koobah

These reports are very innacurate at best. After I purchased my S4, I received a letter from JD Power and some other company to rate my A4. One of the letters even had a dollar bill inside. $1 to fill out a somewhat time consuming questonaire? No thanks. CR might be helpful if you're lookin to buy a lawnmower, not a $60k car. Said that, my S4 has been perfect in every way and so far the best car I've owned.

m444

The G35 & Porsche CR ratings are an exception. In 2004, I test drove a G35 before I bought my C32. The G35 was a nice car but did not have enough power back in 2004 & the visibility could be better.

Barrels41

CR said the Infiniti M35X was the best car made. I leased one and it was harsh riding, had uncontrollable steering, noisy and thirsty as an SUV.

I would not worry about reliability in this century. All cars are mostly reliable and the manufacturers stand behind them.

The over all experience and joy driving an A4 is beyond CR,s measure. Love to have an S4 but too much traffic around here.

perdido34

These ratings are based on subscriber questionnaires and not on their reviews. I'm a subscriber and I have filled them out. The questions are specific, asking for exactly what problems you had with your car--it's a checklist. You can complain about issues of sampling bias related to return rates, but your opinion of THEIR opinions is irrelevant to the reliability ratings they publish.

BTW they are nonprofit, do not accept advertising, and legally pursue manufacturers who use their reviews to sell their products, UNLIKE the enthusiast car mags that I also love to read.

perdido34

CR doesn't send you a dollar, and the JB Power questionnaires are financed by the automakers and sent only to people who have bought a new car. These aren't comparable questionnaires in their sampling methods. In addition, they are asking about different things--the JB Power questionnaires ask about satisfaction--your opinion. The CR questionnaires ask fact-based questions--what systems in your car have needed repair in the last year, for example...

I'm glad you like your S4--hope it's reliable. And even if it were the worst car in the CR ratings, the reliability data are GROUP data and don't predict whether a specific car will have problems.

Ynnekdude

My water pump blew last December. One side of my LEDs went out this week. Damn it.

Sandy S

Sorry guys but they have a point. In the first year, my S4 (and a lot of others) needed the transmission removed to replace a clutch linkage and throwout bearing (design or manuf. flaw) and the water pump (design or manuf. flaw). Both of these problems are very common as we know. (Like maybe all the early 3.0 engines for the water pump...)

Now, I'm not a bit upset about it since both Audi and my local dealer fixed them before they were a problem. However this kind of stuff on this kind of scale just should not happen.

m444

I guess, the 2011 S4 models will have some new unrelated problem, we have not yet experienced?

Ynnekdude

I have no problem with occassional proplems as long as they can be repaired relatively quickly and under warranty. So far, Audi has done everything they could to make me happy. This included towing my car 2+ hrs away when my water pump went out and then towing it 2+ hours back so I didn't have to come get it following the repair.

tranquility

+1

Doesn't matter if its from the editors or actual consumers reporting, it is a lousy publication w/ extremely dumbed-down and hyper-generalized analysis. Definitely not useful for anyone who is remotely considered a car enthusiast.