Audi A5 - Unreliable?

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Mon 30 Jan 2012 13:13
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - Craigdm

Quite fancied a 2 year old A5 as my next car, but speaking with a couple of reputable used car dealers, it would appear that modern Audis are not as wise a buy as you may first think.

One of the dealers simply won't entertain selling any Audis from the past 3 years. Too many tales of very expensive electronic problems, especially with that new-fangled DSG gearbox.

Am I over-reacting, or do these dealers have a valid point?

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Mon 30 Jan 2012 15:53
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - Roly93

Apart from the DSG part, you are over-reacting !

I'd say that non franchise dealres are a bit afraid of Audis because they are a bit specialist for them and also higher value unless quite old for their usual stock list.

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Mon 30 Jan 2012 16:23
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - madf

Multitronic gearbox was called Multichronic for good reason.. Apart from electronic maladies, oil changes at 40k miles were ESSENTIAL to keep the box alive.

Needless to say, not many people know that...

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Mon 30 Jan 2012 16:23
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - Craigdm

The two guys I was talking to are both high-end used car dealers. BMW, Merc, Range Rover type vehicles. Both said basically the same thing... namely that post 2008 Audis are by no means as reliable as they should be.

I notice that the HJ review of the A5 says it came bottom of the JD survey!

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Mon 30 Jan 2012 17:01
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - Roly93

I notice that the HJ review of the A5 says it came bottom of the JD survey!

What about the A4 ? It uses broadly the same components as the A5 ?

The A4 and A5 are ranked joint 36th out of 108 in the 2011 survey and Audi as a brand are ranked 8th out of 28, unless I am mistaken I wouldn't call this bottom, I think you are just talking to guys who dont like Audi's which is fine as long as they just admit it.

Edited by Roly93 on 30/01/2012 at 17:08

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Mon 30 Jan 2012 20:15
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - Craigdm
Apologies, it wasn't the JD survey, it was the Which? one...From the HJ review of the A5.. 'Bottom of 'Which' 2009 new car reliability survey.'

Edited by Craigdm on 30/01/2012 at 20:17

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Mon 30 Jan 2012 17:40
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - xtrailman

I would of thought that all the vag group cars would be unreliable, given they use the same parts.

I know some Vag cars dont show high up in the reliability rankings. But generally there considered fairly reliable.

But then BMW and Merk can have problems.

My son in law had to have his 3 month old e class recovered, only last year.

Edited by xtrailman on 30/01/2012 at 17:43

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Tue 31 Jan 2012 12:18
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - barney100

I know a couple of Audi owner who have clutch problems with overheating in heavy traffic, anyone else know anything about that issue?

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Tue 31 Jan 2012 20:48
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - RicardoB

I've heard that quite a lot can have problems with the nut behind the steering wheel.

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Tue 31 Jan 2012 21:38
Audi A5 - Unreliable? - balleballe

From this forum and knowing friends who have VAG cars - they are probably as reliable as any other mainstream brand now such as ford/GM etc...

I get the impression the cars are designed to look good (inside and out) and not much else.

Clearly it's working as they sell quite a few.

Honda made/make some of the most reliable cars. You will not see them selling the same quantity of Accords compared to the A4/passat or Civic's compared to the A3/Golf

Your guess is as good as mine as to why. This whole 'Jap cars have no soul' is one of the sillyest things I have ever heard personally; but each to their own

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