Hello,
We are looking at getting a car for my wife for our new family. We have a 3 month old daughter who is currently in a infant car seat. My wife is in-love with the 2013 A3 sport wagon. We seem to be finding used A3 with about 50k miles. I have a few questions for the group about the car.

I need to get her something very reliable and somewhat practice. I know proper maintenance is required for cars, that is not the issue. I can't get her a car that will be in the shop for repairs constantly or stranded with a car that won't drive. I know the A3 isn't listed as the "most reliable" car on the market... but i'd like to get some real world feedback. Is this a good option for a family for the following reasons?

1) Reliability. Assuming proper maintenance, will a 50k mile A3 have issues that will keep it in the shop or my wife stranded?

2)Size. We test drove a A3, it fit the car seat but it was pretty snug inside. Will it be big enough for a family once we have to upgrade to a convertible car seat? Can a stroller, luggage or grocery's fit nicely in the trunk?

3) CPO or extended warranty? Should we only look at cars that are CPO, or should we get a extended warranty?

Any other thoughts you might have, please feel free to comment.

Looking at a web site like:

Untitled

makes me a bit concerned for reliability.

Regards,

Brian

 

Hi Brian,

Generally speaking any car will cost more in maintenance and will lose reliability after the factory maintenance is gone. 50k is exactly when Audi's warranty stops. That being said their cars can be very reliable (especially since around 2010ish) if properly taken care off.
Ever since I made my own money - I've not been driving anything besides Audi's. There have only been 2 occasions where I was stranded / withuot a car for a little bit:
1) on my old 1995 audi a4 (1.6) the fuel pump died while driving
2) on my old 2002 audi a6 (4.2) the Alternator died while driving - but it got me home right before the battery drained completely (but had to order the part and install it, so was without a car for a few days).

I might have been extremely lucky but so far Audi has not let me down - as long as you listen to symptoms that are out of the ordinary and of course preventative maintenance.

Personally I would make sure you are somewhat mechanically inclined or know someone who works for little to no money - as these cars can be very expensive to maintain/repair. Labor is the one big thing that usually gets you.

The Audi a3 is great for single person or maybe even a couple but when it comes down to a family (kid, dog, etc) I would consider it too small. We have the hatchback version and we did once a trip from Colorado to Oklahoma with kid (child seat in the back), wife (passenger) and the dog (trunk with a leash). It worked but I felt cramped and the seats are just not that comfortable. I much more prefer the bigger models. As a minimum I would look around for the A4. Price wise it is not that much more and the parts are usually somewhat priced the same.