subterFUSE

Honestly, with the direction that the car industry has been heading (cars becoming more and more complex), it seems to make sense to lease a car until it needs the first oil change and then turn it in and lease a new one.

pcc125

In the not too distant past, a lot of luxury car makers used to have subvented leases where it made a lot of sense to lease versus buying, especially if you were leasing in your company name and can write off all the payments. Covid changed all that, and with the rise of interest rates, leasing in most cases is not that attractive versus buying, especially if you plan on keeping your car more than four years. Another constraint with the leases is the mileage limits that most luxury car makers have -7500 miles per year or 10000 miles- If you drive more than that, you will need to consider the additional payments you would incur. A lot of variables here with different pro and cons, and I always evaluate lease offers versus buying outright.

Torque450

No, 12-15 years - not sure where 13-25 came from ! Certainly true for parts distributed worldwide from Kassel up until 3 years ago, when I last worked for the group.

aklim69

I had my contacts out and I have fat fingers. That's where.

GR8-LIFE

Holy freaking crap. I know this stuff doesn't always happen and people say that - until it happens to them. This was a new car I. But bought my 2013 A8 brand new 11 years ago and I didn't have any issues but the electronics back then is totally different than they are now..i'm actually thinking of buying a pre-owned 2019 and I can imagine if something like this happened to me then as a second owner I would be Sol.. maybe I'll just wait

​​​​​​This was a lemon from the start. In Florida I would have filed with the better Business bureau and when they get involved they call a special department I think they called the beeline and then they just buy back the car

The thing is this owner is correct. they don't know how to fix the electronic issues. But that does that surprise anybody? This is new technology so things are going to go south pretty quick when things break
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It actually makes me want to go back to Lexus even though their cars are rather lame and they just don't drive as well as Audi .

Audi has had a whole crap load of problems with key executives leaving. One went to Hyundai and he brought over bang olufsen and all the GS 90s have bangalowson

Audi fell behind with EV's. Not that I really care about EVS but that's not the point

But I knew Audi was going south when they eliminated their flagship division years ago.

And then they had major impeller issues with their faulty water pumps that resulted in a settlement agreement from years 2014 all the way through 2020.




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GR8-LIFE

Somebody's got to be getting paid well because the labor rates today are ridiculous on these cars. I'm junking my old 2013 a8 because I can't afford $220 an hour to fix a car where the freaking thermostat is under a supercharger so they have to pull the whole goddamn supercharger out to replace a thermostat that maybe cost 20 bucks and they do all this at $220 an hour. This is why aftermarket warranties with companies like Fidelity are now charging like $10k at least
For an extended warranty and many companies are capping out at $160-$180 per hour. And the owner ends up out of pocket. Even The good warranty companies know the labor rate is ridiculous and they know how ridiculously engineered these cars are and how complicated it is to fix them

aklim69

I don't follow. Regardless of whether something bad happens to me or not, the odds are still the same. Just my bad or good luck stumbling into it regardless of whether it is winning a lottery or getting killed by a drunk.

It might not be as complicated compared to what we have today but it might be relatively as complicated for the tech back then as today's tech is to the tech working on it today. If you are that worried, buy a newer one with a warranty and get an extended warranty.

What is Audi's response or did I miss it somewhere? Regardless, as I said, we still need to see the odds of it happening and not "It is 100% if it happens to me". Life is about making a bunch of educated guesses. At the end of the day, as long as we win on the whole, I guess I am going to have to accept some losses. If they have a lot of such problems, maybe time to let Audi go and move to something else. If the odds are 1 in a million, I guess I can roll the dice.

I have heard that all the way from when fuel injection came into place. It was a complicated thing then because few know about it. IMO, the current system is also complicated to the current generation of mechanics.

But are you sure there are no horror stories from Lexus owners ever? I wouldn't bet on it. My best bet is to say "Play on until the odds get too stacked against you for your comfort and move to something that might have better odds.".

aklim69

Way I see it is there is no free lunch. In a car, you can't have the big old boats we used to have back in the 70s. You want safety, you want power and you want it to meet emissions. At the same time, you want things to be easily accessible. I'm sure there are other concerns but I can't think of it this time of night. If I can make the thermostat and other things accessible to you, what are you willing to give up?

I believe they cap the labor because they are large enough to negotiate a better rate while you are a 1 car owner and can't bring enough business to demand a lower labor rate. I channel them 20 customers a week and I am willing to pay $160 an hour if the shop agrees. You, OTOH, can't negotiate since you are only bringing 1 customer a year, 3 at the outside. I don't know if the insurance companies care about the rate in the way you do and honestly call it rediculous. I would think that to them, it is just the cost of doing business. They just adjust the policies to reflect it. Of course, they will tell you that it is because of the "ridiculous" labor and parts rates that they are forced to charge you what they charge you for insurance. Kinda like every salesman I meet professionally tells me that they are barely making ends meet and they are charging barely the minimum they need to do in order to stay in business. IOW, NOT MY FAULT.

TXnative

I have a 2022 Audi S8 (purchased new) that I have owned for 23 months and it is in the shop again today (80+ days and counting) and Audi of America has denied a buyback. I purchased Audi's "flagship sedan" and their customer service is awful. The dont care. I am now at my 3rd dealership for service and they can't fix the electronic gremlins... Previous owner of 5 BMW's, 5 Mercedes-Benzes, and 4 Range Rovers; I have never been treated worse than by Steve Z noted in the above LinkedIn story. This is the most expensive car I have purchased ($157k) and Audi could care less. They don't speak luxury nor know how to create customers for life. My ownership has been pure AGONY and advise any luxury buyer to understand not all luxury brands are created equal. I engaged an attorney 4/2024...To be continued... #audis8 #audia8 #audiag #audiofamerica #audifans #s8

TXnative

Sadly, my story almost mirrors the above story. I have a 2022 Audi S8 (purchased new) that I have owned for 23 months and it is in the shop again today (80+ days and counting) and Audi of America has denied a buyback by the very Steve Z in the above LinkedIn horror. I purchased Audi's "flagship sedan" and their customer service is awful. They simply don't care. I am now at my 3rd dealership for service (they are great folks but...) and they can't fix the electronic gremlins... Former owner of 5 BMW's, 5 Mercedes-Benzes, and 4 Range Rovers; I have never been treated worse. This is the most expensive car I have purchased ($157k) and Audi could care less. They don't speak luxury nor know how to create customers for life. My ownership has been pure AGONY (issues showed up at 1000 miles)and advise any luxury buyer to understand not all luxury brands are created equal. I engaged an attorney 4/2024...To be continued... #audis8 #audia8 #audiag #audiofamerica #audifans #s8 #steveZ @Audi @Audiusa @VW Audi Customer