Rissen IK

Hi,
I was wondering if buying a used A4 under 50k miles is a good idea?
Most 09-11 A4 cars are above 25k dollars (with Naviagation), and most of them have between 40k-50k miles. My budget is under 25k dollars so that makes my options with more mileage than I would like.

Basicly its a tradeoff mileage vs dollars.

Please tell me if its worth it or not?

irenesbob

I totally understand our quandary and why you ask, but to me this is an issue no one really has the answer to. A lot of it is luck. The real question is "Will the car you buy have an expensive repair issue (electronics, engine, transmission) as it ages?" Some folks are lucky and buy a car, drive it for 7 years and 100+ thousand miles with no major repairs. Another person will buy the same make, model, year, etc. and get hit with thousands of dollars in repair costs, usually after the warranty is up.
I lease (rather than buy) what I believe to be expensive cars like my current and previous three Audi’s so as to avoid unknown expenses. I know I will be paying at least $475 a month until I die, but I can then decide whether or not it is worth doing so. That is also why I get Audi Care; a fixed amount, can I swing it or not?
The problem I fear is best explained by a friend of mine who a few years ago purchased a three year old Honda CRV with 60,000 miles on it for $18,000. I encouraged her to buy a new one since her dealer had a special and for $23,000 she could get a brand new CRV. She argued that the $5,000 difference would kill her financially and that Honda’s are reliable. Cutting to the result, in the next two years she put over $7,000 into the three year old CRV and still had to get rid of it since it was starting to rust away. She bought a new Subaru Forester and has never regretted it.
I personally feel any of the desirable cars like Audi, M-B, BMW are not good to buy used if only because of the very high cost of parts and service. If I had $25,000 to buy a car I would likely settle on something more like a new or one/two year old Subaru, Toyota, Honda or Mazda. A $25,000 three year old Audi could become a $30,000 plus nightmare in your first year of ownership. The exception to my advice might be if you can pick up a one or two year old Audi with under 20,000 miles that has been babied and the owner can afford to lose a lot just to get out of that car and into another, newer one.
Sorry to sound negative, but that is my thought on the matter.

Rissen IK

Well the way you described its my fear kinda, my previous car had high mileage and it was braking every 6 months. Now I got a 4 year old G37 coupe with only 22k but want a 4 door, and my dilema is low mileage cars a 5-10k more expensive.
Dealer I went to check for used A4 said he is waiting for some leases to come up so he will let me know, probably will have to wait a bit longer.
Thanks for your input.

SFV A4

Whatever you do, be sure you get a warranty. Most German cars are going to cost big bucks once the warranty runs out, including Audi.

sivartk

I bought my 2010 A4 with 24K miles in 2012 (August) for just over $26K (Premium Plus with Navigation). I would say just keep looking and be patient. You should be able to find s 2009-2011 with under 40K for your price range. (Of course if your 25K is out the door, it may be a little harder).

Rissen IK

Where exactly did you find the car? Craigslist? Autotrader?
I am looking all over and cars with lower mileage are over 28k.
Was your car price higher? Did you negotiate it down?(by how much).
Thanks.

sivartk

Well, it was a year ago, but here are the details:

2010 Audi A4 Premium Plus with Navigation/Backup Camera
List Price $28,500
24K Miles
200 Miles away from me at a Dodge dealership
Saw it on several sites, including auto-trader.

I talked them down to $26,500 + TTL. It took about 5 phone calls and asking the person to talk to their manager. They had the car on the lot for about 3 months which probably helped.

What they didn't know, and I didn't know until last week is that the previous owner paid for the Audi-Care package, so I get all my maintenance through April 2015 for free

sivartk

Forgot to mention it was a 1 owner with no accidents.

(Where is the edit button??)

Rissen IK

Looks like for now 26k is above my limit, need to save 5k for now, thanks for your reply.