1982 Coupe: 112K miles, began having electrical problems, needed clutch soon and front end was never right after a "leave the road" almost rollover. Only regret was poor resale due to late 80's Audi problem with 5000's alledgedly engaging in gear spontaneously.
1995 A6 186k miles with routine maintenance and routine oil leak. Wife wanted 10 years or 200k mikes but was rear ended by 18 wheeler. (car's third major hit) Survived well and was driveable but was totalled by insurance. Drove it onto the flatbed!
2003 A4 30k miles Change oil at 5k with synthetic, not originial 10k recommendation. New tire due to side wall damage from road hazzard.
Of the three the coupe was the best looking. People would stop & comment on it. The A6 was an industrable tank and the A4 is the most fun to drive.
Have a friend who is an Audi mechanic and a good dealership. Parts are still expensive compared to my daughter's Jetta. Resale is always better on a Beemer.
There will be when you have driven it for a couple of years!
IMO - It's the most expensive car to run when it comes to maintenance, but nice car when it runs. Hold tight to the steering wheel when passing an Audi garage - the car will try to get in there :-))
Cars: The cars are great; my '03 A4 - my first Audi - is the best car I've ever owned (and I've owned quite a few). However ...
Service: My local main dealer (UK) is the worst I've ever experienced. I've been literately shouted at by the service manager, two weeks after buying a one-year old A4 from them with an obvious fault. I spoke to sales and they said that he was known to be 'aggressive'. Oh, well that's OK then!! FFS.
I'm a placid kind of guy, so when the next problem came up I *paid* to repair a fault that should have been under warranty, just to get the problem sorted without having to tolerate a nervous breakdown to get it fixed. Go figure.
In short, Audis; when they work they are superb, when they don't expect to start tearing your hair out even if under warranty. For this reason alone I will not own another.
Also, expect to loose money like water on them (at least in the UK). I went back to my dealer looking to change up to something bigger and was offered a trade in price the loss on which was something I've never experienced (and I've previously owned Fords, notorious for depreciation). So I'm going to hang onto it for a bit, sell it private and move onto something else (probably back to Ford).
I'm not trolling, like I said Audi make great cars, but the service is appalling and it's not just the car you are buying into. If you want a full account of my experience just let me know.
The Audi's are look great inside and out. They just look and feel better than most other makes. Unfortunately, under the skin, they are made of components that do not stand up to even normal wear and tear. Here is a list of problems with my 2001 A4 1.8T with 75,000 Kilometers. My car is serviced every 10,000K at the dealer.
Tie Rod Ends - Replaced (35,000 Kilometers) and have to be replaced again.
Leaky Power Steering Hose (68,000 kilometers)
Faulty AC - (50,000 kilometers)
Failing instrument Display (started at 15,000 kilometers)
Also have to replace my windscreen a second time - they just don't seem to be able to stand up.
Broken spring in driver's seat.
Rattles and squeaks from day one.
Drivers seat belt tensioner failing
Fraying seatbelts
Fraying seat upholstery
By this yardstick my wife's old Mitsubishi Lancer was a much more reliable car.
Your Audi will last a long time if you look after it but you will have to invest time and $$ to keep it in good order. The parts are expensive but depending on where you live you can save $$ by going to an online dealer.
The big question is can you live with the niggling faults. If you can put up with these then go ahead. If however, reliability is important to you, you may want to consider a Lexus or a Honda.
I know that they may not get your blood boiling but that may be a good thing a few years down the road. If you live in an area with few Audi dealers and independent mechanics DO NOT GET AN AUDI!! They service charges will be exorbitant.
Funny you should mention that. The bloke I bought my A6 ('96 2.5TDI 140bhp Avant) off wanted to keep it for his wife to drive, but it was too big for her and she preferred driving her 1 litre Corsa!
Peter
-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."
This has not been borne out by the Audi's I've owned (and those of my friends & family). I've found that Audi's hold their value *extremely* well compared to other makes.
To be honest, having investigated further I think you are correct; it could be this one dealer taking the ****. I've since spoken to someone who lives about 10 miles from them but replaced his elsewhere due to the P/X offered being outrageous. In my experience about 1/2 of dealers (not just Audi) have absolutely no interest in repeat business.
I've also asked around and the P/X being offered to be is approximately £1.5k below bottom book - note not private resale, but book dealer trade-in (Glasses). The excuse I was given is that there are so many A4 1.9TDi (130)'s around that no-one wants them and they cannot shift them. They don't have one of the same model on their forecourt or used-stock lists - nor is there one in a 75 mile radius of me (from audi.co.uk).
The dealer has only one similar A4 in stock. It is 1 year older, a lower model, has done more miles and yet is on the forecourt for £4k more than the P/X I was offered (which I realise is not the price it may sell for). I understand dealers must make a profit, but this level of profit seems unreasonable and I say again that they seem to have no interest in repeat business.
One final point, at no time did anyone even look at my A4 when deciding how much they were willing to P/X on it - and it was not parked where they could see it.
Well i only buy used Audis, usually around the 80k mile mark, so most problems have been ironed out, my last one I personally done 80k miles in 4 years and had 1 problem, which was a gear selector problem, i had a new clutch at the same time and it cost me £900 all in, that was to strip the gearbox as well, servicing was done at my local independant and always cost me £140.00 inc plugs air filter etc, the car never failed an MOT and was as good as the day I picked it up.
The only faults that I had, that didnt get replaced was, control arm slight knock when driven on bumpy ground, and a dodgy imobilsor that only sometimes failed to start the car.
My new A4 so far seems great, put 1400 miles on so far, its just had its 80k mile cam belt, so should be good up too 160k again, its a turbo so I'm expecting the turbo to go south after 120k miles, but we will see, then it will be k04 time.
Our mechanic, who we trust and who works on higher end cars (he's got an older Rolls in his garage now!) than we'll ever own, said it was a bad cell in the battery, like some people here said (you?). What I don't get is that it was fine for the two weeks after the initial problem, then it went bad again, and we could not jump it. Plus, how does a battery go for 18 months with no problems and then all of the sudden develop a bad cell? I can't help wondering what electrical gremlin made this happen. Good news is that the mechanic managed to squeeze an A8 battery into our A6 for a little more oomph and almost no extra money.
Everything is great for now....even found out that the brake pads are only half gone after 55000 miles. Next, the timing belt....
I am the ultimate AUDI owner. (I am from Toronto, Canada)
I owned a 1987 Audi 5000S for the past 12 years. I traded in my Audi for another Audi...2003 A4 (B6) 1.8T quattro (fully loaded) a demo from the Audi dealership. At last count by old Audi had 470,000 KM on it when I gave the keys in. I hope to use my newer Audi for the next 5 years or more hopefully. My Audi since it was a demo came with a 5 year Audi Certified warranty which covers the car until 160K.
The old Audi had wear and tear repairs (bearings, brakes, hydraulic hoses, etc) but other than that never on the engine or any major components. It never let me down in Winter and even if the weather was -40 degrees celcius outside the car still started without problems. I love the car but since I got a great deal from Bramgate Audi in Brampton I traded my car in becuase they gave me a great trade in value.
I loved the old car and felt quite bad giving it in to a scrap yard, so I gave it to the company and let them with it as please. It gave me the best, so I gave it a good send off. The dealer has still kept the car, 1 month since I gave it in. When I went for service, I still felt odd, looking at the old car.
If you plan to get an Audi, make sure you get a good mechanic. Not every Joe out there knows to operate on these special cars and most of the time will end up damaging them if they are not taken care of properly.
Good luck on a new purchase, try to get a demo because the value depreciates quickly.
- Wow! The _ultimate_ Audi owner? In order to be elgibile for that lofty title I thought you had to move to Ingolstadt and work for the company ;-) Even in the Toronto area you have Martin Pajak
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and the rest of the folks (and me) in the West Toronto Audifans, the Audi-GT (Greater Toronto) group, Southern Ontario S-cars group......
There are numerous Audis that have over 300k miles on them - many of the folks on Audifans.com have cars like that - they'll keep on running until the wear and tear parts supply runs out.
You didn't love it _that_ much, then. ;-)
Agreed, somewhat. A good mechanic is indispensable, true, although the cars themselves are no Ferraris to work on (ie - you don't have to remove the engine to change the oil). Alot of the "care" has to do with the owner - change the timing belt, change the brake, tranny fluids and coolant as well as the oil, following the maintenance schedules......
As far as net chatter goes, you'll hear alot of complaining about things going wrong - not as much about things going right, especially on alt.autos.audi. During the recent Southern Ontario S-cars Winery Tour, I was discussing how "enthusiasts" driving the older cars acknowledge each other on the road, while many of the newbies in the A4's see their cars as clothing (umm..."social status" should have little to do with a car choice) and seem to behave like a wave from another Audi driver is a prelude to a carjacking. Someone mentioned about how recently Merc has had to deal with a huge spike in complaints from owners about non-functional items, turns out that they found that died-in-the-wool Merc owners were used to minor systems failing (like, say, a seat heater), but many of the owners new to the marque were former Honda owners - with their old car, even though it was sparsely equipped, everything could be expected to work for year upon year. With them, a seat heater failure is a big deal. If you want to find enthusiasts for the newer Audis, you'd be well advised to look at
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- once again, many go there to gripe about problems with their car and then disappear when it's fixed, never to post again, but there are numerous true fans of the cars that will tell you how good they are. As far as an "unbiased opinion"....that may be hard to get from an Audi owner.
Cheers! Steve Sears - not in the running for "Ultimate Audi Owner", even though I have in my driveway:
1987 Audi 5kTQ
1980 Audi 5k - my first car
1962 and '64 Auto Union DKW Junior deLuxes (ok, the '64 is in storage - but I do have 2 spare engines in my driveway....) (SPAM Blocker NOTE: Remove SHOES to reply)
Glad you got it fixed, and yes, that was my diagnosis, among others.
How can it happen? Shock and vibration can break an internal cell connector, and it could be making connection only intermittently. Probably a manufacturing defect. Make sure the battery is firmly secured so it doesn't vibrate, and keep it clean and free of corrosion.
Happy Motoring!
Stephen Clark
PS - If you are in Houston, I can recommend an excellent independent Audi mechanic - European Precision, 713-974-5854. Tell Fred I sent you! Shop around before you get the timing belt changed, and be sure to change the water pump at the same time.
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