1. Only if your an Audi dealer technician.........
2. VW sucks, Audi is a VW on steroids...........
3. NO

My shop specializes in domestic/imports..... Typical Audi repair order is higher than most any other. This includes the handful of Porsche turbo "track cars" (PAC) that we service/inspect prior to events....

Buy a bus pass....hell buy the whole damn bus!!lol!! It's cheaper!!

Edit:: to say we specialize in domestic/imports describes any service facility... duhh.. We cater towards the higher end....

VW? Who else makes a new station wagon with a real transmission (not an automatic designed for limp-wristed chorus boys) and sells it in America? (I'm not counting the Subaru Outback, which has become an ugly abortion.)

The new ones are great, but I wouldn't want to own one much past 100k or 5-7 years old. They don't age as well as Mercedes or BMW's.

I'd love an S5.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

If you're looking at new cars, Audi has the "style" thing down. The A/S/RS 5 is downright sexy. The A3 is a refined GTI, IMO worth it after test driving each...the A3 is incredibly comfortable, about the same par as the highest grade GTI (well over $30k). As far as reliability they've had electronics issues in the past, the 2.7T had significant turbo oiling issues, etc. I see a lot of people on here bashing them but truly they are amazing cars. Expect to pay an "amazing" price for maintenance too though. Any specific model in mind Ben?

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

My friend just had to replace the oil cooler in his A8, he spent close to $2000. It had symptoms of a bad head gasket(oil in coolant), and the dealer diagnosed bad headgaskets. A mutual friend called the oil cooler and we pressure tested it, sure enough it was breached internaly.

IMHO, a six cylinder BMW 5 series is a pretty diy friendly car and it's reliable except for the auto transmissions, which like to eat the reverse drum in 1999-2004 models. Though they could be had with a manual trans.

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"I was a dirty bird, Carol's not grungey - she's *****in" John Milner....American Graffiti

My brother-in-law had a '75 Audi 100. Man, he loved that car. Even after he gave up on it as a reliable means of transportation, it sat in his garage for about five years. He just couldn't part with it.

I spent a similar stretch in a love-hate relationship with an '87 4000 quattro. It had an awesome Bilstein suspension kit that rendered it nearly neutral. I tracked it a lot, autocrossed it on frozen lakes. It was at its best at the absolute edge of its capability. I remember laughing as I watched an Integra in my rear-view mirror trying to follow me through a curve.

Where it failed was as a daily driver. Something was always wrong -- a window regulator, a door handle, a vacuum leak. It had the same crappy K-Jet injection that Mercedes saddled its owners with.

That's the problem with VAG. The cars could be brilliant but the corners cut turn them into trash. The company would have been a perfect match with Chrysler rather than Daimler-Benz.

So that's the old-school take on Audi. I doubt much has changed. I remember when the A4 came out, owners had big problems with control arm bushings and coil packs. The dealers were overwhelmed, because they tend to be bottom-of-the-barrel. Don't expect much service support, even under warranty.

Depends on the year man. Some of them had life threateningly dangerous unintended acceleration...... lol.

On a slightly more serious note, I liked Audi a lot more before they became a characterless (by comparison) VW corporate lozenge shaped upwardly mobile commuter bubble. And Audi was actually owned by Mercedes for a while before MB sold them off. Something good had to rub off from that stint right?

Ask Chrysler

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1987 560SEL (210,000 miles)

Why do you think their engines face the wrong way for a front drive car

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

I forgot about the door handles. They were constantly breaking. I just picked up some spares at a wrecking yard and always carried them with me. I got to where I could change one out in about five minutes without even taking the door panel off. This would apply to any 5000 or 4000 or Porsche 924 or 944 for that matter.

I also had the 'oil cooler in the radiator leaking' thing, but it was the cooler for the automatic transmission fluid and not the engine oil. I just replaced the entire radiator as it was the easiest way to go. Installing it took about five hours, though. The 1992 100 was no 123 240D as far as swapping out a radiator went.

Of course, with a manual transmission you would not have this problem.

Audi seemed to start making better cars after about 1995 - I'd avoid anything before then

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I think that you "Audi" buy a Mercedes Benz.

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For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

1987 Coupe GT
1999 A4 2.8 Quattro
2002 A6 4.2 Quattro

And I currently have a 1991 Audi 90 20 Valve Quattro. Once the white stuff starts the General Altimax Artics are going on and I don't have to worry about winter.

In my experience, I have found that the Audi's usually require a fair amount of maintenance but they are quite fun to drive. In the last 6 months this is what I have done for the 90:
> New tires
> New radiator
> Flush hydraulic fluid (which costs $20/liter, and it only takes one can to do a complete flush)
> New suspension bushings and rear control arms
> New belts
> Clean the cruise control switches and replace the control switch

It's been my experience that 4-matic and Quattro are pretty similar in the wet and snow. The one downfall on Audi's is that the engine is ahead of the front axle so when pushed hard the front end plows through turns. It's been compared to a backwards 911.

They are fun cars, but not cheap or maintenance free by any means.

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Ditto on the slightly-modified Subaru Impreza I used to have. The car was a real pleasure to drive, so long as you didn't push it near the limit. Now that I'm old, that limitation is no big deal to me.

My brother has an A8 with that w12 motor in it. He just paid $2,100 to get one front strut replaced. (self leveling)

It is really fast, and has a small ref in the back. other than that, i call it a waste.

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2