I gave this post that title, after reading a few posts that claimed the Audi A4 was a very noisy car as well as all the mods and performance talk.

My Mom needs a newer vehicle. She presently drives a 91 Volvo, 740, non-turbo, 4 cyl, Auto, and it gets 15-17 mpg city/28-30 mpg hwy. The mileage is getting up there though the engine still has good compression - no major problems, goes great for months and then all of a sudden the usual unexpected repairs crop up due to vehicle age. At any rate, I started the research and analysis a few years back, and at that time an Audi wasn't even considered, but now it seems to be one of the few vehicles that have. She doesn't want or need a sports car or truck.

I recommended either a Jap or European sedan. First we rejected Hyundai Sonata, and the Kia Amanti. The Sonata was what I felt to be material junk and I questioned its long term durability, although it had nice lines and styling. The Amanti was a heavy cast iron based car with very comfortable seats, but lacked too many features and some were not available at all. Surprisingly, they both had timing chains. Mercedes was rejected without a test drive, because I work on my own cars (got addicted to it a few years back), and Mercedes is known for its "keep our mouth shut and monopolize everything" attitude, i.e., they don't want anyone except their dealerships touching their cars - guess they feel they lose too much money (I wonder if it ever occurred to them that the few people that buy a Mercedes want to DIY anyway). Saab was the next to go because I was told they are difficult to work on. The Toyota Avalon was too big and the Nissan cars were all behind Honda and Toyota for reliability ratings. Then we rejected the Volvo S40, because as soon as I sat in the back seat it felt like crappy thin cardboard. Not sure why we rejected even looking at or considering any Subaru or Volkswagen - probably because of Consumer Reports reliability rating.

The main focus was on the Acura TL, Acura TSX, Lexus ES300, BMW 525i, Infiniti G35, Jaguar S type. Consumer Reports said the Jag was too unreliable too often, so that killed that car - but Mom loved it. She hated the ride of the BMW. We never did try the Infiniti and perhaps we should. Lexus was too much $$ at the time, especially compared to the Acura. Last year we sat in what must have been the most comfortable car seats ever, a 2003 Acura TL, but no less than five Acura TL owners told me that I can expect to have tranny problems with a 1998 thru 2003 Acura TL. We waited for the price of the 04 TL's to come down, and then recently me and a friend went to test drive them. The 04 TL was horrible - the seats were not comfortable as I remembered, The front fish-tailed in the snow, but what was the worst thing of all was the horrible claustrophobic feeling being inside that car. The pillars and posts were so wide and fat, and the windows so narrow, and the roof so low, that I wondered if I could escape if I was in crash; and the visibility The only plus was the one CAT, two O2 sensor design, and the reliability was excellent.

So that left the Audi A4 or A6 as the sole remaining car to consider. Initially the A4 looked to small, but I understand that since 2005 it is now bigger, right? What got me focused Audi was seeing how well the Quattro held the road. From the rear I sensed a vehicle that could hold the road very well. Just a sense impression from the rear stance of the vehicle. And as I looked at the A4 and A6, I became more and more convinced they were great vehicles. I liked the fact that the A4 had one CAT and two O2 Sensors, rather than the two CATS, four O2 Sensors (problem with the A6). The overall Audi design seemed great. The interior seating was very comfortable. The quality material quality seemed to be there. BUT the big issue are as follows:

1. Why does Consumer Reports rate the Audi as unreliable? ... although they do not specify exactly what they are referring to about the Trans, Brakes and Electrical Problems they refer to in their donut charts. I noticed that the new Audi donut ratings are clear of problems, but then when a few years go by the same car suddenly gets a bad rating in certain areas.
Btw, a local Audi shop foreman master tech I spoke to, told me to avoid the 3.0 engine, and said the 2.8 was much less troublesome, and it was durable. He told me about the 1.8 T sludge problem with the clogged oil pickup screens; and the torque converter washer in the ZF tranny breaking off.

2. Mostly what I read when I see a post titled 1.8 or 2.0 vs. 3.6 it is about performance issues. My problem is the reverse. Performance is not issue at all, as either engine is adequate for acceleration and far beyond any top end we would use. I am more concerned when people post and say the A4 is very noisy or that I must use 91 or 93 octane (an Audi salesman I know owns and Audi and he says he uses 89 octane all the time with no problems and uses it as a daily driver). From the posts I read I bet you all would use 99.9 octane if it was available. Would the engine suffer from using it as a daily driver top speed 55 mph? ie., a near luxury car, because compared to our 91 Volvo it is a luxury car.

I took one test drive in a 2004 A6, 3.0, and it seemed great. My friend drove it. I sat in the passenger seat. He claimed it had throttle lag and brake fade, otherwise ok for the rest of it. But it is out of the question now, since I learned that Audi did not use the 2.8 since 2001, and a vehicle that old cannot be certified, in addition to the master tech's warning. (I have never understood why any mfr stops making anything that has proven itself to be a great product - since that is what everyone wants).

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give you all a good comprehensive background of the facts which led us to Audi. If you have any comments or suggestions thank you in advance for any response or ideas that may help.
diyer

 

first how long did it take you to type that up - wow

didn't read the whole thing but I think I got the jist of what you were talking about.

A4 vs A6 - buy whatever you like better for size
since this is your mom and you are never going to go for performance and you want reilablity over all else go with a v6

 

least performance A4 = mine... you can find a decent 96 for only a few thousand.

 

well if you didnt like the backseat in the volvo then you probably wont like the one in the a4.. they are better but not by much

as far as engines i would say stay away from the turbo car, carbon will build up alot quicker with her driving rather then say my driving where i take it out every once in a while and open it up the blow everything out

i think she would be happy with an a6 more room.. and pretty much an ideal car for her... as long as she dosent think it is too big

 

Just bought my wife an '06 A4 2.0 turbo quattro. What a car!! She loves it so much she doesn't want to drive it in the snow. We are selling her Avalon soon so she won't have a choice but to drive it. But seriously-She is coming off a rather large car (for her) and she is lovin this A4. I drove it from Dallas to Cleveland and other than having a problem with the coils due to the dealers newbie shop helper getting them sopping wet so they rusted the car ran awesome. Just take the car out on a deserted stretch of highway once a month and blow out the carbon. The particular car I got her is probably geared more for luxury than performance although I think on the straights it would give my Boxster a run for it's money. Has all the bells and whistles except for the Nav system. It was pre-owned and certified but only had 5K miles on it. The car came with heated leather seats and they sure are comfortable. Even with the long 10 hour days behind the wheel the seats still were great at the end of the day. I love the aluminum interior trim. Here are some photos I snagged from the stealership for as long as they are up there.

http://images.ecarlist.com/cgi-bin/v...942_396#06.jpg

I bought it at Boardwalk Audi and in addition to getting a great price on the car they really treated me nice even paying for 4 new coils from another dealership.

 

damn thats a long post man, an audi is very much a good non performance car stock