Dirk Diggler 75

Hello all, looking at these for a daily runabout.
Has anyone on here experienced them,are they any good,reliable etc
All opinions welcome good or bad ..
Cheers .........

Jamz3k

Boring has hell, I hate driving them with a passion.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Ditto, had one on hire for a while. Dull as dishwater and suspension as hard as nails.

Dirk Diggler 75

Thanks for the info,they don't sound very promising ...

john banks

3.0 TDI, quattro and DSG are good. Based on A6 test driving, S line and big wheels ruins the ride, as a passenger in a B8 A4 SE it was firm on I think 17" wheels, but borderline acceptable. The only recent Audi I've been in that had a good ride was on air suspension, this is a £2k option on A6, not sure if available on A4. A6 on 17" was borderline acceptable.

Maybe adjustable dampers help, not tried these on a coil sprung Audi.

hodgy0_2

Have an A4 TDI Quattro sport, love it

Nice cabin, smooth drive - 180k miles and still feels taught with everything still working - pretty much problem free

(Apart from a recent IC failure)

Dirk Diggler 75

I can live with the hard ride surely it can't be as hard as my old scoob.
In general are they pretty reliable .....

Razorwrx1

iTrader: (21)

My mate has a 08 s line 2.0 Tdi, was great for 2-3yrs. Now nothing but problems, he's been told Audi's are good until they reach 60-70K then problems start!

Saying that the other post 180K and only IC fault. Spot on IMO

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Think the suspension is bad...try a M-sport BMW on runflats. Thats not to say the A4 S-line has a good ride, but it puts things in perspective. When looking at bavrian marques, Mercs currently have the ride/comfort department sewn up.

What year car are we looking at? Just to get a ball park idea.

A4's (and A6 etc) inherant flaw is their front suspension. It lasts ages - ball park of 8 to 10 years and about 100K to 130K mixed miles, but once the bushing and balljoints (thats four balljoints on each side, not including the track rod end) start to wear/fail, thats when things get costly.

Multitronic...avoid like the plague. OK I've seen examples with over 150K with the only issue being the sensor on the control unit failing, but then I've seen others need total tear-downs for clutches and even outright replacement because it just wouldn't work right.

The other costly thing is ancillary belts/pulley/tensioner failures. To replace them requires the entire front end to be moved forward (some garages remove it entirely, we just bolt on some all-thread onto the moutings to allow it come forward far enough to get clearance), so quite labour intesive just to change a belt, which on a Impreza in comparison can be done in 5 minutes LOL. But not doing so can cost alot more if the belt fails - A noisy pulley can quickly lead to a shredded belt, which can wrap itself round one of the ancillaries, usually the a/c compressor or alternator...which wrecks the pulley. A new compressor isn't cheap.

Other than that; diesels suffer the usual diesel problems, nothing more than anything else really (EGR, DPF, noisy turbo, the odd injector etc). Petrol FSi again no dramas, had the odd stuck injector but thats about it.

Just beware of Audi's variable service regime isn't in the engine's best interest for longevity, sludging and owners running them low on oil is common because they can go for several years without the bonnet ever being lifted.

Dirk Diggler 75

Looking at 04 05 model year,cheers all for the info ..

Dirk Diggler 75

Cheers,would you recommend a B.M.W. over an Audi just looking for reliability and thought Audi's were reliable ......

SRSport

If reliability is a concern then a 10 year German car is not the best idea, especially VAG cars.

Brun

^^^^
Yep!!!

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Both equal IMO. If looking at diesels, 2005 should get you a M47 engined BMW, which is probably the better 2nd hand buy be it 3 or 5 series (although not fault free - google swirl flaps), but anything with the later N47, forget it, as they are all ticking time bombs unless it has the invoices for the timing chain/engine repairs.

People will say BMW this, Audi that, Ford this and to run away from anything French. Point being the probablility of getting a fault free car of that age is down to luck - people sell on their old car for two reasons, one is moving onto something new, the second is because there's something wrong with it; Cars go wrong, bits break and things wear out, its a thing they do. All I will say is IMO, the German stuff seems to be even with reliability and a far safer bet than anything French.

Dirk Diggler 75

Cheers Ali ........

SRSport

The German cars probably are better than French but that doesnt make them good. Ultimately I would try and ascertain how well its been looked after. For example I bought a Mercedes at 5 years old. The following 2 years it was terrible due to apparent neglect. It had many faults and was a money pit. Since putting everything right with genuine parts and treating it right, e.g. letting the turbo warm up/cool down, using Nitro + etc. it has been superb.

tarquin crispin

we had a new 2.0 tsfi sline with 7 speed dsg box and the only bad thing we found was the dsg box

hodgy0_2

This is (as ever) spot on, I had the belts changed at 160k as per service schedule, and yes a slightly more labour intensive job, but not earth shatteringly expensive really

Worth getting the water pump changed at the same time too, and also did suffer a noisy pulley, initially thought it was the turbo - bit again a simple job to change

An A4 is never going to win any prizes for the most dynamic drive in the world

But doing its primary function I.e. transporting me around, (often doing 350 mile a day) in comfort and safety with a fantastic ROI story - it is pretty good

Very happy with it - in my 7 years and 120k of ownership it has only ever had one unscheduled trip to the garage

I do drive with a fair bit of mechanical sympathy though - so not "hard" on my cars

Dirk Diggler 75

Cheers for the info .....