snagitseven

And that' s the same reason I just bought the Audi Care - I have a decent Indie but while the A4 is under warranty, I don't want to be bouncing back and forth between them and get into any kind of finger pointing situation. My Indie here in MA would almost be the same as the Audi Care cost for the 4 services so I'm not out any bucks and have one shop for all until the warranty runs out.

Dirt

If the brakes on the A4 are anything like the disk brakes on my now defunct Chevy Z24, it's no harder than taking the wheel off, unbolting and sliding aside the caliper, pulling the disk of the studs (with, perhaps, a bit of encouragement), then performing the reverse for installation. Again, if the design is similar, I could replace a single brake disk in about 20 minutes and save hundreds of dollars in labor.

Why does my gut tell me that, because this is an Audi, it's going to be slightly more complicated...

NJRoadFan

Its actually the same procedure. The only added step for the rear is using VCDS to tell the car to set the electronic parking brake into the service position and set it back when you are done. The rear is actually a little easier to work on since it appears you don't have to turn the piston while resetting it, plus there is no cable to deal with with removing the caliper to install the new brake disc.

Toecutter

No way Jose. I owned a B6 before this car and I spent about $9000 for maintenance in one farking year to keep it running. I therefore have decided to never own a German car out of warranty again.

NJRoadFan

Dare I ask what broke?

Toecutter

Oh man, let's see if I can remember all it needed:

Water pump/timing belt replacement
Steering rack replacement
Brakes

That comes to about $9K, doesn't it? Okay, no it doesn't but I can't recall what else. I handed over the records when I got rid of the car. It had a lot of little things happen and each time it would cost several hundred bucks between parts and labor. Keep in mind I'm not one to turn my own wrench. When the DIS started doing funny things I feared an impending electrical system malfunction, and when I started to smell antifreeze I decided to dump the car before anything else could go wrong.

av_audi

May I ask what kind of mileage you had on your car, over how many years did you spend the $9K, and what kind of driving you did mostly (city or hwy)?

Toecutter

I bought it pre-owned at 90,000 mi (first mistake) and kept it 14 months (second mistake). I spent that money over the course of one year and did mostly city driving with a handful of highway road trips.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=184490

av_audi

I guess with that kind of mileage, you have to do an overhaul anyway, but if the previous owner did not take good care of the car, it can cost a lot more than expected. Hopefully you will have better luck with your next car.

ColoradoQuattro

I have over 190,000 miles on my 1998 B5 A4 and I really can't complain about maintenance costs. This is mostly due to the fact that I do my own maintenance. Other than replacing the clutch, I've done all of the work myself so I've saved literally thousands of dollars over the last eleven years. You can buy parts online for a fraction of what the dealership charges. Here is what I've done outside of routine maintenance.

Clutch
Timing belt, water pump, and other belts (twice)
Front control arms
Rear wheel bearings
Front and rear brakes
Both front window regulators

If my B8 holds up as well as my B5 I'll be thrilled.