It does suck to put so much into it though. They ALWAYS need something.

 

I own a 2000 A4 1.8TQM. The car basically had no problems for the first 60k. Starting at 60k things start to break and the car begins to require maintenance. If you can fix cars yourself and can handle the 'challenge' of working on German cars, used Audis are an excellent choice. If you need to pay somebody else to fix your problems you will get raped so bad it will most likely cause you to sell the car.

I absolutely love VW/Audi products. They are fanatastic cars when they are new. If you want to own an older Audi you have to be willing to turn a wrench. They are nowhere near as reliable nor as cheap to maintain as say a Toyota Camry or a Honda Accord. That being said, the B5 platform is still one of the best performing AWD platforms out there.

I have a '99 VW GTI w/ 201k on the odometer and it has been a relatively cost effective and fun to drive vehicle over the past ten years. However, that is only because I fix the car myself and I can tolerate certain VW/Audi repair difficulties. These cars are a bit more complicated and tightly packaged than others.

 

Yes, it is

 

Just enough maintenance to keep you from getting bored.

I wish I hadn't gotten into modding mine... -___-

Well, so prematurely. :P

 

my only regret is not going with a bigger snail. ah well, its a reliable DD with some pep

 

The Audi dealers are consistently higher by about 20% in suburban philly and central NJ. Parts costs for the germans are markedly higher as well. My oil filter for the TL is $7, for the Audi it's only a paper element and gasket, and it's $13. Both are parts counter prices, both can be had at a small discount over the internet.

As for incidence of repair, my Audi's have consistently needed twice as much twice as much unscheduled maintenance as the Hondas (removing anything mod related). However I've only held onto one of those cars beyond 100K...a Honda. Rest of that history applies to under 100K cars.

Now the above doesn't take into account mileage, which only makes the Audis look worse. Over the last 13 years...

3 Hondas: collectively 240K miles.
3 Audis: 80K miles.

 

Stick 2.8 is the best bet.

 

My local shop charges the same rate regardless of what you drive.

I've never owned a Honda car, probably never will..

But I've had 5 Audis well into the 100k range.. Either I'm relatively lucky, or, they really aren't that bad.

 

A dealer is a pretty good alternative. I've heard horror stories from coworkers that are not into cars who have taken their new-ish cars to neighborhood independents to save a few bucks. Now if it's an oil change, that's one thing, but if there is anything remotely complicated, most of the stories go like this...

1. Shop scanned the codes, replaced X part.
2. Picked up car, problem persisted, brought back to shop.
3. Shop said Y part was defective, but it's $300+. They didn't replace it the first time because they thought that the less $$ part might fix the problem.
4. Problem persists, brought back to shop.
5. Shop says they don't have the diagnostic tools to calibrate part Y or the manufacturer doesn't publish the necessary information for them to do the rest of the job. Customer must visit dealer.
6. Dealer finishes what the independent could not do, and additionally fixes the actual problem.
7. Problem solved. Wait until the next CEL and repeat steps 1-6 if they still think they are saving money with their independent, or go to the dealer straightaway the next go round.

The example above brings two issues to light. First that there are bad independents out there too. Nothing new. Second is that there are things the dealers can do that independents can not. Manufacturers are hoarding information and only making it available only to their dealer networks. This is a relatively new phenomenon and it's not limited to one manufacturer. More and more electronics are packed into cars, and often times replacing a part is only half the job, performing the necessary soft coding completes it. I suspect it will be a few years before this issue fully comes to light and a few lawyers put the screws to the auto industry to make certain they continue making all information available so that their vehicles can be serviced outside their dealer networks. Just the same, 5 years ago I would have agreed with you...if you go to a dealer, you're going to get hosed and you deserve it. I'm not so sure I agree with that anymore.

A couple weeks ago the manager of an independent shop was on the radio describing the issue from his perspective. He has clients that have been bringing their cars to him for decades. He keeps his shop equipped with the latest diagnostic tools, etc. But about once a month a new-ish car floats in with some kind of problem and he can only go so far before he has to refer the client to a dealer because there is some tidbit of information the manufacturer hasn't made available so he can complete the job. His clients are naturally miffed, because a) they know the dealer is going to rape them and b) because they know and trust their local mechanic and specifically use him because they don't trust their dealer.

 

...but it evened out in some cases because changing out the older stock part would most likely have been needed anyway. The biggest issues I had to deal with were past the 120k mileage stage so at that point I already got what I expected of the car (bets were off after I reached 100k). Can't believe I can still drive her at 170k+ with some confidence.