VitaminH

Hi everyone! I am thinking about buying a A4 and would like to know the expectation on how much I should pay. I never drove Audi before. My last 2 cars were BMW and in general with BMW is usually you get 6-7% off MSRP before incentives. Currently there is a $3500 credit if you finance through BMWFS. That means a $46K 330xi can be sold around 39K, or 38K if you have loyalty credit. I looked at Audi offers and it seems the only thing on the A4 is 1000 loyalty, which does not apply to me. if Audi price is similar to what BMW has then it means a $46K A4 will be sold around $43K, about $5K higher than a similar MSRP 330xi.

Am I missing something here, or it is just the way that Audi is $5-6K higher than a Bimmer?

Also many people say only lease BMW because the build quality is not great. I see Consumer Report rates the A4 as No.1 in luxury sedan section with 5 out 5 reliability rating. Do you suggest buying or leasing? I can keep a car for a long time but don't want it constantly in the shop... Thanks!

Flyguy31

With the auto business and others in shambles, I would think you could negotiate hard for 2019 of any car. Even 2020.

I bought in March 2019, PP+, and got around 10% off. I was paying cash, but they were giving $1500 to finance through Audi. I financed for 25 days and then paid it off with no penalty.

I would lowball on any car you are looking for. Try for 15-20% off at least.

VitaminH

Thanks! I was looking for PP+ as well but still trying to compare with Premium, completely no idea about Audi. BMW problem is you get a cheap car but the price goes up quickly once you start adding "must have" options. Audi seems have most of the features already included even on Premium trim.

Is that safe to say with Audi I can shoot for a higher discount off MSRP and Audi should be priced similarly compared to BMW? I will try 15% on a PP+ and work up from there.

Flyguy31

It really depends on the options you want. I would build each one with the features you want and go from there. I found the PP+ had most of what I wanted. I added the cold weather package because of living in the NE and the BO sound system. I do think you will find the Audi will price out better. Again I would be very aggressive on the price. Inventories have to backed up so bad.

Bolero410

When I bought my 19 MT6, I got $3000 for walking in the door and another $3000 for using their financing at3%, so I financed half and am making double payments. I didn’t even bother to negotiate any further. No trade, just a clean deal.

VitaminH

Did not know you could get MT6 on a A4, I thought MT was extinct on B9. Was the 3000 financing credit from Audi? Every time I check Audi offers it only has something not that exciting like $500 cash, or maybe I just did not check frequent enough to see the good offers.

Costcoauto says the difference between invoice and MSRP is about $2500. If that number is correct then from your $3000 walk in reduction it seemed the dealer was willing to sell you the car at a loss before the negotiation started. Maybe I should ditch the "find the invoice and work up from there" approach because the invoice price we can find on the internet is not a good starting point.

Bolero410

MT6 is extinct on the B9. I got one of the last ones in the wild in June of 18. It was trucked from 3 states away as there were none that met
my specs locally. My point is merely that there is pretty high markup on Audi’s
and I got 13% off. It was not AOA financing, they used a local bank. Having a 800+ credit score did not hurt my situation. I was going to pay cash, but if someone is standing on a street corner handing out money...

VitaminH

It is great to know that Audi and BMW are in the same price range. I never considered Audi because I thought it was at least $5-6K more expensive. Do you think the A4 is a good choice to buy and keep for more than 100,000+ miles? I know the maintenance may be more money compared to a Honda and I am prepared to keep up with the maintenance to avoid major breakdown

Bolero410

Long term I don’t know. Mine has been trouble free so far and bought Audicare, also steeply discounted. Honestly I did not buy it in hopes of it being as reliable as a Honda. The point was that it is a brilliant chassis, has a great engine 6 speed and awd. Something no one else offered. The fact that CR rated it top of its class was a comfort though. If reliability becomes an issue down the road, it will be gone and I will get an electric Cayman, as they should be out before I am out of warranty. All that said, it is the single best car I have owned out of about 35 including MBs, lots of BMWs(35 year member of BMWCCA) Volvo’s, VWs Saabs, Toyotas and Hondas. And I plan on keeping it until it vanishes in a fine molecular dust as all parts wear out simultaneously at 400k miles!

SFV A4

BMWs have always leased much better than Audis. And in more recent times, Audis have leased worse than most of their competitors. So that is the problem you are seeing. But with what's going on right now, I'd say the possibilities are better than ever to get prices down with Audi.

As far as reliability, it has been well established owning any German car after the lease expires is a big expense. Things usually start going wrong right after the four year period. Fixing and servicing German cars is costly. So either have an extended warranty or turn the car in and start fresh.

Good luck!