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Thanks,
Jeannine Fallon
Corporate Communications
Edmunds.com
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I would agree with james, they probably all needed new tires, though a road force balance should've helped, at least temporarily. The only "quattro sensation" that you should feel is some vibration when making turns with the steering at full-lock at 20+mph. That's due to it being a full time AWD system and not a mostly FWD or RWD slip and grip type system as used in most cars.
I haven't heard anything about A6s having suspension issues that would cause the problem like the early B8 gen A4s.
Thanks for your replys to my 2006 Audi A6 vibration issues.
The good news is I have not bought this car yet and probably won't. The strange thing is that all 6 of the cars I drove had vibrations at highway speeds of 55-75. One dealer who had replaced the OEM Continental Contact Pro tires with Yokohama tires claimed the vibration may have been because the Yokohama's were unidirectional tires. I asked him why he would put unidirectional tires on a car that did not come from the manufacturer that way and he started to do "a dance." Regardless of one dealers unidirectional tire comments, why would all 6 cars I drove vibrate on the highway. I live in the Northeast, but the roads I drive on were newly paved and very smooth. Is there really a vibration issue with the late model A6's??? I would appreciate your comments. Thanks, Bill
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Control arm or other suspension issues could do it, but it seems very unlikely that a bunch of different cars would all have an issue like that. How long have the cars you're looking at been sitting on dealer lots and not moving very much? It could be something as simple as flat spots. That happens to my Jag if it sits for awhile.
My S6 doesn't have any vibration issues, and as I've said, I don't know of any TSBs or anything related to A6 vibration issues.
We also have sub par Audi dealers in my area so part of the problem here may be the service offered. Great cars otherwise, if you can compromise on this issue. I just see no reason to put up with it.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
In a recent survey on reliability, which included over 1 million vehicles and 114 brands, three German Mfgs. were at the bottom. Mercedes, BMW, and Audi.
The very worst car was a tie between the Audi A6 and the Jag XF. As usual, Acura/Honda, Toyota/Lexus were at the top overall, but the most reliable car was the Porsche Boxster.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Get your facts straight.
BTW, CR has NOT been showing reliability for Toyota/Lexus because of their recall and other issues so they cannot be at the top. :mad:
I think the German mfgs. reliability has been rising, but they still lag well behind the Asians and even the U.S. mfgs. and most recently they have lost ground, according to CR.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
I wonder how some Boxster owners have felt when the engines exploded in their top rated, ultra reliable cars (see IMS failure). Acura products are awful, and Lexus products are just boring.
What's average? How many more problems than average is worse than average? CR knows this information, and it would be incredibly useful for them to let the public know it. But they refuse to do so.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
I think the Infiniti M currently provides the best compromise of German style performance and luxury and Japanese quality and reliability. The rest of the lineup isn't quite there yet, nor is their "tuning" division, but they're on their way.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
BUT the good news is that the 2010 E350 is better than average.
Which paper issue contained the information? My earlier post was based on what they said in the April 2010 (annual auto) issue.
I think it's boring. What does it do that a CPO LS460 doesn't?
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
What does it do that a CPO LS460 doesn't?
Too early to tell at this point, other than a new car instead of someone else's hand me down. Comparing new to new with the LS, you get a great new car and and BIG sack of money to cart around with you.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
"AVERAGE PROBLEM RATES [ % ]
TROUBLE SPOTS [ year ] 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
Engine Major 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 <1 <1
Engine Minor 8 7 6 4 3 2 1 1 1 <1"
....etc
- from CR online.
[ edit - I have tried now 4 times to line there #s up
so that they will display as they are in the chart.
with no luck - sorry... ]
I guess I'm just not sure what's so great about it. The interior design looks 10 years old. The LS460s electronics are dated, but the Hyundai's electronics are even more dated. I just think it's tough to argue that a 60 grand Hyundai is such a great bargain when it's no A8 or S-class in design, luxury and materials quality, or features.
Thanks,
Jeannine Fallon
Corporate Communications
Edmunds.com
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR
Need help navigating? kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
Share your vehicle reviews
Had been subscribing to CR for years, but finally gave up as their reporting on cars is often confusing. Primarily they do not explain how they come up with their rankings (point scores). Their reliability ratings are a source of information, but then again not too sure about how they reach their conclusions. One factor is ONLY people who are willing to subscribe to the magazine and return the survey have input. Is that a valid sample? Who knows.
Also disliked that you had to pay for magazine, then extra for website and then extra for health website and then extra for auto pricing webstie, ad infinitum.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Agreed. The definition of what's average is always changing, and despite CR claiming thousands and thousands of responses, their sample sizes for lower volume models (A8, anyone?) are often pitiful and completely full of holes.
CR bases their reliability reports based on what an owner considers to be a serious problem. Is a rattling dash serious? Depends who you ask. You should check out TrueDelta. They don't have near the amount of cars and years indexed that CR does, but their survey is a lot more consistent and accurate. It's also free, there's none of the relentless "super extra premium membership required" crap.
I view CR as just one of many tools to help in auto research, so to me, they are not valid or invalid. Certainly I can see some bias in their reporting, they are human so they can't avoid that. They especially like fuel efficient cars. That's why you see so many hybrids recommended. I would never buy any auto based only on their findings and recommendations.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
I absolutely agree. Any survey that depends on a self-selected cohort is as "unscientific" as they come. Either the respondent has an axe to grind, as you pointed out, or they have a cause to support (the Pious, for example), or they have not much else to do than fill out a lengthy survey. Anyone here really think that the results of a Bill O'Reilly survey on Fox is representative of the U.S. as a whole?
Since most of us are surveyed to death, at work and otherwise, even finding respondents for randomly-selected (real, as in statistically valid) surveys is becoming more difficult.
I don't know what the answer is, other than keeping in mind that all cars are so much more reliable than they used to be, even when packed full of useless (to me) electronic & electrical gee-gaws, when compared to the time that CR started doing surveys.
I am certain people do get passionate about vacuum cleaners or HE washers and front loading dryers, but probably not THAT often. Cars, on the other hand, often are the cause of much passion (both positive and negative). I needed a new garbage disposal (my dead one was over 20 years old) recently -- I checked out CR and the reviews on line at Best Buy and Amazon.
Now THAT appliance can be researched without too much concern about the passion for or against a certain brand, image, heritage, races won, or even country of origin.
Using CR for car buying -- and thinking CR's input is any more than just another [often minor and highly subjective] data point -- is an invitation to disappointment. I'm not saying completely rule CR out for automobiles, I'm just saying they are, IMHO, NOT CHECK RATED as a source of auto buying advice.
BTW, I went with a 3/4 HP Waste King continuous feed disposal. Man, this thing will eat Coke bottles all day long without jamming. Thank you CR!
Homer.
To its credit, CR points this out from time to time. A frequency-of-repair history that might have warranted an overall rating of "much better than average" 20 years ago will earn a "worse than average" today.
In truth, the reliability wars are over. Unless you're considering an outlier - something made in Italy, say - you should have no trouble getting 10 years / 100K miles without heroics from almost any vehicle built today.
I think that's pretty true, which makes me wonder where Lexus will go in the future. Recent Infinitis seem to be very reliable, but that's just sort of a bonus for them, that's not really what they are about. With Lexus though, that's kind of the whole story - service and reliability. The cars almost don't matter. How long can that continue, especially in markets like China?
Most reliability issues today seem to stem from design faults, or excessive cost cutting, leading to things like BMW's HPFP problems. There are also still the unlucky folks that get stuck with a real lemon, but I think for most people reliability just isn't a big issue anymore.
Infiniti? in trouble other than NA, not in much better shape than Acura...
but I think for most people reliability just isn't a big issue anymore.
Of course it does. No one said that it didn't. The point that we're trying to make is that because cars are so much more reliable now than they were back in the 80s, it's no longer necessary to go crazy trying to pick out the most reliable car in the pack.
IMO very few people ever get to appreciate a real performance automobile because the only place you can do so is on a closed course of some type. Every day driving is only frustrating in a performance car.
Surely most people can't appreciate a performance car in bumper to bumper traffic, or driving in a straight line down an interstate highway, or doing 30 mph in most urban areas. It is like a very poor golfer insisting on playing only Pro VI golf balls.
I also realize there are exceptions to every rule.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Reliability is important to me due to the fact that my wife and I are retired, and instead of in the "old days" labor at a certain price is now 4x and it is something I value when I purchased a vehicle.
My acura rl is an 08 and so far free of mechanical issues. However, after reading these blogs for about two years, I am aware of the need to watch for issues at about 75k to 100k. And now at 51k I I am grateful that so far, my rl keeps rolling along.
Hope all have an excelelnt week end and stay safe.
jensad
The point was that if your business is reliability 1 and everything else second (Lexus), you're an easy target, especially when your once envy of the industry standards begin to slide. (Lexus post '06 or so). An unreliable ES350 has no reason to exist, and there are a lot more unreliable ES350s out there than there used to be.
An S6 on the other hand that has a problem here or there is a lot more forgivable, as long as the issues aren't chronic. Obviously no one wants to pay for an S6 and get stuck with an A4 2.0T while the car spends a month in the shop.
When I was last on the new car market, reliability for me wasn't that big of an issue. The cars I was interested in were "good enough" on that front.
Infiniti may not have the million world wide sales of the German brands, but give them a break, they've been a genuinely viable luxury car maker for all of what, 8 years now? Nobody cared about Infiniti when they were peddling Maxima GLEs and weird JDM Nissans like the J30.
Today, when a Japanese luxury/performance sedan gets mentioned in the same breath as the 3 and 5 series, it's the G and M. The GS and RL really only compete with each other, and they are considerably more vulnerable to Genesis style challengers from below.
On the other hand, the sales number of ES350 has often been only next to all BMW 3 combined (not counting in the Lexus IS...), so apparently cars like Lexus still has good reasons to exist for many people - comfort, badge, reliability... - if ES350 sells more than Acura TL and Infiniti G, got to say there are things more than just reliability.
As a car company, interestingly that Lexus took the MB route, Infiniti followed BMW, and Acura went with a middle ground (Audi). The Japanese 3 is obviously still quite behind (Lexus in a lesser degree) in prestige to the German 3 in the NA market, but it isn't hard to see why you sided with Infiniti
Genesis... the sales number is tailing off. In luxury arena, the badge is #1, more so as the price goes up.
If anything, Audi is with Acura and Infiniti with lack of prestige in the NA market. Audi still has pretty abysmal reliability compared to BMW and MB and they too have not come close to the total sales and $50k+ sales that MB, BMW, and Lexus have. Nor does Audi give the dealership and customer service treatment that you get at a Lexus, BMW, or MB dealer. The same can be said for Acura and Infiniti as well. I know many people who didn't even know Audi was a luxury brand.
I haven't looked for Audi's sales numbers, but I'm certainly seeing significantly more Audis in my relatively affluent, very German-car-friendly NYC suburb than I did 5 years ago. So Audi must be doing something right.
I applaud Audi's U.S. diesels, but they seem very slow to learn about the importance of reliability and customer service in the U.S.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
So I guess at least in NA, fair to say Audi/VW doesn't have much of any presence...
Those are deathbed A8 numbers. Do you really expect the A8 to be lighting up the sales charts in its last months on sale? The A6 is nearly as dead as the A8, new one comes next year.
How's the sales king Lexus GS, by the way? You know, the car that has been a market bomb for 3 generations?
It is very true that Audi does not have the presence of a BMW or Mercedes in the NA market, for a number of reasons. Worldwide however, Audi is neck and neck with its rivals in Munich and Stuttgart. More importantly, Audi is financially secure, and its operations are more profitable than both BMW and Mercedes.
Where's the future of the luxury car industry? China. Who's number 1 in China? Audi.
Speaking as a former two time Lexus owner, I'm just not that impressed with the company or the products anymore. The GS was supposed to be a 5 series killer. Didn't happen. The LS460 was supposed to shake the industry and be 1989 all over again. Didn't happen. The IS-F was supposed to be an M3 killer. Didn't happen. Their reliability is down, their tech is stale, their interior quality took a nose dive, and the cars and trucks are just basically super Toyotas, in the same way that Acuras are super Hondas. The HS250 is an embarrassment.
Lexus used to be a market leader. Remember the RX300? Nobody had an answer for that at the time, other than the awful first gen ML320.
Now where are they? X3, Q5, GLK, XC60, 9-4x, RDX, EX. Notice a missing player? They couldn't beat Saab to market. Saab.
Though we agree on Lexus as a company and what has happened to them over the years, I think the majority of Americans would disagree, b/c except for the GS, their products sell pretty well so either the majority of American's are a bunch of idiots, or we r just not seeing something that Lexus is offering. Personally, I think the former is the most likely answer :P
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Getting older is not bad, and can be very enjoyable if one is in the right circumstances. I know it is hard to believe, but you will be a very different person at age 60 or so.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Audi (with the A4) seems to be attracting those that once gravitated toward entry level 3 series BMW's.