billyjk

Narrowing down my car search to the 2017 A3 - but still looking elsewhere as well. But the A3 is at the top of my list as of now.

Yesterday, I was getting an appraisal on my current car at a CarMax-type place, and they asked "What are you looking to buy?" I said that an A3 is tops right now. Their staff weighed-in on how horrible Audi reliability is, how they are always in the shop waiting for parts that are unavailable in the US, and that it's a really bad idea to consider an A3.

Well, I thought I had checked the reliability box early-on in my car search, so I revisited the topic when I got home yesterday. I checked CR, JD Power and US News reliability ratings.

I found that Audi in general is rated quite well. Audi is the #4 top brand for reliability in the US according to CR. The A4 is rated as the #1 best sports sedan in the US taking everything into account. This was great to see.

But, I was a German car owner in the 70's and 80's, and by the 90's, I had fled to Acura and Honda for just about all my purchases, reliability was a top reason for me to do so.

So, can you Audi owners weigh-in here on this with your experiences.

thompsam

I've had my A3 for 2 years now and the only problem my car has had was a failed backup light. So far I've been very happy with my first Audi.

billyjk

Thanks for that input thompsam!

jonedwd

Before I continue I want to make one thing clear - I love my A3. There is not a single day that I regret buying it and after 2 yrs of ownership I still enjoy driving it. Having said that it has not been the most reliable car I have owned. Admittedly my car was one of the first imported into the US (I bought it when it was 9 months old). It has spent a considerable time in the local dealer - over 4 weeks to date! The biggest issue was a total transmission failure. Since then there was a brake issue, new driveshaft and an annoying suspension problem which took 2 attempts to fix. Of course all this was covered under warranty and I was provided with a loaner car each time. People at work joke that I drive the dealer's cars more than mine. Hopefully the newer models are getting more reliable. Would I buy another Audi/A3 - absolutely YES.

billyjk

Thanks for the input folks. Jonedwd: I hope your A3 is back on track.

I am feeling good about the notion of Audi reliability.

A3 is still at the top of my list. May pull the trigger soon.

davisflyer

2015 Audi A3. One recall and a sunvisor light that didn't work.

BobMar46

I had one issue with push button start. One of the three sensors that needs to sense the key fob was ripped out before I got the car. Because of where it was and lack of consumer accessibility, I did not think it was caused by the previous owner. That was, however a battle I did not win with the service manager. They would not honor on warranty because there was no defective part to send in. Other than that there was a recall that at least affected the '15 cabs with sport seats. At the time they worked on mine, it took the dealer 3 times the amount of time allowed for the warranty to fix it. To put that into perspective it was the first one there with that recall which involved replacement of the cover on both front seats because of a potential problem with the side air bags deploying. Other than those two no problems.

billyjk

Excellent feedback.
Thanks!

duncanator

I've had mine for almost 2 years and 44,000 miles and have not experienced any major issues.

Derek Dilts

Have had my A3 since October 31st 2015. 28k miles, love it.
Really my only complaint is that the dealer won't give me the latest ECU revision. Can't do the Unitronic tune I want without the latest version. Unitronic will give me the latest revision to allow me to do the tune, but worry about warranty items after that!