1.8t vs V6

[Sean Ford]

As a 2.8 30v owner, my advice to you would be to get the 1.8t. A chip can
easily boost the power and give you comparable power albeit with different
characteristics. 

Talk to Andrew Duane about seizing water pumps on the 2.8 30v. My own water
pump went at 56k miles, though I got it to the shop in time and as a result
escaped any damage to the engine.

That being said, the tip/1.8t combo isn't the most powerful combination that
you're going to come across, though the tip can be reprogrammed to produce a
quicker shift, it can't oversome the inherent slip associated with an automatic
transmission. I test drove a Passat 1.8t with the 5-spd manual and REALLY liked
it (somedays I wished I had gone with that car instead), but it lost out to the
hefty and secure feel of the A6. 

There's a lot to be said for the peace of mind that the 1.8t buys over the
insecurity of looming engine component failures with the 2.8.

--- RndLiteBMW at aol.com wrote:
>    
> 1.8t's have proven to be pretty good engines overall- they're much easier to
> work on than the V6. Though only a few of our customer's cars are chipped
> (the last one I installed was an APR), none have had any issues with the
> turbos. I would easily recommend the 1.8 over the V6, even with the disparity
> in power output. A mild chip mod from a reputable source will address that.
> The 1.8t water pumps leak pretty regularly around the shaft, and have a few
> oil leak issues, but have generally been pretty reliable. 
>     The V6's have nice power characteristics, and the torque over a 1.8 is
> apparent, but they run out of grunt and are pretty thrashy in the upper
> ranges. Nowhere near as nice as the BMW 6's they're competing with, in other
> words. The V6's tend to leak oil from the cam seals regularly, and the water
> pumps have been known to seize prematurely (as low as 40k), taking the front
> of the engine with them. The numerous tensioner and roller pullies are less
> than reliable as well. We saw a '97 30v A6 break a belt and bend 26 valves!
> That was $5000+...Lots of fun, and Audi politely told the owner to F*** off. 
> Power steering pumps are also a fairly common leak/failure on the v6 cars. 
> Just my .02c, hope it helps!
> Good to be back on the Q list- I've been lurking for awhile!


=====
Sean Ford
1999 A6 2.8q tip | 1992 100CS non-q 5-spd
http://registry.audiworld.com/audiworld/registry/details.asp?car=9728

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now
http://companion.yahoo.com/