amkmd00

In addition to the 2 week old, I gave a 5 and 7 year old, neither of whom can sit in the front passenger seat, of course. So having 3 car seats in the Q5 2nd row was crowded to say the least. Also, my wife can now sit in the 2nd row with the infant in the Q7. The kids really enjoy the 3rd row (not quite enough room for an adult though). The 40/20/40 split 2nd row is nice too, the kids can get in the 3rd row through the middle.

I must say, I miss my Q5, but the Q7 3.0T has been great.

waffles

Just curious, do independent shops do the DSG transmission flush at 35k or is that a dealership only service?

dbs427

I negotiated Audi Care into the price of my new A7 Prestige for free -- I tried to get a commitment on throwing in Audi Care Plus as there is technically no reason they can't arrange a deal in advance of hitting the 45K mark, but didn't get them to arrange it in advance.

Given what I read about normal Audi maintenance costs, getting Audi Care for free just seemed like a no-brainer.

The OP had also asked about extended warranties -- normally I stay away from them at all costs in final negotiations, as they are normally huge margin sales for the dealer compared to what they are worth, the coverage isn't as broad as you might believe (you need to carefully read all exclusions/inclusions IN THE CONTRACT ITSELF and not just the sales brochure) and, if you think it's worth it, you can afford to shop around for the best price.

But I broke my own rule -- the A7 is a brand new model with not a lot of reliability history. Audi models in general don't have the track record that, say, Toyota or Honda do, and with a brand new model with so many electronic/technology features, a repair down the road could end up costing thousands of dollars.

I drive about 20K/year, so the original 4 yr/40K warranty would be smoked in 2 years. I negotiated a 5 year/100K Platinum warranty for around $2K -- the mileage and years match in terms of my yearly mileage. As for exclusions, while rotors and drums were strangely excluded, some of the high ticket technological and electrical systems were all covered.

In addition to exclusions, you should note carefully whether labor costs are covered in any warranty (sometimes they are not), and other details such as whether the repairs have to be done at the dealer or at an authorized repair location, whether they need to use OEM equipment or not, and so forth.

For me, given the new nature of the car, it's technology, and the fact that I am planning to keep this car for at least 5 years, the extended warranty made sense, even though I've always been dead set against them in the past.

Sometimes you need to break your own rules if the risk/reward makes sense.