EBCCod

Good morning. Hoping to get some advice. Looking at buying a new car and am considering a CPO 2016 Audi A6. I really love the look and style of the car. I have some concerns over reliability and repair costs. I had a 2002 A4 for a while and i had a multitude of issues with it that became expensive to fix. I’ve been reading that European cars aren’t as reliable or cheap to fix compared to Japanese cars. Can anyone provide some insight into whether there has been improvements in the Audi’s over the years in regards to reliability and problems?

also the car I’m looking at has the S line package and now I’m wondering if that’s a bad idea with the larger tires and stiffer suspension? Is the ride uncomfortable and very stiff as I’ve been reading? I’m in the US if that makes a difference and I’m not an expert in anything to do with cars. Just looking for a luxurious comfortable ride.

Thanks

EBCCod

Oh and I should I add I’m also looking at Lexus GS 350 so if anyone could provide any comments about the two that would be great.

Appreciate any advice

KevinGary

If an Audi is well maintained it will be reliable and relatively inexpensive to maintain below 130k miles. Above 130k miles they become more expensive to maintain and keep on the road.

Timmiebro

I bought a 2017 CPO two months ago. Love the car. I have the s line and 20's and it drivers fine to me, but all my previous vehicles have been 3/4 ton trucks so Im sure my butt things anything is comfortable. If your are comfortable with the mileage and condition then buy it. For me I will do all schedule maintenance and drive it with confidence until around 110,000 miles. If it starts to give me issues I will trade it for another used CPO and start the process over.

Acuransx

I came over from Acura (a series of TLs up to 2007 -- kept the old 04 as a spare car -- 172,,000 trouble-free miles -- and also have a /94 NSX). Old school Japanese reliability and low running costs.

Although I really enjoy the looks and performance of my /15 3.0T there have been far too many issues in 3.5 years/35K miles. These issues include upper timing chain tensioner replacement, all four brake rotors warping by 12,000 miles and now rears are warped again, with the added bonus that as dealer was doing the brakes again this past week the brake master cylinder decided it needed to be replaced (not sure if during the brake work the tech did something to hasten its demise or it was on its way out in any event). There have been a few other minor issues. I've had more problems with the A6 in 3.5 years/35K miles than both the TL and the NSX combined. Thankfully everything has been covered under warranty. The experience has not exactly given me confidence I need to keep this car for the long haul, thus it will be gone upon the earlier of 6 years/55K miles.

Aside from the inconvenience of a few too many dealer visits (though I can't say enough good things about my dealer), the real worry is owning this car once the warranty is over in middle of July this year. I'm hoping for a year and a half to two years of peace (read: no mechanical failures).

Audi recently changed their CPO program -- used to be 6 years from in service date/100K miles and now I believe it is 5 years/unlimited (?) miles. That makes a CPO car not nearly as attractive as under the old program. The unlimited miles are worthless unless you really pile on the miles. At an average of 12 or even 15K miles/year you will be covered only up to 75K miles. There is a very good reason the CPO program was changed in my opinion and it wasn't for the customer's benefit. I suspect that the bad stuff with these cars starts after 5 years/75K miles. Just go in with eyes open and you will be fine. If you are expecting Toyota/Lexus reliability I think you will be disappointed.

As for the GS 350 I wish I had bought the F Sport version of that car in /15 instead of the A6. I suspect I would have had far less trouble and I'd have the option of keeping the Lexus long term without much worry about long term reliability. And to boot, the GS 350 F Sport is more like the BMW 5 series of years past than the current BMW 5 series. Drive the GS F Sport and the A6 back to back and determine which best suits you.

I'm not slamming the A6 just outlining my experience. I really did want to love the car in all respects and keep it for 7 or 8 years/100K miles but for the reasons outlined above I just don't have the confidence in the product to hang onto it for the long haul. Discounting the issues I've experienced it is a lovely car. One last thing to consider -- there is the matter of "factory support" -- without going into detail I have not found VAG to stand behind its products the way that Honda, in my experience, does. There is a lot of denying that problems exist until the class action lawsuit comes. All you have to do is some reading and you'll bump into numerous examples of that with VAG. Quite different from the experience I have had with the Japanese marques.

Best of luck with your decision.

Jeff