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-   -   Used Audi's and maintenance costs? (http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=790936)

bcrider 11-22-2011 10:36 AM

Used Audi's and maintenance costs?
 
Out of all the cars that I have been looking at recently to replace my wife's current car I really like the Audi A6 Wagon. I would like to find one that is 06-08 for a decent price. I have always been told that Audi's are expensive to have work done on and I'm just trying to see if that is actually true and if so how much? We have an older 2002 Protege 5 and I really like wagon's as we are expecting our first child in April so I need the trunk room. I don't care for the Subaru's larger wagon and the WRX is just too small and I just haven't seen any others that I really like. The only thing that really gets me excited is the A6 wagon but I don't really want big repair bills either.

magic 11-22-2011 10:56 AM

I just traded in our '06 Audi S4 Avant. Loved that car. We bought it around 30K miles and it had 110K on it when I traded it in. We got it at a dealer and did the certified used Audi deal and I pre-paid for services (oil changes and what not till 80K miles) The pre-pay deal was great for us as it included loaner cars and the dealer was very good customer service wise. Once the pre-pay deal was done, I have a mobile mechanic that I use, and he picked up the work from there.

Service that I can remember was:
1. Sun roof switch replacement (no charge)
2. Catalytic converter clogged (no charge, would have been $1,000)
3. Coil Packs replaced (Recall deal, no charge)
4. Headlight bulb replaced (no charge, I believe these are $250 each. Our S4 had the bi xeon lights that moved, pretty cool and worked really well.

Regular stuff done was:
Oil changes, 10 quarts all synthetic done between 5K and 10K miles.
Tires, it wore thru the fronts kinda fast if we did not stay on top of rotating them
Alignment, $120 at the dealer
Cabin and air filters
Replaced the battery
Wiper blades (crazy $$$ locally, found on line for 1/4 the price)
Other gear boxes are lifetime, so no need to change the tranny or diffs.

I'm pretty sure that was it. The S4 ended up being my wife's car and she trashed it. Curbed all of the rims, parks crappy so it was picking up door dings, we loaned it to a friend going thru a bad divorce who did not have a car and she picked up a few more little marks on it.

My wife also drove over some rocks one morning... I had our mechanic check things out last time he changed the oil. Would have needed a new down pipe and cat, transmission pan and a few other parts... all about $3000 worth of rock damage. Given our family lifestyle, the millage, the pending repairs... all of that, it was time to trade it in.

I loved that car in the snow and just driving it in general. Really love the shape of the Audi wagons. I lust after an RS6 Avant... really really really want one.

I don't know about the 2.0 Turbo motor or the 3.0 or 3.2 V6 if you are looking at A4 or A6's. I did the S4 because it was not Turbo'd (knowing we'd put some miles on it) and I wanted a fun car to drive at the time that I could load the wife and kid in, plus gear, plus a cargo box and couple of bikes on the roof.

polarbill 11-22-2011 11:07 AM

They were older(02ish I think) and I don't know what motor but I know 2 people who got rid of allroads strictly because they were always in the shop and it was expensive to work on when they were there. I don't know actual things that went wrong just that neither was willing to deal with it anymore. Personally I would never buy a an audi or any other european used car without a warranty.

magic 11-22-2011 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polarbill (Post 1719172)
They were older(02ish I think) and I don't know what motor but I know 2 people who got rid of allroads strictly because they were always in the shop and it was expensive to work on when they were there. I don't know actual things that went wrong just that neither was willing to deal with it anymore. Personally I would never buy a an audi or any other european used car without a warranty.

Ya, that is why we got our used one as pre-certified with a warranty. I think it was covered to 100K. Our S4 came with detailed service records and you could tell the prior owner babied it. I'd think that A6 wagons are going to come from good homes for the most part too. Not really a boy racer car. I know our S4 saw some track days, found records in it one day. Plus the tires that it came with where a give away too.

jeff_mn 11-22-2011 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polarbill (Post 1719172)
They were older(02ish I think) and I don't know what motor but I know 2 people who got rid of allroads strictly because they were always in the shop and it was expensive to work on when they were there. I don't know actual things that went wrong just that neither was willing to deal with it anymore. Personally I would never buy a an audi or any other european used car without a warranty.

Had a friend with an Allroad and he had some problems with it and it got bad MPG... But I had a family member with an A6 wagon and had a great experience. Not sure how close they are truly related.

The A6 avant is a sexy machine - especially with some S wheels on it! Find one with a 100k warranty on it and sleep easy.

jaegermaster 11-22-2011 6:27 PM

Sean, 10 qts for an oil change??? Really??? I thought my Dodge was bad at 7 1/2 qts of synthetic.

jetskiprosx 11-22-2011 6:30 PM

Had an 03' A4 that my wife LOVED! We sold it after only 2 years of ownership for a few reasons.

1. It was out of warranty and the nearest dealer was 50+ miles away. We had a few maintenance/repair issues and were worried the car was going to start costing us a lot of $$$
2. We bought a house and were always borrowing my parents Tahoe & trailer for yard and house projects.
3. I wanted something that could tow the boat.

We sold the Audi and replaced it with a 10' Toyota Tundra. My wife misses the Audi dearly and doesn't care for driving the truck. My wife really wants to have a 'luxury' car again and I really want to sell my POS civic and start driving the Tundra, but I won't go German again. Will probably look at a few years old Acura or Lexus.

The Audi was a sweet car. Lowered, custom wheels, great stereo,handled amazing, etc...but I was always worried it was going to break down and cost me a small fortune to fix. That worrying got old and we sold it. If I had money to burn I'd own a new Audi in a heartbeat and just trade it in each time it neared the end of it's warranty.

magic 11-22-2011 8:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaegermaster (Post 1719207)
Sean, 10 qts for an oil change??? Really??? I thought my Dodge was bad at 7 1/2 qts of synthetic.

Yep, the that S4 had the 4.2L V8 motor in it. Big oil volume.

It's kinda funny, when I look back my recent cars/trucks by engine size:
7.4L V8
5.7L V8
4.2L V8
5.2L V8

Current car, 2.4L I4, meh performance. Still got the CBR for when I need lots of instant go!

sidekicknicholas 11-23-2011 7:03 AM

Quote:

but I won't go German again. Will probably look at a few years old Acura or Lexus.
I had been looking seriously at a few cars about a year ago...I wanted a luxury awd sedan so my top options were:
a4 or a6
BMW 535xi
Lexus IS250/350 awd
Acura RL sh-awd
.... I went lexus because of the repair bills that would sooner or later catch up to any car (I usually drive mine until they're dead - last two Hondas broke 225k each)
... not apples to apple though since you would like a wagon, maybe look at a Dodge Magnum.... I've had a few as rentals and they're surprisingly nice to drive, I personally think they look better than any wagon you'll find too.

dakid 11-23-2011 8:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidekicknicholas (Post 1719230)
... not apples to apple though since you would like a wagon, maybe look at a Dodge Magnum.... I've had a few as rentals and they're surprisingly nice to drive, I personally think they look better than any wagon you'll find too.

have you seen avants?

imo, euro wagons > all other wagons.

bcrider 11-23-2011 8:56 AM

I agree Joe. Dodge Magnums are not my favorite car. When it comes to cars I tend to like European first, Asian second, and domestic dead last.

Nick, I also tend to keep my vehicles for a long time as I hate car payments and as long as it looks good I don't care how new it is.

Well, unless I can get one with an extended warranty I guess I may have to rethink this. I do really like the IS250/350 but I do kind of want a wagon even though the Lexus looks to have a decent size trunk.

sidekicknicholas 11-23-2011 11:31 AM

Quote:

I do really like the IS250/350 but I do kind of want a wagon even though the Lexus looks to have a decent size trunk.
Love my car, and the trunk is a good size but the back seats DO NOT fold down.... no 60/40 split, nothing.... which can limit you.

sidekicknicholas 11-23-2011 12:20 PM

Quote:

Nick, I also tend to keep my vehicles for a long time as I hate car payments and as long as it looks good I don't care how new it is.
I'm with you. I went for an 06' because it was the first year of the "new" body style, so besides my taillights and a few other small tweaks my looks just like a 2012 but 1/4 the price.

I do have a payment (it was pay off school loans or buy the car cash - loan on car was at a less interest rate so I went that route) on this current car but feel I got a pretty good deal. My IS2awd is LOADED - every possible option, I picked it up with 60k miles for 16k and the dealership gave me $3,300 for my 2000 honda prelude with 225k on it (I paid $2400 for it with a 150k)..... it was $12,700+taxes ..... the IS2 is amazing though, good on gas, *Knock on wood* I've had ZERO issues with it in 1 year and 25,000 miles (I'm at 85k now). I have seen a few on clublexus.com with 250k+ already and no major issues.

One other hatch/wagon option may be Accord Crosstour or the new Lancer hatch thing they make

guido 11-23-2011 3:33 PM

I LOVE my A4. 2007 A4 S-line, 6speed manual with the 2.0T motor. We've had it since new and it's got 60k on it now. It went back to the dealer twice, both times for recalls. No other issues. I know the early 2.0 motors had some issues with the high pressure fuel pump drives, but Audi extended that warranty to 100 or 150k miles, so I'm not worried about it.

It really is a great do everything car. I drive it like a total asshat in the rain. It's soo much fun. Great snow vehicle, obviously. And the greatest suprise..... 35+mpg on the highway.

I've added springs, swaybars and some aftermarket OZ wheels. Now it looks as good as it drives. When we're done with this one we'll buy another. I've been eyeing the A7's.

That said... Don't go into a AWD german car without expecting some repair costs. If you buy used and get a timing belt car, keep in mind that the timing belt job is on the high side of $2k. That's really the only major service expense. Everything else is somewhat normal. Clutches are a bit more pricey and the CVT gearboxes have a tendency to fail around 80k (probably because most people don't service them).

You wont be disappointed. We love our Audi.

FWIW... the Allroad is a different beast. Cool vehicle, but most of them had the 2.7 twin turbo motor. Lot's of stuff to go wrong there. They also usually have full air suspension and it has a tendency to fail one corner at a time. Really a great car if you can deal with the service stuff. A real go-anywhere wagon.

bcrider 11-25-2011 11:50 AM

All this talk of wagon's and Lexus is coming out with their new CTF Sport. Just saw the commercial this morning. Looks to be the same size as a Impreza or A4 though. Apparently they may bring out a GS470 as well.

http://www.lexus.com/performance/#/f...CT/highlights/.

bruizza 11-28-2011 6:19 PM

We had an a4 avant for a while. Great car. I think the main thing with European cars is you have to stay up on the maintenance. It helps if you have a great Audi shop around. We have 3zero3 here in Denver and they rock. Timing belt and water pump was only $900ish. There are little things with European cars. For instance you can't just go buy prestone anti freeze. You have to buy special anti freeze and if you don't the radiator/cooling system will start to corrode. I feel like part of the reason a lot of these cars get a bad rep is because people don't realize stuff like that. Put the wrong stuff in it then blame the car for the high repair costs.

sidekicknicholas 11-29-2011 4:08 AM

Quote:

Lexus is coming out with their new CTF Sport
Putting sport on this car is a joke to me.... as much as 42 mpgs would be great, 0-60 in 9.8 seconds sucks something fierce.

Quote:

Apparently they may bring out a GS470 as well.
this on the other hand would be something else.

polarbill 11-29-2011 9:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcrider (Post 1719408)
All this talk of wagon's and Lexus is coming out with their new CTF Sport. Just saw the commercial this morning. Looks to be the same size as a Impreza or A4 though. Apparently they may bring out a GS470 as well.

http://www.lexus.com/performance/#/f...CT/highlights/.

I passed a CTF sport on the way to work today. It was white with black rims and looked to be lowered a tad maybe. It was a cool looking car although I thought it looked more rice rocketed civic hatch then Lexus. I think it would be a nice commuter car at those MPG numbers. It might not be sporty but looks sporty.

I just priced one on Lexus's website and it looks like the MSRP is somewhere in the 37-38k range for the premium one with nav. That is way too much for a commuter car.


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