It has been over two years since I finished my Cars of a Lifetime series, so I figured I would check in with a quick update (two, actually). As the title makes clear, the Halter household has been graced pair of vehicles sporting the four interlocking rings.
Last winter, my wife’s much-maligned Lincoln MKC was replaced with a CPO 2015 Audi Q3. Yes, you read that right: a used car. After decades of buying and leasing only new cars, my recent positive experiences with our SLK Roadster and my son’s Acura TSX has reintroduced me to the joys (and savings) of preowned automobiles.
Neither my wife nor myself are fans of large vehicles: We prefer the maneuverability and nimbleness of smaller cars to the heft and profligacy of larger vehicles. Sure, when our kids were little, we bought into the three-row SUV lifestyle, which was nice to have to haul around friends, family, and their stuff. But now that my two kids are older (and in fact are each driving cars of their own), I find that we now have little need for a large three-row SUV. The few times I do need one, I rent one. These are typically during summer vacations at faraway places (like California or Hawaii) where I would not have driven my own vehicle (plus the rentals give me fodder for rental car review posts).
Looking good at 45,000 Miles
Still, there is no denying the usefulness of the two-box body style, so we always knew we were going to replace the MKC with another compact SUV, and the Q3 is quite frankly one of the best. Built on the same MQB (edit: PQ35) platform that underpins the VW Jetta, Audi TT, Audi A3, VW Golf and host of other VWAG cars, it rides, drives, and handles exactly for what it is: A slightly elevated Audi A3.
What of the legendary unreliability and expensive repairs associated with German cars? As far as scheduled maintenance, I’ve paid nothing. The original owner of this Q3 purchased AudiCare with the car, which amounts to prepaid scheduled maintenance for 60,000 miles, and is transferrable to the next owner. This Q3 came with three prepaid service visits, of which I’ve only used one so far.
The only problem I’ve experienced has been with the HID ballasts: Each headlight assembly has had one fail. Luckily, I’ve been able to source replacements on eBay for around 50 bucks, and it is about a 20-minute job to replace them myself.
When it comes to complaints, I really can’t think of any. Memory on the power seats would be nice, with as many drivers as it has. And while the 200 HP 2.0T engine is no barnburner, it is certainly adequate and never feels slow.
On to the second Audi to have joined our family. When last we checked in, my oldest son Josh was driving a somewhat tired 2005 Acura TSX that I procured for him, which essentially served as a set of automotive training wheels for him (he did get into a few small parking lot scrapes). But as his driving skills have improved, he was feeling the urge for something a little better (must run in the family).
I told Josh that I already provided for him the one and only car that I was going to, and if he wanted something better, he would have to pay for it himself. So he started saving up money from his part-time jobs. Josh has always fancied Audis (perhaps it goes back to the 2002 Audi TT that I briefly owned several summers ago). When this 2009 Audi TT Quattro popped up at a nearby car dealership, he had saved up enough for a decent down payment and jumped at the chance.
Josh’s 2009 TT parked next to our 2006 SLK.
While the Q3 has been trouble-free, the TT has been a little more, ahem, problematic. Shortly after taking delivery, the MIL came on, which my trusty code reader quickly diagnosed as an ignition misfire. More specifically, one of the ignition coils (a known weak spot on VW 2.0T engines) had gone bad. Since the car has almost 100,000 miles, I decided to replace all four to be safe. Driving behind the car at one point, I noticed that the LED third brake light was nonfunctional. eBay kindly provided an OEM replacement unit that shipped from Latvia(!) for a mere $60.
At some point, the engine splash shield fell off. eBay again came rescue, with a $60 replacement. Looking at the old part, it appears that the previous owner had one too many encounters with parking blocks in the low riding TT, so I can’t lay this problem at the feet of Audi. The inside hood release handle broke, and a replacement was quickly sourced from (you guessed it) eBay for $20.
Lastly (and most expensively), Josh came home one night with literally every warning light on the dashboard on, and the car making all kinds of vile noises and idling very roughly. Fearing the worst, I crossed my fingers and drove to the dealership with a chase vehicle behind, in case I didn’t make it. Luckily, it turned out to be just the crankcase pressure control valve (“breather valve”).
The TT is a great car to drive, even if I don’t get to drive it much: The six-speed DSG snaps off quick (but smooth) shifts, and the throttle response is immediate. All-wheel drive means that you are never spinning your front tires, and really helps out in our snowy northern Ohio winters. But it is a very cramped car – I have to curl up the get in and out, and I still end up hitting my head on the roof more often than not.
Perhaps the best part of the TT (at least for me, speaking as a parent): While the TT does have a rear seat, it is laughably small, so the car effectively functions as a two-seater. So no hauling large groups of friends, a known hazard for young drivers.
“Audi Duty Time”–gave me a welcome first laugh of the day. Nicely done!
““Audi Duty Time”–gave me a welcome first laugh of the day.”
+1!
Is this one of those cultural references that JPC wrote about on his blog site, which only work for those of us who are a certain age? And country of origin?
It’s a reference to an early 1950’s American kids TV show. Cowboy Bob with various puppets.
MY JOKE! You STOLE that!
There are certainly a lot of ways to own a car these days. The CPO of a late model luxury car has become popular, I hope you don’t take a bath at trade time with an expensive German car that is 6 or 7 years old with 100k on it and out of warranty.
That said, the CPO thing has a lot to recommend it. My biggest issue with late model used cars was that poor early maintenance doesn’t show up for several years. The CPO warranty removes a lot of that risk.
My own favored way of buying used cars is becoming obsolete, I fear. Finding the 10-12 year old lightly used car owned by an upper income elderly driver is not the value proposition it once was. Purchase values are up and repair costs are as well. And the supply of good used Buick LeSabres and Grand Marquis’ is drying up.
True, although
a) CPO warranties have some real holes in them, sometimes, and
b) Dealerships do a lot less to mark out CPO cars than you’d think. An accident, even a serious one, does not preclude a car from being CPO’d.
I owned a car (the 2011 X5) that was both CPO and equipped with an aftermarket (CarMax MaxCare) warranty. The aftermarket warranty was far and away more useful, and at the time wasn’t very expensive.
Yes but remember that Jason’s van is still available and will be there when you are ready for it.
The bigger problem is that whole brands that sort of defined these types of cars for much of a generation are gone – Mercury, Oldsmobile, etc. There’re are a lot more just “regular” cars owned by those folks as many people switched from the traditional American brands over the last 30yrs – just think of the perfect junkers we find. You may end up driving a stick shift with a red interior! Or a first-gen minivan without headrests…
Your new sweet spot I think will end up being semi-luxury rides from those makers not fully associated or respected in that field although the product itself is likely to be excellent – think Acura, Infiniti, Genesis and upper level Kia, but all in a sedan form factor.
We’ve done the CPO thing at least once. Yes the purchase price was obviously lower than new, the warranty was nice but these days isn’t usually as generous as it once was, but depreciation continued at a similar, perhaps slightly reduced, pace to that of a new vehicle for the next three to four years, leaving one, as you posited, with a 6-7yr old car knocking on 100k without much if any warranty left. No real complaints though, it did what it needed without much hassle.
Heck yeah, it’s available. Just put a new thermostat in it this week (the old one was getting weak and popped an engine code) and I performed the 125k service of replacing the PCV valve. She’s good to go for a long time.
Excellent article, as always. One minor quibble, though: your first-generation Q3 isn’t MQB-based.
The gen. 1 Q3 debuted sometime around 2011 in Europe and other markets. It didn’t arrive in the US until MY2015. You are correct that it is transverse-FWD-based, and therefore a relative of the Golf. But since the actual model predates the 2014/2015 debut of the MQB platform…it is instead based on the older PQ35 platform, which underpinned all of the Mk.5 and Mk.6 Golf derivatives (and is therefore also related to your son’s TT!). Since it debuted in 2011, I’d wager it has the same structural improvements as the Mk.6 Golf, and is closer to that than anything else. Most of the other PQ35 cars (Tiguan, A3, Eos, TT) arrived prior to the Mk.6 rehash of the structure.
The new MY2019 Q3 finally moved over to the MQB architecture.
Audis are solid cars and more reliable than the other two Panzerwagon luxury brands; in my experience at least, after having owned one of all three. However, they hit a point, in years, miles or both, after which they are money sinks. The trick is to let them go before that happens, or if it does, know enough to walk (or run) away after the first $1000 repair, instead of telling yourself “This has to be the last one for a while.” Trust me, it isn’t. This means of course that your still solid and enjoyable car is worth practically nothing. I drove our 2006 A4 with the 3.2 litre from the Audi shop to the Mazda dealer 2 miles away to trade it in, and was offered exactly half of what the repair had just cost me.