A6 Hybrid vs 520d

[kuntakinte]

Value-wise, I would seriously consider the A6 hybrid. HOWEVER, Audis are not without its own problems. I currently own my first Audi (Q5) and already (1.5y/o) it needs a RM17k job to fix an oil consumption problem. Another friend who is an Audi fan has had 2 new A4s that needed a gearbox motronic replacement at around the 2-3 y/o mark. There are limited service centres in KL and it took about 2.5 weeks to get a service booking slot.

Ride comfort on my 535 is vastly superior to the Q5 although I know I am not really comparing like for like. However, for an SUV the Q5 handles fantastically around corners, but at the expense of comfort. A fairer comparison is that my previous Alfa 159 was more comfortable than my friend's Audi A4 on similar sized rims.

Audis are great cars to drive aggressively but BMWs are a more complete package to live with on a daily basis. The price factor in this particular case may however tip me in favour of the A6 though. But if you cannot stand the look of the Audi, then get the BMW. I chose the Q5 over the X3 because of looks, although the I knew the X3 is newer technology and should be more compfy. Call me shallow but that's just my opinion of course.

Yeah, heard of many who suffered from motronic issues on their TT and golf.

As it is, my decision is skewed towards the A6 for the reasons I've specified.

I hope the A6 will be more, if not as comfortable as a 5er. Will be test driving the standard A6 soon to gauge this.

Read a comment on Paul Tan's blog on the A6 hybrid battery being offered with only a 3 year warranty and its gonna cost nearly $30k to replace due to it being a more expensive Li-Ion versus the Ni-MH in the Prius. The Audi SA says nothing official from Audi yet and to wait for official announcement at launch day. If its true, that's certainly a negative.

Btw, Wasnt your oil consumption problem covered under warranty?

 

[shahnaz]

Anybody has test driven the Audi A6 Hybrid ?

 

[shahnaz]

Yeah, heard of many who suffered from motronic issues on their TT and golf.

As it is, my decision is skewed towards the A6 for the reasons I've specified.

I hope the A6 will be more, if not as comfortable as a 5er. Will be test driving the standard A6 soon to gauge this.

Read a comment on Paul Tan's blog on the A6 hybrid battery being offered with only a 3 year warranty and its gonna cost nearly $30k to replace due to it being a more expensive Li-Ion versus the Ni-MH in the Prius. The Audi SA says nothing official from Audi yet and to wait for official announcement at launch day. If its true, that's certainly a negative.

Btw, Wasnt your oil consumption problem covered under warranty?

I was told that they are giving 4 years or 120000Km warranty

 

[kuntakinte]

Anybody has test driven the Audi A6 Hybrid ?

Unless you are a VIP or top mgt at DRB Hicom, the car will only be launched on Feb 27 at Hyatt. You can, however, vouyeur at the car whilst its being prepped on transit to its owners. The SA, with sufficient notice, can arrange this but due to my schedule these few days, unable to head over to glenmarie

 

[thsaw99]

just bear in mind the service centres are not that many, and if you have to send in the car for service which might take few days, courtesy car is as scarce as the hair on Professor Xavier's head...not exaggerating...happened to us b4...of cos if this is your 3rd or 4th car...by all means...Audi is not a bad car...

 

[dark1234]

own a F10 and drove a A6 from my friend ride,
conclusion buy with your pocket which you deem reasonable be it F10 or A6.

i be lying if i tell you if i have choice now i may go for audi for RM288 compare with 333 F10. thats near 45k Saving !!!.

but no BSRI but still around 20kplus saving.

but for a6 hybrid , have you seen the BOOT ??? near useless compare with 520 litr space in F10. for CNY i am contemplating getting another X3 or X5 or caynne to drive for next CNY , need to haul more stuff during CNY.

 

[kuntakinte]

Yeah, dark1234, clouded by all the technical wizardry of the A6 hybrid, nearly overlooked that it's bootspace is merely 375 ltrs vs 550 in the F10, which means that its even worse than e90 460 liters, defeating one of my main purposes to upgrade, ie space. Hmmmm....

As for BSRI, I only do around 12k km a year, severely under utilizing this entitlement, so its not a real loss for me in this dept. whereas for courtesy car, its equally tough to get one from quill or ab too - in my two years plus ownership, there were 2 instances where my car was locked in for nearly a week, one was the power kit upgrade and secondly, to replace an absorber mounting under warranty, and in both situations, not one was available. Disappointed

Looks like will have to seriously measure the bootspace of the A6 else the F10 may just win it here for me. If its the f10 I am taking, will wait a couple of months to gauge the a6 effect on the market as euromobil says they are bringing stocks of nearly 100 units a month to corner the market and take full advantage of the duty free incentive till end 2013

 

[SinghisKing]

HA ha - As a F10 owner, I feel its a great car.
But the A6hybrid @ 288k fully imported and fully loaded is very enticing. I guess A6 wouldnt look so nice with one of those roof mounted carriers to make up for the boot space

Yeah, dark1234, clouded by all the technical wizardry of the A6 hybrid, nearly overlooked that it's bootspace is merely 375 ltrs vs 550 in the F10, which means that its even worse than e90 460 liters, defeating one of my main purposes to upgrade, ie space. Hmmmm....

As for BSRI, I only do around 12k km a year, severely under utilizing this entitlement, so its not a real loss for me in this dept. whereas for courtesy car, its equally tough to get one from quill or ab too - in my two years plus ownership, there were 2 instances where my car was locked in for nearly a week, one was the power kit upgrade and secondly, to replace an absorber mounting under warranty, and in both situations, not one was available. Disappointed

Looks like will have to seriously measure the bootspace of the A6 else the F10 may just win it here for me. If its the f10 I am taking, will wait a couple of months to gauge the a6 effect on the market as euromobil says they are bringing stocks of nearly 100 units a month to corner the market and take full advantage of the duty free incentive till end 2013

 

[conan]

what will happen after the incentive ends and no more hybrids are brought in (or rather no one will buy without the tax exemption. will Euromobil still stock the parts for the hybrid and also have "experts" who can service the hybrid components?

 

[kuntakinte]

what will happen after the incentive ends and no more hybrids are brought in (or rather no one will buy without the tax exemption. will Euromobil still stock the parts for the hybrid and also have "experts" who can service the hybrid components?

Parts stocking should not be an issue but as is their common practice, they'll order only when needed which leads to their famed delays. I used to own an Audi TT Mk 1 before and I usually get parts from the official Audi stockists at Jln Ipoh. Faster and cheaper.

As for hybrid incentive, I think it's here to stay. Malaysia has lost so much ground to Thailand due to the old protectionist NAP policies that it is clear now that Malaysia wants to get a head start on the new green initiative. It's evident by not only the duty free incentive for hybrids below 2.0 cc now, they are also willing to consider a special incentive for BMW for the high cc activehybrids. So, yes, the govt seems dead set in continuing this policy moving forward. However, it may no longer be a full duty exemption but will nevertheless, make it priced competitive enough to sell the cars

On another note, Audi OZ has back turned on their decision to sell the A6 hybrid there due to unfavorable pricing structure. That explains why euromobil is able to get so much stock in.

 

[E46Fanatic]

Euromobil is opening a new 3S center in TDDI next to VW by June this year and it's only a matter of time before Audi AG comes to MY to take over the dealership. Audi AG will be here for the launch on the 27th and they are very serious of the hybrid and volume potential for the Malaysian market. Once the volume of Audi cars hit certain threshold, they will come in and expand more dealerships which will just be good news for consumers like us. I am amazed at what VW Malaysia was able to achieve in such a short time.

 

[energy]

Great news! Euromobile is opening a new 3S center next to VW where exactly? got any more land?
Looks like all the car dealers are opening on that row. Lotus and even Ingress expanded.

 

[aaronpatel]

Well I have an A4 and also 520d. One for fun and one for work. Thought would share my thoughts.

The A6 hybrid looks beautiful. My neighbour just took delivery of his A6 hybrid.

One thing to note is that it is FWD and not the typical Audi Quattro which is what gives the Audi's its cornering stability. It is also heavier with the added battery and electric motor. As such, I am not sure how all that torque is going to be put down on the road...Handling wise would definitely go with the F10.

The main point at looking at the hybrid would be cost savings in fuel. However, the 520d would still beat the A6 hybrid here due to cheaper fuel price and a difference between the petrol and diesel engine. The A6 hybrid's battery is tiny and the expected range of travel with the electric motor is only 3KM! After the battery runs out, you are back to driving a standard A6 2.0L with the 211hp and 350nm without all the added torque and hp, where the diesel engine would still deliver its FC. Moreover, the F10 has most of the fuel savings technologies like brake energy regeneration and start/stop already.

My choice would still be the F10 520d with the added fuel savings, consistent performance and hassle-free maintenance.

I can drive my f10 like I stole it without having to worry about FC. :wink:

The LED headlights on the other hand are to die for. When is the F10's turn for a pair?

 

[Toffeeman]

I must say when A6 Hybrid was launched, I was tempted to say my next car is the latter instead of 520d. However, after much thought, 520d seems to be the more sensible choice due to reasons mentioned by aaronpetal.

 

[kuntakinte]

Bro aaronpetal,

Thanks for the honest input but based on my reading and research of the A6 hybrid, wish to correct some misconceptions in your posting.

On lack of Quattro, yes, the A6 hybrid is FWD. from reviews, due to the extra weight of the battery in the boot, cornering stability is much better than the standard A6 2.0 non-Quattro. However, there is some degree of torque steer when full boost of engine and electric motor unleashing the full 480nm torque is applied.

The Europeans as opposed to the japs have different interpretation for a hybrid. The Japs seem to go for fuel economy when they mated the motor to the puny engine whilst the European's priorities seem to lie in emissions and driving enjoyment as you have this hybrid in some high cc engines in Porsche, BMW etc. therefore, fuel economy is really secondary if I choose this A6 hybrid. It's the enjoyment of the latest tech wizardry and driving enjoyment from the combined 245hp and 480 nm diesel like torque that's available on tap. Yes, it is true that combined fuel economy is better on the diesel than a petrol hybrid and you start to wonder why they did not implement this tech on a diesel instead, read that Peugeot has tho'

On the 3km range, the A6 Hybrid is capable to be driven on pure electric mode for 80kmh for 3 kms before the petrol engine kicks in, enough for you to sneak quietly out of the house to your mistress's place unnoticed. When driven, the battery is continuously charged when it converts kinetic energy and stored. The charging is quickened when under braking. Therefore, the battery and its full potential is available 99% of the time except that when one becomes over zealous in constant hard boost all the time.

The 520d offers some pretty guilt free hard driving and a pretty reliable one. I am one happy owner of the 320d but seriously, the tech, the interior gadgets, the full specs, German built quality with a hard to match price are real value propositions for me to consider switching camps

 

[kuntakinte]

For me, the negatives of the A6 hybrid so far,
- the bland exterior styling. However, most reviewers mentioned that it looks better in the metal than pics. And quite frankly, I've not seen one on the road yet.

- poor boot space of 375 liters which is even poorer than e90's 460 liters. Major negative for me, really have to scrutinize this area physically to see how much space is being compromised

- rumored 3 year warranty on battery while someone here says its 4 and the exorbitant replacement cost of speculated $30k. I hope the battery pack being the higher quality lithium ion may be more lasting than the nickel mh pack of the Prius, which is extensively used as a cab in the states for more than 7 years without needing replacement.

- Audi Malaysia poor post sales and service history

Other than that its really hard to fault this German slut

 

[initialM]

The A6 hybrid looks beautiful. My neighbour just took delivery of his A6 hybrid.

Huh?? I thought A6 hybrid only launch on 28th Feb???

 

[kuntakinte]

Huh?? I thought A6 hybrid only launch on 28th Feb???

First batch deliveries to VIP and senior mgt staff from DRB HICOM group have started. Public expected to get theirs from march

 

[kuntakinte]

Added to the above, the A6 hybrid is also equipped with auto engine start/stop feature and an electric motor to run the air conditioning systems allowing for more power to be delivered to the wheels. The A6 chassis also has 30% more aluminum components compared to its predecessor, even after adding in the battery pack, the hybrid tips the scale at the same weight as the gen it replaces.

It's also a proper 8 speed tiptronic transmission and not the sissy CVT transmission in the A4 1.8

Seriously, the more you read about it, the more impress one becomes. In other countries, the car is still sold at a huge premium even with their govt green incentives. I think we should consider ourselves lucky that there is a huge disparity in the duty structure that allows us to enjoy this tech for a lot less, comparatively speaking, of course

And I am beginning to sound like a bloody Audi salesman...... Damn!

 

[aaronpatel]

No worries bro. Always good to see things from different points of views.