19th Aug 2014, 19:40

You can totally disagree if you want - it's HIS review, not yours. And the 2002 A3 does not use a CVT. VW and Audi are not the most reliable cars, but there are enough out there with at the very least average reliability for people to either keep them, or buy them again, else the company would be dead.

I've had a few Audis, which all needed wear and tear repairs with age, but never once stranded me. Electrics have been dependable - only a (then) 13-year old 1981 Coupe needed the driver's power window motor rewound.

His car has the 1.9 TDI - that engine is not the most powerful, but is very well known not just for reliability, but for durability - the pick of European taxi fleets that use a VW/Audi/Skoda.

I will agree with you though - my most current car is a BMW, because the non-quattro FWD Audi A4's most recently had CVT gearboxes, and I'm not touching them in ANY car.

19th Aug 2014, 19:43

He did say he loves VWs and Audis. If you're in America, you'd be surprised how expensive it can be to repair a Japanese car when it breaks outside your continent.

25th Aug 2014, 11:20

Okay, well think what you want, I am basing my review on my personal experiences.

Audis are made of beautifully put together parts. Stainless steel screws, clips, and the nuts and bolts used on the exterior parts of the car give you an idea of how long Audi think these cars will last. My Dad has been in the auto industry for nearly 50 years, and he has not once had a problem out of the 20 Audis he has had since the late 70s.

The CVT gearboxes were very fragile, but Audi have discontinued them for the much more efficient DSGs, which had their problems in the early days, but have been rectified now.

Volkswagen have the most amount of cars on the road with over 100,000 in Europe and North America. Volkswagen have sold 3 times as many cars here in Britain than Toyota and Honda put together; of course a garage is going to get more VW and VW group cars in than Hondas and Toyotas.

I find Toyotas unrefined and awkward to drive, with rubbish seats and noisy interiors that creak in the cold; they are not European and certainly not German.

I would have a BMW over a Merc; Merc quality still isn't very good and is not a patch on Audi, despite what they tell you, and they are now using Renault diesel engines. Also, the Audi is much easier to take apart than any Toyota or Honda I have had (on provisional). No rusted, stripped screws on the underside of the car, and parts for Japanese cars outside normal wear and tear items are around 20% more expensive than anything from VW, including genuine parts.

25th Sep 2014, 07:26

Yes, this review is probably biased, and looking at it, the owner has only owned the car a couple of months. So he really can't say anything about reliability after owning the car for that short a time.

Also claiming this is a fast car? Really? A 100 HP car with auto? I've driven the 1.9 TDI, both in the Golf and the Passat, with and without auto, both the 100 and 130 HP versions, and fast isn't quite what I'm thinking about with 0-60MPH figures in the 12 second region for the auto. The 130 HP version is of course faster. The quality of these cars are at best uneven, and Audis can be very expensive to keep on the road. Comparing it with a Toyota Corolla is exaggerated, and the running costs are nowhere near Corollas.