henryr01

After driving an RL for the past 3 years, I'm sad to say that I have moved on to an Audi A5. I found a CPO 2010 with less than 7K miles that I couldn't pass up.

I actually started looking for a replacement on the long 4th of July weekend. Of course my search included Benz E class, BMW 5 series, Audi A5/S5 and of course another Acura. Despite the fact that my local dealer had a new RL on the lot, not once did they offer to show it to me. Instead kept pushing me towards the MDX and SH-AWD TL.

It took a lot to realize that no matter WHAT car I looked at, I was going to be giving up something that I took for granted on the RL. EVERY other car had a compromise in it somewhere. But eventually I kept going back to the Audi style, particularly on the 5's.

The Acura RL group is a GREAT community to be associated with and very willing to help out. I would never have attempted to install my own iPod adapter or Bel RX75 without your assistance! I will miss you guys and if you don’t mind, I will be lurking every now and then.

Happy Motoring,
Bob…

robarsan

Another one bites the dust!

Conrats, and I think you made a good choice. I'm still a long ways away from trading my RL but when I do I think Audi will be at the top of my list. They are extremely comfortable and a blast to drive.

Post some pictures if you get a chance, and good luck!

23109VC

i'm sure many of us would enjoy to hear your candid comparisons of the two cars - things you like better about the Audi, things you liked better about the RL, etc - once you have had a chance to form the opinions....

plus pics!

congrats on the new car.

Blazing GT

congrats on the new car

2007AcuraRL

Wow, another RL owner moves over to Audi. Congrats on the new Audi. I just traded my '07 RL for an '08 Audi A8L. The Acura dealerships are really at a disadvantage right now with practically no inventory of a premium car line to compete with. This board may slowly become an Audi forum!

christopher1

before i bought my RL. paid $58,000 for it. it was a work of art, however 5 months in, started to fall apart. at just 28,000miles tranny failed replaced under warranty... i had spent every day off at the audi dealer. i traded in the a6 (4.2 engine)with 32,000 miles to the acura dealer for my RL. now i have seen the acura dealer maybe 4 times seen 12/2005. i hope for your money audi has become more reliable. best wishes.

2007AcuraRL

Yes - No - Maybe. But on the other hand my 2002 TL was on its 4th tranny when I traded it. A coworker here has an '04 A8 and about 120k miles on it without having needed any repair work.

ichi d

wow 04!! he must be one of the very very few people that had no problems with that car. very hard to believe, but dont get me wrong they are great cars.

christopher1

if you go to a audi community or consumer reports you will read alot of problems with audi. i liked my audi but i will never buy one again.... get an extended warranty.

neuronbob

Sorry to see you go. The A5 is pretty nice as well. I can't talk about reliability issues, owning a (luckily for me, totally trouble-free!) Cadillac.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Sorry to see you go. Enjoy the Audi!

ichi d

The A5 is fresh...... Enjoy it for real!!!

FredS

I had an Audi and would never ever own another one. An option that I should have bought with it should have been a tow truck. I have 128,000 miles on my 2007 RL and have had nothing done to it other than routine maintenance. A great idea to buy the extended warranty on the Audi. Good luck with yours and enjoy!!

The link is the latest JD Power quality ratings. I am surprised with Porsche and Mercedes. They have really improved over the last couple of years.



http://businesscenter.jdpower.com/ne...spx?ID=2010099

henryr01

What prompted my search was that I was rapidly approaching 100k miles and I had purchased both of my Acura’s within days of each other and they were both CPO’s. In my opinion, I will NEVER buy another new car. I will always go for the CPO, you just can’t beat the extra warranty coverage with miles and years!

My search was initially ANYTHING that was CPO’d. So I started looking the usual suspects: Benz E class; BMW 5 series; Ford SHO; etc. The problem was that comparing to an 05 RL, EVERYTHING was lacking! I could find one car that had some of the features on my RL, but not all of them. I then started thinking that I was just going to have to prioritize my requirements and SETTLE for something. As I mentioned in my first thread, I even looked at my local Nashville Acura dealer but they weren’t too interested in showing me anything. Besides, I really didn’t want another “4 door” to drive back and forth to work.

I test drove a number of E-350’s, both coupe and 4 doors ranging from 2008-2010 model years. NONE of them had everything the RL did with the exception of one 2010. After driving an Acura for so many years, I think it’s ludicrous that I have to buy a $500 “hockey puck” to get my Bluetooth phone to work in a $58K car! The only Benz that truly impressed me was the 2010 E-350 coupe. The problem was finding one as a CPO. Also driving the Benz I felt more like a passenger than a driver. I don’t want to drive NASCAR level car, but I don’t want to feel like I have to wear a black cap and wait for someone to jump in the back seat. The ride was just a little too soft for my liking.

On the BMW side, I had the same problem. Unless I wanted to drive a boat (aka 7 series) around, I would be compromising on everything else that the RL has standard! My first pre-requisite was SatNav. If it didn’t have it, I kept walking. That’s another one of my pet peeves; why stick a $200 GPS on the windshield of a $50K car! You might as well but a bumper sticker on too while you’re at it! We were completely turned off by the whole BMW experience. I’m sure that it was just our local dealer, but we never got past walking the lot.

My wife and I then went to the local Audi dealer and I couldn’t stop looking at the 5’s. The problem is that the S5’s and A5’s to a lesser degree are keeping their resale value at a VERY high level. So, as much as I’d love to drive an S5 everyday, it’s just not in the cards right now. The way I’m justifying it to myself, is that I’ll just get in TOO much trouble with an S5. J
Finding a great deal on a CPO requires that you extend your search from just your local area. To that extent, living in Nashville we looked at cars locally, Chicago (two locations) and Iowa City. To make a long story short I ended up with a 2010 A5 Prestige with less than 7K miles as a CPO, meaning the car is covered by its factory warranty out to 2016 and 100K miles! The “service date” is July1st due to an administrative problem on the dealers side. Pictures will follow in a separate post after this one. J

I hope this helps. The bottom line is the styling of the Audi 5’s are what pulled me in. I’ll keep you up to date on the reliability experience.

Bob…

henryr01

neuronbob

Sorry, tried to fix your image but your server doesn't like being linked to. Anyway, you have a gorgeous A5 there! Too bad you didn't go all the way to buy an S5. One of my colleagues has the S5 and.....well.....he hasn't gotten in TOO much trouble with it.