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7 month old audi is broken. I AM OFFICIALLY AN AUDI DRIVER

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Have you actually sat in either? Honestly I can't see anyone picking a Taurus over an A4, not even close. Other than the price tag, there is nothing better in a Taurus over an A4. Which is exactly why there is a price tag difference. I've been in Fords over the years and frankly I don't understand why they do so well as a company. Historically they have been boring from the beginning.
 
Well, Fords have improved exponentially over the past decade, from the lowly Focus and Mustang V6 to the Taurus. Best example I can think of is the '06-'09 Fusion, which was nice and a very decent car, to the '10+ Fusion, which is just as good if not better than anything else made in that class.

And yes, I've driven several Audis, looked at a lot of them, and a regular non-SHO Taurus with a few options. The point is that at the price of a generic A4 with a couple of options, the SHO is in a completely different performance league while offering a bit more space, competitive interior (it's really quite good), and pretty nice looks (subjective to be sure).

I'm not saying the Audi is a bad car by any means, just that the entry-level A4s don't make a lot of sense to me at the prices they commmand when new, and I make that same criticism of BMW. I love the hell out of a lot of BMWs, but stuff like the 328i is really very expensive for what you get. Of course Audi/BMW are luxury makers, and the badge does get a certain amount of respect.

Ford has truly become a world-class maker, it remains to be seen how long they will be so, but it's impossible for any rational person who has looked at their offerings over time to deny that they've gone from generic crap (think 1970-2000ish), to moderate but forgettable (2000-2005), to pretty solid (2005-2009), to somewhat amazing (2010/2011).
 
Arkaign said:
Well, Fords have improved exponentially over the past decade, from the lowly Focus and Mustang V6 to the Taurus. Best example I can think of is the '06-'09 Fusion, which was nice and a very decent car, to the '10+ Fusion, which is just as good if not better than anything else made in that class.

And yes, I've driven several Audis, looked at a lot of them, and a regular non-SHO Taurus with a few options. The point is that at the price of a generic A4 with a couple of options, the SHO is in a completely different performance league while offering a bit more space, competitive interior (it's really quite good), and pretty nice looks (subjective to be sure).

I'm not saying the Audi is a bad car by any means, just that the entry-level A4s don't make a lot of sense to me at the prices they commmand when new, and I make that same criticism of BMW. I love the hell out of a lot of BMWs, but stuff like the 328i is really very expensive for what you get. Of course Audi/BMW are luxury makers, and the badge does get a certain amount of respect.

Ford has truly become a world-class maker, it remains to be seen how long they will be so, but it's impossible for any rational person who has looked at their offerings over time to deny that they've gone from generic crap (think 1970-2000ish), to moderate but forgettable (2000-2005), to pretty solid (2005-2009), to somewhat amazing (2010/2011).
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Arkaign wins it here.

I'm a huge huge huge Audi fan, but if you're looking at an A4 Quattro Prestige (40ishk) and a Taurus SHO, I would probably take the SHO if i could stomach the larger car size. It drives just as well with the sport pack, faster, tons of goodies inside, etc etc etc.

The only real downsize of the SHO is that it is HUGE. Its literally a boat, thats the main reason my friend went with the A4.

Then again, I wouldn't buy any German car from the top 3 that wasn't a S/RS/M/AMG
 
But the SHO and an A4 are not the same class. A4 with options is not the same as SHO, you compare it to a Taurus with options. Price does not determine class. S6 is what you compare to the SHO.
 
Malak said:
But the SHO and an A4 are not the same class. A4 with options is not the same as SHO, you compare it to a Taurus with options. Price does not determine class. S6 is what you compare to the SHO.
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Price and size do determine class, with price being the #1 deciding factor if the size and layout differential is not a massive difference.

The fact of the matter is, price is the biggest limiting factor in a purchase. You may not like a smaller car, but you will not be able to buy a 200% more expensive car period.

The A4 2L Premium Plus may not be a competitor to the Taurus, but it's a hell of a lot more of a competitor than the S6 ever will be. The S6 is a competitor of the CTS-V.

That brings up a very valid comparison, S6, M3 or CTS-V? I'll take the CTS-V every single time. Much better performance, distinctive design and a great interior.

TT or fully equipped Mustang GT 5.0? Probably the Mustang too on performance merit. The interior isn't all that bad either anymore with sync, options like GPS to match the 37K base price of the TT and the newly installed soft touch surfaces.

Not to mention have you even sat in new the new Lincolns recently? IT doesn't have the black and grey serious attitude of German interiors, but the Lincolns are new, different and well detailed with cool touches.
 
Failures happen with every car but what I seem to notice with the Audi/VW's - the people who tend to not have problems really don't drive very much. In the back of mind I just don't see one being able to keep up with my 25,000+ miles a year on the road without significant downtime.
 
Malak said:
I have a 3.0, and yes it is faster. My parents own a newer ES than my A4. The first thing I noticed was how slow it was, I expected a lot more. Still, it definitely has better interior than my car. The steering is terrible, the car is slow, and I don't terribly love the exterior either... but it's ok.
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Not sure what you mean by "newer" ES, but any 3.5L V6 ES will hit 60 in about 6 seconds. My Camry does it in mid 5s with the same de-tuned Engine, but the ES is slightly heavier.

If you have an A4 with a 3.0, there is no way it's faster than the current ES.
 
mwmorph said:
TT or fully equipped Mustang GT 5.0? Probably the Mustang too on performance merit. The interior isn't all that bad either anymore with sync, options like GPS to match the 37K base price of the TT and the newly installed soft touch surfaces.
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S5 over the TT.
 
Malak said:
S5 over the TT.
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Dude, while the S5 is sex on wheels and I'd sell a kidney to get one. A loaded Stang GT is like 40k, an S5 is pushing 70ish when you put everything in it.

Kinda hard to compare the two, but just for perspective. The S5 is definitely much better looking though.
 
PhoKingGuy said:
Dude, while the S5 is sex on wheels and I'd sell a kidney to get one. A loaded Stang GT is like 40k, an S5 is pushing 70ish when you put everything in it.

Kinda hard to compare the two, but just for perspective. The S5 is definitely much better looking though.
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Ditto, the S5 is one of the prettiest coupes made, very understated but with flair in all the right spots. Good lord it's pricey but I think it looks as good as stuff like the Jag XK and Astons.
 
halik said:
There's a recall on those. Audi paid for all 8 on my S4.
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Paid for mine too. I was actually already taking my car in to have something else replaced so they did it at the same time. Was a pain when one of them went out before the recall though.
 
PhoKingGuy said:
Hmmm I haven't heard of injectors failing as a major problem of the TFSI motor, sorry you had to deal with that.

If it makes you feel any better, BMW is having the same problem with the TT motors as doggiedog said. People are placing the blame on US gas quality so far because this problem is relatively unheard of anywhere else, but I dont know.

The TDIs are also having problems with US diesel lubricity causing fuel pump failures as well, but that problem is easily fixable. Hope Audi takes care of you in the mean time, if you are on a lease open a file with Audi USA and ask for a credit of time out of service.
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Nissan had known issues with their fuel injectors from 1990 straight through until at least 1997, some didn't even last until 100k miles. Affected the 4 bangers and even the godly VQ30. And these obviously aren't direct injection/high pressure injectors either.
 
People with VW cars either love them and seem to have no issues ever, or hate them and are nothing but junk.

I was in a 2006 Jetta TDI wagon on the weekend, guy puts on 60,000k per year. No issues at all. He also had an original TDI, 97 or something, with over 500,000kms on it. He said he just wanted more space, it was still working fine.

I so want a diesel for mileage, but I'm not sure because of how risky the brand seems to be..
 
PricklyPete said:
Any update on what happened....as an 2010 A4 owner, I'm interested in what your problem ended up being.
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wow , i just didnt check this thread for a while.


one of the fuel injectors was leaking. they replaced it in like 3-4 hours. had a loaner for that time as well and they were really great about it.

there was one other post of a similar issue on audiworld which i also posted on. anyway, i haven't heard of this issue anywhere else other than that one post, so i'm hoping it was just a fluke.

i now have 10k miles on my car in 7.5 months. so hopefully its relatively reliable from now on.

also for all the people talking about the taurus, i would not buy one over an A4. my car ended up costing after haggling just over $36k + tax and such.

thats for a quattro automatic, sport pack, premium plus. basically i do not have navigation and push button start and a few other things like memory seats (All the prestige stuff basically).

A 2011 SHO probably costs about that with one of the better "rapid spec" packs. That said its a huge car probably almost 2 feet longer. Someone else mad ehte comment that its huge. I thought the A4 was a respectable size as its bigger than a 3 series / C class / IS by a good amount but not taurus sized. it also really isn't nearly as fast as you guys make it out to be given its like 600 pounds heavier. at least in general aroudn town and maybe up to 60 its not a huge difference performance wise (not to mention i don't even really care all that much, i think i grew up the past few years and realized i really dont care how fast i can burn another car off the line ... if i did i'd be driving an S4) probably would be more fair to compare to an MKZ also even if it has less power but has more creature comforts better trim etc (probably the same cost as a SHO for a mkz maybe even slightly less.)


Now i'm not hating on the SHO. I think its a great car. If I was like really fat, or tall, or had children or something maybe it'd be worth looking at , but i'm not any of those and it wasn't say $10k cheaper. Maybe if they made a fusion SHO or something.
 
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