mafpolo

We had a 2005 A8 for ten years, and we loved it. The car was reliable until the last three months we had it, and then we had a screen motor failure, a fuel pump go out, and one minor item. I have been driving a Lexus LS. It's boring, but comfortable and reliable. My wife finally agreed to getting rid of the A8, and we replaced it with a Porsche Panamera S e-Hybrid. She loves it. I am thinking of an Allroad, because I love wagons. My question is...is the Allroad reliable (I am not asking if it is as reliable as a Lexus)? I have heard that suspension issues are common and expensive. I don't like to buy new cars. The Panamera was a year old with 10,000 on it. I would n=buy up to three years old. Any advice is appreciated.

p.s. I loved the A8...but I don't like the new ones

roger_1

I own a 2014 Allroad. By 2014, this model was very well sorted. it has been supremely reliable. My experience mirrors what is reflected in the various reliability analyses, available on the 'net.

I'd not recommend you go back any further than 2014, though, as there were still some steering and oil consumption issues in previous years.

2014 Allroad P+, Glacier White/Titanium, Full paint, Sport package, Nav, Audi Advanced Key, B&O, Rear Camera, Side Assist.

planekiller1

Love my '12 A4 Avant no issues thus far (just knocked on all the wood surrounding me), but this is a car that has never seen snow yet alone salt. I'd say the root of all evil a car has is in salt. I will never buy a car from the North again. The looks of the allured vs the Avant are displeasing I really don't like the 2 tone arches, but besides that it is a great car. I recommend looking into scheduled maintenance as at 65K the front end of mine has to be pulled to do the timing belt an expensive service, but I'll be doing it myself thus saving 2K in labor. I spend about a month compiling all the read ups I looked at for the '12 Avant and make a spread sheet and work doc that had the milage of each service and the estimated cost of each I also around the 100K mark added additional costs that where likely such as suspension work and possible engine work that I'd need to do this prepared me so that I wouldn't get stung by not having the time to prepare for a service or missing something and costing me down the road. The 2.0T is a very reliable engine when taken care of. I drive quite spirited so also factored the addition of transmission coolers and more drains and refills than one would "recommend" basically every year from this point forward I'll be draining and refilling the trans this alone is $450 just because I did this on an 03 suburban and it now has 160K with no trans issues. So something you can hopefully consider from this and I hope it brings some insight to what you should look for down the road.
Kurt

Naughtie

I've owned my '13 since 30,000 miles, now approaching 75,000 miles and shy of 3 years of ownership.

For the most part, it's a reliable car. It's covered under a CPO warranty, and I've been doing my own oil changes after the Audi Care ran out at 45,000.

I've had a notchy center console MMI volume **** that resulted in a module swap-out. That was shortly after purchase. I believe I've had two recalls that were software updates, and there is apparently another one just announced having to do with a heating element. I also have an open wired in my tailgate hinge arms causing one inner brake light not to illuminate. Lastly, I get constant "low wiper fluid" messages, but that was probably due to a previous owner using Rain-X; there's a cleaning solution posted on the forums that I haven't bothered with.

By far my biggest complaint is my front outer CV boots. The first one split open at about 57,000 miles, and the other side went shortly thereafter. The replaced boots went bad (not sure if one tore, but the clamp on the other went loose). Now they're both throwing grease again. I'm taking it in next week for warranty work. These aren't inexpensive to work on, and per the CPO language, they shouldn't even be covered (I don't know why my dealership is working on them, but now it's their problem). It's pretty clear to me this is a service department installation problem, not a design problem. Mine is an around-town car, and doesn't visit the snow, dirt roads, extreme wet, hot, nor cold environments. I'm pretty sure they're just goofing up the installation.

byablun

They are very bad cars. I had one and mostly everything had to be replaced, plus the air ride for those cars suck since audi didn't know what they were doing when they installed them. If you do find one that works it won't last long.

Naughtie

Given that the OP limited his search to vehicles no more that 3 years old, it's safe to eliminate your concerns that he purchased a 2000-era C5 Allroad.

The current B8 and B9 don't have the air suspension and do well with reliability ratings.

Unodeo

I'm new to the forum and concur with "roger 1." I also own a 2014 Allroad and have experienced ZERO issues. In my humble opinion you will be good with the Allroad purchase year 2014 and above.

Kris Hansen

no one was talking about the old allroads...

Kris Hansen

The A4 based allroad is a very good car, pretty basic really. The only thing that makes it an allroad is the taller ride height and body stuff. It's coil springs, nothing fancy. No different in terms of potential problems than any other Audi A4.

ruben0981

...its a 2014 Premium model that had 35k miles on it. I bought the extended warranty to cover me up to 90k in order to have peace of mind, and since I don't trust myself to save money for repairs. As of right now, I have 52k miles on it and have had zero issues with it. Had I made the purchase again, I would have bought a model with heated seats as I have back problems and after a few hrs, the non-heated seats do a number on my back. I have driven from Miami to Delaware and back in my 2008 Mazda 3 that had heated seats and felt fine afterwards, VS my new to me allroad driving from Miami-Orlando x2 within a weekend which killed my back. I'm gonna have to do a few more looong drives, but so far, that's my only gripe with it.
Good luck with your future allroad