Muray

I really want the S4 for a little worried about the reliability issue. My 2008 C350 had a lot of little problems. Left me stranded once due to fault fuel gauge (thank goodness my gf at the time came to the rescue), and a lot annoyances, like water in the mirror housing, broken headrest, minor engine problem, things like that. Then I see on this forum some major issues like the water pump and fuel leaking. Doesn't the S4 have pretty much parts as the regular A4, which has been out for over a year? Seriously, fuel leaking...that's scary. How has the regular A4 reliablity has been so far? That should be correlative of S4 reliablity as well, right? I am pretty versed in BMW's and Mercedes', but not really in Audis because I never thought I'd become interested in buying one...now I am... I plan on keeping the car for at least 5 years so reliability is pretty important to me. Get extended warranty too when I purchase the car?

xtr3ma

I won't expect it being any better than the other cross country rival.

You want a reliable car, go Asian. You want a fun and properly designed car, go European.

MalSer

I changed from a very reliable Acura TL-S (owned it for 7 years) to the S4 and have had mine for (only) around 5 months with absolutely no problems. I had the same concerns that you do but decided to take the plunge. I smile every day as I drive to work and still go for a drive some weekends just for fun. Every model has issues and I expect to have some problems down the road and accept that possibility. If I don't encounter any difficulties then I'll be even happier. I love my S4! Regarding A4 reliability, I'd suggest checking out the A4 forum. I chose to steer away from the BMW 335 and Cadilac CTS due to unresolved recurring issues. If any happen the S4 I can only hope with confidence that Audi addresses the root cause rather than just keeps "patching" the problem. It's your call, but as of now I have no regrets.

redrocker55

Truedelta.com is a FANTASTIC resource for honest vehicle reliability...

HyperS4

Im going to completely say its hit or miss and you cant judge one situation and generalize them to all.

My parents had a 2008 c300 with no issues whatsoever. They just recently traded it in on a new e350. This will be their 3rd Mercedes since they have had perfect reliability with them. Previously they had a chrysler 300 which ran perfect for 3 yrs and several BMW's that also all ran with no issues. Come to think of it, they only cars they ever had problems with were two Acuras(a CL which left the car stranded with the transmission recall, and a Legend which the engine died after 110k miles).

So with that being said, before my current annoyingly problematic 335 I had an also extremely problematic A4. Based on feedback from forum members I apparently only ever get lemons. Nobody else has as many problems as I do with my cars. This is one of the reasons I lease.

The majority of complaints you see online are from enthusiasts who want to share their experiences with others. Its such a miniscule sample of ownership out there that it cant be regarded as exacting to every car sold.

Hopefully you understand where I was coming with all that. To sum it up YMMV!

rktskicar

I owned a B5 S4 for 8.5 years (126K miles)and had no major problems. No problems with this one, but not hardly any miles yet (~4500).

Bruce

ItsDubC

I've had my B8 A4 for a little over 1 yr, 4 months. These are the only issues that I can recall having:

- Rear-left foglight bulb went out
- Left reverse bulb went out
- Interior B-pillar trim pulling away from weather stripping on rear-right door frame
- Occasionally the sunroof dial has a mind of its own
- Occasional low-speed shuddering
- Minor AMI quirks w/ 4th gen iPod Nano

As you can see, I've had no major issues. I've been running an ECU tune since the 3rd month after getting the car and have all the mods listed in my sig.

Minneapolis Mike

What is the definition of reliable?

All cars from all manufacturers have recalls, lemons, initial flaws in the first model years etc. Is a honda accord more reliable or some other asian model more reliable, who knows? As someone said above "you can't judge one situation and generalize them all." There are simply too many variables from how you dirve, climate, accident history, maintenance schedules, etc.

Reliability studies tend to lag current models by three years but maybe prior history and trends give an indication that say, if the trend is improving, that the manufacturer is focusing on it or, if its declining, that they have lost focus on it.

Then there is the issue of expectations. Each individuals expectation drives the benchmark for the subjective reliable/unreliable label we place on our cars.

It really is hit or miss, is specific to the car that was manufactured, and may or may not be the car manufacturers fault (bad batch of parts).

For me, it was a thought and one that made me think about the questions it raised but in the end it is a brand new car that will be as reliable as brand new cars will be. It will have some warranty work done because it is a new model year and warranties aren't just there in case $hit happens but because $hit will happen and I have adjusted my expectations accrodingly and Audi, in general does a decent job of standing behind there products and more often than not will make the things that went wrong go right.

And in 3 or 4 years when the warranty is over I will have new options. I can read the reliability reports for this specific model and factor it's results as one of a few variables to decide if I should keep the car, keep the car and buy an extended warranty, or sell the car and try to find a car that meets my reliability expectations as well as my fun factor expectation which I have fully accepted may come at the expense of the other.

Coming from someone who has had a advanced key issue (handle needed to be rplaced, a door seal replaced, a water pump replaced, and a fuel injector and rail replaced I still think my car is reliable and my experiences are unique in that more people have not had the problems I have had. And if I had to do it over again, I would definately still buy another S4.

Hope some of this helps and best of luck on the decision, it certainly is a factor to consider but hopefully is a smaller factor for you.

1HOT S4

I've had my share of both reliable and unreliable cars and it has been pretty easy to separate them. For everything I know from this forum and others the new S4 is unreliable. What I'm asking myself is: Do I still want one? Am I ready to put up with these faults for the pleasure of driving such a nice car otherwise? The answer up to now is a definite YES! I've always had the impression that both BMWs and Audis are unreliable. I've never owned either one but I have many friends and relatives who have and I've listened to their stories over the years. Three Acuras one Toyota and one Mercedes I've owned: all extremely reliable. Two Fiats one Lamborghini and one Lancia owned in the past: all extremely unreliable.

If you are ready to put up with some issues with your new S4, then by all means buy one - it's a magnificent machine.

NWS4Guy

I guess we need to define what your expectations are and what you call "unreliable."


Care to put some definitions around this? I don't think that it is reasonable to expect zero faults to happen.