Need opinions on buying an A5 as a first car

[adriann99]

Hello friends,

So I am a 19 year old university student and the time has come for me to get my first car.
I have around 19.000$ usd budget.

I was looking for a nice car to purchase as my own first car (I currently use my dad's 2014 volkswagen jetta)
I stumbled upon 2 choices that caught my attention: the bmw 4series and the audi a5. (I really want a nice coupe and I found that german cars are so beautiful compared to others...)

Im not going to lie, I really prefer the bmw 4 series but the price is a little bit more on the expensive side.

So I found this 2012 audi a5 which has 77.000 miles on it. (I will link the car at the bottom)
It's also S-Line and has navigation, backup camera along with a nice sound system, pretty much everything I would want.
The asking price is 12.000$ usd.
The bummer is that there is a 800$ report on carfax of something to do with the rear end.

Now first, is the price too high ?
Because this car seems pretty rare and it's the only one I found that has so many options at this price
Also, should I be worried about the 800$ report ?
Moreover, I did some research and it appears audis have an oil consumption problem with the engines, how do I make sure this car does not have that ?
Now I know german cars tend to be more on the unreliable side, but is it that bad ? Because I will have some money left over if I purchase this instead of a 4 series and also I will have a job and my dad is a mechanic and always fixed our cars...

Anyways thank you for reading I mainly made this post hoping you guys could answer my questions and hopefully guide me through my confusion because Im really unsure what to do.
Thanks for your time, opinions and for reading :)
car(sorry the website is in french): https://www.hyundaidrummondville.com...id7268545.html

[olympic]

Hi. I’m still pretty new to Audi but having a teen your age also in college I can give you my perspective. I see you are in a northern climate so AWD is important. I don’t know how many years of school you plan to attend but at 19 perhaps another 3 or so? Do you need to fund those future years from your savings and job? The German cars can be expensive to maintain and repair. When comparing the A5 to the BMW, warranty would be one area for consideration if the BMW being newer has one. I personally would advise not to compromise your education in any way. So, if you might need the money that is tied up in the car for future education expenses I would advise holding off. I know this is an Audi forum but if you can’t continue to use your parents VW and must buy a car, something like a used Subaru might be an option for your college years. They tend to be pretty relatable (yes some models and years had issues such as ring land failure), reasonably fuel efficient and have good resale value not to mention their AWD system is also very good in the winter. Maintenance and I believe insurance rates tend to be a little lower as well.

Yes some of the Audi engines had oil consumption issues but likely you’d see evidence of that or be suspect when reviewing the car fax reports and seeing the mileage interval of service visits to address that. You can also call the dealer where the car was serviced and see if the service department will give you any additional info about the service history. I had good luck doing that when looking at purchasing used.

Not sure about the rear differential repair noted. Just be sure with whatever car you buy that you first get it inspected and let them know about the prior repair so they know to check that out.

Best of luck to you!

[s vier]

From my experiences colleges are a bad place for nicer cars. Get a 4 door camry that’s about 10 years old and drive it until you graduate. You probably will want to be able to have more than 2 people in the car at times. All the while keeping your earmarked “car $” growing in the side. When you get a good job sell the Camry after you find the car you REALLY want. In 2023 you’ll be able to buy a Used B9 RS5 for $30k.

[thesmoothman]

I bought my first Audi while I was in college, it had 50k miles. It was an amazing car and I never regretted it. You just need to be aware of the maintenance costs, but it sounds like you have most of that covered considering you or your dad can work on it - parts aren’t that expensive like labor is for these cars.

At 77k miles I was spending $1k-$2k on maintenance per year, so figure that you’ll be spending less with only parts. Not sure what that engine is like, I had a 2.8 V6.

Also consider with that many miles you may need to replace the clutch if hasn’t been done yet. I had a job in college and some years it was tough to pay for repairs...I remember one year I’d spend $2k and the next like $300 on repairs, so just make sure to put $ aside for the big repairs. Sounds like you’re solid on it though.


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[ezridah]

Lots of good advice above.

A few related thoughts - while in college will you still be living at/near home? If you are too far away, might be tough to get the car home to have your pops work on it if something goes wrong...and btw, learn to wrench from your father if you can!

Definitely have a pre purchase inspection done by a competent Audi mechanic and make sure they look for any issues in the back end. $800 is not much to spend in repairs one one of these cars so it may not indicate a big problem.

The most ‘practical’ answer is probably something like a used Toyota (I’m sure I’ll get flamed for saying that); only you can decide if the value /satisfaction you get from driving the A5 is worth the trade off of higher maintenance costs and stress that might come with that.

I would NOT recommend my college experience which was driving a cheap, ugly, POS car that was also unreliable lol. Worst of all worlds...

[jkaudia5]

Hey man. They have oil consumption issues. I had a full motor swap done on my 2011. Other then that they are Mildly reliable. You can find lots of parts for cheaper on forums and eBay and since Audi uses Modular platforms, lots of parts from other model Audi cars are swappable.
Idk, if the oil consumption issues have been addressed, then your going to have a good car with a moderately expensive upkeep.
But for what the car does and the way it looks, I love it!
Hope this helps bro. Good luck in college.
I would spend my money to have awesome experiences and would be hooking up with as many ladies or doods if that’s your thing(I don’t judge;) as poss.. you can get an audi later... teehee...
also I spent like 4K for a clutch/flywheel/rear main seal. So not a cheap car when you go to the right places to fix them.

I wouldn’t recommend this type of car to you if you were my fam. I mean we are Audi Fam... you get what I mean.. good luck!


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[old guy]

I would not recommend purchasing anything older than a 2013. The earlier versions of the 2.0T had problems with oil consumption and timing chain tensioner failures. The tensioner failure results in a rather catastrophic and expensive repair. Depending upon the documentation and mileage these repairs are sometimes covered by Audi. The first A5 body style was called the B8. In 2013 there were some cosmetic styling changes (called the facelift version) and is referred to as the B8.5. These issues seem to have been sorted out by the time of production of the B8.5's.

[snocat17]

Man, that's awesome! These are really fun cars, and I know how much fun it is to have a nice cruiser at that age. I saved up for a Camaro T-top when I turned 19 and it didn't disappoint.

It sounds like you already know there could be some mechanical issues, and there are some known problems with this generation of A5's. If you really NEED to get a car (your dad needs his Jetta back), I would try to find something more reliable or cheaper to fix. Subaru WRX comes to mind, or an Infinity G35/7 would also probably be better in your situation.

Maybe you can sweet talk your dad into letting you drive the Jetta a little longer (6-9 months) and then I bet you could find a 2013 S5 that would be in your price range.

[adriann99]

Thank you for all the inputs guys, Ill try to wait a bit to finish this semester and see if I can find a better deal then :)