[bcheng4jc]

highly interested in getting a new A5 3.2. however, have never owned an audi before. i've heard stories of owners never having problems with their audi and love them. but a fair number of stories from owners having nothing but non-stop problems and hating their audi. my question to you guys is....how many miles do you have on it and how many times have you had to bring your car into the dealer for repairs. if so, what kinda repairs? thanks for the feedback....please help me make my decision. hoping to hear nothing but good reliability and built quality!

 

[grantshel]

IMO build quality and reliability are second to none. My last 3 cars have been Audis and have never had to take one back for repairs yet!

 

[Highrisedrifter]

A friend of mine had an A4 round about 96/97ish and had nothing but trouble with it. It cost him more in repairs than it cost to buy and it was in the garage more than he had it.

Still, I think like most things, the build quality has improved tremendously over the last decade and he was just one of the unlucky few.

I've heard nothing but good things from most Audi owners in recent years. Sure you will always get a few lemons but overall the build quality and reliability is excellent.

 

[doubledoom]

Audi have a superb reputation for reliability. They did have issues with certain models about 20 years ago (like so many others) but nothing for as long as I can remember.

This mention of unreliability always seems to come from American posters and suggests that its either a localised smear campaign or just an old wives tale which is harder for them to overcome due to smaller numbers of car sales in the US.

 

[TXcarguy]

"Common problems emerging" thread: http://www.a5oc.com/forums/showthread.php/common-problems-emerging-1984/index.html?t=1984

 

[andy-integrale]

I have had 5 or six over the years starting in 1992. Probably 10 years with an Audi of some sort as my daily driver. Never had one let me down yet or need anything other than standard servicing.

 

[wsherring]

Long-term reliability

I have had 5 or six over the years starting in 1992. Probably 10 years with an Audi of some sort as my daily driver. Never had one let me down yet or need anything other than standard servicing.

Did you have 5 or 6 because you kept getting new cars? When I think of reliability, I wonder what it'll be like in 10 years. I've had my current car since '92 and it still runs well with 170,000 miles.

 

[andy-integrale]

Did you have 5 or 6 because you kept getting new cars? When I think of reliability, I wonder what it'll be like in 10 years. I've had my current car since '92 and it still runs well with 170,000 miles.

Yes, all run as company cars and common company lease rentals are 3 years. TBH they were all run within the warranty period anyway so breakdowns would have been inconvenient rather than costly. Never had on that did more than 60K.

 

[SupraBlur]

highly interested in getting a new A5 3.2. however, have never owned an audi before. i've heard stories of owners never having problems with their audi and love them. but a fair number of stories from owners having nothing but non-stop problems and hating their audi. my question to you guys is....how many miles do you have on it and how many times have you had to bring your car into the dealer for repairs. if so, what kinda repairs? thanks for the feedback....please help me make my decision. hoping to hear nothing but good reliability and built quality!

Have you had other German cars in the past? This will be my first Audi, but I've noticed that compared to their Japanese counterparts, German cars don't like it when you are lazy with maintenance, and prefer that you abide strictly to the schedule. Every German 'horror story' I've heard from friends were from people who tended to be aloof when it comes to maintenance.

I'm not really afraid of the motor, as it is a fairly straightforward design (no sequential/variable vane forced induction like the BMW 335i) and has variants in Audi cars for a few years now. The uncharted territory for me is the quattro AWD system, but torsen differentials by nature are very reliable. I just expect additional clutch wear.

-Ray

 

[bcheng4jc]

nice to hear so many positive feedback from audi owners. hoping i can be an audi owner as well in the near future. i'll stick around this forum if you guys dont mind. currenty an infiniti owner...

sorry....never had a chance to wash the car. so it's kinda dirty....

 

[JunkStory]

from reading the forums, the most common problems seem to be:

1) vibration at certain speeds

2) stalling (models with automatic transmission)

3) key fobs not working

4) other electronic-related issues like windows and speakers

 

[JSC]

I've had 4 Audis in the last 5 years, and no real problems with any of them. My A5 had an LED fail that had to be replaced, but that's so minor that I'm not bothered by it. I've not kept any of them for 10 years, obviously, but for the time I've had them they've been trouble-free.

 

[Shane]

You will find that no matter what brand of car it is, they all have bad stories that circulate about them. Most of these can be attributed to brand bias/loyal people who like to point out one case of failure for a particular brand of automobile and proceed to generalize the whole line of cars based on that one incident.

The reality is, with today's internet, it is much easier for people to quickly pass on whatever they want, and the rumor mill will spread like fire. Also, bad news travels much quicker and further than good news.

Take care of your car, follow the maintenance schedule, and your car should last a long time. Abuse it and it won't last long. That has been my experience.

 

[TXcarguy]

You will find that no matter what brand of car it is, they all have bad stories that circulate about them. Most of these can be attributed to brand bias/loyal people who like to point out one case of failure for a particular brand of automobile and proceed to generalize the whole line of cars based on that one incident.

The reality is, with today's internet, it is much easier for people to quickly pass on whatever they want, and the rumor mill will spread like fire. Also, bad news travels much quicker and further than good news.

I agree 100%.

 

[Highrisedrifter]

The JD Power survey puts Audi high on the list. Now that's based on a survey of actual car owners themselves, rather than the industry.

Still, I take everything with a pinch of salt and would prefer to do as much research as possible on a given subject before taking a course of action. Hence I spent about a month lurking on these forums and other car forums before making a decision on what car to buy.

 

[Shane]

The JD Power survey puts Audi high on the list. Now that's based on a survey of actual car owners themselves, rather than the industry.

Still, I take everything with a pinch of salt and would prefer to do as much research as possible on a given subject before taking a course of action. Hence I spent about a month lurking on these forums and other car forums before making a decision on what car to buy.

It is always a great idea to research any major purchase. Something to consider is Audi's warranty. If anything does go wrong you will be well taken care of, which gives me peace of mind.

 

[QuestionMark]

Consumer Reports (CR) magazine surveys owners of cars and analyzes the data to assign reliability ratings. The A5 is too new (and perhaps too rare) to collect sufficient data to rate its reliability yet, but the A4 has a predicted reliability rating of Average. The A4's reliability has been improving over the years, but has never been above average in comparison to other cars (especially Japanese). The V6 model has been slightly more reliable than the 4-cylinder. Also, the last major redesign in 2002 was no less reliable than the preceding years, which is a good sign for the A5 and new A4. Trouble spots for the A4 have been engine (minor problems), fuel system, power equipment, and audio system.

Just for comparison, here are CR's reliability ratings for some of the competitors to the A5:

BMW 3-series coupe - Much better than Average (note that turbo and AWD models in 3-series are only Average)

Infinity G37 - Much better than Average

Porsche Boxter - Better than Average

Mercedes-Benz SLK - Much worse than Average (as are virtually all Mercedes models)

Lexus IS 350 - Much better than Average

To me, reliability is a very important factor in the purchase of a new car, as I usually keep a car for 7-10 years. I am leaning heavily toward buying an Audi A5, even though it would be the first time I've bought a car with anything less than "Better than Average" reliability. I just can't get very excited about the alternatives to the A5. While I'm concerned about reliability, I'm even more concerned about the poor sales and service quality provided by our local Audi dealers in Northern Virginia as reported by Audi owners on www.dealerrater.com. If I buy the Audi, it will be from Tischer Audi in Maryland, but going back there won't be practical for regular service or repairs under warrantee.

 

[Ianhp1]

...Had my first Audi (A4 1.8 SE) as a company car in about 1996, I put 60k miles on it in 18 months, thrashed it every mile, delighted in the local 'jumps' and never once lifted the bonnet. It was serviced at the main dealer as required... it never even picked up a rattle in the cabin.

Since then I've had 3 other audis and I had the window mechanism replaced in the A6 as it was a little slow raising. I put 104k miles on the last A6 (serviced every 20k miles) and apart from wearing out the clutch and discs (as one would expect) it cost me nothing else other than petrol to run. That's it!

They've been brilliant. Every one. Including this S5.