Hi Scotty,
I own a 2015 Audi A3 TDI. Don’t bash me on choosing VW. I know Toyota makes great cars, but they should design their interiors and exteriors better. Even their CEO won’t dispute that, especially the older models. My Audi has enough power for it’s size, handles great and has phenomenal fuel economy. I get 43-45 mpg per trip. I hear a lot about some Audis being unreliable, but that’s all off the gasoline powertrains. Have you worked on VW’s diesel powertrains? How well do they hold up, especially the one I have?
The VW diesel engines themselves are very good engines, but unfortunately the modern ones (2006ish and up) have federal emission technologies (if thats the correct word) in the engine which fall apart with age. Its overengineered but definitely the diesels are better than the gasoline versions.
All I can say is good luck if you like your car take care of it and enjoy it!
I certainly am not going to say the A3 doesn't look gorgeous, because I think so as well, and I assume it handles amazingly as well.
See here:
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/used-vw-or-audi-with-tdi/#post-75879
Keep in mind there is still a lot of technology that can break and cost a small fortune to fix. Also, diesels systems today (not the engine but the systems around it that make it work and meet emissions) thanks to our government regulators have become very complex and repairs on those will be especially expensive if something goes wrong.
The VAG Diesel engines are pretty robust, but keep up on maintenance if you expect longevity.
Realize a 6yr old Audi is still relatively new & you’ll only start running into the real money pit experience, once the electronics start to age in another 4 - 5 years.
No problem, we are just here to present the full view. In general, I only recommend to lease those.
Glad we could help {black}:wink: