cjamie

I was doing some used car shopping on an A6 avant around 1999~2000 model year. I have heard people saying that a used A6 w/o warranty is suicide or bank raider. Is it true? Let me hear your experience/opinion. THX!!

Potomac-Greg

If you get 2000 model year, you'll have a warranty for some period. Without much to base it on, my sense is that any premium, German car is expensive to fix, and if you, for example, blow a transmission, you'll be out big bucks. I do not think that Audi will have a higher failure rate than MB or BMW. Can't guarantee it, but I owned an Audi for 10 years before my current one, and I had a pretty good experience.

phred

either one you bought yourself or a factory-sponsored dealie.

Cars are too complicated and sophisticated to take chances with. As you said, just one blown tranny, or even a major climate control system dump, without some kind of insurance (or equivalent amount set aside in a money market or similar) and you're looking at a charity donation.

Dan_L

I do all of my own repairs however. If I would have gotten it so far it would have saved me all of $50 for the water pump I installed, since I'm sure it would not have covered the replacement timing belt, roller, tensioner, serpentine, (did it all while I had the thing apart) and brake pads that wore out. It would have saved me a lot of time, but working on cars for me is a hobby and I had fun tearing the nose off.

Potomac-Greg

If you buy the warranty, you assured never to need it anyway!

65GT350R

I've had a number of Audis the last few years;
never had any problems. (But never kept them for
long after the warranty expired). I'd guess the
chances of a problem post warranty are no greater
with an Audi than with anything else (That may be of little comfort.)

beep-beep

BTW the Avant has underpowered engine and non sport everething. I think this makes way more reliable, than for example S4, where every peace had to work on the age of brakedown.

QCRAZY

An Audi will have things break. If maintained an Audi will run to well over 200+k miles.

The "problems" with the current version A6 TEND to hit around 50-60k miles. Smell for oil leaks. Electrical problems can hit at anytime.

It's hard to swallow large repair bills when coupled with large car payments. As the cars age the payments drop but the repairs are just as expensive (easier to swallow).

IME, the current Audi's are not QUITE as reliable as the Audi's of two generations ago (5 cylinders). The current Audi's have the same "traits" as the old ones there's just more of it (i.e. another head, another cylinder, another gear, etc.).

For example, my 230k mile 80q costs <b>HALF</b> to operate a mile compared to my 70k mile A6q ($0.20/mile vs. $0.40/mile). The A6q costs about 3 cents/mile <b>LESS</b> for repairs than the 80q (that's with a warranty on the A6q). Intervals between reapirs are "close" to the same. Both are driven the same milage per year, depreciation and insurance are not figured.

16 Wins

99 A6 Avant...72,000 mi .........no problems

captainbilly

the new German cars (BMW, Mercedes, Audi) have tons of "stuff" that will eventually break. My 740il had plenty of things break but they were all covered by warranty. My 2000 2.7t was a nightmare but my 2001 2.7t has had no problems in 18,000 miles. The thing to remeber is that these are expensive and complicated cars and, as some else already mentioned, the repair costs don't go down as the car geat older and less valuable.

You see a similar situation with used aircraft. A used MU-2 may only cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars but a single engine overhaul on the TPE-331 can cost that much.

Bottom line is that you need to buy a car that you can afford to both purchase and maintain. In addition, if you can't take the risk of having to pay for a large unexpected repair, like an engine or tranny, then get an extended warranty.