All,
I purchased a 2007 RS4 not quite 2 months ago and LOVE the car. It is so great to drive and has all the gadgets I wanted on a car. My question is around reliability. I haven't had the car long and haven't had any problems, however whenever a "non-car" person hears I have an Audi the first response is yeah they are cool cars but they break all the time. I have had to hear that from a dozen or more people and some that you would think actually may know what they are talking about (mechanics and more car guys rather than your typical joe blow). So whats the deal, and why the bad rep? Or is this just a weird exception that I am getting these comments?

 

Preventative maintenance will always reward you in the long run. I do all my own work on my Audi and have found it no harder to maintain than a Honda.

 

I've owned an A4 in the past, no problems. Now onto my second A4.... not one problem.

 

Anecdotal of course, but never had any major issues with my '97 A4, '00 S4, and '05.5 S4.

 

My a4 is a clunker.....

 

i bought my a4 as the third owner. i had to put alot of money into her, both preventive and must dos. overall, the car is great, reliable, but once it gets some decent miles on them, i feel they are a b**ch to maintain, and $$. just my 2cents.

 

I was told the suspension bushings go out at around 60k miles. I have a clunking noise already coming from my car's suspension at 20k miles.

 

have had 2 A4s (2003,2004) in the family and they are phenomenal cars as long as they aren't super high mileage... after 100k they become time bombs.

that said my best friends 3 year old S4 has been a disaster. I think the previous owner must have been brutal on it because EVERYTHING has gone wrong with that car

 

Seems like it might be the DRC. I'm taking it to the dealer to see what is up.

The GMG exhaust is amazing. Great quality, great sound. Plenty loud around town, and rather quiet on the freeway (no droning). Highly recommended, unless you really want to go with a non-resonated exhaust.

 

I have had 4 Audi's since 98

96 A4
01 S4
05 S4
03 Allroad

All have been reliable cars. I have been on top of service and any thing that isn't right I fix immediately.

 

As was stated before, perhaps some people have the "Unintended acceleration" phenomenon of Audi's long ago in their head.
Some Audi's have some "typical" seal/gasket leaks starting after ~60k. Mainly the Audi issues are rubber components that fatigue over time (cv boots crack, etc). That kind of stuff happens with any car really. Of course if owners don't take care of these issues they can amass quite the laundry list--passing it on to the next owner. Perhaps the people you've spoken with have purchased cars like these and feel that they come with all of these problems, whereas if the previous owners would have taken some preventative maintenance steps the issues wouldn't be present.

 

Rubber control arm bushings can start to fatigue (squeak/creak) about 60k, yes.