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Comments
If leasing were banned tomorrow, I would probably compromise and buy a Lexus LS430 for the long haul.
Sometimes you gotta be practical!
Since driving is an ongoing experience, the CONTINUED dealer relationship, most notably service, can have a pretty big effect. When I bought my beemer, I ran into one complete jerk, a sales manager in SF who lied about not having the car I wanted, even though TWO of them were on the lot at the moment, and the salesperson had tried to sell me either of them. I told myself to be mature, ignore the sales manager, and buy the car I wanted. I did buy at another dealership, over the internet to avoid the possible repeat interaction, then felt I had, for once, been more mature than I normally am.
Within 100 miles, I had a blowout, which would have to have been due to underinflation (I admit I did not bring my tire gauge with me when I picked up the car, and I drove fifty miles back home without checking even once!), or to a defective tire. In any event, the dealer wanted nothing to do with this. While they may not have been legally responsible, it was certainly a nice chance for them to make a good impression. Nonetheless, I bought a new tire myself.
For weeks I could not get the headlights to stay on for forty seconds after I left the car. Over the phone, the salesperson patiently (and then not so patiently) explained how I could turn off the car, then hit the brights lever. Although I insisted that I knew how to do this, he insisted equally fervently that I was doing it wrong. Finally, the dealer checked the car for me. Turns out they never did a presale check, which would have set the preferences so that this feature would be activated.
The third initial problem was that I had to leave the car for a three-day weekend, fifty miles from home, to have them set this silly preference that they should have set initially. And I got a Ford Fiesta to drive to a wedding.
Alright, just my initial experiences, but plenty of chances for them to do SOMETHING courteous. So nice salesperson or not, this kind of relationship can sour fairly quickly if they don't care about your happiness after you buy.
Sorry-you can all break out those fake violins now. And I won't tell how it got much worse after this. Unless you ask....
Funny how they can screw you on the service and then they beg you to give them good evaluations on the phone afterwards like their very lives depend on it. If they simply provided a humane service experience, the evaluation would easily take care of itself.
In NYC, the BMW staff all seemed to possess a phony courtesy which was so disingenuous, that it actually made me really uncomfortable.
I much prefer the Sarasota way. They are direct and to the point, talking like robots. No emotion. No small talk. Fine.
So when I met this diamond in the rough Lexus salesman talking to me like I was one of the humans, I was completely bowled over.
I really hope within the next 3 years Lexus can produce a less somnolent vehicle because I would like to give him my business.
Then I got zero over eight visits. Your guess is as good as mine.
The later service problems included two separate problems with airbags that they told me:
1. "Probably" OK, without seeing the car. Gave me an appointment six weeks away.
2. They had to break through the interior door material on my front passenger side because the lock froze in the locked position. I consider this a safety risk, and to their credit, they gave me an appointment in two or three days. Then they said it was "double-locked", thus necessitating the breakage.
They had to special order a part to fix the airbag, told me they would call me when it came in. Six weeks later, no word, I made an appointment anyway. I picked the car up that afternoon, and the service person gave me a hard time. He said they had gotten the part, returned it because I never came in to pick it up, and they did not fix the airbag that visit.
Other problems included the engine failsafe warning light coming on and the engine not starting numerous times, starting around 1400 miles. They did look at it twice, then told me it was "probably" due to an aftermarket radio. They also told me it was no longer under warranty because of the radio. When I asked how much of the electronics in the car fell under this exemption, they pretty much told me everything did.
Other smaller stuff: The automatic light setting was staying on until ten in the morning, then coming on at three in the afternoon. They kept the car all day, found the lights shut off at noon, and did nothing. When I made them look for a technical bulletin, they found it, reset the sensitivity (which also changes the sensitivity to rain), and the car was fine. But I had to show them in person, and wait an hour instead of having the car ready for me. I know, small stuff.
There's more, including the anti-lock brakes shuddering for ten seconds if I hit a bump while applying the brakes. They did nothing about that because I didn't reproduce the problem driving it with them in the car. To their credit, at least they drove with me. To their discredit, they didn't even check the system (!), and I had a near rear-end accident when I hit a bump and the brakes shuddered severely for a hundred feet in traffic. My pants got a bit dirty.
You want more? I've got it. But I feel really guilty going on and on. My poor friends laugh at me with each new story, although they all are happy I didn't suffer any permanent (physical) damage.
My therapist told me it would be cheaper to buy a new car than to pay him to go over all this!
After riding on the interstate for about 15 minutes, the car jolted like I ran over a water buffalo. The emergency sensors were activated, the right side airbag was deployed and the car came to a complete stop. I managed to get it over to the shoulder. I did not see anything that I may have run over. But it was quite dark. I watched other vehicles go by and everything appeared to be normal on the interstate.
I started the car and it drove fine and I proceeded toward the airport, a little shaken, I must admit.
At the parking garage, I didn't see any damage.
It was a faulty seat activator.
I wrote a letter to BMW. I wanted a different car. They refused. They fixed it for free and the vehicle was trouble-free after that. But that explosive noise of the airbag deploying and that jolt was surely enough to kill somebody with a heart problem
I hope I never experience that ever again.
By the way, I never got the correct answer...is all scheduled maintenance including brakes and W&T items covered for 4/50 on my 05'?
Let's keep the dialog going.
I have had so many issues over the years that seemed to be going to cost me money -- almost always a miracle happened and Audi came to my rescue.
Let's not assume the worst, yet.
M
Yeah I know. I refuse to do it that way, I'll wait until I can comfortably afford the luxury car of my choice.
M
My brakes do this too (02 530 sp). Did you get any resolution? I didn't realize that it constitutes a problem, although I wondered about it; the increased stopping distance is a definite concern.
I know the brakes work properly because I didn't total my car the day I came around a curve at the bottom of a hill to find that the truck in front of me had come to a dead stop. In fact, I didn't hit him at all, although I really thought I was going to. Obviously, there was no uneven pavement on that stretch of road.
ABTW, to comment on an earlier thread asking for the shemale point of view (I didn't read for two days and missed some 10 pages of postings!): I bought my car because it has a stick and I love the way it handles (also, I need the rear seat and trunk space). It doesn't look bad, either--although I never would have chosen silver if I were buying new--but I prefer the e46 for looks.
As a current A4 1.8T owner, I feel your pain about Audi. I recently drove the A6, and I just can't understand how it's the lowest seller of the bunch. One thing I would comment on is accessibility. There are only 3 Audi dealerships in all of North Carolina, and the closest dealership to me in Cary, NC (near Raleigh) has a 2-3 week wait for service. There are 2 Mercedes dealerships, 2 BMW, 4 Cadillac, etc.. The second Lexus dealership in Durham is almost up and running.
I almost moved closer to the coast near Savannah GA. Audi just opened a dealership in Charleston (about 70 miles away), but prior to that the closest was in Jacksonville (2 hours!). Savannah had it's own Lexus, BMW, Mercedes dealership. Could it be that Audi just is not interested in the NA market? Not that I'm complaining- I don't want a dime-a-dozen car! However, if someone from a town smaller than mine looks around and sees a few Cadillac dealerships, is he going to drive 2 hours to by an Audi? I doubt it!
I have it now for 2 1/2 days and have high parking lot anxiety. I'm sure some pharmaceutical company has a pill for this!
Just not here.
Their go to market strategy, advertising, other marketing (including the lease deals), configurations and now an erosion of the Audi Advantage puzzle me.
Of course, America is important to them -- "if you can make it here. . ." (and not just New York New York.) But perhaps we are more symbolic than we are of practical and financial merit. Audi does OK here -- but sales are down, while BMW and Mercedes (with recent quality problems that have by-passed Audi's reputation by some measure) with higher MSRP's (but often lower lease prices) outsell Audi by 300%. Yet in Germany, the people buy more Audis than Bimmers (at least this go round.) Audi and BMW trade off for being top selling in their segments.
Lots of Mercedes taxicabs for certain -- but I am not counting them.
So Audi does poorly with cars that I have had direct experience with -- and I know the cars are "equivalent." The A8L can go head to head to head with BMW and Mercedes, ditto the A6 and generally the A4 can at least be a rival for the 3 series.
BMW may indeed be "better" in some or many ways -- but you would think that would be reflected all over the world. Apparently the distances as measured by sales are not that far apart (3 to 1 for the BMW) elsewhere.
Pained? No, not really. Remember, I had put my money down on an M35X before Audi's hail Mary play to keep me an Audi owner. I had already started down the path of brand disenfranchisement (if that is a real word).
I think the A6 is a fine car, it is much closer in all the things that make up the driving and owning experience to the BMW and Infiniti than its sales numbers suggest (here in the US.)
Puzzled? Yes. And somewhat frustrated. I used to care a whole lot more than I do now. Audi and I had become emotionally separated and now we've agreed to try to work things out. We're still seeing our marriage shrink so to speak.
I am very pleased with my car and my dealer. I do not regret anything thus far.
The thing is, I used to be the kind of person who would buy a new Audi and immediately start wondering what the next Audi would be like -- actually looking forward to it and all.
Now, I am looking at the broader LPS segment and seeing lots of good cars and wondering how they will attempt to keep and or win my business. The cars are very very similar -- Audi (in my estimation) used to be the clear leader, it was clearly differentiated from the other LPS segment players. It certainly is distinctive looking (but so are the BMW's and Cadillacs, etc.) -- but it is now one of a group of 6 or 7 or 8 very very similar cars (sorry to say this if you think your "fill in the blank" is really unique.)
Audi's marketing seems hell-bent to kill the company in the US, while their product continues to improve. Beats me what they're thinking. :confuse:
The folks at Porsche might want to chat with any other German car company and say, ummm.... "Ulitmate Driving Machine", er uh, "show me".
So make sure when we make absolute statements here, we use the abbreviation:
ITLA - in the list above.
Works in lots of forums besides this one, come to think of it.
As to pill, there are certainly some you could take, but you wouldn't be able to drive while taking them.....damn! I am slowly getting through this phase, but you are in the throes. Maybe they could make that clear bra thing for the whole car...
I liked my tranny, and don't know how much they have improved the newer version. Although I felt like I was cheating a bit by not having a manual, I live in the city, and could not use it very often to justify the daily commute. Besides, resale value the way you chose it will be better. I know you are not thinking about that, though.
Did your wife try to talk you down a level? You know, "why don't you get that engine with the better gas mileage?" What led you to pay the bonus and get the 8? Oh, and when does the break-in period end? How close are you?
The great thing about that car is that you really don't have to wait for the break-in to be over, though. You can still find some curves and get instant satisfaction without going over 4K!
One can always dream!
The folks at Porsche might want to chat with any other German car company and say, ummm.... "Ulitmate Driving Machine", er uh, "show me".
If someone "forces" himself to make a buying decision based on this thread he has rocks in his head. I don't believe anyone does this. It's simply a point of reference.
It's a foregone conclusion that "Ultimate Driving Machine" refers to cars of the four-seat variety. And it has been the truth about BMWs in the US for the past 30 years. Actually BMW didn't invent it. They hitchhiked onto what people were saying about the 2002 in the 70s.
If you want to think so literally, anyone can be nailed on virtually anything.
The posted speed limit down here is 70 on the interstate. But If you do 80 in the right lane, you will usually have a flat-bed trucker admiring your rear bumper.
No. I don't care about the resale value. The residual is $34320. I will just move on up to whatever else is out there after test-driving the next wave of nice vehicles.(I start this process a year before the end of the lease. A lot of fun!)
My wife knows nothing about cars. After having my 325i for over 2 years, she still couldn't pick it
out of a parking lot! She knows that the sport seat was uncomfortable. She loves the new car with the comfort seats.
You know you are in good shape when the owners manual indicates for the first 1200 miles, do not exceed a driving speed of 100 mph and an engine speed of 4500 rpm! Sounds like they copied this right out of the German manual. They say 300 miles for the brakes, 200 miles for the tires and of course, 1200 miles for the engine.
With these cars, you can tell when the break-in period is over when you wake up one morning and all of a sudden the tires grip like you are riding on rails. Happened this way with both of my 325i's. Probably after 200-300 miles. I only have 140 miles(2 miles on delivery) driven with 19.7mpg.
I got the 545i because BMW was running a "fire-sale" lease on it to make room for the new 550. My interest rate on this lease is only 2.4% I figure I am saving around $3000 off a typical BMW lease for this vehicle. Besides, it's a jungle out there on the interstate. All these huge SUV's and flat-bed truckers have plenty of horsepower. I gotta keep up!
My GF has learned a lot recently. She gets to drive my beemer until i sell it, and is she happy! So she BETTER learn!
I had really never heard this before, about a cars'suspension changing after the break-in. Why do you think that happens? Is this something the high-end manufacturers know about, and talk about?
Good lease rate. Especially given the high BMW residual. People who don't understand leases may not understand how a car like a beemer can be pretty cheap on lease (comparatively, of course), since you only pay for depreciation and finance charges. Get a good finance rate like you did, and the car is pretty darned affordable, for its class.
About a year before lease-end, I subscribe to Road & Track and Car And Driver. Love their comparos.
Around 8 months before, I have a list of 2-5 cars and begin test-driving them. I may drive a car 3-4 times over that 8 month period to help me decide. During this time I monitor leasing deals and prices paid, buying experiences on the Edmunds threads of the cars that I am interested in.
It's not the suspension, but the tires. The tires can feel "slippery" at first but after 200-300 miles you can feel the improvement in grip.
Like I said, BMW's are a great leasing car. But if I have a lot of headaches(my dealer is 40 miles away) due to poor quality control, I am not adverse to going with Lexus, Infiniti or Acura.
2 1/2 days and no headaches. Cautiously optimistic!
Hope this isn't an indication of things to come. Its ironic, I picked up the e60 coming out of a trouble free 99' 540 because I was concerned about maintenance costs going forward. Maybe I should have stuck w/ the E39!
I guess the letter with the perpetrator's phone # and apology must have blown away from my windshield wiper!
The reason? The suspension (new springs, etc.) can settle -- perhaps this was a cautionary procedure on Audis part for a new model that they wanted the customers to have premium experiences with.
Same deal on my 2003 allroad (but this was because the air suspension was adjusted, at my request -12mm front and rear) -- all wheel alignment required to make this perfect!
I have always felt that brand new cars do feel differnt after a couple hundred miles, and I'll grant the tires are probably the biggest contributor to this. But I would assume the flex characteristics of a spring might be different after some real world driving, but I could be wrong.
Since I got my new 06 530i, I've been parking further and further away from my final destination at a shopping mall to "protect" my child from those brutes out there that put dings in her side. But I found out rather quickly that no matter how far away I park my child from those "schoolyard bullies," when I return, a gang has surrounded my child, almost "hovering" around her waiting for the opportunity to "ding" her. No dings yet, but I'm also running out of safe parking areas to protect her.
I hope I'm lucky enough to keep my child's sides and behind like a newborn's "tush" until the day I decide to replace her. Fat chance of that happening, huh?
Parking lot jitters are funny. I park at the top floor of the structure to get my "ding free" spot. My wife "dreads" driving the Bimmer because I always "hound" her about where she parks. Its been over 2 months...no dings yet!
I have had 5 Audis with Automatic transmissions and only one of them had "S" mode and 6 speeds -- my current one.
On my A6 4.2's, I did NOT have "S" mode. And, on those cars tip mode had no control over first gear, so it was useless as far as I was concerned.
I used to simply turn the key on, floor the accelerator for about 5 seconds, turn the key off and then start the car normally.
The intended effect was to erase the "lag" from the transmission. I would still get it from time to time (especially on rolling stops which would often be in second or third gear and then when I wanted to pull away, I had to punch the pedal, which first cause a delay and then a rush of energy as the thing downshifted into first gear and the full 295 ft pounds of torque was unleashed all at once.)
Coffee spillin' time (if I had allowed coffee in my car, that is.)
If you don't have an "S" mode you proably have the limp setting tip, which means it still shifts out of first gear immediately upon departure unless you are flooring the car.
What a dumb dumb transmission for what is supposed to be a smart smart one!
:confuse:
Dear Audi we want a stick shift or at the very least DSG!
I have never caused anybody else to have a ding in a parking lot. Why can't others be more considerate? I'm never there to see it either. It's always "ding and run." Never an apologetic letter with an offer to pay for the damage.
My wife got a slight bump in her TT's front fender -- nearly $3,000.
People may be inconsiderate but they're also aware of the costs of their mistakes and "frankly my dear, they just don't give a damn."
Too, parking spaces are sooooo tight, you cannot expect us fat Americans to be able to open our car doors and get out can you? Nope, so we just open them until they bang into something.
If you actually found someone doing this, it would probably be a person without insurance and NVMS (no visible means of support) anyway.
Someone I know just got a new car -- I'll leave it at that -- this person has trashed the new car within 2 months. It looks like it was hit by a tornado, inside and out.
My gut tells me this person wouldn't think it was a big deal to ding someone, not because he/she is evil or something, just doesn't care about material stuff (yours or theirs.) Dings are a part of life is what I bet this person believes -- both giving and getting.
I really don't know of course, but the behavior leads me to this conclusion. I do not plan to confront them since I have never been a victim of any of the behavior I am presuming they consider routine.
I've devised a plan. I get up really early in the morning, go to the supermarket parking lot and park far away like always. I figure most dingbats hit the stores at 10am or later. Weekends are totally out since last Sunday was when my last car got its ding.
One probably needs 2 vehicles. One old jalopy just for shopping and a nice LPS for pleasure driving.
Auto anxiety is tough. Too bad people can't be nicer to each other.
Suffered my first case of 545 envy today. Riding along on a street, car 10 feet in front of me. 20mph. I'm keeping pace right behind him. Left lane. Suddenly, jalopy behind me moves into the right lane, then sharply pulls in front of me like I'm moving too slowly.
You have this kind of car, ya gotta expect this kind of animalistic behavior, I guess.
Ahhhh...
Wow! Now I'm sorry I didn't spend more time with the Infiniti M! An absolute rave. Not only is the M35 CR's favorite sedan, but it is now their highest scoring sedan even among premium luxury sedans. That means even higher than the Lexus LS430.
The Infiniti M's road test score is almost beyond an excellent rating if you look at page 51.
In 2 years and 4 months when I begin my next round of test drives, I will be spending a lot of respectful time with the Infiniti M. Its only flaw seems to be in the mpg department-a disappointing 12 mpg in city driving from a V6.
I don't think I'd buy it unless it was under $100.
The dings! The cutoffs! The blind backups! Oh, the humanity!
I will join the toast for all you fellow posters with new cars. May the shine be with you, at least for this summer.
As to the M, I am getting worse mileage than with my BMW 6 (duh!), about fifteen combined, a bit more city than hwy. I can keep you updated, not that it would stop any of us from buying...
The other day I had my first ever $50 fill up! Shocking. Thanks to our foreign policy, I suppose. But still shocking.
I cancelled my CR subscription. Too bad, I couldn't get the emotional boost that all owners get from someone else liking their car (just ask Karl). I will have to go to the library, if I can afford the gas!
Here's to no dings!
You keep toasting and I will keep drinking.
May all our cars be satisfying and may we all appreciate how lucky we are to be able to afford them!
Regarding the Audi, I found it funny that they make a remark about "the cabin access is very good, but the doors are heavy".
You would think that they would be thrilled with the "thunk" of a solid door. Thank goodness it got the double thumbs up from the recent NHTSA side impact ratings report. As the only car in this category to get the very best rating for the different types of side impacts, CR must think that those types of ratings can come from a lighter door than can defy some laws of physics upon impact. And knowing CR, they will take an automaker down in a nanosecond if they slip to anything on the downside of an acceptable rating.
I look at it as a workout for my arms every time I find an excuse to go to the store. The workout for my legs comes from the walk to avoid dings :P
Fuga 350GT with black trim