Sell '16 A4 w/75k or keep? Worried w/ repairs. Audi Care Worth it?

[A4CaliMan]

Wife has a '16 A4 Quattro loaded with 73k miles. She's 2k miles away from being allowed to buy a service plan I guess for 75k and 85k.

I'm wondering if we should sell it in this current market and get a midsize SUV, making it much more easy with our baby and car seat. We can sell it and make a few bucks probably too.

I'm just worried the repairs might start happening or pricey services. wife also wants to buy the Audi care if we keep the car for the next two (75k and 85k) services and I can't tell if they are worth the $850. She has the 8 speed auto and I don't think at 75k it's needed to change the fluid.

I drive a '01 Suburban with only 97k and do my own repairs. My car is also the car the carseat is in since I do the drop offs and pick ups. I only drive about 25 miles roundtrip daily. it's cheap to insure and maintain and hauls a ton. I hope to keep it and get a 4 door truck in 2 years.

[a4audi4fun]

Sure you may make money relative to the buy price of the old car but how much will the replacement cost, how long do you want to keep it for and will it have a warranty? Are you really going to be ahead? You will still have to do service work a year from now whatever vehicle you have.

[A4CaliMan]

Sure you may make money relative to the buy price of the old car but how much will the replacement cost, how long do you want to keep it for and will it have a warranty? Are you really going to be ahead? You will still have to do service work a year from now whatever vehicle you have.

We figure'd we'll have a car payment regardless, either with a 18 months left on this Audi or a new car it will be for 5 years. Regarding the service, a newer car will be under warranty and shouldn't have any problems before 80k. We'll still have to pay for service unless I do them, depending on whats needed.

If the Audi isn't really going to be a problem for a 20k more miles we may keep it and ride this car shortage market out. I think we can sell it and make $3k but new and especially used are priced so high that the money we make on the audi is peanuts I guess.

[Nano909]

I'm at 120k miles in my 2012 and have had zero issues.

[19birel]

Audicare is a maintenance plan not a warranty so you won't be covered if something breaks, don't spend the money. The only scheduled maintenance item I can think of outside of an oil change and "vehicle check" would the the accessory belt at ~75k miles (iirc that's audi's recommended interval). That's a 30minute DIY and maybe $100 in parts...

I'd just keep driving the Audi to be honest!

[MyDimeIsUp]

Honestly I would keep the car if you can actually keep up with the repairs yourself. Upwards of 80k miles, I'd get ready to do control arms, timing chains (since they still stretch) and prepare to experience oil burning problems. Around 80k - 90k miles is when you will notice that you can't go 5k miles without burning oil. If you can do the timing chains, control arms, and pistons (if you start experiencing oil burning) then I would say it is worth keeping the car, otherwise these repairs with a mechanic can start to get pretty price (unless you have the money to shell out, in which case at that point you might as well just get a new or CPO car from the dealer)

[findalex]

If you can work on your car, it's worth keeping it. Just do a lot of preventative maintenance and you'll be fore. Change the oil a lot more often than 10K miles, same with spark plugs, air filters, coolant, ignition coil, PCV valve. And keep an eye on the water pump, brakes, bushings, strut/shocks. And for the love of good engineering, change out the transmission/differential fluids. They are NOT lifetime.

I've seen many people with over 100K miles on the forums in the last few years without major problems. I'm on 106K miles right now and the only major thing I've changed is the water pump. My timing chain is still well within the stretch limits and I changed my brake pads to akebonos about 50K miles ago and both the pads and rotors still look new.

Parts are relatively cheap if purchased online. FCP Euro has lifetime exchange warranty, including fluds and wear items. Most cost with German cars is with the labor involved, but if you're handy and watch a ton of youtube, you'll do a better job than most dealership mechanics who get paid by a flat rate for a job... so they just do everything as fast as possible... no big deal if they are rought with all the brittle rubber and plastic... that just means more business later on.

[Theiceman]

I would say you can get to a 100k then dump it. Without major repairs.
a lot will be due by then, but It won't leave you stranded.

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[eljay]

If you are shopping for another car because you want room for car seat and all the stuff that comes with a baby/toddler (stroller, beach tent, sport stuff, bikes etc.), then Audi longevity is not the real question here.
But if you are OK with a sedan for a while, then, yes, keep it. All this inflated market sounds appealing IF you have extra cars to sell. It's like people talking themselves into selling their house right now for an "awesome" price, only to spend more on the next one nearby.
ANY car will need major refresh around 100k if you care about keeping it longer. If not, sell it before that magic mark. Since you can do you basic maintenance, the Audi Care plan is not worth it financially as that is all it would cover. HOWEVER, with a little baby, time spent wrenching may not be worth the couple hundred you save and if you mess something up and you have to drive your wife and baby around for a week while you wait for that $1 bolt to come into the dealership, you will have wished to have your wife sit at an Audi Lounge sipping coffee while the car gets oil changed and comes out washed and vacuumed.

[A4CaliMan]

There's a couple German shops locally. I'll call and see what a 75k service cost.

Is there a more clear list of whats included?

It sounds like:
plugs, brake pads, engine oil, trans oil, serpentine belt (same as timing belt?) anything else?

[MyDimeIsUp]

There's a couple German shops locally. I'll call and see what a 75k service cost.

Is there a more clear list of whats included?

It sounds like:
plugs, brake pads, engine oil, trans oil, serpentine belt (same as timing belt?) anything else?

Serpentine belt is not the same as timing belt/chain. Serpentine belt is run off of the crankshaft (pulley) which turns other accessories (on 2013+ it is just the AC compressor and the alternator). Timing chain is what connects the crankshaft to the intake and exhaust camshafts and keeps it all in time. The serpentine belt is on the outside, if it breaks you'll be without AC and the battery would die but that'd be the end of it. The timing chain is behind an upper plastic cover and a lower stamped steel cover. If that breaks/stretches/skips timing you're in for a world of trouble.

As for the other stuff, yes do tranny oil as well as differential fluids. Audi says these are "lifetime" yet anyone with half a brain knows otherwise and even ZF (manufacturer of the transmission supplied to Audi) says to replace the fluid.

[silver_tt]

Honestly I would keep the car if you can actually keep up with the repairs yourself. Upwards of 80k miles, I'd get ready to do control arms, timing chains (since they still stretch) and prepare to experience oil burning problems. Around 80k - 90k miles is when you will notice that you can't go 5k miles without burning oil. If you can do the timing chains, control arms, and pistons (if you start experiencing oil burning) then I would say it is worth keeping the car, otherwise these repairs with a mechanic can start to get pretty price (unless you have the money to shell out, in which case at that point you might as well just get a new or CPO car from the dealer)

Good friend has a 2016 2.0T and at 80K miles the chain was not stretched at all.

As far as your 2016, maintenance and how you cared for it along the way is critical. My 2014 has 90K miles on it and is literally like new, zero issues. Anything can happen but I highly doubt my car has any issues anytime soon but I replace stuff before it breaks. Bought my car CPO at 45K miles. Here is what I have done since:
oil change every 5K miles or less with Driven DI40
75,000 Brakes and rotors, Timing refresh, serpentine, water pump, ATF change, diffs fluid change, spark plugs, cabin and engine air filters, battery (mine was fine but load tested weak so replaced it with a Optima DH6)
82,000 PCV (replaced preemptively but I found the combi-valve was broken and sending excess oil into my turbo inlet even when not under boost)
86,000 New tires, brake fluid flush, coolant reservoir replacement (had a heat fracture which is common at this mileage)
89,000 Coolant flush (no such thing as lifetime coolant) and upper coolant flange (nothing wrong with it but sits on the back of the hot head and the plastic denatures)

[DrGER]

Re the timing chain, see the long thread in this forum on the topic: https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...ser-adaptation

If you bring the car to an indy shop for the 75K service, have them check the camshaft adaptation/phase position angle. This should be less than (absolute value of) 5.0. If it's greater than (absolute value of) 5.0, the timing chain tensioner should be checked. Last I checked ours at 95K miles, it was -4.75 (suggesting we're due for a timing chain service after 100K miles or so).

[ps2cho]

There's a couple German shops locally. I'll call and see what a 75k service cost.

Is there a more clear list of whats included?

It sounds like:
plugs, brake pads, engine oil, trans oil, serpentine belt (same as timing belt?) anything else?

You say you have an 01 Suburban and do your own maintenance you you dont know what a serpentine belt is and you're asking for a german shop to do the standard service on your audi? I'm confused. Can you do any repairs yourself or not?

[A4CaliMan]

You say you have an 01 Suburban and do your own maintenance you you dont know what a serpentine belt is and you're asking for a german shop to do the standard service on your audi? I'm confused. Can you do any repairs yourself or not?

Yeah within reason.

Checking timing and doing cam stuff, no I wont do that on a German car. I dont have vagcom or vcds. I've done complete AC rebuild on my Yukon. Trans filter and fluid when I had my '13 TDI wagon. Timing belt and water pump on '03 jetta. Rebuilt a '69 mach 1 including the rebuilding the 390 engine, suspension, a-rms etc.

I can do things within reason. If a local shop is half the dealer cost, it's not worth my time in that sense to do it.

What kills me is lack of consensus in what 75k service needs. Going through https://maintenance.audiusa.com/#/search site, plugs are not mentioned.

I called a local shop and they quoted $1200.00 because they also change the coil packs and said dealer wont do those.

[silver_tt]

plugs are definitely mentioned and it's very clear about it. It was 65K for your engine because it's Flex Fuel:

Perform first at 35,000 miles or 6 years, whichever occurs first. Thereafter, every 30,000 miles or 6 years,
whichever occurs first.
‰ Spark plugs - Replace (2.0L TFSI Flex Fuel engines only)

[silver_tt]

$1200 change plugs is insane, run away from that shop, it's 1 hour labor. There is no need to change the coil packs if you aren't getting misfires.

[silver_tt]

I would say you can get to a 100k then dump it. Without major repairs.
a lot will be due by then, but It won't leave you stranded.

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I like that you're using a hockey stick to keep the trunk open on RennList LOL