Thinking of Buying an Audi - Please share your experience

[Anonymous]

Don’t they share a lot of the same parts with VW?

[Anonymous]

I have an A5 convertible that I've had for 11 years, and (knock on wood) it's been great. Nothing other than normal maintenance. It's fun to drive.

[Anonymous]

Horrible money pit. Rip off insurance.

[Anonymous]

Sadly my friend who owned only Japanese and German cars in 2009 bought a Buick and he claims he got "stuck" driving it a very long time as thing never broke and cheap to repair.

He still sold it want bought German as likes them.

Buy what you like. But avoid used German cars if you are on a tight budget.

I owned a Ford Taurus station wagon and a BMW 5 series at same time. My Ford needed 4 new tires got them on sale at Costco $40 each. I got quoted at BMW dealer $500 a tire for run flats.

I used a coupon to change oil my Ford for $29 and the dealer wanted $200 an oil change BMW.

I loved my BMW to death. But it is not cost effective.

[Anonymous]

I have had my q7 for 5 years.

It is fine - nothing to get excited about.
I have had several bmws; including an m5 6 speed back in the day.
A q7 is not that experience.

It is our family car for moving kids around and we use it to the beach with our large dog that it is not ideal for.

I would say it is a step up
From our Acura Rdx for luxury. The Acura has had more issues than the Audi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had my q7 for 5 years.

It is fine - nothing to get excited about.
I have had several bmws; including an m5 6 speed back in the day.
A q7 is not that experience.

It is our family car for moving kids around and we use it to the beach with our large dog that it is not ideal for.

I would say it is a step up
From our Acura Rdx for luxury. The Acura has had more issues than the Audi.

Do you use the 3rd row in the Q7?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had my q7 for 5 years.

It is fine - nothing to get excited about.
I have had several bmws; including an m5 6 speed back in the day.
A q7 is not that experience.

It is our family car for moving kids around and we use it to the beach with our large dog that it is not ideal for.

I would say it is a step up
From our Acura Rdx for luxury. The Acura has had more issues than the Audi.

Do you use the 3rd row in the Q7?

NP - we've used the 3rd row from time to time. It's not the most comfortable if you have long legs. Not a lot of leg room, unless the people in the middle row move their seats up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had my q7 for 5 years.

It is fine - nothing to get excited about.
I have had several bmws; including an m5 6 speed back in the day.
A q7 is not that experience.

It is our family car for moving kids around and we use it to the beach with our large dog that it is not ideal for.

I would say it is a step up
From our Acura Rdx for luxury. The Acura has had more issues than the Audi.

Do you use the 3rd row in the Q7?

Yes - when the kids were younger all the time.
Now they are teens and our carpool days are behind us for the most part.
I probably will get rid of it next year because as the kids are bigger, dog is big; the car is not big enough for family trips with luggage and dog.

The thing that I never liked about the car is it does not have a spare tire. Uses run flats and that always made me nervous for family trips. I would not buy another car without a spare tire. I am weird I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And no one ever takes my advice, but I know enough about this stuff to call myself an expert and the way to go is a Volkswagen. Same engines, factories, builds, and great cars but what can I say? It doesn’t have the same brand appeal. Every guy out there who owns a Porsche or vintage Aston Martin or whatever. Their spouse? They drive a Volkswagen.

I had a Porsche SUV for a while, and I noticed that boxes for replacement parts would come with several stock numbers, including separate VW, Audi, and Porsche numbers since there is a lot of common parts shared between the brands. If you bought a part using the Audi number, it was 2X the cost of the same part with the VW number, and if you you bought the part using the Porsche number, it was 5X the cost of the same part with the VW number. It's even worse for Lamborghini, that often uses the same fuses/wiring harnesses, etc. (like 40x the cost of the same part with the VW number).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no one ever takes my advice, but I know enough about this stuff to call myself an expert and the way to go is a Volkswagen. Same engines, factories, builds, and great cars but what can I say? It doesn’t have the same brand appeal. Every guy out there who owns a Porsche or vintage Aston Martin or whatever. Their spouse? They drive a Volkswagen.

I had a Porsche SUV for a while, and I noticed that boxes for replacement parts would come with several stock numbers, including separate VW, Audi, and Porsche numbers since there is a lot of common parts shared between the brands. If you bought a part using the Audi number, it was 2X the cost of the same part with the VW number, and if you you bought the part using the Porsche number, it was 5X the cost of the same part with the VW number. It's even worse for Lamborghini, that often uses the same fuses/wiring harnesses, etc. (like 40x the cost of the same part with the VW number).

So get the Audi fixed by a VW mechanic and get VW parts.

[Anonymous]

I've had an A4 for about 7 or 8 years, has 120K miles. Before this car I owned Subaru and Toyota.

My Audi has been great, I love it. Insurance and personal property tax were a big sticker shock the first year, I wasn't prepared for the 'luxury vehicle' upcharge. So you should know that going in. Regular maintenance is expensive if you go through an Audi dealer or "German car specialist", but if you find a trustworthy independent shop it's no worse than the Toyota or Subaru. I've done basic scheduled maintenance and that's it. Still on the original wheel bearings, clutch (manual transmission), etc. Just oil, tires, brakes, normal wear and tear items. I even used it to teach my kid to drive a stick shift, it's been pretty forgiving!

[Anonymous]

My DH has insisted on driving A4 wagons forever.

They always have something wrong with them. His first one had a million electrical and other recalls and finally the head gasket was recalled. It took literally years for Audi to admit there was a problem before the recall actually happened. As another PP said, things that are no big deal in other cars are fatal for Audis. Somehow a dent in a panel turned into the car getting totaled because it would have been so expensive to repair it. The backseat is small and all of the seats are uncomfortable, and the interior of his latest car has had a terrible offgassing smell for 4 years running. The media/control screen is neither helpful nor attractive and none of the controls are intuitive.

I say this as someone who used to drive a jeep with all of its problems and who now drives a very basic Volvo that was way cheaper and is a much better ride and drive.

I did have a bmw as a rental recently. It was way more fun to drive and intuitive to use than an Audi and I would choose it over an Audi.

[Anonymous]

I have a 2005 audi. I would not buy one again.

Pros- it drives great, terrific handling and acceleration

Cons- maintenance is frequent and expensive; the mmi system (nav, audio, etc) is not user friendly and the bluetooth is always glitching; the rear interior feels small; the cupholders suck; did I mention the frequent and expensive maintenance?

[Anonymous]

We're on our 6th Audi. The interior I like better than BMW or Mercedes, but taht comes down to preference.

Regarding maintenance, if take it in when the car tells you it's time for scheduled maintenance, you wont' have a breakdown. However, the cost of service (parts and labor) both are a lot higher compared to a Toyota for example. But, the Audi drives a lot better than the Toyota too. If you buy an expensive car, expect expensive service costs.

Changing the oil in a Ferrari is an 8+ hour job because they need to lift the engine out in order to access the necessary parts. The designers figured anyone who can afford a Ferrarri doesnt' care about the cost of service. At least Audi isn't that bad!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 2005 audi. I would not buy one again.

Pros- it drives great, terrific handling and acceleration

Cons- maintenance is frequent and expensive; the mmi system (nav, audio, etc) is not user friendly and the bluetooth is always glitching; the rear interior feels small; the cupholders suck; did I mention the frequent and expensive maintenance?

Any 2005 car may have issues to address though.