... at least that's what I heard. When I bought my '96 and '02 A4s, the 50,000 mile/4 year bumper to bumper warranty was included. But I understand that Audi now makes buyers pay for that length of warranty. I don't know what their standard warranty is now. Perhaps somebody with a B7 can tell you.
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after the 2006 model year for the duration of the standard 4 year/50K warranty. The car still comes with the factory warranty for free. :D

AudiCare for a new car can be purchased within a year and covers routine service visits @ 10K intervals starting at the 15K mark. The first service visit at 5K is still complimentary, IIRC. That's the $650 that Blownaway was referring to. Got mine for free with a coupon from Audi when I bought my B7 last summer. HTH.

So it's $650 for free service visits for 50k miles/4 years? What do you mean by routine service? Sheduled maintenance only? Is non-routine service not covered?
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Quoting from my paperwork:

"Audi Care New Vehicle scheduled maintenance plan includes:

Four regularly scheduled maintenances at the following intervals: 15000 miles, 25000 miles, 35000 miles and 45000 miles or one year from the last service, whichever occurs first. Any scheduled maintenances not completed within five years from the original vehicle in-service date are excluded.

For complete details regarding scheduled maintenances, please consult your Audi Owner's Manual and maintenance booklet.

All scheduled maintenance must be completed by an authorized Audi dealer." ...

"Regardless of the scheduled maintenance plan selected, the coverage remains with the vehicle for which it was originally purchased and can be used by the subsequent vehicle owner(s)."

Now that was from June of last year. I don't know if there are any substantial changes to it, apart from going up to $650 from $590.

Non-routine service to me means warranty work. I understand there are exceptions for certain things considered wear items. I'm sure there are folks on AW who know what those things are. IIRC, they will only replace a battery within the first 12 months, for instance. The days of Audi paying for bulbs and wiper blades are gone.

Sent to people signed up for Audi newsletters on AudiUSA. AudiCare was free if you took delivery by July 2nd.

Not quite as good, but if you have been an Audi Club NA member for 90 days, you get $500 off (good until the end of the year). Folks who went to the Audi Driving Experience event have gotten another $500 off with another e-mail sent to them after the event. I'd say that covers AudiCare and then some.

$410 :-)

I liked the no-charge maintenance on my B5, but I don't think I'll pay extra for it on a B8. Especially since the oil filter location has been un-copulated making the job even easier. Plus with many dealers not offering loaners the trip into the shop, waiting on a ride to/from work, etc has made the whole process not worth the shipping.

Well, if your time is really worth less than $75 dollars an hour, you enjoy the hassle of disposing with old oil, and you like your hands covered in grease...

I changed my own B5 oil every 5k miles. Then I learned it just wasn't worth it.

That plus knowing it's been done correctly makes the exercise well worth the time every six months or 10,000 miles.

I'd much rather do "something" in that 1-2 hours it takes to swap oil, filter and plugs versus taking the time out of my work day to go to the dealer when they're open, wait around an hour for the dealer shuttle to arrive, troll around town for another hour dropping everyone else off before making it into the office two hours late, arranging for a ride back to the dealer before they close, etc. I don't idle well.

I'm an engineer too, but the routine maintenance just doesn't excite me as much as I dislike the mixture of used oil and road grime anymore

I drop the car off at my dealer on the way to work, swap it for a loaner, and swap back on my way home. It takes something on the order of 15 minutes of my time. Except that something else is usually broken, so I usually have to bring it in for warranty service anyway. And I get a free hand car wash. If I had to lose a day doing it, maybe I would still do it myself.

I still haven't gotten rid of all the used oil from my b5. And my b7 hit 2 years last month and 50k today. Changing the oil the first few times was fun. Then it just got dirty and tedious. Right around the time I replaced the 3rd cracked oil pan on that car.

A nearby fire station has a collection center for used oil and filters. We haven't had loaners here for quite a while. When I first got my car I'd always get a nice A6 loaner. Then at 40K it was a Hyundai loaner. Then at 50K it was the shuttle and that was the last time I used the dealer for maintenance.

The Audi franchise has changed hands again since then so I don't know if they're back to doing loaners or not, but even if they were the dealership is 45 minutes out of my way for going to work.