are the a4 series reliable cars? gas mileage? how insurance costs? how are replacement parts costs? i will be using this car for 4 years of college and i want a nice reliable car thats fun to drive. are these cars a good choice or a bad move? kinda scary with all the repairs that needs to be done!
my budget is around 5 grand by the end of summer.

thanks for your help!

 

if you will have some space to work on the car then why not?!

 

Is it reliable? I don't think anyone can say anything about this part. Some people have came to the forums with a lot of issues but I personally never had any major issues with mine.

I know that insurance for younger drivers wouldn't be as cheap as Hondas or Toyotas since these cars are considered sports cars and somehow also luxurious.

Replacement parts aren't as cheap as Japanese cars. But like mentioned above, if you're willing to do some labor your self, you can save a lot of money instead of going to the mechanics.

 

Its a great car, fun to drive, decent on gas, but my recommendation would be to have it checked over thoroughly. If some of the bigger ticket items are fine or have been taken car of, or if the car has detailed service records it would be a fine choice. Be picky, I don't know what area you are in but I found all kinds of A4's around the Detroit area. I was looking for a turbo, quattro, manual and still found several options in the 6k range.

 

If you're going to buy one, one way to save money is making sure the TB was recently done via paperwork don't take word of mouth! the 2.8s are more reliable than the 1.8 but 1.8 are much more modable. As far as prices for parts some you can get dirt cheap offline some will leave you feeling like your the new cute boy in jail block C! I will say as far as just "Fixing" things that go wrong I probably Avg. about $100 a month but my car was beat to hell by the last owner. If you can find something low miles and taken care of you're good! And to think long run cost Premium fuel only and I dont know about these guys but this is by no means a fuel efficient car! My '95 civic get about 42MPG my '07 about 39MPG and this gets about 21-23 depending on how you drive! Babying it I've never had over 23.

 

No. Absolutely not. Buy a Subaru. An A4 will look better and have a better interior and better AWD than almost any Subaru, but a Subaru will be more reliable and a much better car for a student.

 

i wouldn't say it's reliable but i also wouldn't say it isn't. it's hit or miss IMO depending on how the previous owners treat them and what day the car was made. definitely fun to drive but we all know fun=money lol

 

If you have some tools and know-how and choose carefully you'll probably be ok. Take what everyone said above as well as the new member guide at the top of the forum and be realistic about it. An A4 that was cared for can be great. One whose maintenance has been neglected will have you in the bathtub tracing for the gin and a razor blade.

 

From the amount of money I've had to spend on my car in the last 4 years of owning it, I would say stay away from these cars unless you find one that has had all the major maintenance done already and you know how to work on these cars. If I was still in college, I would have had no hope of affording the repair bills this car has thrown at me.

 

i think it depends on ones luck when buying a car and making sure you look at it. cause some people seem to have constant problems while others go for years with no issues at all. just what i think though