Audi Plans $30.3B until 2018 to take on BMW

I will say having owned a BMW and currently own an Audi, I will buy another Audi before a BMW.

 

+1

I've had an '09 A4, '11 S5, '99 SLK, many Porsches and now a '13 S7, '13 Boxster and a '98 F355. I also had an '11 Z4 35i. I will never own a BMW again. German cars are Porsche> Audi> BMW> Mercedes. I'll never buy BMW or Mercedes again.

 

There is not enough added benefit for me to ever buy a German car. My personal experience with both brands has been awful. Even if you manage to buy a reliable one, you'll still get your clock cleaned for any repairs that come up. Domestic and Asian competitors are now as enjoyable to drive and are far more easy on the pockets than the Germans.
My brother just bought a Jetta TDI wagon after I warned him not to, after two weeks it has already gone through a coolant hose.

 

The Chris Bangle debacle and its repercussions are still being felt this many years later. If BMW ever got back the excitement it had in the 90's, I'd be all over them. I switched to Audi, they are great cars, however they are not to be owned outside of warranty. Buy the car, buy the extended warranty, when it's up, move it out.

 

You got that right. Audi's a great until the warranty is over. It's almost like they have a built in time clock. They seem to start to fall apart right after the warrenty has expired.

The last real BMW's ended in 2003. My 2 5 series have been nothing but awesome cars. They feel like they are carved out of one peice of steel. Just so solid feeling. The new stuff just doesn't have that bank vault feel to them at all.

 

I had many of the great BMWs, M3's and 2002 tii and such.

I bought a 2013 M3 convertible. I dumped it in a few months. NO power and no longer the "ultimate driving Machine" I find it sad.

An earlier post told of the problems he had with German cars. I had perfect luck but I do agree they are expensive to fix, but so are Ferraris, Lambos and such.

Whats amazing about Vettes is they are not expensive but now handle and feel almost as good as anything selse, and better than some. Also they are so reliable and easy to maintain.

I had the same good luck with my 2005 Ford GT when I had it. It was almost perfect during my 8 years of ownership. I own a Shelby Nustang and love it. I wish Ford would produce a sport car like Corvette

Best

Lee

 

I've been told the newer Audis are better, but after working on them, I'll never own one. Plus, to me, it's a an up market VW. I am not a fan/ don't need AWD, so that doesn't matter to me. My girl has a '13 328. It drives nice, but it's nothing special to me. Never been a fan of Mercedes, but to me all the cars have gotten boring. Not sure what Lexus is doin with their styling, Infinti is ok, but not a game changer.
They are all complicated and getting more expensive to fix.

 

Yup..just replaced an amp in an 2010 s500. 3700 bucks. But at least it has a radio now. If it was the head unit, say goodby to 5k. The amps fail often. This is the third one I have replaced this year in customers cars.

Audi's are very mechanic unfriendly. The labor times are huge, and parts aren't cheap either. I try to avoid repairing those just for my own sanity.

BMW has a big issue with the earlier 335i turbo's. done a few head gasket jobs, and turbo replacements. Very common. Close to 15k if they both need replacement, which has happened.

 

As I always say, "Audi, all the maintenance and costs of a Lamborghini at 1/4 the enjoyment".

I tried to replace a taillight bulb once and gave up because I thought I was going to break the lens. LOL

 

Lol..on some cars (BMW and a couple of Audi's) you need to remove the front bumper to replace a bulb..stupid. I find myself having to make estimates for bulb replacement. Some can take over 2 hours in labor to replace a .50 cent bulb. Who the heck designs this stuff?

 

So far with my old 2010 V.W CC, and 2012 Audi A4 have been back more to the dealer in the first year alone for repairs, than my 05, 08, Cadillac cts-v, 09 sts-v, and 2010 Lincoln Mkx combined...On top of Audi is making us buy the maintenance .

 

My friends 2013 RS5 , just cut off power on him in Bevery Hills, car was in the shop right up to the 30 day lemon law period. Replaced the whole engine.! He did have a nice A7 loaner in the mean time but geeeeze, brand new car and now a new engine.

 

The Bangle design fiasco swayed me from BMW to Audi, but I remember my e46 3 coupe being a great drive. I drove a new 3 series last year, and it's still very nice -- but also very common and not as attractive as Audi's current lineup.

I also agree on the warranty, but that applies to pretty much every high end modern car. I doubt a Ferrari California or Mercedes SL is going to be any more affordable than an Audi R8 when the time comes to replace the roof mechanism or any misbehaving electronics. For the long term ownership, I'd be more likely to go with an '80s-vintage 911 or SL than anything recent -- far less stuff to go wrong, and wide choice of mechanics who can work on them.

Cars have gotten boring. Lamborghinis are upmarket Audis. Problem as you say is that they are all complicated, and technology breeds sameness. I have an Audi TT with DSG, and I've driven a Porsche Boxster S with PDK, and ultimately it's hard to tell the difference in those gearboxes. And I haven't driven a high end car in the last 5 years that didn't have great acceleration, braking and handling. You used to need a Porsche or Ferrari for that, but that's no longer the case.

Mostly I think it comes down to style these days, and practical stuff like luggage space, headroom, etc.

... Someone who knows the original buyer won't have the car long enough to be shocked and awed by the maintenance/service costs. I'm actually surprised Audi resale values are so strong. I leased an A5 when they first came out, and when I returned it ~3 years later the dealer had it on the lot for a couple of grand under the original MSRP (and solid it within a week).

 

To be fair, I'm on my third Audi (2008, 2010 and now 2013) and none of them has ever gone back to the dealer for anything beyond routine servicing. Defects happen, but anecdotally I've had three good ones in a row as daily drivers.

 

Audi/VW have the most fragile parts I've dealt with. Coolant pipes and evap fittings break when you touch them. Of course, even being the worst, they aren't alone.
As for headlamp bulbs, new Malibus are the same. Bumper comes off.
Cars don't come with oil or trans dip sticks any more. Auto AC is great until it doesn't work.
Job security

 

I agree with that 100% Just put a bad taste when it does happen.

 

More and more cars are starting to go this route.

 

We just went through the dreaded headlight and actuator replacement on our S4! The whole front bumper!

Like you said: Who designs this stuff? If I designed houses this way ...

Lucky for me, we have a superb dealer (University Audi, Seattle), they covered the $1400 bill under "extended warranty" ( ;-) an '06!).
And gave us an A7 for a week….suppose I'm obligated now, eh?

 

BMW no longer builds the ultimate driving machines - they gave up completely on trying to design in feel, responsiveness, feedback, and abandoned any pretense of limiting weight gain. Now BMWs are porkier than any equivalent Audi, don't ride or handle as well, the only slight advantage they retain is in steering feel. Audis are better drivers cars nowadays, and have way nicer, higher quality, interiors.

I'm an Audi guy - started with a 3 year old 98 A4, then had a new 2002 allroad wagon (2.7 V6 turbo w/6 spd manual trans) for 5.5 years, excellent reliability. Only one repair needed under warranty (wheel bearing), 1 repair after warranty (hazard switch). Sold it to buy a 2007 S4 Avant, 4.2 V8 w/6 speed manual trans. Absolutely brilliant car, fantastically reliable, owned it for 7 years - that's 3 years off warranty, by the way - zero repairs. I had to change the tail light bulbs on my own, 2 times - it was not hard! Have had a 2010 S5, 4.2 V8 w/6 spd manual, for 3.5 years now, zero problems or repairs. It had a dipstick tube, no physical dipstick, so I bought the dipstick for a 2009, now I have both electronic and physical dipstick... In September, we bought a 2014 Audi S7 and sold the 07 S4. The S7 is an amazing car, a real rocketship, yet gets better gas mileage than the S4 did. It's my first automatic trans car in 30 years, but has a 7 speed DSG dual clutch automated manual box that is brilliant, the first automated trans that I actually like.

I hope Audi does not try to emulate BMW's product planning direction, they're doing better than BMW on their own!

 

Shoot... I got excited... thought you were going to say that you once had

A NEW BMW 2002!

Nevermind, you're probably not old enough to have had a new one...

 

My uncle did have a new BMW 2002 in 1972, I was 13 at the time.

 

I've been in Paris for over a week and Audis outnumber BMWs by a large margin.