and now i have a production number for my car!

[hans007]

so i'm probably going to buy a new car next year given i don't want to deal with my audi dying a horrible death and being a maintenance nightmare.


it currently has 43k and change miles on it and i've owned it 32 months or so. so the warranty will be up in 7k more miles (so around 6 months lets say).

so i've been told it might be worth more to sell it before it hits the 50k mark so that the next owner can get an extended warranty if they choose from audi (after 50k they would not be able to).

i was thinking of getting a car sometime next spring, which probably would take me over 50k.
does anyone know if this is true? would it be worth a significant amount of money (say $500-1000) if i just sell / trade it in before it hits 50k miles and just buy a new car earlier.

this car has has a fuel injector and catalytic converter fail, and i just dont want to deal with it out of warranty (i'm figuring, these are just typical things that happen to turbo audis, it also burns about a quart of oil every 2500-3000 miles). i've had other friends who have similar issues with their b7 / b8 2.0t audis and yeah i dont want to deal with it.

so yeah, anyone know if i'd get more selling it earlier? i mean $500-1000 difference to say buy a car 3-4 months earlier than i planned, and i'd be fine just buying earlier.


now i know i'm going to get comments about how i shouldn't have bought an audi and well i thought this b8 generation a4 was better but i guess i was a fool to think that, but yeah i got drawn in by the LED mascara day time running lights and wanted to try an AWD car.... anyway, any constructive comments would be appreciated.

 

[Zivic]

so i'm probably going to buy a new car next year given i don't want to deal with my audi dying a horrible death and being a maintenance nightmare.


it currently has 43k and change miles on it and i've owned it 32 months or so. so the warranty will be up in 7k more miles (so around 6 months lets say).

so i've been told it might be worth more to sell it before it hits the 50k mark so that the next owner can get an extended warranty if they choose from audi (after 50k they would not be able to).

i was thinking of getting a car sometime next spring, which probably would take me over 50k.
does anyone know if this is true? would it be worth a significant amount of money (say $500-1000) if i just sell / trade it in before it hits 50k miles and just buy a new car earlier.

this car has has a fuel injector and catalytic converter fail, and i just dont want to deal with it out of warranty (i'm figuring, these are just typical things that happen to turbo audis, it also burns about a quart of oil every 2500-3000 miles). i've had other friends who have similar issues with their b7 / b8 2.0t audis and yeah i dont want to deal with it.

so yeah, anyone know if i'd get more selling it earlier? i mean $500-1000 difference to say buy a car 3-4 months earlier than i planned, and i'd be fine just buying earlier.


now i know i'm going to get comments about how i shouldn't have bought an audi and well i thought this b8 generation a4 was better but i guess i was a fool to think that, but yeah i got drawn in by the LED mascara day time running lights and wanted to try an AWD car.... anyway, any constructive comments would be appreciated.

if you consider a 500-1000 buck loss in value a "significant" amount, I would question how/why you bought into an audi? take 750 bucks divide it out by 3.5 months and it comes out to about 215/month to own the car through the winter. to me, that wouldn't be a deal breaker.

in general, I don't consider 50k miles on any car a lot.... especially not an audi. not sure of the history of the vehicle, but if you owned since new, and have done the proper maintainance, that car has a TON of life left in it. I have seen a4's go 250+ with little issue.

a cat convert to some seems like a big issue, to me, it's not. couple hundred bucks for an injector, so neither issue would personally scare me.

the quart of oil over 3k miles is nothing to be concerned with; especially on a turbo car. might be your driving style, might be a change of oil weight/brand is needed, or might just be the way it's going to be. again, nothing that would scare me.

at 43k, unless you are unhappy with the car, and want something else, I wouldn't be concerned about selling the car based on what you posted

 

[nerp]

burning a quart of oil and having to replace those parts at less than 50k miles already just isn't acceptable in my book. Then again, it has been a while since I owned VW, so I forget how these cars break down and fail prematurely. I guess it's part of the deal.

 

[Jumpem]

I would buy the manufacturer's extended warranty or sell it before the warranty expires. I am not comfortable driving a vehicle outside of warranty.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

If you are worried about o2 sensors and cats then you truly might want to sell the car, if you can afford that. Or as jumpem said, buy a good extended warranty.

In my mind, AWD german cars are something you lease. Personally, I would not want a 60k+ mile audi period unless you enjoy toying with your cars.

If you have 6 months warranty remaining then the time to sell is right now, if you're going to sell it. Based on what you've said.... sell it.

German cars are great machines, but in my experience you really need to own the car almost as a hobby.. IE be willing to research problems online, do some work yourself, that sort of thing. I love german cars and really enjoy working on them now and then for minor stuff, but I still would not want to deal with that car if there's a major issue.

If you want a car to use an appliance then audi/bmw/MB is not something you want to own outside of warranty.

 

[JulesMaximus]

if you consider a 500-1000 buck loss in value a "significant" amount, I would question how/why you bought into an audi? take 750 bucks divide it out by 3.5 months and it comes out to about 215/month to own the car through the winter. to me, that wouldn't be a deal breaker.

in general, I don't consider 50k miles on any car a lot.... especially not an audi. not sure of the history of the vehicle, but if you owned since new, and have done the proper maintainance, that car has a TON of life left in it. I have seen a4's go 250+ with little issue.

a cat convert to some seems like a big issue, to me, it's not. couple hundred bucks for an injector, so neither issue would personally scare me.

the quart of oil over 3k miles is nothing to be concerned with; especially on a turbo car. might be your driving style, might be a change of oil weight/brand is needed, or might just be the way it's going to be. again, nothing that would scare me.

at 43k, unless you are unhappy with the car, and want something else, I wouldn't be concerned about selling the car based on what you posted

One of my good friends works for a guy who has owned two Audi A4's. His first one was an early 2000's model, maybe an 1999, with the turbo engine (not sure what year exactly). This guy drives about 100 miles a day in commuting and he put almost 200k on his first Audi but he had major problems with that car and it was constantly in the shop for pretty major repairs. And he was the original owner and took great care of the car. I swear, there wasn't a single part on that car that hadn't been replaced due to a failure. He even had the entire dash replaced at some point. That car cost him something like $5-6k a year in repairs at least. I worked with this guy for years too and it was like every other week he would roll up in a loaner car or a rental and sometimes he would have it for weeks at a time.

So, a few years ago he bought a brand new A4 to replace his aging money pit. Well, he's had it in the shop about a dozen times for various things, the latest of which was to have the transmission replaced. I guess Audi couldn't fix the issue he had with the transmission in his car so they are going to put in a used transmission out of another car. Car has about 60k miles on it and he is thinking about getting rid of it. He is a die hard Audi fan and even he's saying he's never buying another Audi. Can't say I blame him, and I can't say I would EVER consider buying an Audi either.

Reliable they are not.

I LOVE my Nissan for that. I've had it almost 10 years and 120,000 miles and it starts up every time, everything works, it doesn't leak a single drop of anything (never has), and it has never even had so much as a single light bulb burn out on it. It has been out of warranty for many years and I feel very confident in keeping it for a couple more years.

 

[WilliamM2]

I would buy the manufacturer's extended warranty or sell it before the warranty expires. I am not comfortable driving a vehicle outside of warranty.

Any vehicle? I've never needed more than minor repairs (<$100) on a car before a 100K miles. Maybe Audi's are that bad, but with most cars, you can get a lot more than 43K out of them.

 

[Zivic]

One of my good friends works for a guy who has owned two Audi A4's. His first one was an early 2000's model, maybe an 1999, with the turbo engine (not sure what year exactly). This guy drives about 100 miles a day in commuting and he put almost 200k on his first Audi but he had major problems with that car and it was constantly in the shop for pretty major repairs. And he was the original owner and took great care of the car. I swear, there wasn't a single part on that car that hadn't been replaced due to a failure. He even had the entire dash replaced at some point. That car cost him something like $5-6k a year in repairs at least. I worked with this guy for years too and it was like every other week he would roll up in a loaner car or a rental and sometimes he would have it for weeks at a time.

So, a few years ago he bought a brand new A4 to replace his aging money pit. Well, he's had it in the shop about a dozen times for various things, the latest of which was to have the transmission replaced. I guess Audi couldn't fix the issue he had with the transmission in his car so they are going to put in a used transmission out of another car. Car has about 60k miles on it and he is thinking about getting rid of it. He is a die hard Audi fan and even he's saying he's never buying another Audi. Can't say I blame him, and I can't say I would EVER consider buying an Audi either.

Reliable they are not.

I LOVE my Nissan for that. I've had it almost 10 years and 120,000 miles and it starts up every time, everything works, it doesn't leak a single drop of anything (never has), and it has never even had so much as a single light bulb burn out on it. It has been out of warranty for many years and I feel very confident in keeping it for a couple more years.

All cars have their faults.

I have had chevys that have eaten up two trans and a motor in under 100k, fords with crazy electrical issues, VWs with sludging, chryslers with failed trans, subarus with headgaskets, mazdas with electrical issues and nissans with a slew of issues.

all cars are going to have their faults. They are mechanical and eventually will need repair. but I am floored to hear people state they won't own a car out of warranty, like the warranty magically protects them against from a failing car. I have had more bad warranty experiences that good, and I give no weight to a manufacturers warranty when I buy a vehicle... and I have personally purchased 6 new vehicles in my time.

maybe I am lucky to have a good mechanic, but I don't fear any mechanical issue. I have multiple cars, and have a zero mile drive to work, so there is no issue for me to be without a car during repair.

Right there I think is the issue. The majority of people don't have a good mechanic that is trustworthy and fair. If they did, I think people like the op would keep his car for many more yrs and not fret about owning a vehicle beyond 50k miles.

 

[JulesMaximus]

All cars have their faults.

I have had chevys that have eaten up two trans and a motor in under 100k, fords with crazy electrical issues, VWs with sludging, chryslers with failed trans, subarus with headgaskets, mazdas with electrical issues and nissans with a slew of issues.

all cars are going to have their faults. They are mechanical and eventually will need repair. but I am floored to hear people state they won't own a car out of warranty, like the warranty magically protects them against from a failing car. I have had more bad warranty experiences that good, and I give no weight to a manufacturers warranty when I buy a vehicle... and I have personally purchased 6 new vehicles in my time.

maybe I am lucky to have a good mechanic, but I don't fear any mechanical issue. I have multiple cars, and have a zero mile drive to work, so there is no issue for me to be without a car during repair.

Right there I think is the issue. The majority of people don't have a good mechanic that is trustworthy and fair. If they did, I think people like the op would keep his car for many more yrs and not fret about owning a vehicle beyond 50k miles.

I don't fret about owning a car beyond 50k miles. Both my car and my wife's car have well over 50k miles on them. Of course, mine is a Nissan and hers is a Lexus. I would expect very little trouble of those two brands and they have both lived up to those expectations.

There are certain brands I just won't buy their cars because of personal experience or word of mouth or both. Audi/VW fall into that category for sure. Chrysler/Dodge is another brand I absolutely will not buy. I most likely would not buy a GM/Chevy brand product and I wouldn't buy a Jaguar or a Range Rover.

I've personally had good luck with Toyota, Ford, Lexus, and Nissan. I would buy an Infiniti, Acura (if they made a vehicle that didn't look like ass), and maybe a Mercedes-Benz or BMW.

No way I will ever buy an Audi.

 

[jagec]

I've never owned a car with less than 100k on the odometer, and from everything I hear, dealing with warranty claims (and denials due to stupid crap) is much more of a PITA than just doing the repairs yourself.

 

[Zivic]

I've never owned a car with less than 100k on the odometer, and from everything I hear, dealing with warranty claims (and denials due to stupid crap) is much more of a PITA than just doing the repairs yourself.

no doubt. if you have anything serious, you are waiting till someone from higher up comes out to inspect the situation, then you have to wait till they make a decision, then waiting on parts.... went this route on a failed flex plate/trans on a dodge I owned. from initial issues to me taking the car home was only about 8 weeks worth of headache. if I did it on my own it would have taken about a week, but would have cost a grand or so out of my pocket. then again, I wouldn't have fronted 20k for the car in the first place.

 

[Zivic]

No way I will ever buy an Audi.

my dad drove a 1.8T passat for a while that his wife had before they got married. it had some hard miles over the couple yrs he drove it. She never used premium and I question if she ever changed the oil when she owned it. while he was out of town, we moved it around in our shop to make some room, and the oil light came on. car had about 115k on it. the oil pickup had sludged up damn near solid and tons of sludge on the top end of the motor.

I took it to my mechanic, he had it for two days, charged me $700 to 'fix' it. my dad drove the car for another 18 months and then we sold it to a neighbor. that was 2 yrs ago and the car is still going.



there are certain cars I likely would never buy, mainly GM's, but even so 50k, heck even a 100k isn't 'that' many miles on really any make of vehicle, if it is half-@ss taken care of

 

[hans007]

ok well, based on these responses i guess it probably doesnt matter that much when i sell it or not.

i was going to buy a new car anyway, just the time frame and warranty thing didnt quite match up. i want a RWD car (i dont really need quattro, kind of bought it to see what it was like and lived in a rainier area at the time, and its not as fun to drive i'd say) and if anything even if it was maintainable i tend to get bored of a car around 60-65k miles anyway.

and yes i realize this is an expensive hobby, i dont particularly not like the car other than the possible hassles of owning this particularly one, but yeah i can afford it. looking at F30 BMWs, my mom and dad have had 3 bimmers, and none of them have ever been in the shop for anything major (a few window motors and such over the years but nothing terrible) so i'm probably looking to join them in the family unless i find something better.

on another note actually sat in the ATS the other day. it probably drives very well based on the reviews, didnt drive it. dealership experience was horrible, friend and i were treated like pure shit by some jackass used car salesman type, being badgered the whole time, i will never buy a cadillac. ever. that and the interior was subpar.

 

[phucheneh]

The big question that I don't think has been addressed: transferability.

Can the new owner of your 49k mile car actually buy the extended warranty, or is that only offered to the original owner? Be careful of multiple warranties...I know Infiniti had two totally different plans; one was pretty much the factory-new warranty, minus the stuff that expires early, like 12/12,000 on 'adjustments'(squeaks, rattles, loose or improperly fit stuff). The other was much closer to the garbage aftermarket warranties you see advertised on TV.

And secondly, if you buy the warranty, does THAT transfer to the new owner? That option, I would definitely not recommend, as you'll likely pay thousands that you won't get back in resale price. Better to negotiate a good trade-in value and let the dealer turn it as a 'certified pre-owned' themselves. But that assumes you can get a dealer to give you anywhere near private party value.

 

[hans007]

The big question that I don't think has been addressed: transferability.

Can the new owner of your 49k mile car actually buy the extended warranty, or is that only offered to the original owner? Be careful of multiple warranties...I know Infiniti had two totally different plans; one was pretty much the factory-new warranty, minus the stuff that expires early, like 12/12,000 on 'adjustments'(squeaks, rattles, loose or improperly fit stuff). The other was much closer to the garbage aftermarket warranties you see advertised on TV.

And secondly, if you buy the warranty, does THAT transfer to the new owner? That option, I would definitely not recommend, as you'll likely pay thousands that you won't get back in resale price. Better to negotiate a good trade-in value and let the dealer turn it as a 'certified pre-owned' themselves. But that assumes you can get a dealer to give you anywhere near private party value.

oh no i'm definitely not buying an extended and then selling the car.

the original warranty DOES transfers, it was more that you could let the next owner buy an extended since he'd still be under the original if i sold the car a few months earlier to be still in warranty.

 

[phucheneh]

oh no i'm definitely not buying an extended and then selling the car.

the original warranty DOES transfers, it was more that you could let the next owner buy an extended since he'd still be under the original if i sold the car a few months earlier to be still in warranty.

Right, I was just also asking if the 'right to buy' was transferred. Seems like it would be, but...well, we live in a world that's generally out to bone us.

 

[nerp]

I've never owned a car with less than 100k on the odometer, and from everything I hear, dealing with warranty claims (and denials due to stupid crap) is much more of a PITA than just doing the repairs yourself.

Well, answer this: would you rather have a free transmission replacement at 99,000 miles, or would you rather pay for it (plus labor)?

 

[Jumpem]

Any vehicle? I've never needed more than minor repairs (<$100) on a car before a 100K miles. Maybe Audi's are that bad, but with most cars, you can get a lot more than 43K out of them.

Yes, any vehicle. I'll get the longest manufacturer warranty (100-120k depending on brand), and trade it in just before it expires.

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

I don't even look at purchasing vehicles until they have 100-150k miles on them. But then again, I don't look at purchasing Audi's... ever.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Well, answer this: would you rather have a free transmission replacement at 99,000 miles, or would you rather pay for it (plus labor)?

Well since the chances of a trans dying before 100k is pretty low I'd take my chances. Closest I've had is my old 89 dodge caravan's trans that died at 150k because nobody ever bothered to adjust the bands. I rebuilt it myself for about $200 but it was a simple old 3 speed. I wouldn't want to deal with one of these new fancy transmissions.

 

[JulesMaximus]

my dad drove a 1.8T passat for a while that his wife had before they got married. it had some hard miles over the couple yrs he drove it. She never used premium and I question if she ever changed the oil when she owned it. while he was out of town, we moved it around in our shop to make some room, and the oil light came on. car had about 115k on it. the oil pickup had sludged up damn near solid and tons of sludge on the top end of the motor.

I took it to my mechanic, he had it for two days, charged me $700 to 'fix' it. my dad drove the car for another 18 months and then we sold it to a neighbor. that was 2 yrs ago and the car is still going.

there are certain cars I likely would never buy, mainly GM's, but even so 50k, heck even a 100k isn't 'that' many miles on really any make of vehicle, if it is half-@ss taken care of

I guess your anecdotal evidence negates mine.

I still wouldn't buy an Audi.

 

[JoeyP]

All cars have their faults.

Then why buy an expensive car that costs a lot per repair?

You'd think that expensive cars would be expensive for a reason beyond prestige and handling: maybe better build quality, higher reliability, durability.

 

[rh71]

my 2 cents is that if you go with Warranty Direct they will cover your vehicle for up to 8 years and the warranty is transferrable to the next person. So you both get peace of mind and you can sell it slightly higher to make up for the extra cost (let them know that's what they're paying for and that they're covered). To give an idea of cost, my X5 after year 4 is now Warranty Direct Luxury Care... 4 additional years up to 60k miles on the odometer (I don't drive much) for $3.2k, no deductible. They can cover more mileage for slightly higher.

So far under WD I've had 1 claim in year 5 for $1200. Labor costs get ya! With its history, I fully expect to claim over $3200. They confirmed that you can also cancel it at any time for a pro-rated refund.

EDIT> Looks like they announced custom pricing recently too: http://www.14news.com/story/1948107...-pricing-to-better-serve-customer-preferences

Then why buy an expensive car that costs a lot per repair?

You'd think that expensive cars would be expensive for a reason beyond prestige and handling: maybe better build quality, higher reliability, durability.

All luxury cars have their pros and cons. Porsches are actually good build quality and fun to drive (huge premium on them) whereas BMWs are fun to drive but poorer build quality/reliability (below industry avg). MB is in between, but nowhere near fun to drive. Audi... well I just think they're good looking and have a good interior but it stops there.

Less-expensive cars have other cons in addition.

 

[Zivic]

I guess your anecdotal evidence negates mine.

I still wouldn't buy an Audi.

my point is simply that all vehicles have faults. one can find examples to argue both sides.

the list of cars I would like to own is fairly long, and the audis that made the list are a ways down. the way the last few yrs have been financially for me, if I make it 3-4 deep into the list, I would be surprised.... meaning I likely won't be buying an audi either.

 

[Zivic]

Then why buy an expensive car that costs a lot per repair?

You'd think that expensive cars would be expensive for a reason beyond prestige and handling: maybe better build quality, higher reliability, durability.

my brother in law drives an older a4 1.8t, we had the passat around that I previously posted about. my brother drove an a4 avant with a 3.0 in it. They all needed some repair and as far as I know, they didn't really cost much more than any other cars I have had to repair. sure they weren't cheap, but nothing that would keep me from owning one.

your second comment isn't necessarily justified. my brother works in the autobody industry for the last 10 yrs and he sees a lot of cars come through their shop. Lexus mercs and audis are generally the ones are making it 200+ and still retain some of that better quality feel.