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I'm thinking about getting either an B8 A4 (the 2008> model) or C7 A6 (2012>) Avant, but getting bikes in the back is a must, at least two of them. Happy to take front wheels off but not the backs. Don't mind if the back seats have to go down, only usually transporting two people.
I would love it if owners of 2008> and 2012> could chuck up some pics of bikes in their cars (not on bike racks etc., only in the boot please), it would be really helpful. Thanks guys
Have a 2006 B7 A4 Avant, can easily get 2 full sussers in the back with front wheels off and back seats down
Even managed to get 3 bikes (3rd bike no wheels fitted) and 3 people in the car (rear passenger sitting the smaller side of the split seat)
Sorry no pics though
Before you buy its worth looking on https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/ and seeing what/if the model you want has any known issues and things to look for when buying
I've got a B8 A4 Avant.
They're not huge in the back but 2 full sussers will easily go in with the seats down and the front wheels off.
The A6 is a significantly larger car though.
I'll see if I can post a photo of mine in a bit.
@rugbydick - Thanks for the reply, would really appreciate your photos if you have the time. Yes I do like that the A6 is huuuge, but that does have it's everyday downsides too so still keen to check out the A4.
@escrs - thanks that's good to know, and for the link, I'll have a good read.
My large London Road in the back of my A4 Avant with 1 seat left for the little one. Not sure if this is helpful or not..
2 people and 2 FS bikes + gear will easily fit in a 2012 A6 with front wheels off. No issue at all when I had mine. Also had 3 hard tails with both wheels off and 3 people + gear will also fit in - but this is before long/low/slack and all were 26’ wheels. I wouldn’t say it was easy - but it all fit safely and securely.
@swdan - nice one! Very helpful. I'm surprised that the A4 boot isn't bigger actually, but looks like you'd get two in there stacked no problem.
@jamj1974 - good to know! If anyone has any pics of bikes in an A6 avant it would be great for comparison with the A4.
A6 here with fat bike and orange 29 fronts wheels of loads of space
Yeah, the A4 isn't a massive boot. We now have 2 little ones and if we go away for a week we end up taking a roof box as well. Still for day to day it's big enough even if I do wish we'd bought the superb we test drove, that was a whole nother level of massive.
You could easily get 2 bikes in I reckon, I didn't pack it that well as didn't need to
2 road bikes, both wheels on in an A6 no problem 2 mountain bikes in an A6 too, but as both were 29ers it’s a bit of a squeeze.
And 3 bikes, 3 people in an A6 but that was a bit of a jigsaw.
The road bike goes (2011 a4) with wheels on. The mountain bike needs front wheel off due to the bar width. I guess you would be able to pile two bikes on top of each other if needed.
Talking of things to look out for, I had the emissions update on my a4. About 20 months later the egr valve/cooler failed. Would have been £900 but dealer fixed it under warranty. Apparently there is a two year warranty for anything emissions related after the update.
im not convinced the update and failure are unrelated and there's loads of reports of failing egr valves on updated engines.
@srshaw - yeah I've heard of these updates totally screwing up people's cars. Basically anything from the VW group could be risky if it's had it done so I'll be looking for one which hasn't done the recall.
Thanks for the replies guys, I was wondering if you take the front wheels off a full susser, could you stand it up in the car (seats down), would you have to lie it down. In the new 5 series touring I've seen pics of people standing their bikes up like this with the forks near the boot entrance, which would be pretty cool.
Not tried it but I would almost certainly think you need to lay a bike down. The back of the A4 isn't actually that high and the boot lid slopes down a lot meaning you don't have full height for anywhere near the full boot length. Ah, the days of the old skool boxy Volvo
I went from a 2009 A4 Avant to a 2012 A6 Avant, so both the cars you're looking at. The short answer is the A6 is considerably bigger than the A4. I ride an XL 29er and although I generally take the front wheel out the A6 just swallows it with ease with bags of space left. The A4 coped with it fine but it was a bit more effort to make everything fit especially when carrying a couple of bikes.
I'd go for the A6 over the A4 but just a word of caution it's pretty big and you do have to pick parking spaces carefully etc, bbu you soon get used to it!
If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Awesome thanks @warns74, I'm precious about my current car so I'm used to the parking space hunting 😉 I don't suppose you have any pics of your 29er in this cavernous boot do you?
Hopefully this works
@warns74 - Amazing! Just what I was looking for. Many thanks
That's either a VERY big bike or the A6 boot isn't as big as I thought it was! 🙂
Hmm, just under 2m on the A6 - I'm looking at Saab 9-3's with 1.8m boot lengths, it'll be fine... I think 🙂
@redrook - no worries, hope it helps the decision making process! Not sure what specs you're looking at but the A6 is also a much nicer ride than the A4 too, even on larger wheels.
@tallpau1 - As above, it's an XL 29er so pretty big! The photo is a bit misleading, the furthest end of the handlebars doesn't go past the top of the folded seat so in reality completely contained within the boot (and they're 800mm bars).
What's the wheelbase on that bike? My 1234mm wheelbase XL 27.5 (also with 800mm bars) fits into my Dad's Vauxhall Insignia country tourer with the front wheel off, there's a bit of space to spare but not masses mind you! It's got about 70mm less booth length than your A6 according to the specs.
Can we unlock this and make it a sticky somewhere?
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/my-bike-in-my-car/page/2/
Wheelbase is 1206mm according to the spec sheet.
As said that A6 boot dosent look much bigger than my A4 boot
My bike is basically the e-bike version of the one in the boot and mine fits in exactly the same way and i can have the small side of the split seat up with the baby in his car seat
Although mine is a large 27.5 wheeled bike
The A6 boot is 65 liters bigger than the A4, and about 16cm longer. Not enormously different really, but possibly enough to make a difference.
I'm looking to comfortably fit an L size Nukeproof Mega TR (27.5) and a Trek Skye S (also 27.5), front wheels off and seats out is all the mucking about I'm willing to do. I figure both will probably manage, but I've heard the A4 boot isn't huge, but if it would do it could save me moolah (although, the A6 looks a lot plusher inside!).
But with the back seats down the A6 is 250 litres bigger than the A4, which is where you really notice the difference.
Having had the A6 and A4 - the boot is actually meaningfully bigger in the A6.
@warns74 - definitely, that's a lot of extra room.
@jamj1974 - thanks, I think I'm definitely erring towards the A6, especially since the price difference isn't actually as big as I thought it would be for the same model year. Depreciation hit A6 owners a bit harder it seems.