UK: Received our first MOT warning on our 2018 A5, now what
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UK: Received our first MOT warning on our 2018 A5, now what
The car is my wife's daily driver..She uses it for work and relies on it to provide critical healthcare for the community. So even when we were buying this car, she had only 1 requirement..It needed to be super reliable, similar to the BMW E60 it was replacing.
And 8 years on, it has. It's a 1.4 TSFI engine with 57,000 miles on it.
We only got the A5 instead of the A3 because of the boot requirements.
Annual MOT checks have been no problem ever, until last week.
The car has come back with the first minor observations.
So if you were me, would you repair these and keep going. Or now consider moving on.
She is not interested in the latest and greatest. Just wants something that starts each morning and is comfortable enough to spend the day in.
P.S. We only moved on from the BMW because of the Diesel scrappage scheme that Audi were running at the time. And the ULEZ would have become an issue for her.
And 8 years on, it has. It's a 1.4 TSFI engine with 57,000 miles on it.
We only got the A5 instead of the A3 because of the boot requirements.
Annual MOT checks have been no problem ever, until last week.
The car has come back with the first minor observations.
- Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Nearside Front Upper (rear bush starting to deteriorate) [5.3.4 (a) (i)]
- Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Offside Front Upper (rear bush starting to detriorate) [5.3.4 (a) (i)]
So if you were me, would you repair these and keep going. Or now consider moving on.
She is not interested in the latest and greatest. Just wants something that starts each morning and is comfortable enough to spend the day in.
P.S. We only moved on from the BMW because of the Diesel scrappage scheme that Audi were running at the time. And the ULEZ would have become an issue for her.
Last edited by bruce_miranda; Jun 18, 2026 at 03:18 AM.
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From: Georgia
The bushings on the front axle upper arms are a common wear item on the Audi 5-link front suspension. Though mine were fine still at 160k when I replaced them. The ball joints were very loose, but no excessive axial motion.
Lift the car, look at them, do they appear torn? If so, can either replace just the bushing (less part cost, more labor cost) or just replace the arm (more part cost, less labor cost); arm comes off in either case.
It's certainly not something worth dumping the car over. I wouldn't even bother with it until alignment could not be done to spec or I noticed tracking/steering concerns. Or if it was obviously torn and no longer supporting any load.
Lift the car, look at them, do they appear torn? If so, can either replace just the bushing (less part cost, more labor cost) or just replace the arm (more part cost, less labor cost); arm comes off in either case.
It's certainly not something worth dumping the car over. I wouldn't even bother with it until alignment could not be done to spec or I noticed tracking/steering concerns. Or if it was obviously torn and no longer supporting any load.
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The trouble I have now is that this observation is on the car's MOT record. So my guess is that anyone will probably want to negotiate that into the price even if it does not impact the car today. It doesn't.
But is this the start of the age related expenses? And if so is now the time to sell while it still runs fabulously.
But is this the start of the age related expenses? And if so is now the time to sell while it still runs fabulously.
Last edited by bruce_miranda; Jun 18, 2026 at 07:45 AM.
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From: Georgia
I've got 293k miles on mine. I'm the wrong guy for promoting the "trade any repair for a new car payment" argument. I also do nearly triple the mileage you do. And I don't know since it appears to be used for work purpose, how depreciation might relate to any tax impact, or how such may curtail the impact of a replacement purchase. That's all paperwork stuff, not car stuff.
On the car side, you do under 7k miles per year. You could go another 6 years and still not make it to 100k miles. Do you want to have a 15 year / 100k miles old car eventually? Or eventually not? Keeping it working is likely easy enough, unless there's some particular known on the horizon about the 1.4T engine or the DL382 transmission (assuming it's auto).
On the car side, you do under 7k miles per year. You could go another 6 years and still not make it to 100k miles. Do you want to have a 15 year / 100k miles old car eventually? Or eventually not? Keeping it working is likely easy enough, unless there's some particular known on the horizon about the 1.4T engine or the DL382 transmission (assuming it's auto).
Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2018
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I've got 293k miles on mine. I'm the wrong guy for promoting the "trade any repair for a new car payment" argument. I also do nearly triple the mileage you do. And I don't know since it appears to be used for work purpose, how depreciation might relate to any tax impact, or how such may curtail the impact of a replacement purchase. That's all paperwork stuff, not car stuff.
On the car side, you do under 7k miles per year. You could go another 6 years and still not make it to 100k miles. Do you want to have a 15 year / 100k miles old car eventually? Or eventually not? Keeping it working is likely easy enough, unless there's some particular known on the horizon about the 1.4T engine or the DL382 transmission (assuming it's auto).
On the car side, you do under 7k miles per year. You could go another 6 years and still not make it to 100k miles. Do you want to have a 15 year / 100k miles old car eventually? Or eventually not? Keeping it working is likely easy enough, unless there's some particular known on the horizon about the 1.4T engine or the DL382 transmission (assuming it's auto).
This is our own car, bought outright. Not a business purchase so no tax implications.
The decision is whether we sell a reliable car with a minor observation now, so that it maintains some of it's value. Or repair and extract that value ourselves and keep going, given nothing else is actually wrong with it and it continues to serve the purpose, like it did 8 years ago.
Sounds like the people have spoken
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Club AutoUnion
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From: South Jersey
@bruce_miranda The saying I usually employ to this type of situation: “You pay your money and take your chances.”
Life is unpredictable and you have to live with that fact.
Good luck either way.
— John
Life is unpredictable and you have to live with that fact.
Good luck either way.
— John
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If I were in the OP's situation, I'd keep it, though I tend to keep my cars for a long time, anyway. The only thing that I would add is to plan for future expenses. If you've been keeping up with maintenance on the car, you know that that's not cheap. And the various parts (both hardware and "soft" parts like gaskets) have a limited expected lifetime. They won't necessary make the car unreliable -- in the sense that you're stranded on the side of the road -- but they will cost something. If you're still on the original battery, it will probably need to be replaced before it's 10 years old. My 2016 A5 (previous generation, B8.5) 2.0 TFSI (different engine than yours) had a leaking thermostat housing and water pump, and an oil leak from the front timing chain cover gasket, just about the time when the car was 10 years old. These came up at my annual service, so it wasn't really a reliability issue for me, but it was a significant addition to my bill. (Sadly, a few months later, the car got rear-ended and my insurance ended up totaling it, but that's another story.)
Anyway, good luck with your decision.
Anyway, good luck with your decision.