amoe1010

Greetings. I own a 2016 S5 that i purchased new.
So far have had few problems with car, enjoy car very much. Have 45,000 miles on odometer, will be out of warranty soon.
Anybody know of mechanical problems i should be anticipating ?
Extended warranty is available but expensive, is it worth the money ?
Mike.

paradyne

Only you can decide if the extended warranty is worth it to you. I would suggest however, checking (or getting check by a professional) every thing you can and getting any issues at all dealt with before it does run out. With previous Audi's I've only had a couple of significant issues and Audi helped out with the costs even though the cars were out of warranty and wasn't even the original purchaser. Unless my next few years of ownership (S5 is the first car I ever bought new) suggest otherwise I doubt I would risk losing the money paying for a warranty that won't get used.

plat27265

I am in the same situation as you. I bought my '16 S5 new and I have been on the fence about purchasing an extended warranty for it. I intend to keep my S5 for several years after the warranty has expired so my ownership is for the long-haul. I have been constantly on the watch for things that could go wrong with our cars. So far, I have not encountered anything in several Audi forums that would indicate that we'll end up burning our pockets on repair work after the warranty period. Forums are a good source for info like this because everyone loves to complain. So, if there is a problem with our cars, it will be discussed about in Audi forums. If you don't hear anything about any issue, it will most likely mean nothing is wrong and all is well. Some people do sign up in forums just to let other members know that they're happy with their car. But, the amount of members who sign in to bitch about their car's problems still out-number the ones who want to report that all is well.

So far, B8.5 S4 and S5 cars have been very reliable. There are sporadic reports of sport differential failure (if your car is equipped with the sport diff) and a single report about the crankshaft or camshaft (can't remember which one) going bad and causing major damage to the engine. But, so far, no other reports that would tell me that I will be facing a future of repair bills. I do read about thermostat failures. Again, not widespread but it does happen. However, it will cost less to replace a thermostat vs paying for the cost of extended warranty.

I have gone through the Extended Warranty brochure and each part or system that the Platinum coverage will cover. There is nothing in there that is a known failure issue for our cars. I have decided to start a repair fund to cover for any future repairs and maintenance expenses. Let's just say I decided to warranty the car myself and take some of the risk instead of paying an insurance company $3,500 or somewhere around that cost that I will never get back if it goes unused.

Whether you decide to buy extended insurance or not depends on how much risk you are willing to take given the very good track record for reliability of our cars. Keep in mind that my research into the reliability of our cars are based on several conditions:
1. Cars that have no mods in them
2. Cars that have been diligently maintained
3. Cars that are regular daily drivers and not taken to the track.
4. Cars with known ownership histories. Buying used cars adds more risk because one does not know how the former owner or owners took care of it or how they drove it.

ArvX147

I didn't come up with this and I may be paraphrasing, but:

A car that has spent little time in the shop for issues outside of wear items during your term of ownership will continue to have very few issues, a car that has had many issues will continue to have many issues.

Act accordingly.

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