I'm torn between buying a 2012 TL AWD Tech or an Audi A4 Quattro with a little less technology. I've only owned Hondas to this point and I always figured my next step would be an Acura, but there is just something so enticing about the look and agility of the Audi that I'm starting to think it might be worth the higher risk of costly repairs.

Based on a few test drives I thought that the A4 was a little more nimble around town. I also thought the Nav system and bluetooth voice recognition on the TL were overly complicated, but that could be because my salesperson had no clue how to operate them (never a good sign).

Anyone out there have any experience with 2009+ Audi A4's that can help give me some perspective?

Thanks in advance for helping out a new guy to these forums.

 

Do you really want to be an "Audi" driver?

 

Does money matter?

Mr Marco,
what's an "Audi" driver?
An Audi driver is someone who drives an Audi, but I assume , Mr Marco, for you an "Audi" driver reflects an certain douch-baggery.

 

Well, one has less power. That's to start...and well, the other that has less power, IMO, looks better.

Still, get the car that you like. If I had to choose, it'd come down to what I really want in a vehicle. Have you considered BMW and Infiniti's offerings with the 3-Series and G-Series?

 

The TL is larger and more powerful relative to it's german cost competitors.

Size wise the TL is like an A6 with a smaller trunk, and its 305hp in SH-AWD trim puts it closer to the 333horse S4 or 310 horse A6 with the 3.0 tupercharged V6s, than the 210 horse turbo 2 liter 4cyl in the A4 regarding acceleration.

I think Audis are neat in their way, but I would never in a million years own one. IMO cost of ownership is too strong a deciding factor, but not everyone feels the same.

 

I certainly never saw myself as the douchebag type, but it's tough to deny that those headlights and the whole exterior looks good on the A4.

Money doesn't matter too much since $40k would get me AWD Tech TL or a A4 Premium Plus (no nav).

You're right with the power difference, but the high torque on the A4 helps a little to provide a quick pickup. I didn't drive either car for long enough to really appreciate the power, or lack thereof.

 

now if you can have the engine and driving dynamics of the SH-AWD TL mashed up with the styling of the AUDI.. then you got something really good going on there..

 

The A4 2.0T has not enough power to give you a lot of fun. And the AWD system is not bad but not as good as the sh-awd. The A4 don't have a torque vectoring feature, only the S4 or S5. So if you want to compare the TL SH AWD i will compare it to the S4, and at this point it will be just a price question. If money is not a problem, i would take the S4.

 

I love the looks of the Audi but don't like the fact that they are expensive to own and are not very reliable. Parts for Audis cost more than parts for BMW's and MB automobiles.
So you know what my choice would be.

 

If you have so decided on the A4 and want to keep it for more than 4 years, make sure you also buy the longest extended factory warranty available. It will more than pay for itself down the road.

 

If you're really thinking about the A4, research camshaft follower/fuel pump failures on the 2.0T. Lots of $$$, but I understand they've done a secret warranty extension now.

My own experience is the A4 is underpowered, cramped for space, under-featured and over-priced. Other than that, I have no opinion. (Oh yeah - questionable reliability).

 

A4 is an lady car IMO, the tl-sh awd provides you more fun to drive. and they handle better than a4 quattro.

 

Thanks everyone for your responses. I really liked both cars and while I can't exactly appreciate the difference in power from a test drive, I could notice the difference in features.

TL Tech had everything I could want, but the nav interface seemed so clunky and voice control barely worked at all. Did I just have a crappy test drive experience?

It honestly seemed like the salesperson had never sat in the car before. What else can you view on that main nav screen besides the map?

Audi a la carte features are a bit ridiculous, but in a way it helps because I can exclude the ones I don't want to pay for like Nav.

 

If you care about reliability, the Acura speaks for itself!

 

The nav/tech/phone voice controls work very well. Perhaps you had a lot of noise going in the car with salesman talk, open windows, etc.? There is a certain logic to the commands you'll need to master; there is a summary guide that comes with the car that will help. Essentially, you can use voice commands for the phone, nav, music and HVAC. The nav screen can display phone info, including your imported contacts, music (including I-pod and hard drive directories, and a few other items, including wallpapers of your selection.

If you go to myacura.com, there are some pretty good demonstrations of the various nav/tech features.

I too found that some of the sales people I talked to had no real idea of how to operate the tech functions - not limited to Acura either. When I attended an open house with people grouped 4-5 in a car to have someone demonstrate tech features, I had to help the poor guy assigned to our group. He had no clue.

 

Lol I love how everybody here keeps on acting like acuras are very reliable and all other manufacturers cars are dropping like flies. Most modern cars are very reliable; regardless of what anybody else wants you to believe. The a4 is a nice car; but as has been stated is underpowered. If that doesn't not bother you the a4 is a nice car

 

No. Mazdas,Nissans,Subarus,Toyotas are also very reliable. Audis,BMWs,MBs,Volvos,Saabs are not reliable and expensive to repair and maintain!

 

BS. New cars are reliable. Old ones maybe not. And keep in mind the warranty and the free maintenance and these cars are actually cheaper to own then Honda/acura

 

You have your opinions and I have my opinions AND experiences. Have owned them all!

 

Just one simple question:

Is Acura/Honda historically more reliable than Audi?

I would argue that historically, recently and almost in all cases Acura/Honda is more reliable, but we all know even Acura makes mistakes.

I like to buy cars that I like AND that I can trust for the long haul if need be. Audi is one of those cars I wouldn't own out of warranty! Don't get me wrong, they are nice cars though...

 

I'm also close to getting the TL AWD Tech but I want to first check out the Audi A5. That's the last car that's standing in the way of getting the TL. It looks like a sweet ride and has most of the features of a TL, albeit without the big V6. But it would seem to be about $5,000 more when fully loaded with options to match a TL AWD Tech.

I've had an '03 CL and then an '06 TL. It would be nice to get a new car and be almost completely familiar with it on day one. Getting my third Acura in a row would do that.

 

I agree that the newer generation Audi vehicles are more reliable in comparison with the older generation Audi's, but Audi is still lagging in reliability when compared to the top Japanese auto makes such as Toyota and Honda.

A lot of the new Audi owners boast about how reliable their new Audi vehicles are. But I always tell them to wait a couple more years and see.

Audi vehicles tend to start falling apart at around the 4th year mark, right when the factory warranty is about to expire. That's why I keep telling potential Audi buyers to buy the longest extended factory warranty possible if they decide to keep their Audi's longer than 4 years.

The extended warranty for my (now sold) A4 had paid for itself 2 times over, and currently the repair bills for my A6 has already ring up to half the cost of the extended warranty coverage.

 

I should have told this to my friend who just bought an a4 with the b and o sound system.

 

Reliability and repair costs are a huge concern so I think the only options with the Audi are to buy the extended warranty or simply to lease.

I wanted to badly to be blown away by the 2012 TL AWD, but maybe if I lease the A4 for 3 years I'll be blown away by the next generation 2015 TL.

 

In the end it will come down to what car you really enjoy more. Most of us on AZ are car enthusiasts and choose a car because we fall in love with it. Drive them both and decide from there. Both great cars. I vote TL.

 

Not that I put a lot of weight on the studies, but I think they do grant perspective. Here's the 2011 reliability report for entry premium cars by J.D Power

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings...y-premium-car/

Acura and Lexus just behind the Lincoln. Not looking too good for the BMW 3 and Audi

 

you really have to look at what type of car buyer you are; if you buy a car and keep it for ten years; then yes; i would probably avoid germans (and honestly anything with too much tech). if you like to switch cars every 3-4 years (like most of us enthusiasts) then it really doesnt matter what car you get; as they are all pretty reliable. i have many friends with audi's and bmw's, and while they tend to have more issues than me, its usually nothing major that cant get fixed at the next (free) service. however they're cars never have a rattle and have much better NVH control.

 

Consumers Reports also provide a perspective, and they don't recommend the SHAWD nor the 335.

 

Consumer reports is a little biased to certain brands, im sometimes a little confused as to there surveys.

 

TL... for two reasons.
1. Its bigger.
2. Cheaper to maintain.

If money is no object, go with Audi. German cars are known for electrical issues and pretty much every part requires specialty tool. Japanese are opposite of German. Easier to maintain and usually can be fixed using the conventional mechanics tools.

As for the power issue.... Most of the Japanese and American power output is the power the engine produces, without anything attached to it. While Germans give you the power that their vehicle puts on the tarmac.

 

I feel that way about JD Powers surveys. I stumbled on to truedelta and found them to be a useful resource. YMMV

 

Thanks g - i will check out truedelta. I do like consumer reports alot, but i try and read it with a grain of salt.

 

That's why people most times lease German cars because of the reliability. I do maintain my cars so I want reliability above all. But I am also an enthusiast so I want to drive a nice looking and performing car as well and the Acuras seem to offer that as well along with the reliability.

 

The two cars (TL SH-AWD and Audi 2.0 Turbo Quattro) simply do not belong, in practical terms, to the same class.

The TL is in a higher segment.....much more powerful engine, 6 cylinder, more sophisticated AWD system, much better seats.

Not to mention the much more stand out look (but that is subjective)

 

Friend just bought the A4 prestige. Beautiful car. Although I am not an Audi fan per se, the styling is much nice than the Japanese counterparts. Until Honda fixes the all too edgy styling on the TL it stands out, but not in a great way. (subjective of course)

 

I dont understand why people buy cars brand new. Certified preowned in just about any make is a great way to go. You can get your A4 with navi and pay a little less. In many circumstances you may even get a better warranty for less money

 

In my case (Financed) it was cheaper to buy new. With 0.9% interest, it is nearly free money!

 

+1

My opinion as well when I was shopping Audi. IMHO the only advantage an A4 has over the TL (esp the 6MT) is its more mainstream/regarded exterior design, rear folding seats, and higher gas mileage. The A4 is just too underpowered to justify a $40k+ price tag IMHO.

Don't get me wrong, the A4 is a good looking car, but good lucks do not make its true under pinning (though the folks at CarTalk will have you think otherwise).

The TL (at least the 6MT)'s true competitor is the S4 in terms of performance. By then you are talking easily $10-15k more though.

 

I have an older 2001 S4, and I have to agree that the maintenance costs are pretty expensive. There are pretty few of my model car on the road any more (and we're only talking about 10 years here). That being said my Audi is great fun to drive, and it is great when I don't have to repair anything. My Acura has been pretty reliable, and so was my Honda while I had it.

 

One of my neighbors used to own an 2002 Audi S4 and a 2002 Acura CL-S. He got rid of his S4 in 2008 because of its transmission failure and the repair cost of about 10 - 12K. Yes, you read it correct, 10 - 12K. His CL-S is still running just fine. I only saw him call AAA once for that car. And that too was because he didnt drive the CL for a bit and its battery drained.

Besides, isnt Audi just an overpriced VW?!?!?! I swear the new A4 looks like a re-badged Jetta....