baskervi

We found a well-kept 2013 A4 with around 53,000 miles. I have a friend with an A4, so I called him up to chat about it, and his 2014 (which he purchased new) has around 25K miles. Without knowing the details of this particular car, he told me that it's the most fun to drive of any car he's had, but the honeymoon for the Audi is over at 50,000 miles - they start having a lot of problems, and maintenance is expensive. He suggested I get a car a year old and under 10K miles. I've owned a few Honda's over the years, and one I bought new lasted to 363,000 miles with no problems until the end, and the others were around 200,000K and were totaled by a front ball joint separating followed by a quick stop due to a concrete barrier (thanks, Big O) and another by hail. I was shocked at this low mileage to be expected before maintenance became an issue. Is that the consensus for the A4's? I want something that is reliable for another 100,000 miles with just regular maintenance. Thanks

uberwgn

Basker, welcome aboard!


I'd look at the service history and warranty claims made to date on this car. You need to find out if it has an appetite for oil.


If Honda-like "reliability" is your primary focus, stick with an Asian car.


(I'm helping someone purchase an '08 A4 tomorrow. The car is in great shape and has an excellent written history. They're gonna enjoy the heck out of that car, 78k miles.)

Dave788

Audi has come a long ways in reliability in recent years. I wouldn’t worry so much about mechanical reliability as much as I would the tech. I have a fully loaded A4 purchased new with 9 miles on the ODO and am fully comfortable reliability-wise mechanically since I know the cars history and how to care for it in the future. It’s all of the tech and safety systems I’m worried about. Cameras, radar sensors, virtual cockpit, electronic gear shift, touch sensitive climate control, heads up display.. all the things you don’t have control over failure and are likely very expensive fixes. That said, every car company has its run of bad years. Look into it online, when I was buying my previous Mercedes, I knew to avoid anything built during the Daimler Chrysler years.

Cars today and much more reliable than cars in the past. I would make sure the car has been serviced properly and according to the recommended schedule and run from those who weren’t. Carfax has an app that you can put the VIN in to see the service history, however I believe it only reports on dealership/big name shop service history. When I sold my Mercedes I was able to show all of the service records on my phone on the spot because it was all done digitally.

VM

You're in the forum for the B9 car, which is the 2017- model in North America. The car you're looking at is the B8; the forum for that one is found here: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a4-...iscussion-128/

SFV A4

Yes to all. You can own an Audi after 50k miles, but you best have a decent warranty. Beyond that, I don't recommend it. They are better for leasing and a factory warranty.

Dr Awesome

That year should be free of the oil consumption issues, they fixed a lot in '13+ models. As far as features I think premium plus or prestige with quattro and anything but the CVT is what you should shoot for. Aside from the timing chain replacement at ~100k there isn't much else that is required that wouldn't be done on other cars. Like any car, it's more about how you drive than what you drive when it comes to longevity. These cars are fun to drive, more fun than my friend's Honda with the V6 for sure!