Faults:

1. Both catalytic converters failed around 42,000 miles. I was absolutely blown away when this happened, especially for 2 reasons:

A. The Audi service writer knew all about this issue, and was very good about explaining what would happen next, and how this would be taken care of under warranty.

B. But why did they fail? This made no sense. I am one of the oil change at 3000 miles crowd, the car is always garaged and washed, non-smoker, easy on cars, and so on.

2. Audi did not offer a corporate-backed extended warranty, so after the inexplicable catalytic converter failure, I did not feel comfortable with Audi over the longer haul.

3. The dealer always did a good job with routine maintenance, but $50+ for an oil and filter change, plus checking the fluid levels, was too much. My Lincoln Mark VIII (prior car) and Acura MDX (successor car) were far more reasonable ($25-35), all done at the dealer.

General Comments:

1. 9 out of 10 for the excellent, supportive seats, although just a little more padding would have made them perfect.

2. Controls were very clear and easy to use. They were nice to look out, without them being unnecessarily over-styled.

3. Lots of space inside, without being a huge car on the outside. Very easy to park. Small footprint.

4. Definitely a case of understated elegance inside and out, especially in silver with a light gray interior.

5. The styling was simple and timeless.

6. This car did very well in snow, ice, and rain. It was also very easy to do 80-90 miles an hour on the highway, without feeling the speed or hearing any real noise.

7. Transmission gearing for a 5-speed automatic in the US was all wrong, especially at highway speeds. It definitely should have had a deeper (numerically lower) 5th gear. This would have improved highway economy, without really hurting city driving.

Faults:

Normal wear and tear: tires, brakes, hoses.

Normal maintenance: religious about this.

Electronics on the dash failing.

Erratic availability of windows.

Rear cover won't retract.

Temp gauge is erratic.

General Comments:

The A6 Avant has been a steady car and a pleasant drive. Gas mileage at 80k is 23 highway, 18-20 city.

The car has not been costly to maintain -- probably $10,000 over ten years (first three were under warranty), but when you get a bill for $1500, it still hurts, and maintenance is not cheap.

There are two types of German luxury car owners. One group buys and maintains for the long haul, and enjoys a relatively low TCO -- especially considering the quality of the ride.

Another group sells their vehicles every few years, because they prefer a new car, even if it costs them more than maintaining the old one. Some, but not all of these owners see no reason to invest in high quality maintenance.

There is nothing wrong with consuming your auto quickly -- it is after all a machine, not a spouse. But don't blame the car for your decision to neglect it or to upgrade because you want to.

An earlier post gets this quite tangled. In considering whether to maintain an Audi vs buy a new car, the writer asserts that it is irrational to spend more maintaining a car than the car itself is worth. This is not always true: it may make perfect economic sense to spend $5,000 fixing up a car with a resale value of $3,000 if the total cost and risk of operating the car justifies it. With German cars, it often does.

Any owner of anything should care about total ownership costs and the risk of unexpected breakdowns or expenses. Add depreciation, maintenance, financing, fuel, and insurance.

Financing and depreciation costs are naturally higher on a new car just as maintenance and fuel costs are higher on an old one. Some owners prefer the certainty of higher payments for a car covered by a warranty, even though their TCO is much, much higher. Others simply prefer shiny cars. Nothing wrong with either one -- but this is a feature of the owner, not the car.

Some old cars carry a lot of breakdown risk -- but many old German cars do not. It is easy to feel like you are pouring good money after bad in keeping an old car fixed up, but do the math, because maintaining an Audi to 200,000 miles or more can make excellent economic sense. This is especially true if the car has been well maintained early in life, and is less likely to suffer catastrophic failure.