Good morning all . . .

I have owned three Audi automobiles:
1975 100 GL
1982 5000 Quattro
1985 Sports Quattro

Although I found Audi engineering features of these cars potentially excellent, poor mechanicals and fittings had my cars in the shop quite often. Because of this poor reliability factor, I have purchased other brands since then.

The new A5 is quite appealing to me. However, my concern is Audi reliability. Has today’s Audi product improved to the extent that reliability is no longer a cause for concern? If so, I would opt for the A5 as my next car.

I would appreciate opinions from present Audi owners.

 

Overall Audi reliability seems to be in line with the other OEMs that Audi competes with. No one's going to be able to give you a guess on the A5/S5 though, since no one on the forum has yet bought one, it's a brand-new car that has just hit the market (so NO ONE will know yet), and the one person who has ordered one was told to be prepared to wait until November to take delivery. Hard to assess reliability on a car that's been on the road for only a few months.

 

Thank you for your response Jeremy. I have found that there are trade-offs one must accept when choosing one car over another. One might have better handling, another more quickness, still another better technical features and richer luxury. However, for the kind of money that a top German or Japanese model car commands, I demand reliability as a given factor.

My Audi ownership experience with models in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s was fraught with mechanical and fitting failures. It was unacceptable to me to have a dashboard fall onto my lap after a normal stop at a traffic light; both hydraulic and electric failures requiring three tows; door locks freezing andoperating intermittingly. Perhaps, my experience would have been mollified if I had received courteous and professional behavior by the dealerships. Instead, my complaints were ignored or simply not remedied.

I recognize the wonderful advancements Audi has made in recent years bringing to the market really excellent automobiles. Yet, I am hesitant to spend $50K or for a automobile that will require shop time other than for normal maintenance.

Because I want my next car to be a coupe, I have the A5 under consideration. I hope that it will prove to be a winner. If so, I will opt for it as my final car.

Thanks again.

 

I agree with you completely. Being that you're buying a new car, and a new model at that, I'm sure there will be some bugs that have to be discovered "on the road" by the buying public. The upside is that your warranty will cover their repair, so in the short-term, you'll have little to worry about in terms of out-of-pocket expenses, and spending $50k on a car pretty much ensures you'll always have a loaner in the event that your car has to stay overnight or longer.

From my own experiences of owning my Audi for the last 15 months, it seems that these cars now (and mine's a 99) have overall a very good build quality and reliability, and that the major issues really aren't major but are annoying more than anything else. On my car (B5 chassis A4, 2.8 30v engine, quattro, manual transmission), the main issues are control arm replacements (the ball joints are non-serviceable and tend to wear out), wheel bearings, cruise control issues, screwy fuel gauge senders after 100k miles, and a crappy water temp sender (which can be replaced with a better, later model). That's about it. They're a pain sometimes, but by no means a deal-breaker. I think that with the 9 years of progress between the build of my A4 and your prospective S5, not to mention the large premium your car commands over what mine did when new, should also give you assurance that you're getting a car that is built very well. Yours will have a LOT more gadgets and technology, which can open up the chance for additional issues, but that's to be expected from any new, modern, feature-laden car, for my money, I'd rather deal with Audi issues than spend that money on a loaded Lincoln or a relatively-more-sparsely equipped BMW and deal with their issues.

The good news is that Audi has progressed by light-years since the cars that you dealt with in the past. I can't speak for the dealership experience, as I do my own work, but I'd highly recommend using an outside, independent, Euro-specific shop for work when you can do so, or for those times when you have to pay for work on the car, since they tend to cost less and don't seem to have the same attitudes as many people report about the dealerships. The caveat there though, is that the S5 is a new design, and no one may have the experience with them that the dealer training programs afford their employees. Still, the engine is a variant on a known motor that's been around awhile, and many other subsystems on the car are either adapted from prior models or evolved otherwise from known, existing setups, so a knowledgeable shop with experience on late-model Audis can probably handle your car.

Ultimately, only time will tell on the A5/S5 and their reliability. Hopefully they pan out well. Aesthetics aside, I think its price and performance difference as compared to a BMW 645i make it a clear frontrunner, as you can haul people more comfortably at or near the same speed as a 645i can achieve, and do it for less money, with the added benefit of quattro. Not many coupes are available in this market, and the only other real possibility I can think of would be a CLK Benz, and I don't think it has the suds to run with the S5. An AMG variant might, but then you're looking at significantly bigger money and a niche builder. Yes, it's owned by M-B and warranteed as such, but with a purpose-built car like that, one that doesn't really have much pretense for commuting and daily driving chores, you're again better off with the S5. Volvo's C70 is left for dead comparatively in just about any category I can think of, and Saab doesn't even offer a competitor. Yes, in a way this is me spending your money, but I think the S5 is your best bet and I doubt you'd regret it

 

Thank you Jeremy. Your comments are most appreciated and give me the kind of valuable information I desire.

 

hy there.from your post i imagine that you are from the USA,so to introduce myself-im from Europe,where we get plenty of audi's of all kinds.i live in Croatia,capital city Zagreb,and here i have seen at least 15-20 new a5 models.my dad ordered brand new a5 3.0 tdi and will be delivered in 2 weeks,so im really lookin forward hehe.anyway,i have quiet a few friends that own(-ed) an audi,and looking at audi cars overall in the last lets say 5 years,they managed to catch up with Mercedes and Bmw,and in last 2 years or so partly even outriveled them in some segments- for example audis a8 model is better sold than bmw 7 series and somewhere even more sold than merc. s class.so i cant remember any of my friends or people i know talking about some particullarly bigger problems with their cars,and as i own a really big collection of car magazines of last 7-8 years,ive read lots of compliments on audis reliability and quality in building a car,today in europe audi is considered to have the best quality in car interior for example,so if this isnt helping you,you should google any review of 2004/2005 audi models and there in almost every article you can find complimetns on audis quality and reliability.
greetings from croatia

 

Thank you for your response. Your experience is Europe is interesting to me.

Yes, I am an American and reside in Arizona. Our climate is extreme. It is very hot and dusty in summer and quite coldin winter. There islittle humidty in either season. We do have a monsoon period with high winds and torrential rain fall. Reliability under these conditions is most important.

I have now decided to make my decision in June after the A5 is actually available at local dealerships.

Thanks again for your reply.

 

my wife and I are thinking of getting an A5/S5 audi coupe. I am living in europe right now and I own a 89 audi coupe quattro. Ppl drive their cars very hard out here. I am also curious about how new audis perform. I know my old coupe has always had electrical probs, and stuff wears out but it is a 20 year old car just about. But I still see quite a few coupes driving around out here and a lot of other older audis, so they must last. Its just a pain when it takes a lot to keep them on the road. If we end up getting a new audi, id like it to last 20 years

 

It is now a number of years after I first posted this thread.

Since then, I bought a Lexus SC430 and kept it for four years.

Two months ago, I sold the Lexus and bought a 2012 A4 Avant. It is all that I hoped for in an automobile. It is now my fourth Audi and I expect to keep it for a long time in the future.

 

I'm also in Arizona and will likely be buying an Audi in the coming months. I'm trying to decide between an A5 and A4. I would prefer an A5, but there is a significant cost difference between that and the A4.

What made you decide on the A4, rather than the A5 once parting with the Lexus? Was it simply the necessity for 4 doors? Also, what dealership did you go through and how was the overall experience? I have only test driven an A4 so far at Audi of Chandler, but just that 20-30 minutes was awesome. They were incredibly helpful and knowledgeable.