Hi guys.

I'm considering a B7 A4 for the wife's next car (she's in a leased Jetta right now). I read through some of the older threads on this subject and figured I'd start a new one to get some updated opinions, since all the ones I found were at least a year old.

I'm wondering how the overall reliability on these cars is (either the 2.0T or 3.2). I've owned an Audi 90 and a B5 S4 and most recently a e46 M3 so am not unaccustomed to German maintenance costs.

How are the running costs? Apart from the standard wear and tear items and some of the larger maintenance costs (timing belt, etc) what are some weak areas? Will probably be looking at a '07 or an '08 for her.

TIA.

 

I am by no means an expert on the matter, but I do have a 2007 A4 2.0 Quattro w/ tiptronic automatic transmission (purchased in Dec 2008 second owner). All in all the reliability has been decent. When it was under warranty there was an issue with one of the ignition coils (a recall item) and a fuel pressure pump was bugging out causing a loss of acceleration at highway speeds. Both those were freebies courtesy of Audi.

Once my warranty ran out I have been changing my own oil, pretty easy if you have a ramp. Maintenance is never cheap, I had my timing belt changed out and my brakes done at Wicked Motorsports in Los Angeles, not cheap. I am at 73000 miles now and recently the car has been throwing a P0441 engine code. It seems to be a fairly common problem, but the part cost $15 and took a few minutes to swap out.

The only running costs. I've had thus far was ~$400 for tires, ~$800 for OEM brakes and rotors at Wicked, ~$900 for timing belt, changing my own oil ~$60 depending on type of oil.

The engine does eat oil over time, I always carry a liter in the trunk just in case.

The most annoying thing is that local stores don't always carry Import parts. For this reason I buy most things on ECS Tuning or EuropaParts. Autozone wanted $87 for windshield wipers, EuropaParts had them for $40.

As far as driving is concerned, the handling is good, grips the road pretty well in turns. My biggest gripe is turbo lag, took a while to get use to. Using tiptronic minimizes the effects, don't know about manual.

The Bose speakers are crisp with decent bass at any volume. The A/C still runs cold. All in all, the experience inside the car is great. Mind you I upgraded from a 90s model Camry.

I don't know about 2008, but 2007 doesn't have iPod support or an auxiliary cable. To remedy that I got a Denison adaptor which replaced the CD changer... Which is oddly located in the glove box. The RNS-E radio has SD card MP3 playback, but the card size is limited to 2Gb low capacity cards. Problematic when you have 100+ Gb of music.

 

Think about buying my car if you are near NY, posted here : http://classifieds.audiworld.com/sho...ct/7711/cat/19

 

Bought my wife a 2006 2.0T A4 Quattro S-Line back in 2007. It was CPO with 22K on it. it has 80K miles now. Happy to report the only problem was a failed coilpack back when the car had 23K miles. so yes it's been a very reliable car.

 

I'm willing to give my 3-year experience with my 2007 A4, but will wait to see if you want it as it has been nearly a month since your OP.