atlanta A6

Personally I'd stay away from electric for a couple more years. We will see some big developments in battery technology that will enhance range quite a bit making current EV's decline in value significantly.
Test drive an MDX type S. Acura redesigned it and you may be able to get a good deal on the current model. Genesis while hated by many might be worth a look. GV80 seems like a nice car and roomy.
To answer your original question, get rid of your current car. It's a money pit and most likely you are just getting started on putting money into it. I likewise really love my 21 SQ5-first car I really see keeping more than a few years and when my lease is up in 2 months I'm buying it.

pesto126

I too have an Sq5 2018 with about 80K.. I have had nearly zero issues with it over the past 4 years but am also thinking of getting rid of it and moving on... I look forward to hearing your final decision.

B9_SQ5

I am struggling because I don't make car decisions quickly. While it's no where in the class of the Audi, I found a solid deal on a 2020 RDX Advanced. Solid enough that I could probably drive it for a year two to figure out what I really want and not get hurt too badly when it's time to sell. I am still looking at other options, but it is top choice for now.

njspeedfreak

I sort of go through this same math exercise about every 5 years when trying to decide if I keep my existing car a little longer of finally bite the bullet and trade it in for something new again. I try to take the long view though and not focus on just the first year which is where keeping the old car has the biggest advantage financially. That's when the new car is going to depreciate the most and the used car probably needs the least amount of maintenance to keep going.

My way of looking at it - I know that eventually I will need to replace my current car and that usually means 3 more years max with it. So among other things, I look at how much less trade value I will get out of it during that time, and add in the possibility of some very expensive out of warranty repairs. Then I compare that to the depreciation of the potential new car over the same time period. I feel that's a fairer comparison, and one that brings the upgrade costs way down.

Of course you are almost never going to end up with a result telling you upgrading to a new car is cheaper than keeping the old one, but there has to be some utility value (economic term) in the joy of driving a newer car. I know I always look forward to the new tech and generally better performance of each successive car I buy. That value though is entirely subjective, so every individual will look at it differently.

TLDR; I usually find that right around the 5 or 6 year time frame it just makes sense to think about trading into something new. Assuming that is that there is something out there that I'm actually interested in owning.

njspeedfreak

I'm in a 2021 SQ5 right now that I bought used last summer when my 2018 S5SB bit the dust. I really like the car a lot other than a few minor complaints about the interior storage layout. But I always viewed it as a temporary solution, I generally buy new and hold for a while, but felt like the B9 platform was getting long in the tooth and after 6 years in one didn't really want to fully commit to at least 5 more. I knew that BMW was coming out with their next gen X3 this year and that the B10 from Audi was right behind that.

Well after finally seeing what BMW has revealed, I can say that I am genuinely underwhelmed, even disappointed. Maybe it looks better in person, but it's completely uninspired looking on video. Now I'm nervous as the what Audi is going to give us. I'm already starting to wonder if I should consider buying a light used X5 as an alternative.

A4Audi4Fun

Absolutely realise every situation is different but I will state for the Avant I bought new in 2008, that through years 6-16 of ownership maintenance has not cost me anywhere near the depreciation that would have occurred in buying two new Audi's over the equivalent of years 6-16. My Avant is used as a daily driver and the 6MT is why I keep ownership.

njspeedfreak

It's always a crap shoot. I've owned 6 Audi's over the last 30 years not including my current one. The first one had some issues with the upper control arms outside of warranty that wasn't that expensive of a problem. The next 4 never had any issues and all I did was add gas, oil, tires and brakes. I think 3 of those I put on at least 120K miles before trading them in. It was the last one where my luck finally ran out on me. While I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to get more than 85k miles out of that one, I balance that out with all the trouble free years leading up to that and basically call it a wash.

Wires

If I was a betting man, I'd say those pre-diesel gate were made a lot better than those post.

Joesomoslo

I would run as quick as possible. Audi quality has fallen off the cliff. My car has 60k miles (S5 so same engine) and so far had to replace engine due to rocker arms PCV failure and now on brand new engine with only 2k miles already have coolant leak. It’s still in shop after a week. As soon as I get it back getting rid of it and buying an Acura or Lexus. Last German car I ever buy.

packardv8

Well, maybe, but maybe not. Back in 2017, we bought our EV and folk were of that same opinion, word-for-word; one was stupid to buy, because in three years EV tech will have taken a quantum leap and one would wish he could have something else. We've enjoyed seven years of EV greatness and there's still nothing better for the same money. Tesla is the only one which has gotten less expensive, but not yet that much better. All the current EV production is at the higher end of the spectrum; one has to really want an EV to pay those prices.

jack vines