audi or no audi

Well, Cool, you forgot to tell us what year!

All cars require maintenance. Some are cheaper. Take care of it, don't abuse it, and you will do better than some others. But that takes self control...

Are YOU experiencing high repair costs? Or are you listening to gossip? I put over 140K miles on a 95 awd wagon and had no significant problems so far as I can recall. Similar experience with a 98 awd wagon ("Avant") except that it did require some manifold work which was not cheap. A key thing is to find a good, independent, mechanic. No one can afford to go to a dealer for service once the car is out of warranty.

Maybe a Subaru would be a good choice for you. I liked my 89 Subaru Legacy wagon and eventually had over 160K miles on it. But it did require expensive work on the awd mechanism at around 100K miles. So in my experience the Subaru was more expensive to maintain than the Audi's have been. But you have to go with the statistics. Consumer Reports has reliability reports for all manufacturers and models.

Good Luck, Bob

Where do you live that you need AWD and a FWD car like the Volvo wouldn't work with snow tires??

The other's comments are right on - you can look at the averages for repairs but it really depends on your individual car - how it was maintained and treated by the PO, how YOU maintain and treat it. Preventative maintenance is a must - oil changes, timing belts, hoses, etc. All of these things need to be done at the proper time to keep the car in good shape. Do you have the service history from your car?

I give you a lot of credit for picking nice cars, however...! The 850 and A6 are certainly more than your average HS student cars! My oldest son just got his license and we're looking at 850/S70 Volvos, VW's, etc.

Dan D '04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6 Central NJ USA

It is a 1995. We get about a foot of snow every two weeks. ALASKA

That's not much snow...

I think my next comment is going to be: how handy are you with tools, and do you have a place to work on it? If you learn to do basic things, you can save a great deal of money...