LizW

I'm about ready to buy a gorgeous 2011 A5 with 60,000. It had one owner, has new tires, was garage kept in the winter and I can't find a ding or scratch on it. It goes against all I have done the last couple of decades to buy "safe" cars. The seat is a tad stiff, and I can't see as well out the back as I would like (thinking about adding a backup camera). But I really want this beautiful, fun car.
My current daily driver is a 2017 Accord Coupe which is worth a few thousand dollars more than the Audi and paid for. I drive mainly in town, some stop and go and a little highway.
My husband's concerns are Audi's are expensive to repair and it should maybe be a tad quicker in passing gear between 60-80. But he just gives his impressions, he wants me to have the car I want.
Anyone care to add their two cents?

millersntx

We've had a few Audi's with the 2.0T, and outside of a few recall issues that were taken care of, they have been quite reliable. I have never owned a Honda, so I can't speak to their maintenance expense, but my experience with Audi's has been good.

Fairfaxgator

LizW:

I too am looking at a 2011 A5 2.0T Cab with 52k miles for my wife as her 'fun" car. The A5 will not be her daily driver. I will be doing a pre-purchase inspection at a local Audi dealership. They apparently check everything and can look up service history on the car from other Audi dealerships. The cost here in Northern VA is $360. Other Audi specialists charge $275, but do not run diagnostics for other codes and electronics.

Just my .02 cents.

Fairfaxgator

uberwgn

Liz, you need to research the oil consumption, timing chain and timing chain tensioner issues these cars suffer from. You will be able to view hours and hours of tales/problems shared by others. Make sure you are ready for potential problems.

If maintained at the dealer, it will be 2x - 3x more than the Honda.

Be prepared...don't be caught off guard.

LizW

I was a few hours to late, I have already bought the car. I found the class action lawsuit information online regarding the timing chain tensioner, checked the VIN and engine code and my car is affected. I do not know if the parts have been replaced. I'm trying not to feel very sick right now. You know, I did do some online research on this car beforehand and miraculously did not come across this. Thanks for the heads up. I wish I had just waited a day

uberwgn

Keep your fingers crossed, some cars have had repairs completed. Also, the CARFAX report you have would likely share some of this semi-critical history.

LizW

I called the local Audi dealer and the parts were replaced under the extended warranty July of 2018! Whew! I didn't sleep half the night last night because of this. Thanks for everyone's help.

Fairfaxgator

That's good to hear...i searched the VIN on the A5 we are looking at stated that the A5 falls in the recall/class action.

Don't know if the parts were replaced for all recall actions as the Carfax does not go into that much detail. Will have to call the local Audi dealer as well.

Fairfaxgator

Just called the Audi dealer and it looks like both timing belt/tensioner and oil consumption fixes were not made on the A5 we are looking at...the extended warranty is 10 years or 80k...next October will be 10 years. Dealer stated that they would conduct an oil consumption test during pre-purchase inspection and of course examine timing belt, etc.

Will see if I can make this issue a negotiating item with the other car dealer. Again this car is a "fun" car...at the most 1k-2k miles per year to drive.

LizW

The dealer said they replaced all parts involved when I asked specifically if they replaced the timing chain pretensioner. I don't know if that means the timing chain too and if that stops the excessive oil consumption that causes the problem. I think I will have a mechanic look at it to be sure.

I think CARFAX will only show recalls and not Class Action Lawsuits or repairs....nothing about any of this was mentioned on the paper I received.