[fast_e_man]

Sammy, My Audi experience is a 2000 A6, 2004 A4, followed by a 2008 A4. The A6 had several (numerous) reliability issues and the engine bearings started making noise ~ 160k mi. Donated that to the local auto tech school. We had the 2004 A4 3.2L for my girls to drive, without issues (bought at 40k mi, sold at 90k). Bought the A4 2.0T to replace the A6. The research we did at that time pointed to the A4 as the most statistically reliable of the Audi's, hence that was the direction we went. Bought the 2008 A4 coming off a 3 year lease with <15k mi. Currently about 70k mi.

The A4's have been considerably better than the A6. Mainly routine maintenance, except for the occasional CEL and a ventilation control issue. Every vehicle I've owned that have CELs has thrown the CEL from time to time (993, Audi's, Suburban's, Jeep). Typically emissions sensor related.

Frankly my 2005 Suburban has had the most issues of any vehicle I've owned, 8.1L 3/4 ton, and we work it pretty hard. It will follow the same path as my 2 previous Burb's, drive them to >200k mi, then donate the vehicle when the post 200k repairs start to roll in.

I'm currently looking at used Audi Q5's or Porsche Cayenne's to offload the Burb from some of our weekend mountain driving (skiing, hiking, etc.) . The Q5 is based on the A4, so that's probably the direction we will go, unless I can get happy with the Cayenne reliability.

The Quatro AWD system is mature and reliable, and the AWD is important where I live. While there are now lots more AWD options that have "style" I really like the A4 handling. We've had vehicle crash safety discussions with local law enforcement. The consensus opinion (based on empirical results) says buy "Honda or Toyota (including variants) or anything German".

I don't expect the change the options of the "haters", just relaying that we are satisfied with the "total value proposition" with smaller Audi's.