MurrayA4

I feel like I need to express myself here.
As an automotive technician and retired independent garage owner I bought my current ride -2014 Q5 Tdi for its reliability ! It's also a hell of a lot of fun !
This is my third Audi and I tend to learn from experience. I've serviced all types of vehicles and generally Audis are as good as the best from the competition. Like everything in life there are exceptions to the rules.Lexus makes a very good boring vehicle but they have issues just like anyone else. One thing Audi does better than most is build a vehicle that even with over 300k miles it is still pleasurable to get into every day and feels "solid'. Obviously this doesn't happen if you don't maintain it properly. The key here is to find an independent shop that is comfortable and confident working on your car and has the right equipment to do so. I regularly heard from fellow shop owners who despised working on German cars primarily because they really didn't know what they were doing and didn't have access to the appropriate tools and documentation. The rumours that parts are " more expensive " are largely untrue. I did plenty of jobs on Japanese vehicles where the parts prices were very high and likewise I was sometimes surprised by how reasonable prices were for some German parts, all depends on the job. Generalizing rarely produces the true story about anything in life and when it comes to cars I'll continue enjoying my Audis even if it turns out that I'm destroying the planet LOL.

bobby3333

Best part about Lexus is you can take it any Toyota dealer, and let all Toyota and lexus dealers compete for the business. Is this the case for Audi/VW ? I recently went from a Lexus es350 to 2016 Q5 TDI. Love the ride, but concerned about maintenance costs. Lexus spoiled me. I had a rx300 prior to es350. Both cars were low-maintenance.

4SallyPat

Finding an independent repair shop that your trust and won't rip you off each time you visit is the key.

Mine is a Euro specialist that was working as a master Mercedes tech for a large dealer chain.

Now he works for himself and has so much word of mouth business that he does not need to advertise.

I take all my potential used, CPO, demo cars before I buy to him to check it out on a $90 PPI.

m1964

Read this post: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/q5-...miles-2889782/
It may answer most of your questions.
The answer to you question is what you prefer: boring drive+great reliability OR exciting drive+less great (but not bad) reliability

m1964

agree 150% no 200%

m1964

Lexus RX350 does bot have a smooth ride- it is less "bumpy" but also less "stable" w/ more of a body roll and front "dive" when braking.
It handles deep potholes better than Q5

uberwgn

This is my perception as well:


I think you might get to 150k miles with less $$$ in an Asian vehicle. But, beyond that, I think the equation shifts to the favor of the German vehicle. That's been my long-term experience.

Deckardk

This is wishful thinking.

Go to the Tundra forums and check out the guys with 700k miles on the original drive train. They are bulletproof. The FJ and GX share this platform, and literally thousands of people are getting 500k on the same engine and transmission. Other Toyota (& Lexus) models perform likewise. Try that with a German car.

My SiL had 155k on her 2006 BMW, and just last month faced an $8k transmission repair bill. Garage kept, with all scheduled maintenance performed on time by the dealer. She never towed anything, and drives like an old woman.

There's a reason why Toyota and Lexus top the rankings every year, and it’s not for their fun factor.

ex-quattro PETE

Same thing happened to my wife's 2008 MB C300 at only 60K miles. We are just thankful we had extended warranty on it. And there were numerous other big ticket items on that car that required attention/fix.

We are secretly hoping the Q5 will be less problematic than that; however, we are not leaving it up to chance. If we decide to keep it past the original warranty, we will certainly be getting an ext. warranty for it.