Audi A3 reliability?
 

A friend of mine's car got totalled a few days ago and she's considering the A3. I warned her that Audis can be a nightmare, and someone told her they were reliable starting with the 2006 model year. She'll likely keep the car well past 100,000 miles. Experience/opinions?

I have over 120k on mine with no issues. The A3 has been around for years in Europe although only making it to North America in '05 (06 model). A lot of fun to drive, maybe Todd (nostatic) or Techweenie can chime in and give their thoughts.

I have 41K miles and no problems other than a check engine light that was quickly fixed under warranty. I am pondering trading it on an FJ cruiser but am having a tough time pulling the trigger because the A3 is frankly a great car. Mine has the sport package and it handles way better than a FWD car should.

'06 was the first US model year. She can buy mine for $16K if she wants manual transmission (mine is a CPO car but unfortunately that warranty doesn't transfer - still has another 8 months and 8K miles on the factory warranty). Only long-term question mark are the DSG cars (auto trans). I believe that they have a fairly expensive regular service internal every 40K miles.

had a 07 A3 (new)with the S-line package(DSG/Quattro...) put 12000miles on it, needed to get rid of it, i was due for a TICKET, too much fun,
loved it:D

Drove one for 7 years clocking a total of 150k miles. Cost me virtually nothing to keep on the road and was as solid after 7 years as it was on day 1. Would get another in a heartbeat!

I believe they are a well built safe car. Much stronger than a Japon.