My 2005 A4 1.8T Special Edition is a week away from running out of warranty. She sits at 69000 miles and needs brakes per the dealer. Recently had the coil packs replaced as well as the valve cover gaskets. My cousin says to get rid of her when she hits 70000 miles. Is there any merit to this? How reliable are these cars from 70 – 100k?
Thanks in advance for any answers!

 

two words:
EXTENDED WARRANTY
you will be glad you get it, nothing dramatic but they can be costly at times

 

Get Audi's extended warranty - good up to 100k miles. Worth it. Even with that, the Audi A4 is a very reliable car as long as you stay on top of routine maintenance.

My 2004 A4 Ultrasport currently has 192k miles on it. During my CPO warranty, I only had to use it when the fuel pump died and for a transmission rebuild (I think the dealer was looking for warranty work). Even after 100k miles, the car remains strong and reliable. Because it's a German car, replacement parts will be more expensive than domestic or Asian cars.

Here's a breakdown of things I needed to get repaired:

- Fuel pump (CPO warranty)
- transmission 3rd gear throwout bearing (CPO warranty)
- front passenger wheel bearing (had both front wheel bearings replaced)
- front control arms (upper and lower) and tie rod ends
- radiator (plastic end cracked)
- front and rear cam seals (I believe caused from carbon cleaning done by dealer)
- valve cover gasket
- various vacuum hoses (hard plastic cracked over 5+ years and miles)
- throttle body

For everything else, I always get an oil change done every 5k miles and do a full timing belt replacement (timing belt, serpantine belt, water pump, tensioner) every 60k miles. I'll then follow Audi recommended maintenance schedule to check/inspect/adjust anything else.

 

Dump the 1.8T and buy a newer 2.0T vehicle...if you like that sorta thing.

 

It comes down to a financial decision. My 2 cents and sorry if I sound like a dad, but I am...of 3 teenage boys:

1) I am not sure buying an extended warranty even from Audi will be cheap enough. They tend to run in the $2500 to $3500 range which equates to a lot of maintenance. Plus, getting repairs approved can be a total war with the warranty companies or at least that is my interpretation of the posts I have seen here and elsewhere, including a Mercedes forum. As a data point, I paid $4500 for my 02 1.8t Sport with 187K a year ago and have put about $1000 into it between parts and labor plus about 20 hours of my own time. I replaced the timing belt / tensioner / water pump, coolant flange / heater hose, brakes, hood strut, aero wipers, driver's door harness and paid for a wheel bearing replacement.

2) As far as dump or not, the decision for me always comes down to the following: you bought the car for a reason (image, technology, handling, etc) and is that still worth the cost of ownership. There is no denying that an Audi can be expensive to maintain, but I don't believe it is 2 or three times over say a Toyota or a Honda like some say. I know too many Toyota and Honda owners. So, buy / sell / trade tp a newer is a balance between what you bought the car for and if that is gone. I wouldn't trade the way the car drives, the feel of the car, and the handling and would only trade for a newer Audi (if it financially makes sense) versus buying a driving appliance like a Toyota / Honda / Nissan.

 

I'd recommend against keeping the car. While all cars have some problems as they age, my 02 A4 has had an unbelievable number of problems from 70-85K and each time the fix has been expensive.

Plus, you'll have some expensive maintenence items coming up -- timing belt, etc. The calculus may be different if you can do some / all of the work yourself, but if you don't have the tools, time, inclination, etc. to do that, even using an Indy for these cars can cost bucks.

 

very well said and totally agree.
when the cost to keep surpasses the reason you got the car is time to let go.