Well... after 3 years of owership the men in black arrived yesterday to take the car away. Handed it back with exactly 20,000 miles on the clock.
Just thought I'd id share my final thoughts
Positives:
-Plenty of room for a family. ample space in the back, nice size boot.
-The Engine. man im gonna miss that engine! Smooth as silk, effortless power delivery, quiet as a mouse and great on juice. (mid 40's all day on the longer runs in comfort mode)
-Interior its not the most luxurious cabin in the world but everything feels well made and the button placement is perfect. operating the MMI on the move was a breeze.
-The satnav. Google earth/maps is awesome, easily the best sat nav I've used in a car! Very easy to follow and live traffic updates is always a nice thing to have. Audi connect also has some very useful features, still seems like Audi are still trying to work out how or what to charge users for it as they renewed for me for free when it expired, i didnt pay a penny for it whole time I had the car.
Negatives: (some have been addressed in post 2016 models)
- The gearbox... yep this was a massive issue for me as it is for others and one of reasons id never consider another A4 again until they sort this out. Laggy as hell which made it borderline dangerous in a lot of everyday situations (junctions/roundabouts) I learned to live with it but it definitely ruined the driving experience.
- Lack of standard equipment. I didnt tick many of the options boxes and to be fair I had pretty much everything I needed but a few more additional features as standard would have been nice, Hillhold assist, heated front seats, auto folding door mirrors, colour screen inbetween the dials to name a few.
- Sound system. Its not great. I've expressed this multiple times already here and it's been back to Audi a couple of times for rattles and squeaks. Bottom line: If you like your music you're gonna be pretty disappointed with the set up.
Overall: It's a good car. The gearbox forces you to adjust your driving style. but if you can get over that it's a nice car to live with. It's comfortable, refined, can really move when you want it to and its great on fuel. I didnt have any issues with reliability (apart from a few flat tyers) it served me and my family well.
Would I have another A4?: Probably not. Its a good car overall but not one id like to revisit anytime soon. I'm not a fan of the direction Audi are going in with thier interiors. Replacing the rotary knob with a touchscreen was a dealbreaker for me.
The leasing experience: Was ok overall. I had a small issue at the end of my contract as VW were unable to collect the car on the day the contract ended. Their earliest collection day was 3 weeks over the contract end date which meant i had to get the car MOT'd for them to be able to drive it when they eventually came to get it. I kicked up a bit of a fuss and Audi finance agreed to return the cost of the MOT once done but not the cost of any work needed (luckily it passed with no issues) The vehicle also needed to be insured on collection day so I had to arrange temporary insurance (mine expired a week after the contract end date and only had a 14day cooling off period to cancel the renewal) Audi refused to reimburse me for this. When they came to collect it they spent 30 minutes inspecting every detail of the car inside & out before they took it away. Luckily I had it cleaned and had all the minor scratches and scrapes sorted before hand. Had I not it probably would have been a different story.
Next Car?: not sure yet. I work from home and was only really using the A4 for local errands and the odd long distance trip here n there for family adventures or to visit friends. I'd probably be better suited to a petrol and the Mrs has a big car for the family stuff so I'm thinking something smaller but more fun to drive. I'm in no rush for a car so will give it a few months before I start looking again.
Thanks to everyone here that's helped me along the way. I'll be sticking around for a little while longer so feel free to hit me up if your considering one and have questions about it.
Anyways ill end it there Happy 2020 & beyond fellas. wishing you all nothing but the best for this year & beyond.
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
Just thought I'd id share my final thoughts
Positives:
-Plenty of room for a family. ample space in the back, nice size boot.
-The Engine. man im gonna miss that engine! Smooth as silk, effortless power delivery, quiet as a mouse and great on juice. (mid 40's all day on the longer runs in comfort mode)
-Interior its not the most luxurious cabin in the world but everything feels well made and the button placement is perfect. operating the MMI on the move was a breeze.
-The satnav. Google earth/maps is awesome, easily the best sat nav I've used in a car! Very easy to follow and live traffic updates is always a nice thing to have. Audi connect also has some very useful features, still seems like Audi are still trying to work out how or what to charge users for it as they renewed for me for free when it expired, i didnt pay a penny for it whole time I had the car.
Negatives: (some have been addressed in post 2016 models)
- The gearbox... yep this was a massive issue for me as it is for others and one of reasons id never consider another A4 again until they sort this out. Laggy as hell which made it borderline dangerous in a lot of everyday situations (junctions/roundabouts) I learned to live with it but it definitely ruined the driving experience.
- Lack of standard equipment. I didnt tick many of the options boxes and to be fair I had pretty much everything I needed but a few more additional features as standard would have been nice, Hillhold assist, heated front seats, auto folding door mirrors, colour screen inbetween the dials to name a few.
- Sound system. Its not great. I've expressed this multiple times already here and it's been back to Audi a couple of times for rattles and squeaks. Bottom line: If you like your music you're gonna be pretty disappointed with the set up.
Overall: It's a good car. The gearbox forces you to adjust your driving style. but if you can get over that it's a nice car to live with. It's comfortable, refined, can really move when you want it to and its great on fuel. I didnt have any issues with reliability (apart from a few flat tyers) it served me and my family well.
Would I have another A4?: Probably not. Its a good car overall but not one id like to revisit anytime soon. I'm not a fan of the direction Audi are going in with thier interiors. Replacing the rotary knob with a touchscreen was a dealbreaker for me.
The leasing experience: Was ok overall. I had a small issue at the end of my contract as VW were unable to collect the car on the day the contract ended. Their earliest collection day was 3 weeks over the contract end date which meant i had to get the car MOT'd for them to be able to drive it when they eventually came to get it. I kicked up a bit of a fuss and Audi finance agreed to return the cost of the MOT once done but not the cost of any work needed (luckily it passed with no issues) The vehicle also needed to be insured on collection day so I had to arrange temporary insurance (mine expired a week after the contract end date and only had a 14day cooling off period to cancel the renewal) Audi refused to reimburse me for this. When they came to collect it they spent 30 minutes inspecting every detail of the car inside & out before they took it away. Luckily I had it cleaned and had all the minor scratches and scrapes sorted before hand. Had I not it probably would have been a different story.
Next Car?: not sure yet. I work from home and was only really using the A4 for local errands and the odd long distance trip here n there for family adventures or to visit friends. I'd probably be better suited to a petrol and the Mrs has a big car for the family stuff so I'm thinking something smaller but more fun to drive. I'm in no rush for a car so will give it a few months before I start looking again.
Thanks to everyone here that's helped me along the way. I'll be sticking around for a little while longer so feel free to hit me up if your considering one and have questions about it.
Anyways ill end it there Happy 2020 & beyond fellas. wishing you all nothing but the best for this year & beyond.
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
