Wait. But then there are the dog clutches, which are slow to engage. Sooo... did they change one positive for one negative, resulting in no advantage? Cuz if so... shiiiiet.

 

Ah you beat me to it hahaa

 

 

I think part of it was fuel economy, and part of it was bragging rights to be able to say they have 9 vs 8 gears (as if your average buyer actually cares). They couldn't have used the ZF8 because that's for engines mounted the right way, but the Aisen 8 speed works with sideways engines (it's used in a bunch of Volvos and the RX350).

 

A lot of the problems counted by the JD Power Initial Quality Study ends up being customers (usually on the older side) who can't figure out how to use the infotainment system. That's why it tends to skew towards cheaper cars that have fairly basic systems (and the buyers tend to be younger who tend to be better with technology). Older customers also tend to have more discriminating tastes, so they'll tend to nitpick, whereas younger buyers are just happy to have a new car.

 

But... aren't there any AWD cars that use the zf8? Don't various BMWs rely on that transmission? Do they use something else for the AWD cars vs RWD?

 

It does support AWD. It doesn't matter what the drivetrain setup is, so long as the engine is mounted longitudinally.

 

I meant more that they could have made it likely work- if they wanted to.

 

They would have had to mount the engine longitudinally, which it wasn't designed for seeing as how the bones come from a FWD V6 accord.

 

See pictures in post #77. Its way to big to fit in the TLX beside the fact its not made for transverse engine mounting.

 

This. The ZF8 is widely praised, and pretty reliable, but it is just not compatible.

 

If you have access to CR, pull up their year to year report for the last 15 years, you'll see that Audi A4 was generally ranked average or below average for the last 10-12 years. It's only started to get better recently.

So between a car that is rated not reliable for 12 out of 15 years vs. one that is rated not reliable for 3 out of 15 - you tell me which one has more weight?

To other posters: my comments were toward Audi A4 being #2 in the report. I wasn't doing any comparison between A4 vs. TLX or any other car. I am not a TLX fan boy. I don't have a TLX and don't plan to buy one. But relying on a reliability report of 3 recent years is very inadequate.

 

Saying the A4 is bad because of it's previous generation is the same nonsense as saying the TLX is good because of the old generation TL. Both models got fairly big changes in between generations. Still doesn't prove either will be good or bad, but gives a general indication of what current customers saw so far. Put it this way, leasing both may be a good idea to calm all spirits.

 

 

It is not nonsense. Toyota/Lexus/Honda/Acura don't earn their reliability status overnight. Hyundai has been doing a great job at proving themselves but it will take them a while to get to the status of the 4 brands. Audi has a long way to go to prove itself. I am surprised why this is so hard to understand for some of you. It's so obvious that your credit age plays a big part in your credit rating. Yet you are not seeing what I am saying ...

And your leasing comment basically says they are both unreliable. So in a way, you kind of agree with me but you don't want to admit it


LOL no it's not rocket science but you purposely quoted and ignored the last paragraph of my reply which says:

So I am out of here as this will go nowhere.

 

 

 

Reliability reputation is very volatile. Actual brand reliability is from this generation forward. Each generation should be an improvement over the last one. When its not you have big problems to address. Over the last 5 years a number of brands have improved their positions while others have slipped.

Its a do you pick one whos older generations were good but the current is on a downward curve? Or do you pick a brand whos older generations were not so good to meh but are on an upward curve with the new generations? You have to pay to play but choosing wisely can be an interesting exercise.

Not an AUDI apologist but of the 4 recognized major luxury brands only AUDI will turn in a 2016 - 2017 year to year sales improvement.

 

I am extremely grateful that I leased my 15 TLX, just that proves to you that you can't trust old models for trends. Now I know you'll say it's a first year, even so should have been above average but yet it failed miserably. Now that's largely on Acura for not replacing transmissions right away, this caused multiple trips/reports to dealers for the same problem which affected the statistics.

Will see what the future holds for my 17 A4, but so far its been problem free.

 

I agree with at least part of your premise that as cars become more complex in terms of tech features, there are more complaints about things like infotainment systems. As a "senior over 60 who loves tech features, I'm not so sure that the largest complaining group isn't the Millennials, judging by this forum and other walks of life as well. I find that Millennials prefer a diametric approach to politics, cars, etc - it's love or hate with little patience for shades of grey. Quick to complain and quick to move on to the next thing. I have three of them as kids.....so my anecdotal data is pretty good