7k miles road trip, rent a car or use my own?
 

2 people me and my wife. what do people usually do for such long trip?

This is a person specific kind of question. This is no universal answer. I would rent a comfortable car, such as new 2014 Chevy Impala and make sure that a renting company would be okey with me putting 7K miles on it. Some companies charge per mile if you drive out of your state. Make sure you confirm that. Other people may comment that they don't understand people who worry about mileage and depreciation. Well the problem is Audi tends to depreciate pretty fast with mileage. After 50K you are basically on your own (assuming no pure protection is purchased) and the repairs may cost arm and legs. If you do the analysis and want to see what costs more, I bet depreciation derived from 7K miles would cost more than $30/day rent (assuming it is not a month long trip). Anyway, this is how I would approach. Good question though.

It's all personal taste here, but I would drive my Audi. You only live once and life is pretty dang short. If it's a lease and you drive it a lot on a daily basis, then I'd think twice. A car is supposed to be driven. As the saying goes, use it or lose it!

Going to California?

I just took the A6 down to Florida. Wouldn't have even considered a rental (unless it was an A8 L or 750LI). The A6 loves the highway, has all the stuff to make the trip more bearable (ACC, BSM, etc), and gets better economy than just about anything you're gonna get from a rental company.

How long are you gonna keep the car? If you're like me and swap cars every year or less, the mileage means nothing. If you're gonna keep it for a long time, then maybe you'd want to keep the mileage down.

I agree with the point made earlier... very personal decision. Having said that, I was considering renting a car to keep the mileage down on my A6 for a long road trip. A friend of mine (also an A6 owner) asked me the question - why buy a German luxury sedan to pick up groceries - it was built to drive!

I took the A6, and smiled the whole way.

On another note, I have started driving the A6 LESS around town. While I enjoy driving it any time, I smile the most when Im driving it at speed, preferably on a twisty two lane in the mountains. Its also quite at home at 75+ on the freeway.

I'd probably keep the car till out of warranty which has 33months left.

I was planning to drive to west coast for a spin.

Lots good points. Thanks guys.

This:

Establish the cost for this proposed long-distance rental...it may help you make a decision very quickly.

My A6 gets used mostly for road trips because I work from home and don't use it for commuting. I feel like the A6 is an amazing car on the open highway because it is quiet, comfortable, stable and powerful, so it eats up the miles with ease. It's a totally different environment to city driving, so if you've never taken your A6 on a road trip before, I would do it just to try. You'll probably appreciate your car even more and get more satisfaction from your purchase, so much so, that you won't care about the miles and depreciation.

The only way to reduce the "Cost per mile" of ownership of your Audi is to put lots of miles on it. ;-}

You bought this beautiful car to enjoy, so take the Audi on the trip, cruise comfortably and be proud of your Ride(remember the Permagrin you get every time you drive it). Sometimes it's just not worth struggling to minimize costs; if that had been your objective you would never have bought the Audi in the first place.

In this situation, I would find a cheap fare and fly. I just did a 700 miles plus trip...S4 down, A6 back up. 10+ hours in the seat is a PITA no matter how sweet the car.