Spyder

+1. The 2.7T on my 01 allroad has been just about the only thing on the car that has proved to be bulletproof.

The lower rating is due to HPFP failures--my 535 had 3 pump replacements under warranty--related to direct injection not any weakness in the engine, ie, block and head, itself.

Spyder

Sccpmusc26

The torque converters in those vehicles were notorious for failing. Turbo failure as well as leaky oil seals just to name a few other "common" problems. The 2.8 was more reliable, at least in sifting through these forums when I owned an A6 and allroad. For definitive statistics, l'll have to dig up some info.

westwest888

In general, I would expect the V8 to be more reliable because it has fewer parts and runs cooler. Forced induction has a big twin screw supercharger than can break, more work on the belt, you have to rev it higher (has a higher redline too). In a 24 hour race the V6T would break but the V8 would be all set.

Tifosi

Turbocharged engine does take a little more care than their NA counterparts, while time consuming but easily accomandated considering the performance advantage it offers. It mainly involves proper warming up and cooling down the engine, use of correct type of oil and routine oil change interval. Out of the 10 vehicles that has passed through my hands since I learned how to drive, 5 of them are with FI engines and none them has suffered any type of engine or turbo failures.

My last ride was a B5-S4, which I purchased new back in 2001. The car stayed with me for close to 10 years and had ~130K miles on the dial when it left my possession. I proceeded with a stage 3 conversion when the car was ~80K by choice. At that time, the KO3's was inspected and were in perfect working order. My personal experience with this particular engine is not an isolated incident as I can easily name several previous A6/S4/Allroad owners that had shared a similar type of experience with the 2.7T engines.

With that said, I would be interested to see the stats that you can dig up regarding high failure rate of these engines, if that is indeed the case.

AudisandAlfas

2.7t converted from 2.8????? Where did you get that idea? Have had my B5 S4 for 12 yrs 100K miles. Except for some difficult maint - ie replacing the water pump - this engine has been rock solid. Much better than inline 6 BMW engine from previous coupe.

Tifosi

The 2.7T did indeed started out as the 2.8 engine. If you need printed proof, look for the June 28, 1999 issue of Autoweek, with an Imola S4 on the cover.

The 2.7T was based on the 2.8 just like the 3.0 SC is based on the 3.2. Both the 2.8 and the 3.2 were modified to make the engine more durable for FI.