2010-2014 AWD Cars

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We've decided that our Durango is getting a bit long in the tooth, and it's time to start shopping for a newer vehicle for my wife. After decades of driving either an SUV or Subaru, she has decided (after our recent long highway trip) that she might like an all wheel drive luxury car. She really liked the handling of our STS, especially in the hills of rural Arkansas, but I want to keep her in something that's all wheel drive for the occasion when she has to go somewhere in the snow (required, not negotiable). There are occasions when she takes a long highway trip without me to visit family, so reliability is paramount.

We've started looking and narrowed the choices down to the following:
2009-2013 BMW
2009-2013 Mercedes
2009-2013 Audi
2009-2013 Cadillac CTS

Are there any of the above vehicles that have glaring reliability issues? Are there any standouts (or flops) with the all wheel drive systems? The all wheel drive is for the occasional time when she has to go out in the snow, and may be driving home on rural roads with drifting snow. I don't expect it to plow through 36 inch drifts, but I would like it to get through a 10 inch snow on a rural road that hasn't been plowed.

Most of what I've found locally are in the 30,000-60,000 mile range and our cash budget is $40,000 or less which should be doable with the years listed.

Thanks for any and all information!
 
Which Mercedes?

C-Class and GLK of those years sometimes had issues with AWD transfer cases. Wife's C300 suffered a transfer case failure at 60K miles and because the transfer case is integrated with the transmission, the whole thing had to be replaced.

Some of the Audis with the 2.0 turbo engines had some excessive oil consumption issues. I think they sorted it out by 2013.

Quote:
so reliability is paramount.

Statistically, you're probably better off with a Lexus or Acura then.
 
If you want to drive through 10" of unplowed snow I imagine a low to the ground vehicle will have some difficulty. I'd recommend an Audi All-road. Good in snow, a little higher off the ground and all wheel drive.

I recommend this site for reliability information:

http://www.carcomplaints.com/
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Which Mercedes?


That's a question we don't yet have an answer for.
 
I only really know Mercedes E class. 2009 was the last year of the W211 class which was considered the best year out of the 2003-2009 production run. 2010 was a new model and they're also decent. 2012 had the direct injection engine so it made 302 instead of 268 in the previous years. They have their usual share of problems, but nothing glaring like the 2006 model which had bad balance shafts and used SBC brake by wire, those were gone by 2007. Depends on the options you get, various options have their share of problems, but nothing glaring like the engine problem mentioned before which could cost 5-7k at the dealer to repair.

The key with snow is probably the tires, even with AWD, it's a 60/40 split so the rears can still slide out if you just have all seasons on the car, people who have snow tires say it's pretty decent. If you want to spend up to 40k, the 2014's are in the 30-35k range depending on mileage. They also had 4 year/50k warranties so you might find one that still has the original warranty left and you can buy an extended warranty MB warranty up to 7/100k or buy CPO and do up to 3 years unlimited miles. I think with Audi it's just 3rd party warranties. Audi has been getting better, but traditionally they've been the worse of the 3, BMW still has electrical issues which is why I went with MB. Never liked Cadillac styling so never looked into it.
 
Originally Posted By: SEBZX79
2015 Hyundai Genesis v6 awd certified with a 10year 100k esc.


Not something that we're interested in.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
I only really know Mercedes E class. 2009 was the last year of the W211 class which was considered the best year out of the 2003-2009 production run. 2010 was a new model and they're also decent. 2012 had the direct injection engine so it made 302 instead of 268 in the previous years. They have their usual share of problems, but nothing glaring like the 2006 model which had bad balance shafts and used SBC brake by wire, those were gone by 2007. Depends on the options you get, various options have their share of problems, but nothing glaring like the engine problem mentioned before which could cost 5-7k at the dealer to repair.

The key with snow is probably the tires, even with AWD, it's a 60/40 split so the rears can still slide out if you just have all seasons on the car, people who have snow tires say it's pretty decent. If you want to spend up to 40k, the 2014's are in the 30-35k range depending on mileage. They also had 4 year/50k warranties so you might find one that still has the original warranty left and you can buy an extended warranty MB warranty up to 7/100k or buy CPO and do up to 3 years unlimited miles. I think with Audi it's just 3rd party warranties. Audi has been getting better, but traditionally they've been the worse of the 3, BMW still has electrical issues which is why I went with MB. Never liked Cadillac styling so never looked into it.


Thanks-I appreciate your information.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
The key with snow is probably the tires, even with AWD,

Totally agree with this. We had all-season tires on our C300 4matic, and winter driving was still very challenging. Had we kept the car longer, I would have definitely gotten proper winter tires for it. Heck, my RWD 530i with winter tires handled snow much better than the C300 AWD with all-seasons.
 
Have you considered the Volvo XC line? I am a fan of the P2 chassis (20001-2007) XC wagon, but the newer XC-60 and XC-70 are in your price and meet your criteria as well as the listed vehicles...
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Which Mercedes?

C-Class and GLK of those years sometimes had issues with AWD transfer cases. Wife's C300 suffered a transfer case failure at 60K miles and because the transfer case is integrated with the transmission, the whole thing had to be replaced.

Some of the Audis with the 2.0 turbo engines had some excessive oil consumption issues. I think they sorted it out by 2013.

Quote:
so reliability is paramount.

Statistically, you're probably better off with a Lexus or Acura then.



C class and SUV's were typically worse than the sedans. That's why I liked the E class, not too much more than a C and also has lots more options available on a used car. Like the sunroof is standard on an E an option the C and the option on the E would be the panorama sunroof which is also nice, the passengers always seem to like it. The only problem with it is that it can make noise over certain bumps, but others have said all manufacturers seem to have that problem with their pano as the glass isn't as structural as steel. The fix is to take down the headliner and tighten up the bolts but dealer repair rates are in the $150-$200/hr range, it's best if you can find an indy. There's also options like keyless go, bixenons and parking distance sensors that weren't available as options on the early C class. Those options aren't even that common on the E class.

The S class is nice too, I think the early 2007's S550 still had a bad set of engines but S has a lot more options and some of them like their ABC which is active body control is really problematic and expensive to fix. It's also a pretty big car.
 
I'd like to make a plug for a Lexus GS350 AWD. My mother purchased one (a 2013 MY for $33,000 with 29,000 miles) last fall as a CPO with a fantastic warranty from Lexus. It's quiet, sporty, luxurious, and fast with its 306 HP V-6. Since she lives in the very snowy Upper Peninsula of Michigan she also has a set of winter wheels and tires (Blizzak WS65) and this car is an absolute ANIMAL in the snow. It puts her previous ES330 fwd to shame (even with snow tires on the ES330). Aside from the air bag recall, she hasn't had a single issue with the car. It's absolutely fantastic. I hope to buy it from her like I did her used ES when she replaces it.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
That's why I liked the E class, not too much more than a C and also has lots more options available on a used car. Like the sunroof is standard on an E an option the C and the option on the E would be the panorama sunroof which is also nice,

Our C had the pano sunroof, not that we cared that much about it.

The reason we got the C was because of sporty handling. It was really nimble with the sport pkg. The E is a bigger car, so it handles differently. It all depends on what you're looking for.
 
I've said it before and I'll say it again. How a vehicle handles in snow is 90% tires, 10% driver and the rest is the drivetrain.

OK, well maybe that math isn't perfect but you get the point
wink.gif
I've taken Mustangs through deeper, nastier snow than you-d expect. All while AWD and FWD vehicles were gettings stuck and sliding off. But of course that was with dedicated snow tires which were taller/narrower than stock.

Still, plenty of reasonable all seasons out there that will perform great- as long as they are replaced when necessary. There are also some "all weather" tires now a days which attempt to bridge the gap between winter tires and all seasons. I've heard good things, but no first hand experience.


I know you said AWD is non-negotiable so I'm not trying to sway your choice there. Just want to make sure you don't rely on the AWD in place of running safe tires!
 
BMW, Mercedes, Audi, been there done that total money pits and i am in the automotive business..
Get a Hyundai or a Toyota or lease the others within warranty and than give it back!
 
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
BMW, Mercedes, Audi, been there done that total money pits and i am in the automotive business..
Get a Hyundai or a Toyota or lease the others within warranty and than give it back!


Yeah, but they're fun to drive.

You gotta pay to play.

You can't make omelettes without breaking eggs.

You just have to research the year and model that you're buying. Some years are worse than others but the newer models seem to be holding up better than the old ones. There are still some things that are still true like never buy a first year model etc.
 
I sense in Pops op and reply that he wants a status vehicle, and he wants reliability and awd ability. He may want the status over reliability. The Genesis is a good suggestion, but it lacks the status. Perhaps the Lexus GS350 is the compromise mix of all.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
That's why I liked the E class, not too much more than a C and also has lots more options available on a used car. Like the sunroof is standard on an E an option the C and the option on the E would be the panorama sunroof which is also nice,

Our C had the pano sunroof, not that we cared that much about it.

The reason we got the C was because of sporty handling. It was really nimble with the sport pkg. The E is a bigger car, so it handles differently. It all depends on what you're looking for.



Oh I guess that was on the C in 2009, must have been thinking of other options, like parktronic, active curve illumination, keyless go, power trunk closer that weren't available til later years. I think the redesign in 2015 had a lot of those available as an option.

Also Lexus wasn't on the original list, maybe it's just me, but I can't stand the look of their grill, a little too weird for me. Also they don't have headlamp washers with their bixenons, not really required in Japan but Europe requires them.
 
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