[tshore]

My own reliability experience with Audis has been ok - not perfect but ok.

Bought a 96 a4 2.8L v6 non-quattro about 2yrs ago, with 77k miles. I've put about 25k miles on it since. Had to have a cat replaced, and an engine mount , and a fuel pump, in addition to what I would consider routine maint. such as brake line replacement at 100k mi. That's maybe 3-4k in repair bills in 2 yrs, which I would consider normal for a car with that kind of mileage. I had a '97 Toyota Camry prior to that, and had to spend about that much on it the last year I owned it. The A4 has never let me down. The needed repairs have been of the type that could be done at my convenience.

The car is absolutely beautiful and a very nice counterpoint to my '86 Carrera. While not perfect, it has performed well enough, and I have enjoyed the car enough that I would certainly consider buying another.

I would put the car in the "good cars I have owned" category. In the "bad" category would be my '88 VW GTI, purchased new, and a '76 BMW 2002 (first car) that looked nice but evidently had spent some time at the bottom of a lake. I would never buy another VW, but a BMW...maybe.