"Pumba" wrote in message news:mkUhc.3117$ snipped-for-privacy@ord-read.news.verio.net...
Having owned both an Acura and an Audi, I can attest that Acuras are somewhat more reliable in the grand scheme of things. However, if total cost of ownership is your primary concern, don't mistake more reliable in a general sense for inexpensive. Because my Acura was far and away the most expensive car I've ever had to maintain. First of all, the maintenance schedule for Acuras is overly extensive and very rigid to boot. So visits to the dealer add up quickly. Secondly, the drivetrain appears to be the only thing about Acuras that truly is reliable. As everything else about them -- at least in the case of my Acura -- seems to be made of flimsy junk. For instance, the sheet metal on my old Integra was so thin that on more than one occasion a simple door ding literally put a huge dent in a body panel (the impact I saw occur should not have caused such extensive damage) -- thus causing it to have to be replaced. And items as elemental as interior plastics and even body paint (mostly on the bumpers) had a tendency to just fall (or peel) off without warning -- again causing replacement or repair. So, all in all, I wouldn't exactly recommend an Acura for someone who views reliability/overall cost as a major factor in their car buying decision making process. Because the existing reliability of the drivetrain appears only to mask the poor quality of all the things that reliability ratings tend not to assess. And that doesn't even take into account the Acura dealership experience, which is perhaps as bad as such a thing can get.
As for my Audi A4....it's had a few niggling problems in the 2+ years that I've owned it. But all service and repairs have been completely free so far (up until 4 years or 50k miles); my dealership experiences have been nothing but great; and the cars materials and workmanship seem to be of a very high caliber.
That said, if I were asked to make a recommendation to someone who held reliability as their foremost concern in deciding on a sports sedan, I'd probably steer them to Infiniti. Having owned one of those as well, I can attest that most of what is right about Audis is also right about Infinitis. The cars are solidly built all around, have a decent amount of sporting "character" (which is rare for a Japanese car), and (perhaps unlike Audi....I don't know yet) the costs of ownership are very reasonable due to a flexible service schedule and very few "out of the blue" repairs. And, of course, the dealer experience at Infiniti is beyond reproach. Thus, even though I prefer my current Audi to my old Infiniti, I think highly enough of that marquee to enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who places reliability as the absolute first item on their list of priorities.
Rob