Audi reliability - is it really getting better?

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

That's a shame lee. . Looked like a nice car.

On to the next one, that's the thrill of the chase right?

I guess I've had enough cars that the thrill of the hunt isn't so thrilling any more. I like rarer cars. I don't like trying to locate one.

Can't imagine someone in another state finding an online ad for the A6 I saw today and potentially hopping a flight to Phoenix to check it out.

[porsche4life]

I know I'd be pissed.


Had any luck looking online? At least you can get a pelican to do a cursory inspection.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by LeeH

I guess I've had enough cars that the thrill of the hunt isn't so thrilling any more. I like rarer cars. I don't like trying to locate one.

Can't imagine someone in another state finding an online ad for the A6 I saw today and potentially hopping a flight to Phoenix to check it out.

That's the downside to photos, they can hide a LOT.

[porsche4life]

Says the guy who sends emails with 50 photos.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

I know I'd be pissed.


Had any luck looking online? At least you can get a pelican to do a cursory inspection.

I've run through Auto Trader, Cars.com, eBay, and national searches on Craigslist. Very limited selection. There are a couple on eBay, but they're in Chicago and you can see rust on the brake calipers and hubs. My '84 911 came out of Chicago. It looked great on the topside, but there was a layer of crust underneath that made working on it fairly unpleasant. Of course, most A6 wagons seem to be sold in areas where it snows!

[SilberUrS6]

I've owned Audis now for 25 years, and they have always served me well. I have never had any major failures, and the minor failures have been nothing more than temporary aggravations. I will say that one failure stranded me - my 1990 Audi 80 quattro had a fuel pump die out in the middle of BFE. That sucked pretty hard.

But it was a pretty cheap and easy fix, so I was only disgruntled about the location of the failure.

I have found that working on the cars is a bit of a challenge if the cars have spent any time at all exposed to salt. Suspension bits that are all rusted together don't like to come apart, oddly enough.

Because winters around here involve snow and ice, the AWD system that Audi sports really does wonders. Paired with real snow tires, these cars are top-notch when it comes to winter. Sweet heated seats, AWD, power everything - and the prices on the used cars are damned nice. If you can find a good, used Audi, you can drive them until the wheels fall off. I usually drive mine 100-150k before I sell them.

[aigel]

100-150k is not "until the wheels fall off" mileage. Any car these days can do that no problem. At least need to double that to qualify for long term reliability.

I still would buy no Audi these days. But I did plunge into VAG with a Golf TDI. So far so good (wheels half driven off at 50k miles).

G

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by aigel

100-150k is not "until the wheels fall off" mileage. Any car these days can do that no problem. At least need to double that to qualify for long term reliability.

I still would buy no Audi these days. But I did plunge into VAG with a Golf TDI. So far so good (wheels half driven off at 50k miles).

G

Oh, I'm sorry - did I neglect to mention that I usually buy them when they already have 100-150k on the clock?

That 80 quattro I mentioned we bought when it had 110k on it. I sold it a couple of years ago with 320k on it, and the college kid that bought it is still tooling around in it, as of three weeks ago. My wife's last Audi we bought at 140k, and sold to her grad student at 265k.

These cars will run a long time.

[aigel]

Ok - qualfied for "drive the wheels off" then! I thought you meant total mileage!

G

[speeder]

Originally Posted by LeeH

I've run through Auto Trader, Cars.com, eBay, and national searches on Craigslist. Very limited selection. There are a couple on eBay, but they're in Chicago and you can see rust on the brake calipers and hubs. My '84 911 came out of Chicago. It looked great on the topside, but there was a layer of crust underneath that made working on it fairly unpleasant. Of course, most A6 wagons seem to be sold in areas where it snows!

Keep your search limited to the western USA and focus on Colorado for Audis. It is one of the most popular locations for the brand and although it snows, it is paradoxically a very dry place and cars stay pretty clean if taken care of. Scour the Denver craigslist and save an eBay search with a 750 mile radius from your location. Some rust belt cars will come up but every one in the western states will as well.

Good luck. As others have said, they are great driving cars.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Says the guy who sends emails with 50 photos.

Typically more than that, and I actually try to show the flaws as opposed to hiding them. Tends to make for happier customers, especially when buying sight unseen.

Originally Posted by speeder

Keep your search limited to the western USA and focus on Colorado for Audis. It is one of the most popular locations for the brand and although it snows, it is paradoxically a very dry place and cars stay pretty clean if taken care of. Scour the Denver craigslist and save an eBay search with a 750 mile radius from your location. Some rust belt cars will come up but every one in the western states will as well.

Good luck. As others have said, they are great driving cars.

Good advice. It's also easy and cheap to fly into DIA from almost anywhere. I seem to recall reading somewhere that CO uses a more friendly de-ice product that doesn't promote rust. They do use one hell of a lot of sand, a guy could make great money there just respraying front bumpers and replacing windshields.

[Typ616]

Originally Posted by aigel

I still would buy no Audi these days. But I did plunge into VAG with a Golf TDI. So far so good (wheels half driven off at 50k miles).

G

Dont mean to jinx you, but those are famous for fuel pumps disintegrating and trashing the entire fuel system... Mucho dinero to fix !!! It's always something, isn't it ? ;-)

[coldstart]

While I have never owned an Audi, I have been stuck twice as a passenger in broken down Audis (first time in a funeral procession). Coil packs both times, different cars, different owners.

I have also heard multiple first-hand horror stories (water pumps on the 2.0T, oil flow on a 2.0T, suspension issues, sensor issues).

You guys are discussing S4s, RS4s, RS6s, etc. while the majority of Audi (and VW products) use the 1.8T (1990s to mid 2000s) and the 2.0T (2008? forward).

They definitely are pretty cars. I understand why people like them but I need reliability in a daily driver. And none of the Audi cars are sportscars except the R8 and maybe the TT-RS.

[kaisen]

I love how people talk about the "reliability" of their cars, then you find out their cars are 20-25 years old..... completely irrelevant to a modern example of the same marque

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

No big deal lee, just thought I'd throw it out. If you go some other time drop me a call or a text.



Oh and as far as the comments about Japanese cars, we have a Toyota sienna right now with an airbag light on. Reading online that it was a widespread issue, and in many cases it can cost upwards of 3k to fix...

There have been issues with the transmissions on those as well. Almost as much notoriety as the early ChryCo minivans.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I love how people talk about the "reliability" of their cars, then you find out their cars are 20-25 years old..... completely irrelevant to a modern example of the same marque

Except when you're talking to a fellow cheapskate that is also buying a 10 year old used Audi. In which case it's totally relevant.

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Except when you're talking to a fellow cheapskate that is also buying a 10 year old used Audi. In which case it's totally relevant.

Perhaps, but anecdotes about a 1990 Audi 80 isn't going to tell you much about a 2006 Audi A6

Audi changed a lot in those SIXTEEN years

[aigel]

Quote de aigel

I still would buy no Audi these days. But I did plunge into VAG with a Golf TDI. So far so good (wheels half driven off at 50k miles).



G

Dont mean to jinx you, but those are famous for fuel pumps disintegrating and trashing the entire fuel system... Mucho dinero to fix !!! It's always something, isn't it ? ;-)

We have had a long discussion about that on here before. My analysis says the majority is likely due to mis fueling. My math says one in 10000 fill ups need to be having an issue to explain the entire failures. I also cannot find the same complaint in Germany (where a very large number of cars run diesel and the mis fueling rate is undoubtedly lower ...)

I will keep you posted ...

G

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by aigel

We have had a long discussion about that on here before. My analysis says the majority is likely due to mis fueling. My math says one in 10000 fill ups need to be having an issue to explain the entire failures. I also cannot find the same complaint in Germany (where a very large number of cars run diesel and the mis fueling rate is undoubtedly lower ...)

I will keep you posted ...

G

The US has different fuel that has differing levels of lubricity than EU

[NutmegCarrera]

Bought this for my wife in June.
After about 4000 miles (1/2 of which was ATL to WI and back), it's been a great vehicle. Quiet, absolutely SOLID driving.
28mpg on the highway (3.0 TDI)
Wife is tickled pink, and is addicted to torque.
This replaced a Honda Odyssey that we bought when pregnant with our 2nd child.
"This will be the only minivan I ever own!!!" was her quote. Loved the vehicle, and got lots of great use out of it. Time to move on.

Back to the Audi. I realize that long term ownership is the central discussion here. Of course, prior to first service - we have no idea. I sincerely hope that this model has enough years under its' belt to have worked out all of the bugs. If lots of issues before out of warranty - we will reconsider the long term plan. Same powerplant as used in M-B, Porsche and VW - if I understand correctly. Cant imagine that it can be all that bad. Most concerned about electronics and goodies - but hope that if serious problems, will work themselves out within warranty period. She is pretty careful and gentle on vehicles, and I hope that bodes well.

Comments on the overall package: Seats, Dash and materials are all nice. Carpet - looks like it came out of a 90's VW. Don't know why they did that. We did put the all weather mats in - so I am optimistic that the carpets will stay clean.

We have not had integrated nav before - and so far, she likes that a lot. I think not quite as advanced as some of the other makes - but we also test drove a new Acura MDX. My wife actually cried because it was so hard to use. Two screens and lots of buttons besides. That killed the MDX immediately.

The Q7 has great legroom in back (middle row), and 3rd row is kids only - but that was a big deal for us, as our folks visit frequently. We need the occasional space.

Cargo - not anywhere close to what the Odyssey had, but we do not need that very often.

Space for all the little junk that you always bring along - the Q is a bit short in that department too.

Sorry for the scattered pseudo-review, but those are my thoughts. Happy with the vehicle so far - and if I didn't need a utility of my own (Outback) to slog through lousy ATL area traffic, I would love an A6 - or other variety of their current lineup.