Bonnie

I test drove a fully loaded S40 last night. I must say that the car really drove very nicely, and handled with ease. It is a really nice looking car exteriorially, but the interior is not of the same quality as the A4. It also didn't have a tilt and telescoping wheel, nor one step up window controls (which I find great on the Audi). It is a really nice alternative to the Audi, and goes head to head with the Audi in Europe and in many reviews that I have seen.

My heart is still with the Audi, but I have to admit I am a little bit nervous about reliability. I wrote here a few weeks ago about the prices that I have been quoted on various internet sites and AAA for an extended warranty on the Audi. It was exhorbitant. It was 1-2 times higher than every other car on the road, including Jaguar, Ferrari, Mercedes, etc. I called AAA today to find out what they would charge for the S40, and it was in the Acura category. It was about $1500 for 7/100,000 BTB warranty as opposed to over $3,000 for the Audi. They said Audi is the highest because it has the greatest incidence of breaking down. No other car breaks down as much as the Audi, especially when it goes out of warranty. Please don't flame me for this, as this is AAA speaking, and I know many of you have had no problems.

Personally, I am willing to pay the extra money for the extended warranty if it is the car that I want. What is an extra $1500 in the scheme of things if you plan on keeping the car for a while and want piece of mind.

By the way, have any of you priced out an extended warranty through Audi. If so, does it include maintenance, such as the factory warranty? I am sure it is expensive, as all dealer warranties are more expensive than aftermarket ones. I would appreciate hearing from any of you on this.

Thank you.

ed

I have not owned any Audi before I bought my A4 99.5. The reliability question was never in my mind because of my experience with VW in the past. I have a few VWs ever since I know how to drive. Most of them are as reliable as many cars that I know of. My last VW is a 84 VW Cabrio, about 200K miles and almost trouble free. Of course there are those normal replacement such as brakes, water pump, radiator, battery, CV joints, cluth, timing belt and tires. Again, this is a 16 year old car, things will break due to aging. I am quite confident that Audi will be as good as VW, if not better. Hope this helps.

Conker

regarding reliability: Numbers don't Lie. Good luck.

Zsolt

nt

Paul Lefebvre

I was nervous about the A4's reliability also, which is why I leased it. I figured that if it proves to be unreliable, I can hand it in with no regrets. If it proves to be dependable, then I can buy it for a good deal because of the low residual. So far (after 1yr and 12,000 miles), my 1998.5 A4 2.8QTip has been trouble-free.

-- Paul

J J shaw

Re: A4 vs. S40

J J shaw

we were quoted $3000-3500 i can't remember. I priced quite a few parts before I bought the car and saw someone had a factory long block for $3500. I did not think the price of the warranty was worth it. I did not think enough things would go wrong to make up for it.

sorry about the other post I did. I accidently hit the return.

done that

I got an extended warranty from GEICO, $50/year and $250 deductible.

Hemant

then it would be a STEAL since the cost of a 1.8T is not much different than a fully loaded XLE V6 Camry. So the question is, what is the 'True' cost of the Audi? And what is the 'true' value?

The cost of extended warranty factors in the probability of repairs x the expected cost of repairs (Audi parts are expensive).

At the same time, if reliability is the only thing holding you back, either lease the car or pay the $3000 and get the 7yr warranty. The A4 will give you at least $10,000 more enjoyment over 7 years than a Camry would.

You should look at the S40 in the same light. Choose car you like the most and then determine its 'true' cost to decide if it is in your price range.