i've never owned an Audi before, and i'm really contemplatinggettingthe S5 since its already available and irefuse towait for the RS. i need a car soon and the S5 is my #1 choice.

problem is taht i'm hearing some negative feedback from some Audi owners(one has owned 2 audis) and claims thataudis are not really reliable cars. Good performance, ride, etc, but reliability is not so great. Can any one can attest to this? I've heardnegative feedfrom 3 of my Audiowninng friends and they take good care of their cars. What are you guys experiences here?

it would be realy helpful becausereliabilitywill MAKEorBREAK wethre i actually buy this car or not.


thanx in advance.

 

Audis are pretty much like anything else - if you maintain them, they'll treat you well. Thing is, for a car like this, you can't maintain it like a Tercel. You need to stay on top of things and use quality parts, not just any old eBay crap like you can do with lesser cars. There are parts on any car that are known to go - speaking for the B5 A4 that most of us have, it's control arms, wheel bearings, cruise control stalk, and a few other minor issues. The S5 is completely unproven one way or another (although the engine is more or less the same as existing engines). But although many of us are posting about issues we're having with our cars, it's no different than what you'd see with anything else. Parts cost more because the cars are higher-end and they cost more themselves. But bottom line - take care of the car, service it when and how you should, and don't buy cheapo knockoff parts, and you should be fine.

 

I just bought a '96 A4 2.8L FWD with 146,000 miles on it two weeks ago. This is my first Audi. I've been working on cars for a long time, and what I've noticed from working on this car and reading up on them is that it's not so much that these cars are unreliable, it's that they weren't built with serviceability in mind. They are labor intensive when it comes to parts replacement and maintenance. It works out for me because I like to work on my own cars, but for someone else on a low budget, it might come as a surprise when they take their Audi in to be serviced.

Case in point - on most vehicles the water pump is incorporated in with the serpentine belt that drives the alternator, A/C pump, power steering, etc... On this Audi, the water pump is incorporated in with the timing belt. If the water pump is not changed out at the recommended service intervals, a failure doesn't just result in an engine overheating (if you're slow to read your temp. gauge), it results in a destroyed engine (most likely).

So, bottom line is keep up on the maintenance and it shouldn't give you any out of the ordinary problems.

 

Well i had my car for about 2 years................. other than taking it to service it hasnt been really expensive to maintain. Well i do get a few check engine lights once in a while, but sometimes their just minor things, or things that are going bad and i need to fix them. As the other guys say , it depends how yu maintain the car. I try to use quality products and it has kept my car happy, its just that their too expenisive. But from what i have seen from the S5 lol i want to get that car now that thing looks great and im pretty sure drives great, but at for mechanical assurance i wouldnt know what to tell you.