Muray

As I have a S4 on order, I've been getting to know Audi more and more lately. I've never really considered owning one until I test drove one. But more and more people have been telling me how unreliable Audi's are. Today I went to a mechanic for a photo shoot for my new insurance (good news-just saved a bunch of money by switching to Geico) and he told me he'd never keep on Audi beyond warranty period. And seems that a lot of new 2010 A4's he sees are buring through oil like crazy and they shouldn't be doing that. So I am a little worried. It would suck to sell a S4 after the warranty expires because we take a huge hit on depreciation in 4 years. Not to mention huge repair bills if things go wrong. What are your opinions on Audi reliability and keeping it for a long time? As far as I can tell I shouldn't be judging S4 based on A4 stats...would you say S4's are more reilable or unreliable than A4? S4 is more "stressed" vehicle because of high output engine, trick transmission and such, but is it build better because it's a special model? Like, would M3 have a better reliability compared to a 335i?

rktskicar

I think people's experience varies. My last S4 (B5) I drove for 8.5 years. I only intended to keep it for a few years when I bought it, but was such a fun car! It was very reliable and was heavily modified (stage 3 twin turbo). The only reason I sold it was to buy this car, which has some great tuning potential as well.

Bruce

DOC

My experience with Audi is on the positive side:

1986 4000CS - owned for 8 years and almost 200k
1995.5 S6 Avant (lightly modified)- owned 6 years
1995.5 S6 Avant (heavily modified)- owned 4 years
1992 UrS4 (moderately modified)- still own; about 175k miles
1994 UrS4 (lightly modified)- still own; over 250k miles

All highly reliable cars; now only if I have the same luck with 2011 S4!

m444

Eurocars have a history of poor reliability, except for Porsche (?) that seems to rate highly in reliability.

Mercedes, VW, BMW, Audi generally have had a reputation for poor reliability and Toyota had a good reputation. This seems to have changed somewhat.

Recently, Audi has been doing better on reports, than in the past.

Every car model can have a few lemons. My old Audi S4 never had a problem. My Mercedes had a number of warranty problems.

I plan on keeping my new S4 for about 6-7 years.

rascalnyc

I have had my B6 S4 for just over 6 years. Never had any significant problems.

Going to be hard to part with it, but it's time -- a new B8 is on the way.

drrick89

Well, it's a 42 month lease...

dr bryan

Hoping for 10 years. Kept my first car for 10 years (2000 Jetta VR6) and it's still running strong with some TLC here and there. Definitely cheaper to keep it running that it is to buy a new car but time for a serious upgrade

WatchNut

Target is 10 years.....perhaps a little less if I pass it on to one of my kids.

zerinS4

36 month lease, but if I end up loving it after 3 years I'll likely buy it out.

redrocker55

For about 4 years. By that time I will have about 150,000 miles on it.