Quote:
Originally Posted by imcarthur
I figured you'd wander in sooner or later, Tim. 
I guess this all proves that there are no absolutes in cars. For every good experience, you can find a bad. Sometimes more & sometimes less of one or the other. Admittedly, I am watching the Audi expenses with care as it has become our only car (excluding my 911 which I broadened the insurance coverage on).
Who knows, I may be agreeing with you in 12 months . . .
Ian |
You knew I could not help myself.
I do not doubt for a second that there are folks out there who have also had problems with their BMW's. I like german cars and REFUSE to EVER buy a UAW built car EVER again. That said, I have owned Nissan and Toyota trucks over the years and they were both COMPLETELY trouble free. My parents are on their 5th new Honda Accord and have racked many fairly trouble free miles on them. No doubt, the Japanese cars are very good overall. That said, I had a daily driver Civic that I had to put new rings in after 90,000 miles due to oil consumption going up to a couple quarts of oil per week.
I do not trash Hondas because of my one bad one I owned, but the Audis are just too d@mn difficult to work on when they break compared to many other cars.
In my 26 years of car ownership (probably 25 cars... most foriegn and most bought used with high mileage), I have NEVER paid a shop to do any serious repairs.... I have done it all from clutches to complete engine rebuilds to accident repair/painting. All but one car were sold in good running condition. The Audi was without a doubt, the most difficult/time consuming to work on. When I buy a car with 100k+ mileage, I expect to have to do some work on it. The Audi has two main issues that make it more difficult than many other comparable cars:
1- The front suspension is prone to problems (multiple control arms that go bad) and it often requires a lot of work to repair.
2- The whole front of the car needs to come off or last least pulled away somewhat to get to any engine components like the alternator, airconditioner, timing belt, power steering pump, etc. (and god help anyone who needs to replace a steering rack or the turbo chargers)
All new cars are more complex than they used to be, but the Audis are just too difficult to work on when they break. For me, that typically meant killing a whole weekend to make a repair that should of only taken an evening.... For those who do not have VagCom software and a lift and do not do their own repairs, it means a labor related higher repair bill at the Audi dealership.