Audi A4?

[JPSmit]

If my wife's Mini (BMW) is anything to go buy, it has quirks that a car of that age/quality shouldn't have - and everything is more expensive and inaccessible than my Kia.

Incidentally, we got a recall notice for the Mini this week - basically boiled down to "the electric module in the footwell can catch fire, we are working on a solution but don't have one yet. We will let you know when we find a solution and, in the meantime, you probably don't want to park in a garage." (seriously)

 

[LarryK]

Have had my 03 Cooper S for 15 yrs, dealer untouched except for diagnostic resets. My 2011 Countryman S has had 3 recalls. MINI does what they can pretty quick. There are 4 manufacturers that have recalls that can have fires at this time, just play it safe. Look in footwell remove carpet if worried.

 

[DrEntropy]

Went thru Porsche-Audi training in Lanham, MD, the import H.Q. in the late '70's. The Audi's never have impressed me, then to now. Only one I ever considered interesting was called the 4000 5+5. Five cylinder with a five-speed manual gearbox. The more recent examples are too laden with gizmos to malfunction and expensive to repair, IMHO.

Fix the Alfa properly, it'll run for a long time. Only issue with Alfas is they're really susceptible to the rust mites.

 

[NutmegCT]

Thanks gents. One thing that keeps popping up in "used Audi" discussions - the CVT. Frequent failures, with no one finding a cause (but many finding ways to blame others). Eventually Audi extended the CVT warranty from five years to ten.

Back in 2014, Audi dropped the CVT completely, and announced they would no longer make CVT available in their cars, switching instead to a 7 speed automatic.

Thoughts?
TM
Edit: Have to say, I've had CVT in my Altimas for over ten years. Never a problem, altho' there are reports of Nissan CVT failures in cars from around fifteen years ago. The Nissan CVT is made by a different company from the Audi CVT.

 

[donrissa]

Way back in the the day i drove an audi cs5000 for 280k with routine maintenance. Also had a bmw 635 for a decade, a 3.0cs for years, also just routine maintenance. Then came the mb ml320 and then that's when I got to know the mb tech very well- contributed to his kids education. Now we have a 4runner, camry, and a tr6 that i'm restoring . What I've found that is when the german cars went higher tech so did the frequency of repairs needed.

 

[DrEntropy]

Way back in the the day i drove an audi cs5000 for 280k with routine maintenance. Also had a bmw 635 for a decade, a 3.0cs for years, also just routine maintenance. Then came the mb ml320 and then that's when I got to know the mb tech very well- contributed to his kids education. Now we have a 4runner, camry, and a tr6 that i'm restoring . What I've found that is when the german cars went higher tech so did the frequency of repairs needed.

Wish I could (barn) find an unmolested 3.0 CS for reasonable money! Good ones are fetching outrageous prices (IMHO). They've become "cult cars". Same with early M3's.

 

[pdplot]

I had two Audis, both bought used. A 1984 white Quattro 4-door, 5 speed which ate up CV boots like mad, and a 1991 20-valve Quattro 4-door, color blue, also 5-speed. Haven't seen either model in years. They got expensive to repair and the 84 was stolen and recovered. The 91 was a really fine car - heated leather seats, smooth shifting. Sold it to a young couple from Waterbury.