jungy4

I am considering purchasing my first Audi. Actually my first German car. I currently drive an 06 Acura TL manual and I am looking for 2011+ A4 manual, preferably certified pre owned.

I have heard horror stories about German cars and their maintenance costs and I am scared to buy one and spend a ton of money to get it running.

Can I get some insight on how relilable these cars are and how hard it is to work on these cars? I am just a little mechanically inclined. Thanks.

uberwgn

If "reliability" is your #1 concern, you don't buy a European car. You stick with an Asian car.

Now, if you obtain an Audi CPO car, how much exposure do you really have?

You should pay a visit to the local Audi dealer and review typical service interval costs. They may put the end to this discussion with a short stop The cost of maintaining any European car is impressive. Sometimes the bill handed to you will look like someone's telephone number.

Welcome aboard, Jungy.

jungy4

What did you mean by exposure?

So even VW maintenance costs are not much cheaper than Audi?

snagitseven

CPO (certified) used Audis come with a warranty so the exposure to repairs is minimized. Not quite as comprehensive as a new car warranty but close.

VW parts and labor are generally about the same to repair as Audi, BMW and Mercedes. On the other hand, if the same model year, Audis tend to be more complex due to more advanced features.

shs92645

Having owned many German cars, I can say that nothing compares to one in terms of driving. That said, they can be expensive to operate and do not have the history of reliability that Japanese cars have. If I were in your shoes, I would look for a low mileage 2011 or 2012 that is certified (to 100k). Chances are good that this combo will let you enjoy the vehicle without worrying about going broke.

oceanbreeze

I don't have direct experience with the model years you are considering, but in terms of DIY a lot will depend on how organized you are, and whether you are able to read through lots of technical procedures on the service manual, and your access to good quality tools, mechanical and otherwise.

You could probably end up doing regular maintenance on it, but understand that it will require patience (definitely not the BF hammer approach), and dedication.

One thing that I did learn with VAG cars is that they can be DIYed a lot, but in the process you will have expended enormous amounts of time getting up to speed on the technical details of their maintenance, and eventually you might feel like you became your own mechanic. If you have free time available to you, maintaining a VAG car will give you lots of satisfaction, and will definitely isolate you from the horrorific experiences some people have had with dealers and indies -- this is how I ended up DIYing it. For context, I have extensive mechanical experience and knowledge, and I am very hands on (though I am not in the automotive or auto repair industry), but still find that the ample time I need to do a thorough job is not always available.

You will need to consider though that you will still depend on the dealer for some things, at least until the warranty expires.

Finally, much of it will depend on how good you are with the car. You can still have a lot of fun driving it, but you can't drive it like you stole it all the time and expect things to work without a few $1500 repair bills every now and then.

EDIT: upon re-reading your post, it's unclear what you are really asking. You will be buying a 2011 CPO -- why would you have to spend a ton of money to get it running?