I couldn't agree more with ppgoal. Aging has its degree of wear on a car, more importantly is level of care an owner shows his vehicle. That's a true statement for any vehicle, be it a Ford Festiva or an Audi R8. The level of care by an owner seems to be to wide a variable for the data to be taken without a grain of salt.

 

We don't include alignments and direct damage from potholes for the reasons you describe.

The latest Car Reliability Survey results were recently posted. The reported number of repair trips per 100 cars per year for the Audi B6 A4:

2002: 133, about average

2003: 150, worse than average, marginal sample size

2004: 70, about average

2005: 197, very small sample size because of short model year, probably too high to be accurate; the 2005.5-2006 is 56

A big thanks to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates in May, August, and November. With additional participants we could provide more precise results and include all model years.

We now have a separate results page for each model. The one for the Audi A4:

Audi A4 reliability comparisons

 

This isn't really true in my case. I keep my car well maintained, but the coilpacks still go out, the steering racks still break, the interior still peels, the window regulators break, the check valves rot, the motor mounts go bad, the flange breaks, etc. These things are not maintenance related.

 

Based on the hundreds of repair reports we receive every month, I believe shame.trammell's experience is far more typical. People want to believe that how a car is cared for will largely determine how many repairs it requires, perhaps becaue this means that the owner has control over a car's reliability. Fact is, the great majority of repairs would have been necessary no matter how a car was cared for. Consider only that most problems these days are electrical, not mechanical.

One big caveat: how a car is cared for should affect its long-term durability--by which I mean how many major mechanical repairs it requires at 7+ years of age. Earlier on, not nearly so much.

These are questions I'd like to do more in-depth research on. Just need enough people involved first.

Car reliability research

 

752 Audi A4s signed up to participate so far. A great start. But more always helpful. The more owners that participate, the better the information we can provide to everyone.

Car reliability research

 

And now 804--gaining on the 3-Series.

Updated results soon. Everyone who has been participating--thanks.

Car reliability research

 

We've updated the results for the B6 A4 to include owner experiences through March 2009. In terms of successful repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2005: 159, worse than average, small sample size, actual repair rate probably much lower based on result for the 2004

2004: 87, about average

2003: 163, worse than average

2002: 149, worse than average

A big thanks to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates in August and November. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and post separate results for each engine.

Audi A4 reliability comparisons

 

915 A4 owners now signed up. Strong growth in recent months. That said, more people remain needed so we can split results by engine in the future.

Car reliability research

 

Updated results soon. As always, additional participants would be helpful.

 

We've updated the results for the B6 A4 to include owner experiences through June 2009. In terms of successful repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2005: 217 -- rush to get things done before warranty ends?

2004: 113

2003: 179

2002: 145

All are worse than average. We've been seeing much lower repair frequencies for the B7 and B8.

Everyone who has been helping, thanks, I certainly appreciate it. We'll have further updates in November and February. The more owners participate, the better the information we can provide to everyone.

Audi A4 reliability comparisons