Junkyard Find: 2007 Audi S6
When I’m wandering junkyards and looking for interesting stuff, I don’t pay much attention to Audis of our current century. No, I want to photograph old Audis, preferably ones from the 1970s. I make exceptions for discarded members of the Audi S family, however, because these cars do such a great job of demonstrating the ruthlessly quick depreciation of German luxury machinery that didn’t get the maintenance it deserved. Here’s an ’07 S6 that didn’t even see 15 years of use, found in a Denver-area yard last week.
The MSRP on this car started at $74,000, or about $96,150 in 2021 dollars, and the reviewers wrote all the stuff you’d have expected to read about it.
The 2007-2011 S6 got a (slightly) detuned version of the S8’s V10 engine, giving it an impressive 435 horsepower and bragging rights for owners wishing to point out the closely-related engine powering the Lamborghini Gallardo.
I’d be willing to bet that this engine had the most horsepower (when new) of anything in this yard’s inventory on the day that I visited, beating out this S55 AMG and every one of the Chrysler Magnum and Ford Triton V10s in various trucks and vans.
You couldn’t get a manual transmission in the ’07 S6, which probably had zero effect on sales. Perhaps transmission woes knocked this one’s value down from “clean Suzuki Forenza” to “ hooptie Pontiac Sunfire with thrown rod” prices.
True enough.
¡Vorsprung!
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I have a high threshold for automotive pain and I'm good at mental gymnastics to justify ownership costs, but Audi V10s are too frightening even for me. I've read you have to lift the engine to change the oxygen sensors. I'm still not sure if the forums are trolling me with that, but the possibility that it's true was enough to scare me away.
Fun fact: My 2011 Audi has been practically perfect since I purchased it new. Literally zero money spent on it if you don't count maintenance items like brakes and tires. My 2009 4Runner, which is supposedly bulletproof, seizes the pistons in it's front calipers every two years like clockwork, is rotting out it's frame (although the body is still perfect), has had the wiper motor fail, then the wiper switch, and the brake light switch. All with less than 100k on the odometer. Go figure.