Used Audi Questions

[jeepman3071]

Run FAR AWAY from used Audis. I can understand why she wants one, since many college girls around here have them. It is the "in" thing. I think that on campus more girls own Audi A4s or VWs than anything else. They are far from reliable or cheap to own though, and many shops around here charge a pretty penny to work on them.

My ex-GF had an Audi A4. I've never seen so many parts fall off a vehicle, and that says a lot because I own a Cherokee.

Hers was only a few years old, and it was an electrical nightmare. My sister had a VW Jetta, which is made by the same company as Audi (Volkswagen Audi Group) and the trans failed at 100k miles. The engine also burned 2 quarts of oil every month, and she bought it with a full service record.

Hondas and Toyotas are not the most exciting vehicles, but they are PERFECT for college kids. College is extremely expensive as it is, the last thing kids want to be paying for (or their parents) is expensive car repairs.

 

[Jim Spahr]

But, but Audi's own the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They have won this prestigious endurance race for the last number of years. They have banners all over the stands that says 'Home of Quattro!'. Doesn't that prove the Audi's have reliability in the long run? No! If you Google the Audi A4 1.8T turbo four, you will see many pages of outraged customers who are having serious ---and expensive ---sludging problems with the 1.8T engine in the Audi. The solution is to tear down the engine and clean or replace many parts. And be assured Audi is not going to help you with that expensive project. Not helping the education plan$ to own one. Get a model that is easy and inexpensive to maintain and repair.

 

[VNTS]

I dont know how the newer ones are but my neighbor had an 02 A4.

she said never again, it had way too many electrical issues, and she claims she put over 7K$ in repairs into it and the dealer could never fix it. The final straw was when she was driving and all the lights shut off one night, it would happen intermitantly and the dealer could never solve it.

 

[dparm]

I think a lot of people in this thread have never owned a German car, let alone an Audi...

And yes, the 1.8T is a notorious sludger and was replaced with an amazing 2.0TFSI. Avoid the 1.8s like the plague.

 

[hattaresguy]

All your Audi's were pretty new, were talking about as they have some age on them.

Most vehicles are good under warranty.

 

[vtdave]

I had a 1992 Audi S4 with the 2.2t (5cyl) for 17 years and 293,000 miles. The build quality was impressive. No squeaks and rattles. When I sold it, it still had the original clutch and original turbo. It was a generally trouble-free car and a joy to own. The only non-routine, non-preventative repairs I needed to do were coilpacks and stupid plastic pieces in the cooling system.

Audi could have made the next generation even better by focusing on the the stupid little things that didn't work. Instead they kept those stupid little things (same coilpack and plastic bits issues for years and years after '92) and added a few more things that didn't work (window switches, sunroof switches, ABS controllers, MAF sensors - just to name a few).

It's a shame - because I really would like another clone of the '92 S4!

 

[gogozy]

I am too poor when I was young to own a German, and now I cant afford a German because i can not afford any downtime (even with warranty, i still need to drive to the shop). I have many passionate friends, families members that owns Germans... the Audi's interior, exterior, - they are.... just gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous - no competition. but outside of admire on their visual design, there are way way more bad then good news I heard among Audi from friends, and they become none-repeat customers after bye bye to vw audi.
there are bad apples in every basket, however some orchards tend to have more bad apples in baskets then others, since i never win lottery, even a $5 one, I am sometimes jealous on other's courage and wealth (or good luck) on the ownership on the gorgeous Audi.

 

[dparm]

VW/Audi is probably the most reliable of the German car brands these days. With the no-cost maintenance the TCO is actually lower than you might think; it was the biggest reason my brother bought a new Jetta over the Elantra.

 

[Quattro Pete]

No cost maintenance? I thought VAG ditched it years ago. Did they bring it back now?

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
No cost maintenance? I thought VAG ditched it years ago. Did they bring it back now?


My brother's 2010 Jetta had it.

Audi doesn't do it anymore other than the first oil change being free -- you can pay about $800 for AudiCare which is a maintenance plan (good price considering what you get).

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: dparm
VW/Audi is probably the most reliable of the German car brands these days. With the no-cost maintenance the TCO is actually lower than you might think; it was the biggest reason my brother bought a new Jetta over the Elantra.


This thread is about used ones though. Maybe the new ones are okay, I don't have experience with them. I do know that used ones are often far from reliable. I do like the way the VW and Audi cars look, but I wouldn't be caught dead driving one unless I had a bunch of money for repairs. They just aren't that reliable. My haircut lady has a 2010 VW Jetta and even that one has had problems. She has a manual trans, and it makes an awful whining sound in 5th gear, and sometimes has issues with reverse. Both the dealership where she bought it new and Volkswagen Audi Group have been absolutely no help. The car is 3 years old now and shes thinking about trading it in. Her son has a 2002 Jetta 2.0L auto which is the same car my sister had (engine and everything) just a year newer. His is trouble free while my sister's car was a complete piece of [censored].

I think the quality is either hit or miss. You either get a really bad one, or a good one. Buying a bad one can often cost you thousands. The other "problem" with them is that they are way over engineered. A car that requires you to remove 5 plastic shields and the battery to change a headlight bulb is not a cheap car to maintain if you don't do service yourself. College students don't need fancy over engineered cars that are expensive to own, they need something cheap and reliable that will get them from point "A" to point "B". While some German cars can be reliable, they certainly are not cheap, which is why you usually don't see people driving them who are tight on cash.