I’ve visited a few car showrooms recently, and read a load of online reviews…

Audis seem to be really well made, but online reviews suggest they’re generally unreliable, with plenty of owners dissatisfied with them.

Conversely, I’ve read that Hondas often go on ‘forever’, with nothing other than routine maintenance required. However, they felt relatively flimsy to me, and the materials used in the cab seemed to be of a lower quality.

Perhaps I’ve picked up a wrong impression of these two manufacturers’ products, but I’m just wondering why a car which looks and feels to be well built might be more unreliable than one which doesn’t feel as good.

Audi Very Reliable
Honda/Toyota Extremely Reliable

I have owned cars by all the above manufacturers (and VW, Mitsubishi …)

I would agree interior and exterior finish is superior on Audi’s vs Japanese cars who tend imo to have a more plasticy feel to them

I’m just wondering why a car which looks and feels to be well built might be more unreliable than one which doesn’t feel as good.

Better cabin materials and thicker sound insulation does not necessarily equate to better quality electrics and more reliable ancillary components. The more expensive materials that are a trademark of VAG cars have to be paid for somehow, so it’s fair to assume that savings are made elsewhere.

Pick any manufacturer and you will find lovers and haterz.

This tends to be helpful – and a search for exact model on HonestJohn

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/audi/

OP one ofher thing our local Audi dealer who we bought the car new from was imo verging on the criminal in suggesting uneccessary work. We where much happier when we moved to an indelendent. Owned an A6 Quattro diesel for 7 years 110k trouble free miles (car was trouble free, dealer nightmare). We where warned by neighbour of this specific dealer, he took his Audi to another main dealer further away and was happy

Based on limited personal experience of owning one Audi and lots of Honda’s I’d have said the Audi was average and the Honda’s very, very good. Part of the issue I had with the Audi might also have been the dealer being crap where the Honda dealers have all been pretty good.

Pick any manufacturer and you will find lovers and haterz.

This tends to be helpful – and a search for exact model on HonestJohn

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/audi/

Not surprised by the Q7 languishing at the bottom. BiL is on his second (after the first was written off); they have both been a constant supply of problems.

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/manufacturer

Our little petrol Audi A1 has been super reliable. Talking to other owners, it seems diesels and other models can have more issues.

Parts and labour prices at Audi dealers also tend to be higher than the equivalent Jap cars too, which makes repair/service bills a bit higher.

Conversely, I’ve read that Hondas often go on ‘forever’, with nothing other than routine maintenance required. However, they felt relatively flimsy to me, and the materials used in the cab seemed to be of a lower quality.

I bought a honda accord tourer new in 2005 and still have it. I guess it depends what you mean by reliable – its never broken down but it’s had/has issues common to the model and I’ve been a bit disappointed with these.

– cracked exhaust manifold that leads to exhaust fumes in the car at idle and loss of power/revs when accelerating quickly – overtaking for example
– abs warning light caused by faulty sensor
– rear disc brake calipers seize
– alloy wheels corrode – mine were replaced under warranty
– auto tailgate closes tailgate but won’t open it.

It’s never broken down though 🙂

current Audi (A4) – mechanically reliable but a few electrical gremlins, nothing serious or stupidly expensive to fix
previous Honda (CR-V) – thirsty but reliable and sailed through MoTs with no or next to no work. Much more comfortable than the Audi

Honda jazz … wifes and thrashed verywhere ,never a single advisory over 7 years

My Civic now on a 57 plate again not one advisory , only servicing and pads + tyres

Ultra reliable

Gary, how many miles has your Accord done? It doesn’t look like a long list of problems for an eleven year old vehicle. Has its interior stood up to the test of time, or is it looking a bit tired and sorry for itself?

My Defender is a similar age, and it’s heading towards 220,000 miles. I have it serviced at an independent. It’s obviously not a ‘quality’ vehicle, but I can’t grumble so far.

I have heard a number of people unhappy with the Audi garages.

As above, it depends on the car. Audi had a problem with the design of some of their petrol engines that drank oil and then had issues with the timing chain tensioner which was kept under tension by the oil pressure. I had a 1.8T Audi built engine in a Skoda which gave endless trouble including a very expensive engine rebuild at 60k miles to which Skoda UK contributed despite it being well out of warranty. Once I started asking around I found plenty of friends and acquaintances with a selection of Audi’s who all had similar engines and similar problems. Diesels said to be fine as are the smaller petrol engines. Don’t know if problem now solved as cars concerned are 5-8 years old.

The reliability indexes give a fair idea of what is least likely to have problems , the latest indexes show up the more “Quality” cars to be less reliable – its not just that their owners are more inclined to complain – its that they are simply less reliable – the cost of fixing problems is also in line with the “quality” premium.
Whilst VAG group cars have a reputation for “quality” depending on their position in the lineup Audi/VW/Skoda-Seat the reliability graph goes the other way skoda-Seat/VW/Audi as do the costs to fix.
Honda have definitely got worse for niggles with the later Civic/Accord however they do keep going and can be fixed for reasonable cost.

As to why quality brands are more unreliable -simplistically- they invest time in making everything look/feel quality not so much time/effort in making it as reliable as possible – add the extra complexity and the results are clear.
You do have to research individual models in detail to get the true picture and risks associated with each model – each brand has stars and lemons – with the quality brands the risks are just higher/more costly.

Gary, how many miles has your Accord done? It doesn’t look like a long list of problems for an eleven year old vehicle. Has its interior stood up to the test of time, or is it looking a bit tired and sorry for itself?

around 135k, no it’s not a long list of issues and none are that much of an issue, Cracked manifold was the biggest issue, abs issues just invoked some tape over the indicator light 🙂

Doesn’t look tired at all, interior has held up well and is rattle free. There’s a couple of small rust bubbles around one wheel arch but apart from that it looks fine – I do look after my cars though.

OP what models are you looking at and have you considered Toyota ?

I am rather old school and not a fan of all the small engined turbos (friend went from an A3 2TDi to a 1.6TDi and says the smaller engined car is inferior for example).

If you do buy an Audi just ignore the dealer’s list of “Audi recommends” work and if the dealer makes you feel uncomfortable find a good independent as soon as the warranty expires.

We’re all over the place! I’m only half-heartedly looking, as I’ve had Defenders for almost 20 years, and not really thought about other cars until recently. I started thinking about a second car which was economical, and looked at VW Up! then Audi A1, moving to the Audi S1… Then there was the thought of an old MX-5, a Citroen 2CV, Citroen C6, Honda Integra Type R etc etc…! However, I’m still happy with the Defender. I suppose I like a car with a bit of character, and I think I’d find it difficult to hand over money for a new one.

I suppose the car we’re more seriously looking to replace is my brother’s Zaffira diesel which recently came to the end of its 100,000 mile warranty, and it’s been making ominous sounds – probably DMF, and some other stuff which will result in a hefty bill as it also needs new brakes. It’s had a fair bit of work done under warranty since it was new, but keeping it going might make good financial sense. He’s thinking about a CRV but didn’t like the look of the interior (or the non-flat load space). We’ve also considered Toyota Avensis, Volvo and a good few more. However, we’ve not had test drives yet – might go and try a CRV to see what it’s like.

Conversely, I’ve read that Hondas often go on ‘forever’, with nothing other than routine maintenance required. However, they felt relatively flimsy to me, and the materials used in the cab seemed to be of a lower quality.

Money spent where it matters then perhaps.

A lot of VW groups ‘legendary’ reliability is based on it reputation in the 80s and early 90s when cars were lucky to reach 100k and felt very loose and shonky long before that. In a time when cars typically only had a 5 digit odometer VW/Audi were pretty much unique in having 6 digits so you could watch them reach the dizzying heights of say 120k.

The real difference was all the stuff you touched was better quality- everything felt tight, doors slammed nicely right through the life of the car. People kept VWs running and kept spending money on their upkeep because they felt good – even though they all blew their head gaskets at exactly 90k people would pay the money to put them back on the road because ‘they go on forever’. The reality was a contemporary vauxhall astra would run to the same milages just as reliably. The difference was an old high milage astra felt old and high milage so if anything went wrong people felt they were throwing good money after bad if the fixed it.

These days all cars are better built and more reliable and against the competition VW / Audi doesn’t really measure up as well. But out of all the VW marques Audi seems to have the worst rep even though it shares common platforms with SEAT/ Skoda and VW. It seems its the luxury add-ons and upgrades needed to justify the Audi price tag cause more trouble than they’re worth. Too much cleverness that mechanics and dealers can’t diagnose easily and thats too costly to replace and repair.

We’re all over the place!

🙂 That list certainly qualifies.

CRV is a family 4wd, very much a soft roader. It’s not the most inspiring car you’ll ever drive ! The equivalent Toyota Rav4 has bloated too sadly (we had a 2000 version and it was fabulous with removal seats for van like load carrying, might buy an old one for bikes etc). I would say all the Toyotas get the job done but not the pulse racing.

A1 very popular city car and great looking we see many about, definitely more flimsy than an A3.

@mac I do think there is a lot of truth in your post, however I’m looking for a bike suitable car and would happily take s/h an A3 quattro (2.0 model not the 3.2), Q3 or an older Rav4 with removable seats. Our A6 was great and would sit on the European motorways for as long as you like as fast as you wanted. Brilliant in the snow too even with stock tyres.