I’ve been considering buying one of these for around $10,000 as a daily driver, and I’m nervous about the potential maintenance costs. I’m pretty handy with most minor to mid-level DIY car work, and I believe the core engine and transmission in the B7 S6 5.2L are good, but to keep it on the road could be very expensive. Would you trust it as a daily driver?
It's my daily now most of the time, I've put 12K on it since last February! I was nervous about it, but the car has been holding up well. Before you buy it, if you hear rattling from the intake while in park while revving to 2000 RPM or so with the hood up that is a $4000 intake manifold replacement. Both of the ones I found had that issue and I assumed it was normal but ended up eating the cost on that, that video is on my channel. The carbon clean will need to be done every year or 2. I had to replace CV boots and a few other things, most of it I videoed and put on here. I still need injectors and to check for air leaks, when it is cold it runs rough but it is great once it warms up. I got lucky and the previous owner had done all the plugs and kept up on a lot of the maintenance, Carfax service history is a great thing to look at. Oil changes are $100 plus for parts, @fcpeuro has some kits with the new plug, oil and filter. Hope that helps!
@@_Jm24k yep, if I knew then what I do now I would have looked at the arms then waited and got one that the manifold arm wasn't broken on. A previous mechanic managed to get the arm out of the flap motor so the ECU still thought it was moving the flaps, no code
I have it daily for last 5 years, for me it is most reliable car I ever owned and everything else was newer audis before, but mine is S8 V10 2008. It is like a tank well made. I do everything DIY and I'm not even close to a mechanic, I just bought lots of tools and watch youtube how to repair. Drive it like a regular car and not like 450ps whore -> it can last you forever. There is no part on it that you can't change and after 15 years parts are very cheap.
What is the biggest difference Stock tune vs. Stage 1 on the engine? I am aware of the throttle response, but does it noticeably pulls better through the rev range, or only above certain rpm range compared to stock? What about the trans tune? Does it still pop when changing gears? I love this pop-overrun on the stock TCU tune!
I went from an APR tune to the JHM tune and there was still a difference, so I can't speak to the stock tune. I ran the Stage 2 for a day until I realized it was for no cats and whew, that was a monster! The TCU tune firms up all of the shifts so there is less time for the pops but they still happen. 😁
@@brninitdwn You flashed the Jhm stage 2 for a day? By stage 1 and stage 2 do you mean the 91 and 93 octane tunes? I dont see anything about "stages" on the tune on Jhms website. Ill consider taking off the cats for that monster performance you just described lol. Also you should consider the intake manifold spacers, Ive heard they work wonders, you dont lose performance when the engine bay gets real hot from running it a long time because it keeps the intake manifold cooler.
@@jpjacks1500 It's not listed on the site, but the stage 1 is for both 91 & 93 with cats. Stage 2 has separate tunes for 91 & 93 and no cats. I did get spacers when I replaced the manifold and carbon cleaned it last year! 🙂
That stage 2 flash was a monster, but the cats are still there so had to reflash to stage 1. Every shift the car surges ahead hard now, if you give it much gas from a stop it will throw you back in the seat hard. From what they said at support the pedal is more like an R8 now....and it really acts like it!
@@brninitdwn im afraid ill blow the motor...but when i read like an R8 hard not to buy the tune now. so your going catless ? adding spacers on the o2 sensor i guess to keep the chek engine light off.
@@dcswings eventually I will get some custom headers then go back to stage 2, I'm not sure how the o2 is mapped with that tune but it was designed for no cats so it may not need spacers
@@raytaylor9152 My socials are in my profile here. A great resource for these cars are audirevolution and audizine forums too. It's a great car, but I wouldn't still have it if I couldn't turn wrenches!
@@brninitdwn Im really thinking about picking one of these up. I am in love with obscure and sleeper cars, do you think it will be a nightmare if I get one from 90k-120k miles? I can do almost everything up till pulling the motor by myself.
@@riot840 Just be sure the maintenance was kept up. I've put almost everything I did to mine on the channel and am using it as a daily, over 12k miles in a year and hit 119k last month. It is a great sleeper, a guy in a challenger went wild when I piped him in traffic a few months back 😂
@@brninitdwnThanks, I will definitely look into purchasing one of these. Just scared of the intake manifold being on its way out because I do not want to put 4 grand on top of the original purchase price.
@@riot840 For sure, try to find one with a carfax saying it's been replaced. I could hear the flaps rattling around 2k rpm with the hood popped, both of the ones I found had bad intakes and had that rattle.
thanks for sharing brother, been looking for someone to do a jhm review
For sure! The most important thing to do is take your time!
Where would I contact you to work on it?
@@nathanprichard9857 what ind of work do you need?
I’ve been considering buying one of these for around $10,000 as a daily driver, and I’m nervous about the potential maintenance costs.
I’m pretty handy with most minor to mid-level DIY car work, and I believe the core engine and transmission in the B7 S6 5.2L are good, but to keep it on the road could be very expensive.
Would you trust it as a daily driver?
It's my daily now most of the time, I've put 12K on it since last February! I was nervous about it, but the car has been holding up well.
Before you buy it, if you hear rattling from the intake while in park while revving to 2000 RPM or so with the hood up that is a $4000 intake manifold replacement. Both of the ones I found had that issue and I assumed it was normal but ended up eating the cost on that, that video is on my channel. The carbon clean will need to be done every year or 2. I had to replace CV boots and a few other things, most of it I videoed and put on here. I still need injectors and to check for air leaks, when it is cold it runs rough but it is great once it warms up.
I got lucky and the previous owner had done all the plugs and kept up on a lot of the maintenance, Carfax service history is a great thing to look at.
Oil changes are $100 plus for parts, @fcpeuro has some kits with the new plug, oil and filter.
Hope that helps!
@@brninitdwni have one myself your right about the manifold , sometimes the arms get stuck code 2004
@@_Jm24k yep, if I knew then what I do now I would have looked at the arms then waited and got one that the manifold arm wasn't broken on. A previous mechanic managed to get the arm out of the flap motor so the ECU still thought it was moving the flaps, no code
I have it daily for last 5 years, for me it is most reliable car I ever owned and everything else was newer audis before, but mine is S8 V10 2008. It is like a tank well made. I do everything DIY and I'm not even close to a mechanic, I just bought lots of tools and watch youtube how to repair. Drive it like a regular car and not like 450ps whore -> it can last you forever. There is no part on it that you can't change and after 15 years parts are very cheap.
@@davorin5428 question what your current mileage atm and besides engine wise, how well does suspension parts last you?
What is the biggest difference Stock tune vs. Stage 1 on the engine? I am aware of the throttle response, but does it noticeably pulls better through the rev range, or only above certain rpm range compared to stock?
What about the trans tune? Does it still pop when changing gears? I love this pop-overrun on the stock TCU tune!
I went from an APR tune to the JHM tune and there was still a difference, so I can't speak to the stock tune. I ran the Stage 2 for a day until I realized it was for no cats and whew, that was a monster! The TCU tune firms up all of the shifts so there is less time for the pops but they still happen. 😁
@@brninitdwn You flashed the Jhm stage 2 for a day? By stage 1 and stage 2 do you mean the 91 and 93 octane tunes? I dont see anything about "stages" on the tune on Jhms website. Ill consider taking off the cats for that monster performance you just described lol. Also you should consider the intake manifold spacers, Ive heard they work wonders, you dont lose performance when the engine bay gets real hot from running it a long time because it keeps the intake manifold cooler.
@@jpjacks1500 It's not listed on the site, but the stage 1 is for both 91 & 93 with cats. Stage 2 has separate tunes for 91 & 93 and no cats.
I did get spacers when I replaced the manifold and carbon cleaned it last year! 🙂
Is it shift slow when you had it?
@@nathanprichard9857 Before tcu tune yes
what did you notice the most ? on tran and Eng?
That stage 2 flash was a monster, but the cats are still there so had to reflash to stage 1. Every shift the car surges ahead hard now, if you give it much gas from a stop it will throw you back in the seat hard. From what they said at support the pedal is more like an R8 now....and it really acts like it!
@@brninitdwn im afraid ill blow the motor...but when i read like an R8 hard not to buy the tune now. so your going catless ? adding spacers on the o2 sensor i guess to keep the chek engine light off.
@@dcswings eventually I will get some custom headers then go back to stage 2, I'm not sure how the o2 is mapped with that tune but it was designed for no cats so it may not need spacers
@@dcswings No need for spacers IMO. But you may have a different experience with your car. Good luck.
@@brninitdwn once you buy the tune do you have to buy everytime you want to switch back and forth from stage 1 to stage 2?
Any way that i can talk to you about this car ??
Whats up?
@@brninitdwn
Im in the market for a s6. Im also interested in the work that you did in this video.
@@raytaylor9152 My socials are in my profile here. A great resource for these cars are audirevolution and audizine forums too.
It's a great car, but I wouldn't still have it if I couldn't turn wrenches!
How hard is this tune to install?
I didn't have major issues, but I highly recommend emailing the support department if you have even the first question.
@@brninitdwn Im really thinking about picking one of these up. I am in love with obscure and sleeper cars, do you think it will be a nightmare if I get one from 90k-120k miles? I can do almost everything up till pulling the motor by myself.
@@riot840 Just be sure the maintenance was kept up. I've put almost everything I did to mine on the channel and am using it as a daily, over 12k miles in a year and hit 119k last month.
It is a great sleeper, a guy in a challenger went wild when I piped him in traffic a few months back 😂
@@brninitdwnThanks, I will definitely look into purchasing one of these. Just scared of the intake manifold being on its way out because I do not want to put 4 grand on top of the original purchase price.
@@riot840 For sure, try to find one with a carfax saying it's been replaced. I could hear the flaps rattling around 2k rpm with the hood popped, both of the ones I found had bad intakes and had that rattle.