jamesbond911

Hiya All..
I'm a newbie in the Audi world and test drove for the 1st time yesterday! I previously had a BMW which my ex took away. I'm looking at a pre-owned A4, 2009 or 2010..
- The pre-owned A4 I drove (2009, Premium) had around 24k miles but I could feel decent lot of road noise. What's a typical life on the OEM tires? Was it just the tires or something else could be wrong or does one feel the road in general on the Audi's?
- Should one get a certified used or a regular pre-owned from good re-sale prospective? I was looking at buying a car around 25k miles and drive till 70-75k miles.

Thanks,
Vik

grimezy121

Unless something is wrong with the car I would think the road noise is just coming from the specific tires on the car, any idea what kind of tires they were? I don't noticed much road noise in my car, 2012 premium with the stock 17 inch wheels and tires. As for feeling the road, I think the ride is extremely comfortable but again thats without the sport suspension and with 245/45 tires, which with my previous experiences are very soft. I came from a car with a very hard suspension with really stiff sidewall tires so the ride comfort is incredible compared to what I was used to. I suppose it really matters what you were used to and your roads but I would be surprised if other cars in the A4 class offer better comfort because I don't think any of the post 2000 BMW/Audi/Infiniti etc.. offer something with a bigger sidewall then 245/45.

-Just came to mind, if the car had winter tires on it that may explain the road noise...didn't check where you were from so obviously discount the winter tire comment if you don't live in a winter area.

grimezy121

Oops forgot the warranty part...Personally I would get the warranty. The Audi is almost a reach for me financially, not quite but its certainly pushing the limits and an expensive fix would push me over the edge. Having a warranty gives me the peace of mind of not having to worry about that. Yes it cost more upfront and yes I may not have enough repairs that I use up the initial cost but I also don't have to worry about any problems whatsoever. So I would try to find a CPO, even for an extra couple grand, for the peace of mind. But, if I had "surplus" money I don't think I would worry about it because of the fact that it 'may' be a waste if you aren't worried future costs.

jamesbond911

Thanks much for the reply - Highly appreciated.

So I did some more checks and looks like starting 2012, the A4's now have standard 245/45 tires but all previous models had a 225/50R17 94H tires. The 3rd party dealer selling the car did not have a Carfax report so I paid up and found the car had 2 prior accidents - one involving "Rear impact" and the other was a "California damage report" with no details so probably the estimated damage was under 750..
The car is a single owner lease return in California before being sold at an auction to my 3rd party dealer in TX so yes, no winter tires on them..
Seems the tire condition and pressure was also checked in Dec"11 by Audi dealership before sold at the auction so wondering how noone caught the glaring road noise!
It's listed almost 1k below the book value but now am having doubts as the car is also not certified..

I'll try and test drive some other A4 with approximately the same mileage to get a good comparison. Also am assuming that probably the shelf life of these OEM tires is not more than 20-25k miles or so..

I think you're right - getting a CPO would be way to go rather than trying to live on the edge..If I did have "surplus" money, I would definitely go for a 2012 stock premium R8 =)

grimezy121

I would be very concerned with the accident report. IMO an accident can really ruin a car. I don't mean just a little fender bender but anything that could mess with the frame or anything that has impact near the wheels could change the suspension geometry. I also find it a little 'off' that the dealer didn't do the car fax. Two reasons, one being that its pretty unusual for a used car dealer not to provide the report and I would question buying a car from them, two is that if I (by "I", I don't mean me because I very much despise scammers) was selling a car with an accident in the history I would try to sell it to somebody that wasn't thoughtful enough to check it's history. I commend you for taking the time and money to check up on the history of the car, very good idea.

I wasn't aware of the tire difference, through my own laziness I just assumed that because my car has 245/45 that all B8 A4 Premiums would have those tires. I think you could avoid some buyers remorse by finding a different car, not different model, Audi FTW haha, just a different one. If you have any more questions I'll do the best to answer them, I'm still new to the Audi world through so maybe somebody else will chime in with some previous experience. One point of reference is that my previous car, 2003 Jetta GLI, I bought used and paid less because it needed new dampers. Big mistake, the car was never 'right' until I completely replaced the suspension.

shs92645

I feel strongly about buying only a Certified car, since Audi and other German brand cars can be extremely expensive to repair once out of the initial factory warranty. Here's another reason they are good....in November I bought a CPO 2008 A4 with low mileage. I've had enough cars, mostly VW's, to know when a car feels as though it is going to be nothing but aggravation and trouble, which is how I came to feel about my Audi. Today I negotiated a trade for the car and I am picking up a 2009 A4 Premium Plus, again low mileage and certified. I think that certified Audi's provide you with some flexability that a regular used vehicle purchased from someone other than an Audi dealer might not.

Good luck finding what you want!

jamesbond911

Thanks people for the replies; Highly appreciated again.

Yes, the prior accident on the A4 I was looking at got me concerned so I let it go. Both you guys made excellent points about getting a certified Pre-owned so I'm looking at those now. Unfortunately, I don't see any good deals out here in Dallas, TX but surprisingly some good ones in NYC (The price difference almost seems 2k for a CPO with approx same mileage!) I have family out there so am seriously considering buying out-of-state.

From your experiences, how much do the dealers negotiate for price listed on an autotrader.com or something? Do they strictly go by appraised car values on edmunds?

If I buy out-of-state, I don't have to pay taxes twice on the car, right?

shs92645

The general rule of thumb is to offer 90-92% of asking price INCLUDING SHIPPING if you are buying a car in another state. My son-in-law bought this way and found a company that will inspect the vehicle at the dealership prior to finalizing the deal - unfortunately I do not know the name, but I think he found it through Cars.com.

On the two CPO Audis that I bought, I paid 2,000 less than asking price on both of them. In my case, the hardest part was negotiating the trade.

Also, you do need to be careful regarding the Audi dealer that you purchase from. Some of them are not nearly as good as others. I found that some don't even bother to reply while others are very responsive. My wife also drives an Audi (A3) and we bought her car as well as my new one at Audi of Brookline, MA. The salesman is Chris Garvin. They do not come any better than Chris and his dealership. Prices are not the lowest, but they only carry low mileage vehicles in pristine condition - they have quite a few 09's on the lot now.

Hope this helps and good luck.

jamesbond911

Niceee..you are quite the negotiator! =) Asking price is 24,500 and per edmunds appraisal tool, value shows up as 24,200. I didn't realize dealers are willing to sell way below the book value..
Maybe you were able to much lesser than the asking price since you were trading in?
My bro-in-law will inspect the car sometime this week and I then I'll be throwing in an offer.

I did check dealer ratings for the car am looking at and they do show pretty good. I will keep the Audi of Brookline, MA in my radar as well, thanks for the information.

jamesbond911

Thought to give an update to everyone who gave me sound advice..

I had short listed 3 CPO A4's in the NYC area for my bro-in-law to check as it did meet the specs, options, color criteria et al. Turns out the deals did seem too good to be true because 2 out of the 3 cars were "Smoker's cars" and not even worth test driving! 1 car was decent but talking to the dealership, they don't do out-of-state shipping..also I tried negotiating on the price but they lowest they would go is 3.5% off asking price without shipping

I guess the great "used car" market out there isn't leading to much room for negotiation. Am back to looking locally for now.