tracy.melton

Guys,

Was wondering what your seeing, cost wise for maintenance going forward past warranty....2011 TDI prestige and just rolled 50K...Of course a glow plug and Diff sensor went at 50,800 miles and I was looking at almost $500 on that but they warrantied it for me....Are you guys seeing these cars as expensive to keep? Car has at least another 50K in it before I will be tired of it but the idea of selling it while it's still worth something and getting another is appealing.

thanks,

Tracy

knepster

I have a 2007 so maybe not a good comparo.

I have about 41K on the clock and out of warranty since 9/2011...

Air suspension replacement and relay...$2000
Both side mirror motors...$550
2 door handles for keyless go painted and installed...$1000
Parking break mechanism...$150
Battery...$275 (did it myself)
Center dial button on MMI worn out...$100

In warranty...
Panoramic sunroof shade replaced (twice)
2 door handles for keyless go
Sunroof drains...3 amps

alex911s

I dont think maintenance is bad on this car.. what you have to worry about is warranty, just spend your money on ext warranty if youre planning on keeping it..

aqaqaq123

If you can't afford a new German car, you can't afford a used German car.

My general rule is that a car must be paid off entirely before it comes out of warranty, otherwise, and my fairly substantial history with Audi/VW seems to support this, the cost of ownership (loan repayment + repairs) becomes comparable if not higher than that of a new vehicle (assuming you don't do your own wrenching).
Get a new one or get a warranty and be aware of the various exclusions in the Audi extended warranty (e.g. none of the electronics are covered under it).

... and yes, I too went through 6 door handles, steering rack and various electronics on a previous Q7. Sold it and got a new one.

Senobi

Well, spending 70K on a new Q7 every three years isn't really a reasonable approach to owning vehicles. Yes, these cars have many features which means more things that potentially could require repairs. In most cases, a lot of major issues can be avoided with routine maintenance and treating your car with care.
From what I have read, most of the Q7 issues were in the first couple of years of production and many of these things have been revised over the years to bring the reliability up.

philaboy

I want to stay in the Audi family, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it! Been reading the Q7 post for the last few months, still at the cross roads. I want to get a 2011 or 2012 Q7 with a new baby and a growing 6yr old I need more room. But I can’t seem to pull the trigger!

VAG-Fan1

Just curious- can you elaborate on your comment about electronics not being covered under the "Audi extended warranty". Have you run into dealer warranty claims being denied?

I looked up the CPO exclusions and was surprised to see that the do in fact exclude audio and navigation system components, but it looks like all other electronics are covered, including MMI base functions not tied to audio or nav- not sure how they separate those out.

The verbage in the Audi Pure Protection ESCs, particularly at the Platinum coverage level seems to list very little in terms of electronics coverage exclusions and what is listed is more about dealer or owner installed devices or "appliances"- which I suppose if you have an A8 with a mini-fridge, you'd be out of luck.... :-)

ATL2.8Qmmm

They covered my amp when our sunroof drain leaked. They explained that Audi CPO warranty would cover it because it didn't fail on its own accord. If the radio or nav failed one day all by itself then it wouldn't have been covered.

VAG-Fan1

Thanks for the clarification- I figured it was something like that. At first glance, your earlier post read a bit more like Audi slipped a big giant loop hole into their CPO coverage, and with the way pretty much all mfrs have gone with expansive electronics, there's no way they could do that and remain competitive.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

My 08 Q7 leased new in 08 and has almost 39k miles now. Hasn't spent a cent on the car yet, original brakes, tires were still good, but had to change for the snow, still solid as a new car. These cars are reliable, includes my A8L and A6 wagon if you don't do too much maintenance on them. Well, many people don't like the way I take care of my cars, but I've been driving Audis for years and all my cars last long and the cost of driving them are less than Honda Accord...

Here is my logic, components are made to fail, will fail... just make sure you have enough oil in the car and change it every 15k miles and use synthetic oil. Now that's 1 year of driving. But check oil every 3k miles or so, add if necessary.

Change spark plugs @ 50k miles with iridium spark plugs which will last another 50k miles.

Get a VCDS to check for codes whenever something fail - because dealers will rip you off if you don't know what's failing, sometimes it's just a simple thing or to clear a intermittent code.

People who are skeptical about owning Audi always told me I was lucky with my cars... NOT many in the row... Not with Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeos... I owned them all and they all cost me little to drive. Rule of thumb "if it works, don't fix it" and the less I take to the shops, the longer it will last because they have less chance to mess up my cars.

<a href="http://www.dognmonkey.com/audi/?cat=39">My 08 Q7</a>