One year on....

[Crazyfool]

Originally I sold my B6 to replace it with a B8 Avant; then thought what's the point when the new car will be sitting on the driveway whilst I walk to work and make all business journeys via public transport. Plus my wife is on maternaty leave, so the Pug being such a problem free car would be suffice for a year (or should I say was problem free). This has given me more time to think about what I want, but thought I would call apon your service again.

To those few B8 2.0T avant owners out there; what are your views on your purchase. Do you have any regrets; 170TDI instead, optional extra choices, saloon sufficient for a family of 4......pros and cons.

I am currently looking at the S-Line, but SE and 170TDI views would also be appreciated. And to throw something in the mix; how about an A6 avant 170TDI instead?

Cheers

 

[Crazyfool]

It's funny how looking through posts trying to find something, I stumbled across this...thanks for the responses guys...!

Well reporting 5 years on, I can safely say that my 2.0T A4 S-Line Avant (B8) has without a shadow of a doubt, been the most expensive car I have ever owned...and that is not based on how much I paid for it. Similar to my previous A4, I bought the car when it was about 3 months old with 2,500miles on the clock. And like my previous A4, it was a dream up until the warranty ran out. Then I was and continue to be raped of my money!.

I thought the repair bills and continuing engine issues on my previous A4 were expensive, but they pail into total insignificance compared to this car. On average I am spending £1,000 a year on repairs, some of which you can say is wear and tear, but I don't consider them to be normal wear and tear. Timing chain failure, the infamous oil burning issue, shock absorbers all round, the list goes on.

Needless to say and it really saddens me; but unless I want to be castrated by the wife, there is a very good chance I wont be buying another Audi! My only saving grace is that the best car I have ever bought is my V6 Audi Convertible which is still going strong.

 

[Anthony566]

that's a shame as I am on to my second Audi A4 first one was petrol and the current one is a TDi and 14 months on its been perfect ... but one bad car doesn't make a entire manufacturer !!! and there are bad ones out there from them all really ...

 

[Crazyfool]

I really like Audi, love the design, the performance of the 2.0T engine is fantastic, but to have two out of three duds is really disappointing. More to the point, it's the 18 year old car that is the most reliable. Like the garage said to me during my engine rebuild...'they don't make them like they used to.'

Last year I was considering changing the A4 for a 3.0TDI S-Line A6 avant because its a nice looking car, has the Quattro system and more to the point Reading Audi have always treated me really well. But with all the issues I've had, I'm struggling to justify the purchase.

I can't bring myself to buy a BMW; just don't like the bland interior, so I've been looking at the E350 CDI AMG. But yet again I have my reservations. The only difference with the Merc is that I haven't heard a bad word about them, so I'm still waiting for someone to say 'don't be stupid!'

At the moment, the only way I would consider going back to Audi is if my next car is even worse than this one.

I'm in a real quandary.

 

[rum4mo]

From sister-in-laws experiences of Mercs, I have to say that starting with the TE that needed moved on after 5 or 6 years due to "it going to be a cylinder head off time soon", through a C class Sport - to be fair it was not its fault that its splitter was a bit lower than expected, so needed sorted frequently, to a very nice 320E CDI estate which was said to be running out of life at about 7 years - she headed for BMW, why, well it was entirely due to the attitude of Audi dealer from Kent area, they could not be bothered following up enquiries. Yes they all have issues right now!

 

[scotty76]

At the moment, the only way I would consider going back to Audi is if my next car is even worse than this one.

I'm in a real quandary.

I part ex'd my wife's Ford Focus for a B7 this reason.

 

[Rodders.]

I'm out of the audi game, shame as really nice cars....but they just cost so much to keep going, which I didn't expect from a premium brand!

Back to the ford's for me.

 

[Crazyfool]

I part ex'd my wife's Ford Focus for a B7 this reason.

It's interesting and something I posted on here before; but my mate works for BP. His mate works for Shell in the engine oil development team.

Not that long ago Shell published a report; not sure if it was open to the public or just internal, but they conducted an endurance test on a number of manufacturers engines.

Basically, they took the engines apart, measured the components, put them back together again, then ran them for 50k miles. They then repeated the same exercise a further two times so that in the end the engines had run 150k miles.

As to be expected, BMW and Mercedes came out top as being the best, there were a handful of cars inbetween, including VW and Ford were rock bottom. The Audi engine was one up from Ford!!

The funny thing is I would rather take the risk and purchase what could be another dodgy Audi, rather than playing it safe and buying a BMW!

 

[Crazyfool]

From sister-in-laws experiences of Mercs, I have to say that starting with the TE that needed moved on after 5 or 6 years due to "it going to be a cylinder head off time soon", through a C class Sport - to be fair it was not its fault that its splitter was a bit lower than expected, so needed sorted frequently, to a very nice 320E CDI estate which was said to be running out of life at about 7 years - she headed for BMW, why, well it was entirely due to the attitude of Audi dealer from Kent area, they could not be bothered following up enquiries. Yes they all have issues right now!

Mercedes certainly have had their problems in the past. I can't believe how many V to Y rust buckets there are on the road, but the new ones seem more reliable.

 

[ERBY]

You won't go far wrong buying a Merc'....after my B6 S4 & 18mpg I thought it was time to buy a reliable family oil burner...so I've just left behind me 4.5 yrs of uninterrupted, consistently & typically reliable Mercedes motoring in a C320cdi.......and that's all it was - nothing more, nothing less. There was never any sparkle (Particularly when I started her up in the morning)
The only bit of 'glitchy excitement' I had was replacing the glow plugs now & then....
I will always have greater affection for my old A3 2.0T over the Benz any day of the week!
Can't comment with experience re BMW's as I've never owned one - purely because they don't come with indicator stalks
I went with my head last time, more recently with my heart, good Luck!

(E class's are huge)

 

[Crazyfool]

You won't go far wrong buying a Merc'....after my B6 S4 & 18mpg I thought it was time to buy a reliable family oil burner...so I've just left behind me 4.5 yrs of uninterrupted, consistently & typically reliable Mercedes motoring in a C320cdi.......and that's all it was - nothing more, nothing less. There was never any sparkle (Particularly when I started her up in the morning)
The only bit of 'glitchy excitement' I had was replacing the glow plugs now & then....
I will always have greater affection for my old A3 2.0T over the Benz any day of the week!
Can't comment with experience re BMW's as I've never owned one - purely because they don't come with indicator stalks
I went with my head last time, more recently with my heart, good Luck!

(E class's are huge)

It is a big car which is why I'm considering it. When we go abroad the Avant is absolutely crammed beyond belief.

 

[ERBY]

It is a big car which is why I'm considering it. When we go abroad the Avant is absolutely crammed beyond belief.

Plenty of room that's for sure...and would make a lovely cruising car for big mileage abroad. I had an E350 estate when my car was in for a service once...it had air suspension & I really felt like was floating on a cloud!!

 

[Crazyfool]

Yeah, that's standard on the E350. It also now comes with the 9 speed auto with a bit more power than the original 7 speed.

 

[Crazyfool]

Will here it is...

 

[dieselguy]

I am in a similar dilemma……

I drove BMWs for 10 years before getting the current A4 Avant.

The reasons I left were mainly reliability issues and poor customer services. I don't mean the attitude they spoke to me, I mean the lack of professionalism when servicing my cars. Simple issues cost 5x more than the standard garages and takes 2-3 visits to get fixed. Some issues were never fixed. Some visits resulted in body paint being scratched, and they don't admit it.

Since moving to Audi the service attitude is pretty much the same. Cost wise its the same. Fortunately my car is under warranty still, but I'm seriously considering changing cars once the warranty runs out. Either to a newer Audi or a Merc.

The problem is that I know nothing about Mercs, so will have to be a beginner once again. Plus its probably got its own problems which I just don't know about.

I have toyed with the idea of a VW. Sure it will be a bit boring to drive and the look won't be as good as an Audi, but it will be cheaper (in principle) and still a good solid brand.

PS. I do like the E350 above, its a good looking car to me.

 

[Crazyfool]

Mercedes Bromley have been amazing. The service they gave me in the run up to the car was excellent and the after sales was just as good.

I spoke over email all week about the car to sort out my queries, then just over a week later he phoned me to see how I was getting on. He's now IBM holiday but said he would phone me again in my return.

He even arranged to deliver the car and take the other away.

The problem is Bromley is to far away for me to get it serviced there

The command system has taken a bit of time to get used to, but I'm starting to understand it and the car is such a comfortable drive even with the AMG spec.

 

[dieselguy]

Thats reassuring to hear about the service, which is what you'd expect from a premium brand (we are paying for it of course). Not sure how far you are from bromley, but currently I'm prepared to drive 100 miles to get a good/friendly service, as for some reason, the local dealers all seem to be very arrogant. I have to say that I've never driven an AMG, so maybe would be good to test drive one, just to compare to the Audis.

 

[Crazyfool]

Mines the E350 AMG Sport, which isn't the same as the official 5.5 twin turbo E55 AMG, but it does have a sporty feel to it. I suppose it's equivalent to an S-Line. I live in Berkshire and took a trip to Ascot MB when I was looking for a car. The guy there was also really nice, so if I don't have much luck with my local garage, I may go there.

 

[Crazyfool]

I've just set up the internet connectivity in the car. You can pretty much do anything although it's not as good as a computer or tablet. But I just used the inbuilt news app and if you can't be bothered to read these text, it will use the Linguatronic voice to read it for you!!

 

[Giosabcsl]

Mines the E350 AMG Sport, which isn't the same as the official 5.5 twin turbo E55 AMG, but it does have a sporty feel to it. I suppose it's equivalent to an S-Line. I live in Berkshire and took a trip to Ascot MB when I was looking for a car. The guy there was also really nice, so if I don't have much luck with my local garage, I may go there.

Hey Crazyfool, I am usually in the B7 section and came across your post.

I live about 5 mins around the corner from Ascot MB. TBH with my experience there sales/aftersales is meh to say the least. Everyone in my area pretty much has a Merc and refuse to use Ascot MB my one neighbour had the cash ready to buy 7 CLA for his company and they just were completely unhelpful so he drove to Mercedes branch in London somewhere and bought 7 there and then.That said everyone has good and bad experiences like for example I recently was in West Midlands - Halesowen to be exact and got BS so badly by the salesman telling me he knew all about my car and all sorts so ye would I buy a car from them hell no. Getting back to Ascot MB their service department I wont even get started on that. Lied to and all sorts telling me they checked things and told me they did this and that and when they actually didnt. No one here in my area will use Ascot MB for anything not even for free windscreen washer fluid top up purely because of principle.

Personally for me the best experience I ever had was at Mercedes Benz Brooklands. I actually felt like something, walking in there and was treated the way I rightfully expected and didnt walk out feeling like I had my pants down. And in return bought a C250 cdi AMG Sport Plus from them And been taking the vehicle to them ever since for a service and never a issue only a niggling issue with the steering which to be fair was quite bad for a steering pump to go on the vehicle with 15k miles on it...

Rant over.

Just want to say I do like your E350 I am considering selling my B7 and getting a new E350 sedan with the 9 speed box...but I am waiting on more reviews on the gearbox it self as I know the engine itself is a Peach. Having driving and owned a 2010 E350 AMG Sport was a great vehicle but someone decided to write it off for me.

Hope the car serves you well.

 

[Crazyfool]

Hey Crazyfool, I am usually in the B7 section and came across your post.

I live about 5 mins around the corner from Ascot MB. TBH with my experience there sales/aftersales is meh to say the least. Everyone in my area pretty much has a Merc and refuse to use Ascot MB my one neighbour had the cash ready to buy 7 CLA for his company and they just were completely unhelpful so he drove to Mercedes branch in London somewhere and bought 7 there and then.That said everyone has good and bad experiences like for example I recently was in West Midlands - Halesowen to be exact and got BS so badly by the salesman telling me he knew all about my car and all sorts so ye would I buy a car from them hell no. Getting back to Ascot MB their service department I wont even get started on that. Lied to and all sorts telling me they checked things and told me they did this and that and when they actually didnt. No one here in my area will use Ascot MB for anything not even for free windscreen washer fluid top up purely because of principle.

Personally for me the best experience I ever had was at Mercedes Benz Brooklands. I actually felt like something, walking in there and was treated the way I rightfully expected and didnt walk out feeling like I had my pants down. And in return bought a C250 cdi AMG Sport Plus from them And been taking the vehicle to them ever since for a service and never a issue only a niggling issue with the steering which to be fair was quite bad for a steering pump to go on the vehicle with 15k miles on it...

Rant over.

Just want to say I do like your E350 I am considering selling my B7 and getting a new E350 sedan with the 9 speed box...but I am waiting on more reviews on the gearbox it self as I know the engine itself is a Peach. Having driving and owned a 2010 E350 AMG Sport was a great vehicle but someone decided to write it off for me.

Hope the car serves you well.

That's really good to know. A friend of mine said Reading wasn't that great either. Apparently they service and prep the cars before they go on sale in Ascot. Go figure.

Newbury is supposed to be good.