Anyone have any experience with an Audi A6 who is also a passionate Jag' person as well?

Looking to drop my Supercharged Range Rover Sport for something more fuel economical. (14MPG on the Rangie).

Think I've narrowed it down to either an A6 or XF. I've driven both and must admit I love the XF. I've had a few Jag's before, I'm British, and must admit I'm a little biased :-)

I'm on the fence at the minute.

The Audi, with it's 3.0 V6 Quattro engine is by far the more fuel economical with 24MPG combined, I'm suspecting that the XF 5.0 V8 will probably net me about 18MPG combined (I have a heavy foot!).

The Audi is more expensive to maintain, having gotten quotes from both Audi and Jag', using pads + rotors all round the Audi comes out at $1200, with the Jag' around $750. Scheduled servicing is also more expensive on the Audi.

Audi has more rear leg-room, but the XF has a much larger boot (trunk).

Must admit the XF RWD makes me a little nervous about driving it in the snow (I live in the North East, Connecticut, and the winters here can be brutal sometimes). The Audi AWD system sounds like a more practical choice.

Be curious to here everyone's feedback.

 

Have you considered the 3.0SC AWD XF? That would be a good mix for you between power, economy and practicality. You could certainly get around in the RWD 5.0XF in the winter with proper winter tires but having lived in an area that snowed a lot AWD + snow tires is so nice.

Audi makes a world class AWD system and overall makes really great cars (as long as you don't own them out of warranty). I don't think you could go wrong either way because the A6 is a really really nice car. I just wanted to throw that idea in there regarding the 3.0SC AWD variant because it might check all of your boxes if you are leaning toward the Jag. 26/27 on the highway, probably worse with mixed but better than your RR, and 340hp.

 

Well I'll start by saying it's all what you want! Practicality, Fuel Efficiency, etc -- get the Audi! But you have to deal w/ driving something that everyone else has!

If it were me, I would pick the Jag -- not just b/c I have one. I have had Audis too, and I'd never own one w/out a warranty! The ones I had were always in the shop w/ something wrong. Maybe I just had bad luck w/ them. Like you have found they are expensive to maintain -- that is my experience too

a point to note that the '11 models have a 5 year warranty vs 4 for the other years

I'll let others comment on the snow -- mine doesn't go out in that -- but many indicate that the snow mode works very well.

 

The newer Jag XF 3.0 AWD look nice, but I can't swing the sticker price with the misses so I'm limited to an 2011/2012. :-/

I used to have an '06 X-Type 3.0 AWD. That was a great all rounder.

 

Cheers there UltBlkXF.

Pretty much what everyone else has been saying. Audi's get expensive to maintain. Fortunately both options I'd be looking at with CPO, but I'm leaning more and more towards the Jag'. It's just the Snow+RWD combo' but a lot of forums are saying good snow tyres+caution are really helpful.

 

And I'm sorry, I reread your title and realized you were looking at a 2011 XF. I don't think Jaguar released the AWD XF until 2013.

A quick Autotrader search shows that used examples of the 2013 AWD XF are almost identical in price to used examples of the '12 A6 3.0 you are looking at though! So maybe look at the newer model XF?

 

the v6 AWD XF didn't come out till 13. so that might be a little out of reach price wise...

But there's many people on the forum that swear by the XF Winter Mode w/ the correct tires for winter use.

as for gas mileage, I can't imagine that if you like to drive a little harder that the Audi or the Jag will be much different? I don't know for sure but that's just my guess...

Although the Jag's exhaust note will be a little harder to stay away from (meaning it's hard not to drive it like you stole it!) LOL

Are the 2 cars you are looking at evenly optioned? usually the Jags will give you more for the money? I had a friend of ours get a similar optioned A6 and he spent $5-6k more and he only had the v6 -- I got the 5.0 supercharged motor... I'd have to think you're giving up a lot of car to go from an '11 XF to a '12 A6?

 

On your snow question, I live in even snowier Boston and my 2010 XF/SC is an all-year driver. It's terrific in snow. You definitely need to swap on winter tyres, but once they are on it is sure-footed. Snow mode is great but to be honest you hardly ever really need it unless doing start stop in unploughed streets just after a storm. We have an LR4 too, and the XF feels just as stable on snowy streets.

Personally I'd recommend the '11 XF (vs the 12) as it has a 5 year warranty (vs. 4 year) so you get the same length of 'real' warranty remaining and can pocket a saving in sticker price as a kitty for future repairs vs. bothering with the CPO to add just 1 year extra onto the warranty.

I'd say follow your heart and go with whichever you found to be the better experience to drive. My only hesitation for you is that if you are moving out of the SC Sport for fuel economy reasons, you won't get a whole lot better in an XF. Maybe 3-5mpg improvement. The A6 is much more fuel efficient so given your main motivation sounds like fuel economy, that might be a deal breaker?

 

For what it is worth, I sold my 2011 xf premium and picked up an A7 prestige. I am also in New England and am very happy with my choice. I miss the v8 and uniqueness of te xf, but otherwise don't really look back. It's really just a matter of preference. As far as maintenance costs, I would have to disagree. I kept my first audi for close to 10 years and really didn't come across anything unexpected. Only issues on our q7 so far has been a faulty temp sensor that was reached under warranty. Plan to keep that car well outside warranty too. Of course, there are certain audis I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole - the b5 s4, c5 rs6, and c6 s6 come to find. But I think audi is beyond the issues of those cars now. If we were to judge jaguar by its past ... Well, you get the idea.

Ultimately, I found myself not wanting to drive the xf in the winter salt because it was too unique (in my mind) coupled with a big v8 and rwd. While that is certainly a positive, for my purposes it was not. The a7 is unique in its own way and is a beautiful car, but is a bit more utilitarian, which suited me. I'll save the fair weather car for something that isn't a four door sedan! Either way you can't go wrong.

 

Deep down I knew I would. Soon as I heard that 5.0 V8 exhaust note I was, and still am, hooked! Even with a monster foot in Dynamic Sport mode, manual shift and the engine sounding as though it's simply gargling fuel, I'm still getting 17.9MPG. I had a Ford Fusion (28MPG+ on paper) for a while, but driving like I drive I barely managed 18MPG.

Managed to bag a bit of a bargain to boot. 15k mile off-lease (guy was a Jag' nut and traded up for an XK), CPO'd. Package/Spec' was way better value than the Audi (Bowers and Wilkens speakers... I mean... come on) and I don't think I could turn my back on the Jaguar/Land Rover combo'.

Now... Well, the 2014 winter season has arrived and my first experience in snow without snow tires wasn't great. Snow mode and DSC set to Trac mode did help out a lot but snow tires are being fitted on Wednesday!

Yup; very pleased with the car and the guys (shameless plug) at Jaguar of Woodbridge are just great.

 

TRAC mode is not what you want. Leave it in regular DSC. The TRAC mode allows much more wheelspin. Also, don't use dynamic mode as the throttle response is more lively than standard. Enjoy!

 

Congratulations - I'm sure you will love it! The snow tyres make a big difference - I have a 2010 XF SC in the north-east and with winter tyres it's fine. Not sure what tyres it came with - if you were on the summer sport ones like mine came with then the difference is immense... Snow mode helps a bit - mostly just smoothing out the acceleration response to make a smoother start.

 

I would go with the '12 over the '11 simply because they made a lot of improvements. The '12 base model is fully loaded and has the 5.0L standard. Good bang for the buck. Also last year for the NA 5.0 in the XF.

 

Congratulations on the XF neighbor. I have a '10 portfolio in my stable that for the past 2 winters (in the Hartford area) has been primarily a fair-weather car. This year, however, I took the plunge and made an F-Type my fair weather car, so I will be using the XF in the snow this winter. My experience thus far , combined with a couple of times last winter when the heated seats and steering wheel, combined with the great 5.0 sound and fury, made me take the XF out in less than ideal conditions says you'll be fine with the snow tires. I'm rocking all-weathers for now, and short of really deep stuff, I'm not anticipating a need to switch, but time will tell. Enjoy the car. I get all kinds of compliments on mine, mainly because it's unique.