K-man

Hi all.
I have a 1997/116K mile A4 that has had $$ problems in the past but still love driving the vehicle. Am looking the new 2011/2012 Audi's and am concerned with the reduced factory warranty coverage. When I bought my car in 1997 there was 50K/3 year worry-free warranty.The newer Audis come with a 5K/12 months maintenance free warranty..Any concerns with the reduced coverage ?
I checked both VW and BMW and they still provide the 50K/ 3 year coverage but not Audis. As a 14 year owner of an A4, I know owning an Audi does put a strain on the wallet even with the prior coverage. I do not think that the reliability of the Audis has improved so much that to justify the new reduced coverage. Has anyone had large repair bills once after the 1 year period..? I had to replace my control arms not once but several times..

Thanks in advance for your replies

K-man

Turbo Freak

I do not know where you are from, but in Canada the warranty is now 4 years, you now have to pay for scheduled maintenance when it used to be included in the 3 year warranty in 1997...

K-man

Location is Chicago IL. Yes it seems that the scheduled maintenance is no longer included as the default unlike the BMW 'Ultimate Service' --> http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Conte...bJT1TZrWU6tg== Quite dissapointing given that the price range for these cars have crept up to the 40K - 50K range for the 4 CYL and 6 CYL engines

K-man

UmIsThisThingOn

US Warranty is 4yr/50K miles and you can buy Audi Care to cover all maintenance until the 45K service for $800-ish. You can negotiate to get it included or a reduced price, then roll it into the purchase price.

Edit: I just re-read your OP. You're talking about the initial oil change @ 5K/12 Months. It's not a warranty/coverage... just your first oil change & tire rotation.

JD15

You seem to be confusing the warranty, which is 4 years/50k miles, with free scheduled maintenance. If you want to pre-pay for maintenance during the warranty, you can pay around $700 for Audicare when you purchase your car.

MDennison27

If you know you are going to service your car at the dealership, then AudiCare is a great value. For $800 you get the 15k, 25k, 35k, and 45k services (the 5k is included with the car). Not sure on the actual number, but I believe this saves you about ~35% on the cost of purchasing those services separately.

gunsmoker

It doesn't save you anything, you just end up paying for things that don't need to be done and checks that mechanics sometimes don't even bother to perform. That's my take on it.

In general, think twice before you trust a car dealership to perform things they say you need to do. Every time I sent my wife to the Lexus dealership she goes through a sticker shock - "must" change a brake caliper - why? - I lubricated the guide pin and it worked like new; must align the wheels once a year - why? - there are no signs on tread where in their report; have to change the rear differential fluid at 60k miles - why? - the manufacturer's maintenance schedule doesn't call for that - I have never changed the oil in the manual transmissions or differentials on any of my cars, ever - that's not to be confused with auto-transmission fluids and engine oil. The dealership said that would reduce the wear, yeah - by how much and since when is the dealership doing engineering work to know and why are they flagging this as a must-do at 60k miles instead of 30k or 5k for that matter?

I don't believe anything the service department says until I do my own investigation - this business is as shady as it can get.

K-man

Thank you for the replies so far. I believe you nailed the point. Back in 1997 and till sometime in the late 2000 the warranty and scheduled maintenance was one and the same thing with the free scheduled maintenance up to 50K just like the BMW Ultimate Protection program. It looks like recently there is a decoupling of the scheduled maintenace and warranty with the former limited to the first 12 months....:-(

The AudiCare program while interesting is just a hedge against future cost of scheduled maintenance and nothing more. storage.audiusa.com/AudiCare.pdf. It is not like HondaCare or AucraCare which has far more extensive coverage for parts -->http://www.curryhondacare.com/ defective parts. Wonder if there is a decent 3rd party warranty that covers psrts..?

Thanks
K-Man

RaptorsRule

I'm now driving my fourth Audi. 2 A4s and
2 A6s. My first 2005 A4 included carefree maintenance. My dealer gave me carefree maintenance as part of the deal on my second and third Audi. My fourth Audi, a 2012 A6 Audicare was negoiated to a few hundred dollars. I saved a few hundred dollars by paying for AudiCare in advance. BTW, my wife got her 2012 A4 last week. AudiCare was negoiated into the deal for $250. That's a savings of several hundred dollars over the next four years scheduled maintenance.

I've driven my car, '12 A6 now for 5 weeks. Technically it's the most advanced VW product I've owed since my first, a 1991 Golf. I've had three of those and a Skoda Octavia from 2001 also.

I feel Audi has truly reduced the high quality build I found on earlier models, 2005 and 2007 A4s and 2008 A6. More plastics to reduce weight, cheaper plastics compared to 2007 A4 and 2008 A6. The ride is no longer a European experience but more like an American luxury car just slightly less than the floating sensation on some US vehicles. Yet the engine a 3.0T is outstanding as well as the handling and brakes are still super Audi high quality. So basically they took from somewhere and added somewhere else.

I miss the digital a/c tempature setting function from the 2008
A6. The 2012 has a cheap dial you turn to the temp setting.

The trip computer, odometer, tachometer and all its digital info is outstanding on the 2012 A6 but the materials used to construct it is not as high quality as the 2008 A6. This is also true on the new A4 compared to just a couple of years older A4.

The center arm rests were better on the older models. The fuel filler door was better constructed on the older models. It's identical to VW CC introduced in 2008 model year.

Some A4s no longer have trunk grocery cargo hooks that were standard on older models. The forged steel door hinges were better on older models. The doors were heavier on older models giving a better sense of safety and security. The new model's doors are much lighter.

Yet again the 2012 A4 handles wonderfully and the brakes are still superb.

The 4 year, 50K warranty is imo very acceptable. just negoiate AudiCare in your deal before signing. Thanks for reading

MDennison27

^Some good/interesting thoughts there. I disagree with some of your thoughts on the quality of the interior of the last models to the newer builds of the A4/6, with a caveat. I had a 2006 A4 and now have a 2012 A4. I much prefer everything about the '12 vs. the '06. Then again, and this may apply to your case, the '06 was just a base-model (i.e., Premium) and my '12 is top-of-the-line (Prestige). The inlays, dials, controls, etc. are much nicer and sturdier on the new A4. I like the temperature dial as opposed to the + and - click-button from the older model. I don't think the dial is cheap at all, and it's easier to make larger changes to the temperature settings. I guess just keep in mind you could be comparing apples and oranges with the difference between the premium, premium +, and prestige variants.