k km

Run-flat tyres and kerbed or cracked wheelsE9x chassis€150–€900

Harsh ride, vibration at speed, slow punctures. Stiff-sidewall run-flats transmit impacts straight into the rim, and these alloys crack rather than bend.

Check: Inspect the inner rim edge of every wheel for cracks and hairline splits, not just the face for kerbing. Budget for a set of conventional tyres; most owners switch and the ride improves markedly.

SuspensioncommonDetectable at viewingevidence: documented

Corrosion at the rear subframe and arch seamsE9x chassis€300–€2,000

Bubbling at the rear arch lip, scaling on subframe mounting points and rear suspension components. Age plus road salt. This generation isn't a notorious rotter, but nothing from 2005–2013 is immune in a salted market.

Check: Put it on a lift and look at the rear subframe mounting points and the arch lips from behind. Largely a non-issue on cars from southern Europe, a real one on northern and Baltic cars.

Body & corrosionoccasionalDetectable at viewingevidence: documented

Footwell module (FRM) failureE9x chassis€150–€700

Headlights, indicators, windows, wipers and central locking stop working at once, usually right after a battery change or a jump start. The module's memory corrupts when supply voltage dips. It is the single most common electrical failure on this generation.

Check: Test every window, both mirrors, the wipers, all exterior lights and the central locking before you drive. If any cluster of these is dead, this is why.

ElectricalcommonDetectable at viewingevidence: documented

Rear shock mount wearE9x chassis€250–€500

Knock from the rear over speed bumps, a hollow thump from the boot area. The rubber mounts perish. On hard-used cars the mount can crack the surrounding turret metal, which is a far bigger job.

Check: Lift the boot floor and look at the top of the shock towers for cracking or a lifted mount. Listen for a knock over bumps.

SuspensioncommonDetectable at viewingevidence: documented100–180k km

xDrive transfer case actuator failureE9x chassis€600–€1,200

Grinding or binding at low-speed full lock, 4x4 warning lights, a shudder when manoeuvring. The actuator motor and the transfer case's internal chain wear, especially on cars run with mismatched tyre sizes.

Check: Full-lock circles in both directions in a car park, slowly, listening for binding. Check all four tyres are the same brand and wear, mismatched tyres destroy these.

DrivetrainoccasionalDetectable at viewingevidence: documented120–220k km

iDrive CCC head unit failureE9x chassis€300–€900

Black screen, rebooting, refusal to read the drive, non-functioning navigation. The early CCC unit's hard drive and mainboard fail with age. Later CIC units are more reliable.

Check: Turn it on and use it for a few minutes: navigation, radio, settings. Reboots during that window are the fault showing itself.

ElectricaloccasionalDetectable at viewingevidence: documented

Coolant expansion tank crackingE9x chassis€120–€250

Coolant smell after a drive, slow unexplained loss of coolant, crusty residue around the tank seams. The plastic tank goes brittle with age and splits, usually at a seam or around the level sensor.

Check: Look at the tank with the engine warm, dried coolant leaves a white or pink crust. Cheap to fix, but it tells you how the car has been maintained.

CoolingcommonDetectable at viewingevidence: documented90–200k km

Unregistered replacement batteryE9x chassis€30–€60

Random electrical faults, warning lights that come and go, a battery that dies again within a year. The car's power management must be told a new battery was fitted. Cheap replacements are routinely fitted without coding, which then overcharges or undercharges the new battery.

Check: Ask when the battery was changed and whether it was registered. A car with a new battery, no registration and a scatter of odd electrical faults usually just needs coding.

ElectricalcommonPartly detectableevidence: documented

Written once against the chassis and shown on every variant page below, so nothing here is repeated 5 times: S/RS cars included, since the bodyshell and electronics are shared.

Buying summary

Our read on the chassis, built on the records above rather than added to them.

The gearbox matters more than the engine here. A front-drive C6 with the multitronic CVT carries the most expensive single risk in the range, so a quattro car with the tiptronic automatic is the safer buy. Best value: 3.0 TDI quattro, which is quick, quiet and durable if the oil cooler and chains have been looked after. Best four-cylinder: 2.0 TDI, and the later common-rail version is the better of the two. Watch the 2.7 TDI, because its timing chains sit at the back of the engine and a chain job means pulling the engine out.

Cheapest and dearest in this chassis

The ends of the range by good-buy price. Useful for sanity-checking anything you're quoted.

Lowest entry price

2.0 TFSI BPJ : from €2,650, risk 3

2.7 TDI CANA : from €3,050, risk 4

2.0 TDI CAGB : from €3,500, risk 4

Lowest risk

2.0 TFSI BPJ : risk 3, good buy at €3,450

2.8 FSI CCEA : risk 3, good buy at €4,550

3.0 TDI BMK : risk 3, good buy at €5,000