Buying advice RS7 2016

[csaba.meszaros]

Hello Guys!

I am planning to upgrade to an RS7 from 2016, currently own a 2011 A7 3.0 v6 TDI with 245hp. The RS7 has 62k KM ~ 38k miles and already had the two turbos replaced under warranty at 58k KM. The seller said that there was a small performance loss and the previous owner wanted this to be solved before the warranty expires so this operation was done by the dealership under warranty. How often happens that the two turbos are replaced that early? I could see from the service history that he practiced 24k KM ~ 15k miles oil change intervals which are pretty bad for such a high-performance car in my opinion. The brake discs and pads are worn out and need to be replaced as well, for the second time based on the service history. This RS7 comes with the standard brakes, not the ceramic. How often do you replace the disc and pads on yours? I could make without any problem 40k with the factory branded discs and pads on the A7.

I will post the link with the car below. Maybe you spot something I did not.

https://www.hasznaltauto.hu/szemelya..._mo-i-15525750

I wish I could afford one with B&O but they are way to rare and expensive so I need to stick with the BOSE and will upgrade the subwoofer with an aftermarket AMP. The car doesn't come with lane assist, which doesn't bother me as I anyway turn it off on all of my cars. The only thing I miss are the sport seats, but I can make this compromise.

I would need to trade-in the A7 and that covers just around 27% the price of the RS7. Is this a must-have upgrade for a real petrol-head?

Thanks a lot!

[daytona rs7]

38k miles is low for turbo failure. this usually happens about 60k miles and above. but with 15k oil change interval, its possible.
brakes on the RS7 are expensive. not many aftermarket rotor options, and they arent much cheaper than OEM. looking at roughly $700 USD per corner. if you can do it yourself, parts will still be about $2000 USD.

Brakes on the RS7 tend to have a shorter life, about 30-40k miles. Some people report as little as 20k miles.

2 red flags on this car are:
They went through brakes at the very end of the spectrum; 20k miles average. the car may have been driven hard constantly. this would also reinforce the turbos blowing early in its life. driven hard, parked, and oil coking can clog the screen faster.

and

turbos do not just get replaced under warranty because of a complaint of power loss. they only get replaced because they fail. its a $12k USD job at the dealer...they don't just do the work because of a minor complaint. so the seller is either lying that the work was done in order to boost the selling price, or they aren't being clear on the reason for the replacement. ask for the service history printout from the turbo replacement.

[PEM]

Pretty much what ^ said. Also if B&O is a make or break the bank kind of deal, I'm not too sure an upgrade to the RS7 is a good move. The price difference, at least here in the US, is fairly negligible. You'll be paying more for brake jobs and tire replacements at about 20-30k mile intervals which to a lot of people is about 2-3 years.

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[GasMan]

I'd be suspicious of that cat being beaten on with the turbos needing replacement already.

Just wait until you find the car you want. B&O isn't the cheapest retrofit, but it doesn't add much value to a used car, so you're likely to come out ahead financially getting a car with B&O. I have B&O in my car and it's a definite must have if you're an audiophile. Best stereo I've ever heard.

[csaba.meszaros]

They've argued that the turbos were replaced because the previous owner was a good friend with the boss from the dealership and at that point he didn't knew if he wants to keep it or sell it. Later on upgraded to a brand new RS6 and traded this one in. If it's like you just mentioned, that the car was driven hard what else could broke within the upcoming period? I would say that it's better to have a car with fresh OEM turbos at 38k miles rather than one with 38k miles and original turbos that will fail at 60k. He mentioned a list with around 20 points-parts that were replaced by the dealership under warranty, he said that they've followed the standard repair procedure from the factory.

How I could figure out if the car was driven hard? The seller also said, that the previous owner did not order ceramic brakes on the new RS6 neither, because he is not doing track days. Both isofix connectors are pretty worn, so I expect he had two child seats in the car.

The dealership offers a one year or 15k miles warranty for the non wear parts. With change of breaks, tires and wheels I've calculated already.

[daytona rs7]

id ask for proof that the turbo work was done.

these cars can take a beating. do you want a car that's been beaten? not really. but it takes alot to break any major components.

the only thing that comes to mind as a wear item when driven hard are motor mounts. and they are a little pricey to replace. i think your looking at a 2K USD at a dealer to replace them.

regardless of the cars history, you will be due for the sport diff fluid change at 35k miles. this is an expensive maintenance and very particular to the fluids and capacities. do it wrong, itll cost you about $8K USD.

VCDS can give you the launch counter (how many times its been launched) and i think it can also show the highest RPM the car has reached. this will give you an idea on its history.

[Wilbur_RS7]

Yes the turbos have been replaced, but look at it as a positive. it's one less thing you have to worry about. Almost anyone with a 4.0TT Engine knows about the oil screen issue. If they hadn't been replaced, I'm sure people would be telling you to budget extra for it.

What does concern me tho is the 15K mile oil change intervals and the brakes. You have to wonder if its been serviced regularly otherwise.. I'd say try to find one with a remaining factory warranty so you have some peace of mind when buying.

[csaba.meszaros]

Unfortunately in Europe the factory recommends an oil change per every 30k KM ~ 18.6k Miles for the long-life oils they use, I know this is bullshit but if you don't plan to keep the car after the warranty expires you just don't do any extra oil change in-between what the factory recommends, that's pretty common here unfortunately.

If I buy an RS7 with factory turbos, how do I know if they will not fail within the next 5k miles? The turbo change is documented in the online service history of the car from Audi, I will ask for a printed version of changed parts.

Good hint with the launch control counter, I think there is also a sport driving portion indicator within the transmission advanced values in VCDS, will definitely check those. The break discs and pads change is really odd, this was not executed by the dealership but by an independent service. They are thurstworthy, I service there the A7 as well. The technician said the discs were changed at 32k miles but now they look really worn out already at 38k with a huge "wall" at the edges.

Tomorrow I will ask for some prints from both sides that worked on the car and will take it for a ride and see how it compares to my A7.

Thank you guys for the input.

[simonaitch]

Unfortunately in Europe the factory recommends an oil change per every 30k KM ~ 18.6k Miles for the long-life oils they use, I know this is bullshit but if you don't plan to keep the car after the warranty expires you just don't do any extra oil change in-between what the factory recommends, that's pretty common here unfortunately.

If I buy an RS7 with factory turbos, how do I know if they will not fail within the next 5k miles? The turbo change is documented in the online service history of the car from Audi, I will ask for a printed version of changed parts.

Good hint with the launch control counter, I think there is also a sport driving portion indicator within the transmission advanced values in VCDS, will definitely check those. The break discs and pads change is really odd, this was not executed by the dealership but by an independent service. They are thurstworthy, I service there the A7 as well. The technician said the discs were changed at 32k miles but now they look really worn out already at 38k with a huge "wall" at the edges.

Tomorrow I will ask for some prints from both sides that worked on the car and will take it for a ride and see how it compares to my A7.

Thank you guys for the input.

Exactly what I did. Bought it same day !

[csaba.meszaros]

Managed to talk with the first owner of the car and things have happened not really like the dealership told me. Only one turbo was changed under warranty and not because the owner complained but because the CEL light appeared on the instrument cluster. The brake discs were not changed just the pads, discs are still the original ones from the factory and pads are in decent shape.

It still bothers me that only one turbo was changed, could be that the other one is dying too? How often happens that only one turbo fails?

The leasing offer was not very nice from the bank, the max duration they can offer is 36 months, which makes the RS7 a bit expensive.

Calculated with around 1500USD initial costs for wheels, tires, brake discs + pads(?).

[GasMan]

I'd walk away from this one. It's just a car in the end, don't get wrapped up in it emotionally. Find one without all these weird issues.

[daytona rs7]

Managed to talk with the first owner of the car and things have happened not really like the dealership told me. Only one turbo was changed under warranty and not because the owner complained but because the CEL light appeared on the instrument cluster. The brake discs were not changed just the pads, discs are still the original ones from the factory and pads are in decent shape.

It still bothers me that only one turbo was changed, could be that the other one is dying too? How often happens that only one turbo fails?

The leasing offer was not very nice from the bank, the max duration they can offer is 36 months, which makes the RS7 a bit expensive.

Calculated with around 1500USD initial costs for wheels, tires, brake discs + pads(?).

walk away.
it is not normal for turbos to be replaced individually. sounds like cost cutting. and id be weary of how thorough the rest of the job was done.
brakes pads only can be changed, but it is usually frowned upon unless very low mileage on rotors. the previous owner was again cost cutting.

and yes, the turbos blow because of oil starvation. if one was starved to the point of failing, the other was starved to the point of at least damage. id be confident in saying that the 1 original turbo is not in great condition.

[csaba.meszaros]

Alright! What you are saying makes total sense. I will wait for another buy and forget this one. Thanks a lot!

[csaba.meszaros]

After months of searching and with the lockdown going on in the EU, I have decided to gamble and buy the RS7 from the original post. I took it to an independent dealer and made an inspection, the car is in good shape from all aspects, with no error codes, no misfires.
Things I've figured out:

1.) Only one turbo failed at 60k KM (currently 62k KM), but both turbos and also the oil screen was changed to the latest revision by the local Audi dealer.
2.) Rotors are still the original ones from the factory, only brake pads were changed and only once at 30k KM.

I've got the offer for the first service: front rotors + pads + oil + oil filter + air filter + cabin air filter = 3060 USD (with OEM parts and labor included)

My mechanic said they put Petronas oil in their race cars, do you guys have experience with this oil? or should I stick with Motul 8100?

The only thing that still bothers me, there is dry! oil residue on the bottom of the car on the left and right of the transmission. This comes for sure, not from the transmission, and also the bottom of the engine is completely dry, without oil residues. It looks like it's from the time when the turbo blew. Is it common when the turbos blew to leak oil in such high quantity that it flows down to the transmission?

The seller gave 1 year or 30k KM aftermarket warranty for mechanical failures.

[daytona rs7]

external oil leak is not a characteristic of blown turbos.
however a messy change of the oil screen and turbos could allow for oil in the valley to overflow down the back of the engine and around the sides of the transmission housing.

[csaba.meszaros]

Thanks, your comment gives me some peace of mind. Decided to buy it because of the fresh turbos, any other car with similar milage could potentially fail at any time.

[csaba.meszaros]

Got the list of parts that were changed with the turbos, it has 65 points, oil screen is the latest revision: G

I will leave it here, maybe it's good for someone who wants to do it by himself. This change was done at the local Audi dealer under warranty: