AvramD

No, I'm not considering buying one... I want your opinions on what's happening to me:

I've had my S4 since 11 Oct, and I've put 8500 miles on it. Some of it has been vacation travel, but 2/3 has been business driving. At the rate I'm going, it will probably have 90,000 miles on it by the time it's 3 years old (in Oct 2002).

My question is this: If you could all imagine that you had an opportunity today to buy a 3 year old 2000 S4 with 90,000 miles, how much would you be willing to pay for it? Assume a) the paint is basically perfect (I have good Armourfend coverage), b) that it drives like it has only 40,000 miles (b/c they're all highway), and c) it has 10,000 miles of residual extended warranty left on it.

I'm trying to compare the amount of money I'm getting reimbursed for driving against how much I'm losing by decreasing the value of my car so quickly. Ultimately, I'm trying to determine if I'm going to be so far "in the hole" on this car in 3 years that I should start splitting my milage with (gasp) my '87 4kcsq (instead of selling it).

DMoore

A 3 year old car, long off factory warranty and soon to go off extended warranty, with a 6 speed tranny and twin turbos? The potential repair bills sound horrendous. I think I'd be willing to pay more for a used A4 2.8 with that kind of mileage than I would an S4. Because sooner or later that S4 is going to need engine work, and when it does it's going to cost a fortune.

I also average about 30K miles per year. I only got $17K for my '98 A4 2.8 Qtip with 53K miles when I traded it in two months ago for my S4. I always trade away my Audi's (S4 is number 7) shortly after they go off the 50K factory warranty, because resale dives at that point. Frankly, I don't even want to think about how little my present car will be worth in two years.

Despite everyone's claims (hopes?) about how over-engineered the S4 is, I can't help but think there's no way it will get the kind of life from the engine that the 2.8 has.

Still, it's pretty hard to guess market value 3 years down the road. But personally, I wouldn't pay $10K for an S4 with that much mileage.

DMoore
'00 S4

EK

I am in a similar situation with respect to high mileage potential and corporate reimbursement. I know that I would not buy any used car with high miles, especially 90 K. I now use my S4 only 1-2X/week. It's quite painful to drive an old Honda when the S4 sits in the garage all week.

JimZ

I got roughly 45% after 3.5 years/76k miles on my '96 A4QM in perfect condition

chuck

To put my money where my mouth is... i'll give u 10k right now, swing by with my car

Bevan

I too face this situation of mileage compensation, and Ive often wondered if it pays off.I concocted this scenario to try and find out;

Assuming 32.5 cents per mile (IRS max for Y2K) and 50k miles of pure reimbursable travel (So maintainance and repair costs can be left out of equation), yet the somewhat improbable scenario that you are prepared to pay the insurance, licence tax and so on yourself in order to own the car without doing any non business miles.

Total amount compensated $16250

Fuel (20mpg @ 1.50 per gal) $3750

Non Audi advantage covered items (1 set of tyres, topping up oil) $800

Leaving a net of 11700 to cover your depreciation in value.

Obviously this is good news if you are driving a Hyundai, you can just throw it away after 50k, however your 40k S4 will have to sell for 29k with 50k miles on it. This is clearly unlikely, with a more likely value of 20-25k.

Obviously use will not be purely for business travel, and depreciation occurs based on age as well as mileage in a complex and often illogical fashion, but it should be clear that 32.5 cents a mile is inadequate to cover anything but very modest business use of an S4 compared to overall mileage. The answer is of course the IRS and your company see 32.5 c a mile as enough to cover the cost of average car travel, so to make it pay you have to use an 'average' car. If you are not prepared to accept the loss in performance/style/safety/drivng pleasure from driving a Hyundai Accent over the S4 then you have to be prepared to pay by the mile. Compared to the alternative I think its worth it...