second car.

[Supra725]

Recently. I got offered a new job and it came with an nice payraise from my old job.. with that, I'm looking for a second car so I don't put even more miles on to my rig.. I'm in the 300k's already..

for the second car, I'm looking for something fun to drive. something thats reliable.

I went and test drove an G37, IS350, 3 series, a4/s4's. out of them all, I really like the audi and lexus. I drove the brz and I wasn't impressed.. the boot is tiny and the back room is next to nothing.. I put in in my driving position and there is no back room what so ever.. I can't even stick my hand in the back seat.. is horrible.

my price range is in the high 20's to the low 30's..

The Lexus is nice but I really like the s4...

my question is, has anyone owned an audi? we all know lexus is reliable. if you have owned an Audi, any problems? issues?? if not the audi, what would you guys recommend?

my weekly commute is about 250 miles together.. I avg about 50 miles a day..

thanks

 

[mholme]

Audis are fantastic cars, but they have known common issues, like any make. What specific year A4/S4 are you looking at? My daily driver is a 2008 S4 and although it's thirsty at the pump, it really is a great, comfortable commuter.

 

[Supra725]

I was looking at the 2010-2012's.. Price is around $26-$30k

 

[Natey]

I had a 2012 Allroad for awhile...I loved it. It was a little small for my family or we'd still have it.

No problems ever in the Audi, it was quick, comfortable, reliable, had some damn blingy headlights :hat:, and the fit n' finish was top of the top...right there with Lexus/Acura from my experience.

 

[mholme]

I was looking at the 2010-2012's.. Price is around $26-$30k

The B8 S4's are nice. I test drove both before buying a B7. The supercharged B8 V6 is more fuel friendly than the B7's V8, but I didn't buy mine for fuel economy. Both are great highway cruisers. You can hop on any of the big Audi forums, audizine, quattroworld, and search around. The seats in the B7 are more comfortable, in my opinion.

 

[Unner]

I've got a friend who has a B6 A4 and it's a pain to work on, expensive parts/labor, and has had it's fair share of issues even with really low mileage. Personally I wouldn't own a late model European car without a warranty. With your price range you might be able to get a warrantied one which would be ideal I believe, that or stick to Japanese cars. Their reliability really is something.

 

[mholme]

They can be difficult to work on for an average DIYer, yes, but it's just time consuming labor, which is why the dealer's charge a fortune to work on them. It's nuts and bolts like any other car, but the nuts and bolts to get to x,y,z are buried under a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v. And w

 

[Bigshankhank]

They can be difficult to work on for an average DIYer, yes, but it's just time consuming labor, which is why the dealer's charge a fortune to work on them. It's nuts and bolts like any other car, but the nuts and bolts to get to x,y,z are buried under a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v. And w

Boy howdy that's the truth, I wouldn't buy another VW or one of its derivatives for that reason alone. Even my mid 90's Mercedes was a breeze to work on compared to my daughter's Cabrio.

OP, will this be strictly a daily driver, or will you be putting some serious miles on it? If it won't see a lot of miles, why not just get a lease?

 

[AKmoney]

The Lexus and the Infiniti are the only ones that will be reliable in the long term.

My GF has a 2008 328i. It needed $3K of work when it hit 110K miles.

Honestly if I were looking at something new-ish to commute in I'd look at the 2016 Chevy Volt. 50+ miles of range on juice alone and another 350 miles after that with a full tank of gas. Plus Uncle Sam and CA give you ~$9K worth of tax credit handouts.

 

[GHARP57]

audi has arguably the best AWD System. I vote lexus for the reliability and the Toyota family. Any new car has the potential to be an electrical nightmare these days.

 

[JayceeP]

I've been looking at the 2013 Lexus GS. Japanese made and probably in your price point with 40-50k miles. I've found that year as low as $32K CDN and the F Sport as low as $37-38k CDN... These all had under 55k miles.

 

[BrianSD_42]

VW (ehh I mean Audi) reliability is straight through the floor into the basement. Great for first 50,000 - 75,000 then sell sell sell.

I couldn't justify the IS350 and ONLY the newest generation really looks that good but those are way more than mid 30s.

Have you thought about a Prius. They are actually great cars to drive and the new one comes out in 2 months.

I also think the newest Mustang is quite nice looking on the road. That Red!

 

[Freyer]

You could get a brand new subaru WRX for that price range. If you haven't test driven the latest model, I'd highly recommend it. Way more refined than most people expect. The transmission and chassis has been significantly improved since the last generation. Good power and all wheel drive. Plus you can get a warranty if you choose.

 

[Supra725]

VW (ehh I mean Audi) reliability is straight through the floor into the basement. Great for first 50,000 - 75,000 then sell sell sell.

I couldn't justify the IS350 and ONLY the newest generation really looks that good but those are way more than mid 30s.

Have you thought about a Prius. They are actually great cars to drive and the new one comes out in 2 months.

I also think the newest Mustang is quite nice looking on the road. That Red!

I can not see myself in an Prius..

I found an 2014 is350 f sports with 4k miles for $36k..

one of my boy swears by his vw.. he has over 150k an is less than 5 years old..

 

[CheletteTRDPRO]

I can not see myself in an Prius..

I found an 2014 is350 f sports with 4k miles for $36k..

one of my boy swears by his vw.. he has over 150k an is less than 5 years old..

I own a 2014 IS 350 f sport and it also gets badass gas mileage we drove 300 miles at a average speed of 90mph and it got 29mpg :fro:

 

[Thai]

I can not see myself in an Prius..

I found an 2014 is350 f sports with 4k miles for $36k..

one of my boy swears by his vw.. he has over 150k an is less than 5 years old..

I would jump on that IS350! Lexus IS supposedly has the best handling/ride combo among the Lexus cars.

The icing on the cake is...does that IS have the Mark Levinson audio? IF it does, then i would get it...RIGHT NOW!!!

As for Audi and other Germans, i would skip if it is out of warranty period OR if you have no one you can trust to repair them.

Audi = not bad...this survey goes back 3 yrs (applies to 2012 models)...but i still would not trust Audi.

 

[ret42]

I can not see myself in an Prius..

I found an 2014 is350 f sports with 4k miles for $36k..

one of my boy swears by his vw.. he has over 150k an is less than 5 years old..

Not that you were directly alluding to this, but imo 150k miles isn't much for a modern car. People still want to use 100k as a magic reference point for "over the hill" for a vehicle, but the reality is between the improvements on the engineering side, and especially the improvements on the manufacturing side, we should expect cars to go for 250-300k miles without serious problems. Not that every car manufacturer can manage this consistently, but again, that's one man's opinion.

I would go for the IS personally, but that's just another one of those cars I drool every time I see it drive by.

 

[Supra725]

Thai,

it didn't have the ML Audio and to make it even more sad.. it sold over the weekend..

I told the sales rep to find another one in the same price range, same mileage but white.

if she can find it.. I'm most likely going to buy it.. I love german cars and having a benz myself.. but man, when it breaks.. is going to suck..

 

[NoDak]

the lexus IS series are great cars. the exception is if you need to do any family hauling, then its a cramped car.

if your hauling family around, go with a GS.

if the nearest dealer wasn't 550 miles away, I would have picked up a GS350 AWD instead of the 4runner.

almost impulse bought a deep sea mica GS350 AWD loaded when we were dropping the daughter off at college a few years back, but the warden reeled me in at the last minute, which in the end was the best choice.

after researching warranty work, etc. it was too much of a hassle to drive the 550 miles than to deal with a Toyota and a local dealer. the downside of living out in the boonies in this state (boonies being that there are only 5 major cities in the whole state and we only have about 700k total population).

 

[IanB]

the lexus IS series are great cars. the exception is if you need to do any family hauling, then its a cramped car.

if your hauling family around, go with a GS.

if the nearest dealer wasn't 550 miles away, I would have picked up a GS350 AWD instead of the 4runner.

almost impulse bought a deep sea mica GS350 AWD loaded when we were dropping the daughter off at college a few years back, but the warden reeled me in at the last minute, which in the end was the best choice.

after researching warranty work, etc. it was too much of a hassle to drive the 550 miles than to deal with a Toyota and a local dealer. the downside of living out in the boonies in this state (boonies being that there are only 5 major cities in the whole state and we only have about 700k total population).

Will the local Toyota dealer not perform warranty work on the Lexus for you in that situation?