John528

Hi everyone

After a very happy 11 year relationship with my BMW E39 528i (fitted with 17” wheels and Eibach pro springs with standard BMW dampers), I am looking at buying a new A6. This would be a 2009 model 3.0 TDI quattro.

My problem is as follows. Here in Australia the A6 has had some bad press coverage in regard to it’s ride quality, basically saying it can be quite harsh and jittery over rough roads, without the feeling of comfort you would expect from a luxury car. Note that this is for the car fitted with standard suspension. In Australia the A6 is only available with one factory optional suspension package, the “sports suspension” that lowers the car by 20mm and includes stiffer dampers and springs. When I Google more about this as well as the S-line suspension that lowers the car by 30mm and I assume is even stiffer, all around the world I read bad reviews on A6’s with factory sports or S-line suspension, basically saying the harshness of the ride is terrible away from smooth roads, and that people should avoid these and only buy a car with standard suspension..

I have only driven the standard A6 and while it rides smoother than my modified BMW, it does feel a bit on the harsh side to me, so I can understand how the optional factory sports suspension if it is a lot worse could be too uncomfortable for daily use. When compared to the latest model E class and the Jaguar XF there is no doubt that they ride a lot better than the A6. The BMW M Sport with run flat tyres I think feels worse. There are a limited number of A6’s available for sale with the options I want at the price I want to pay. The front running car is fitted with the sports suspension, and based on my research I would probably prefer it didn’t have this and had standard suspension instead. By the way, all versions of these cars are fitted with 245/40 x 18 tyres as standard equipment in Australia. I like a car that corners and handles well and I love the way that my BMW drives, but my wife is going to share the car with me, and I also have two young children, so I really want it to be softer than the BMW, while ideally not being too far behind it in the handling department. Unfortunately I can’t test drive the car before buying it as it is located in another state. Also, none of the local dealers have a car fitted with sports suspension that I can test drive.

I have been doing a bit of browsing on the internet reading about the Koni FSD dampers. If I buy this car and decide that the ride is too rough to live with, will fitting the FSD dampers while keeping the factory Audi sports springs improve things to a standard that would suit my needs? I guess one option is to ask the Audi dealer to retrofit the car with standard springs and dampers, but I believe that this would be very expensive. I also think that there is a good chance that the sports springs/FSD dampers combination may in fact give a better final compromise between ride and handling. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated, including possible alternative solutions.

Thank you in advance

John

gIzzE

Hi John,

for a start the E39 is probably the best all round BMW ever made, and a lot of people argue that the 530i E39 is still the best all round car ever made period, so your next car has a lot to live up to.

for a start, don't expect the A6 to handle anywhere near as well as the E39, it won't!
However, enjoy it for what it is, and that is a nice comfy car that has a good interior and is a nice place to be.

I have had mine for nearly 12 months now, it is a 3.2 Q avant, and I have also has an E39 528i and an E39 530i sport, also had a 535d sport touring (E61) and once on proper tyres that was an awesome car, more comfy than the E39 and better handling, just not quite as driver focused as the E39 sport.
I am liking the A6 more and more though, at first I was gutted and wished I had bought another E61, but appreciating the Audi the longer I have it, however, I have an SE, I am not a fan of the S-Line ride, it still handles pretty wallowy and is not as comfy, as bad as the BMW on run flats.
It's not terrible, I just personally think that there is no real gain in handling compared with the comfort loss.

I have heard many people getting great results by fitting Eibach springs though, so no damper change just swapping for a better spring.
That would be my first port of call.

ACSGP

I had the standard suspension on my C6 A6 when I first bought it in Nov 04. Car was decent comfort wise, but I felt that the dampers were a bit too hard, so the car would roll quite alot in corners due to the softer springs, but you would feel the bumps transmitted into the cabin via the dampers, though edges of the bumps would be rounded off.

I went to OEM s-line springs and anti-roll bars, and with the Koni FSD's in place. The car's dropped about 35 mm, but my ride is better all round, except for deep bumps as the travel for the suspension has lessened.

If you go for the sports suspension, use the car for awhile first. On the Audi Singapore MD's car, he had the sports set-up, and the car rode really nicely because he had the lightweight, composite 19" OEM BBS style rims. You'd be surprised how much loosing unsprung weight does for the car. For comfort, this set-up is very good, and you may not need the FSDs. I'm running forged MTM rims, and am going to StopTechs soon, so this will further improve the ride for me.

John528

Thanks for your very useful advice. Things have now moved on a bit. Today I placed an order for a new A6 3.0 TDI 2009 upgrade car. One of the Audi salesman rang me with what I thought was a pretty good deal, so after a bit more negotiation I signed up. It has standard suspension that I am happy about as it will give me more flexibility in the future. I think that with my requirements standard springs with more travel are the way to go. It has 19” wheels that I am uncertain about although I do like the way they look (but not as much as those 19" MTM Forged Bimotos).

I am going to take delivery of the car and drive it for a while to determine what changes if any I need to make. If the ride is too harsh I may look at replacing the 19” wheels with 18” wheels. If I decide before I get too many miles up on the car I think that the 19” OEM wheels should be fairly easy to sell. I've only ever had experience with 17" tyres so can only assume that every time you go up a wheel size the rougher it gets, but how much I don't know. Do you think that good light 18” wheels would improve the ride much? If it’s not much difference maybe I should keep the 19” wheels, as I guess they would handle better and give a better steering response.

If I am unhappy with the ride, one option is to keep the 19” wheels and fit a set of Koni FSD dampers. However, the reality is that I have been happy enough with the ride of my BMW for the last 11 years and it is not exactly a smooth riding machine with the Eibach pro springs, so maybe I should accept a less than limo quality ride and try and make it go around corners better instead.Perhaps Bilstein B6's or Koni Sports might be better suited.

I take delivery of the car in mid January so may ask for some more advice after that once I have tested the car out a bit.