SlapShot

I have been seriously considering the purchase of a 2019 RS5 Sportback. I have spent a great deal of time researching all aspects of the car, reading every available review, and have now had two test drives of the car.

My only remaining question is what might be expected for long term reliability. I would particularly appreciate the thoughts of any of you who have owned the cars since the 2019 model first appeared through the current time. Anyone else with suitable expertise and knowledge of the cars thoughts would also be greatly appreciated.

I would plan to use the RS5 for the next seven years as a daily driver about 12k miles a year. And it will almost certainly be a 2019 model based on what I can afford.

Do you feel this is a viable plan? As always, there were certainly be the expected maintenance costs, and a repair, here or there, and, within reason, I can accommodate those costs.

Your perspective is appreciated. Thanks.

superswiss

You wanna research the rocker arm issue with the early RS5s. Depending on the production date, the car you are looking at may have the old rocker arms that are known to fail.

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/aud...5-sq5-3043102/

DCB1951

I have a 2019 RS5 SB, build date October 2018, still stock without any mods. I have put on nearly 57,000 miles in 61 months. The car has been nearly perfect in its performance without any trouble or defects, other than one minor one caused by a sloppy install of the passenger detection seat fix. I change the oil every 5k miles. Just replaced the rear brakes (expensive); the front brakes (CCB) wear pattern suggest that I will never have to replace them (thank God - really expensive). Whoever gets my car eventually will inherit a jewel.

However, I believe my driving habits have contributed significantly to its reliability. I drive briskly when I can, but not hard. I've launched it fewer than five times, maybe floored it once otherwise. I rarely cross 4k RPM and then only briefly, and at the advice of Dan99, I shift the transmission map from D to S when accelerating while climbing to avoid lugging. At cold start, I don't even move until RPMs drop to warm idle (~750 RPM). I don't exceed 3,500 RPM until the oil temp gets to ~150 deg F. None of this car's components have been pushed to the limit since I've owned it.

What I'm highlighting is a big unknown with any used vehicle; how did the current a/o previous owners treat this car? A lot of RS cars are driven pretty hard; certainly a lot harder than I drive mine. It's the primary reason i would never personally buy a used high-performance vehicle. I did once, but that's because I knew the owner well and the car had very low mileage. I drove it for 13 years until I traded it in for this car.

Could I get seven more years at 11k miles per year out of this car? I think so. What I would be worried about is not the cost of scheduled maintenance but the natural high cost of parts, replacements, and repairs. If you start a sinking fund dedicated to paying for that, then I would seriously consider buying that car.

SlapShot

Really appreciate your input and thoughts on this. I do realize that there are certainly concerns buying a used vehicle, especially a high performance oriented one, because you don't know how its been driven and/or abused. Granted, I am told repeatedly by good European oriented mechanics that German cars, in general, have no problem being run hard, they were made for it. Its maintenance that's critical.

I'm somewhat between a rock and a hard place with this choice. I'm retired, and this will almost certainly be the last quality, performance oriented car that I will be able to purchase. I need AWD, which limits things, from the start, since, other than Audi, there are not all that many higher performance cars with AWD except at extremely high prices. My budget is maxed out at right around $60k, and there is nothing at all new that one can buy for that money anywhere near this class.

Dan99

I have a 2019 RS5 Sportback with about 60K miles. It was purchased new, I like it a lot, and have no plans to get rid of it. I specifically wanted the 2019 model to avoid a touch-screen interface and still prefer the one in the 2019 models. If you prefer touch screens, you'll have to get a newer model. I will say that the newer models are more compatible with wireless Apple Car Play and Android Auto, if these are important to you. In my case, I typically rely on SD cards and/or plug my phone into the car with a USB cable, and everything works fine. I could use Bluetooth to connect to the MMI, but prefer higher quality sound than Bluetooth can deliver. And, my SD cards can hold a lot of high quality music. My music is on one SD card, and my wife's is on another.

I have had a couple problems over the years:

1. The fuel pump gasket was installed incorrectly at the factory and it developed a leak at about 7K miles. Fixed under warranty.

2. The factory alignment was horrible. It must have been done first thing Monday morning after a rough weekend. A new alignment completely changed the handling for the better. Tire pressures are also critical in the handling of this car. Start with those in the manual, NOT on the door jam, and tweak as needed. More on this below.

3. The valve in the left exhaust started flapping on its own one day and had to be replaced.

4. The standard brakes are expensive to replace, and the Carbon Ceramic ones are through the roof. If the car has CC brakes I would have them measured to determine if they are approaching replacement and either avoid that car or make sure the price reflects the need to replace them. I have the standard brakes, and have moved to aftermarket brake rotors to save on cost. Maybe it's a placebo effect, but the new rotors and stainless steel brake lines make the brakes feel much better. The oem ones were very good, the aftermarket ones are better (at least in my head). 034 and Girodisc are two brands to consider.

My use of the car:

1. It's a daily driver. I was first introduced to RS models when Audi invited me to drive an R8 and RS7 on a local track. I take my car to the same track 2 or 3 times per year, and have also been on Road America (stock) and Virginia International Raceway (tuned). I don't race though. It's a high performance car and I wanted to safely learn how to drive it effectively with less risk than doing it on the road. I go to High Performance Driving Events (HPDE) that include some classroom time, autocross and track time. Considering that the car was designed for the Autobahn, this hardly pushes the car past its limits but, again, I don't beat it.

2. I drove it stock until it was out of warranty. It is now tuned with 034 Stage 1 ECU and Stage 2 TCU. It also has a Wagner Competition Intercooler and an 034 transmission mount. Again, I don't race. The Intercooler just provides better cooling which reduces heat-related power loss and it would be a good investment if you live in a very hot climate (whether you tune it or not). The transmission mount makes the shifting more direct. The ECU tune gives it more power, but the TCU tune made the car more drive-able by making it easier to control shifting with the throttle. The shifts are also much faster.

3. I only used launch control 3 times when stock and 2 times after tuning. It's not my thing and seems hard on the car. I'm more interested in driving on twisty roads than drag racing. If these things matter to you, see if you can figure out how the car was used.

4. I have both summer and winter tires and wheels. I have been doing this on every high performance car I have owned since 1986. The RS5 is like a tank on snow with winter tires and I much prefer it to my wife's Jeep Grand Cherokee (with All Season tires) on snow covered roads.

5. My car has the optional Sport Suspension with DRC. Some people hate it, but I like it. I can change ride quality and handling with the push of a button, and it corners flatter than any passenger car I have driven. I set the suspension for Auto for Daily Driving, reserve Dynamic for the track or twisty canyon roads, and use Comfort for bad roads or a car full of passengers. And, when the tire pressures are dialed in, Auto provides neutral handling, Comfort provides slight understeer, and Dynamic provides some oversteer.

6. I have done all of the factory maintenance. In addition, I change the oil and filter every 5K miles.

Some additional comments about the 2019 RS5:

1. Rocker arms have been a significant topic of discussion. Audi has used at least 3 versions and only the first two seem to have problems. My RS5 was manufactured in 10/2018 and it has the 3rd version. I believe there were only a small number of early production 2019 RS5 Sportbacks that had the second version. I'm not sure about the Coupes. If you find one with an early production date, I would check the rocker arms. This is easily done with a borescope which most shops have, but they are also inexpensive if you want to do it yourself. You insert the scope into the oil filler cap. There is a thread out here that shows pictures of the different rocker arm versions and you can compare them to photos taken with a borescope.

2. Oil temperature. The car has an oil temp gauge in addition to water temp. The manual says to not use full throttle until the oil is up to temp (176F), which takes a while, but I have followed this religiously. Failure to do this is especially hard on the turbos. I'm not sure how you would determine if a prior owner was careful with this, but I would try to figure that out through discussion. Or, perhaps you could go on a test drive with the owner and see if they wait until the oil is up to temperature before driving hard.

3. Some people say that you should break in a new engine by driving it like you stole it. I disagree with this and have always followed the break-in procedure. Again, I'm not sure how you determine something like this except through conversation with the original owner. This issue is not unique to Audi, and applies to any used car you would buy. Typically you won't know, but if someone tells you they drove it hard during break-in, I would look for a different car.

4. The car comes with high performance summer tires. If you live in or travel to a climate that drops below 40F you'll also need winter tires and wheels, or just go with All Season tires. Make sure you know what tires are on the car and consider this as you negotiate price. High performance summer and winter tires will out-perform All Seasons, so you have to decide whether performance or convenience is most important to you. If the car does have summer tires, look for any checking in the tire surface. This would indicate it was driven below 40F and it needs new tires.

5. Personally, as mentioned in an earlier post, I drive exclusively in Sport. Drive mode puts the car in a gear that is too high and exposes the engine to lugging. Sport puts the car in a gear that keeps the engine rpms in a range that avoids lugging while also making it much more responsive. In my view, 8th gear should be avoided at any speed under 75 mph, so I would actually prefer to purchase a used one that did not spend most of its time in Drive. I'm not sure how much weight to attach to this, but that's my preference.

6. I would make sure all of the factory service has been done. Some only involve an oil change, but others include spark plugs, changing transmission oil and filter, rear end oil, etc. which are all expensive. If any of that has been skipped, I would include the missing service in price negotiations.

7. The knock on the Sport Suspension with DRC is that it can make the suspension harsh. In my view, Dynamic is too harsh for the street, but just put the car in Auto or Comfort. Any harshness that you experience on the street in Dynamic simply disappears on the track, and the car is very stable and controllable. The trap that myself and others fell into was, "i bought a high performance are and should be able to use Dynamic on the street.", but this ignores the fact that Dynamic is really intended for a level of driving that is beyond what you should be doing on most streets. However, you would not want anything less on a track. I have had cars with better shocks, but I would get an RS5 with the Sport Suspension and DRC over one with the standard suspension. I am curious about the suspension in the Competition models, but only 2023 models and newer have that option.

Finally, I used to purchase used performance cars because I could not afford a new one. For example, I've had two used Porsches that I put 100K and 130K additional miles on. Both had 140K miles on them when I sold them. I would still be driving the second one if my daughter did not outgrow the back seat. So, longevity on a used performance car is possible, but you have to do some due diligence on the items above that are important to you, and try to avoid a car that was abused.

B6_Dolphin

Don't know if this one is still available ($49k) and where you are located, but it includes the carbon trim package, which wasn't cheap:

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...ray-in-Houston

JohnEnglish

I have a 2019 RS5 Sportback that I got new and other than an evap system problem, which was replaced under warranty (it’s a known issue), the car has only been to the dealer for regular maintenance. Mine is a daily driver that sees mainly city use (maybe 90/10 city/highway driving).

jdm-v35

I bought my 2019 RS5 SB used and so far it has been great. I just happened to see one for sale and went to the dealer to check it out. I saw it, drove it and just couldn't leave without it. It was maintained under audicare, and I just did the last 50k service and purchased the next 2 years so I know it was maintained by the dealer up to this point. Carfax didn't show any issues and it has been a great daily for me for over a year. I have no plans to ever get rid of it and am absolutely in love with the car. I will say that any mods or even stock part replacements are expensive so make sure you budget for that. Also, maintenance itself is pretty expensive so hopefully that is factored in. It is very much a pay-to-play with this car so if you are looking at a 2019 based purely on affordability, I would highly highly take maintenance and repair factors into consideration. Just a brake replacement is thousands with steel brakes; CCB even more. Being able to afford a lambo doesn't mean you can afford the maintenance; not meant in a condescending way, but trying to keep things realistic.

SlapShot

Thank for the link, but I need a car with mileage no higher than the upper teens.

Lost out on an amazing deal yesterday. Called the dealer where it was located right after they opened to put a deposit down on it, to hold it until I could get a PPI done early this coming week. The receptionist said the salesman were tied up with customers who came in right when they opened the door. She promised to have one call me as a soon as they were available. Two hours later, no call, so I called back. Same receptionist, same story, she just said they were really busy, and someone would call me soon. Three hours later, still no call, so I call them again. I tell the receptionist that I had now been waiting over five hours to talk to someone about putting a deposit on a car. Again, she promises I will get a call shortly. Finally, almost ninety minutes later, I finally hear back from a salesman who then informs me that they sold the car about an hour earlier! I was so wound up after that I was barely able to get any sleep last night. This was exactly the right car, essentially loaded, very, very low miles, with a CPO warranty, and at a great price. I won't find another one like it, probably not even close. And, for a variety of reasons, I either have to complete a deal for a car by the end of this month, or the window closes, and it's not happening. What a massive disappointment.

SlapShot

I appreciate the commentary on what you've experienced. Good points about how critical maintenance is. Thanks. I've owned six other German high performance cars, so I have learned the ropes.