Which Luxury Car Brand Has a Better Reputation? Although both BMW and Audi are very dependable companies, Audi ultimately wins due to its extended warranty coverage and added safety measures.
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Final Conclusion
It’s difficult to predict who will win the Audi vs. BMW competition. The same target market is being courted by both producers, but they focus on distinct specifications and features.
When it comes to technology and style, Audi is the winner, but BMW offers a smoother, sportier driving experience. When it comes to safety features, both brands score highly, however Audi has far lower reliability ratings. Although there isn’t much of a difference in price between the two, Audi’s reliability difficulties are evident in the price of repairs.
In the end, they are both fairly similar automobile makers with comparable models that appeal to slightly different demographics. Choose a BMW if you want a sporty, controlled ride. Choose an Audi if you want something with understated style and cutting-edge technology.
Which Brands Require More Upkeep
AM-Online has conducted research and created a number of infographics to show which German brands are the most dependable and affordable to repair. The study compares maintenance requirements for BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz under six years of ownership, after six years, and after twelve years. As a result, this generally illustrates how each automaker’s models are over their whole lives.
Under six years, the cost and dependability of every car is relatively the same. This is due to the fact that the vehicles are relatively new, often have less than 100,000 miles on them, and come with a factory-backed guarantee, meaning that there won’t be many significant problems.
Audi still has the most issues and requires the most money to fix, though. Mercedes is the most dependable and, therefore, the most affordable vehicle, placing BMW in the center. Things start to alter after six years. The cars do have a tendency to break down as they accumulate more kilometers and perhaps more owners.
The least dependable and priciest of the three manufacturers is still Audi, while Mercedes continues to be the market leader and BMW remains in the center. Twelve years later, though, things usually settle down again because the automobiles are so old and most customers choose to ignore minor issues.
But when you get down to the smaller particulars, things get a little messier. It wasn’t as simple to compare different car classes, such as the 1 Series/2 Series class, 3 Series class, and 5 Series class. The brands’ positioning didn’t change, but the expenses to repair various models did. For instance, the less priced models of both BMW and Audi were less expensive to fix, which seems relatively normal. However, Mercedes-more Benz’s expensive models were the cheapest to repair, probably due to their greater build quality and dependability.
Do Audis cost more to fix than BMWs?
“Since the automobiles are still pretty new and don’t require much maintenance, it’s not unexpected that there are fewer quotes within the first five years.
“It’s intriguing to note, though, exactly how much more expensive Audi is compared to the other two models, particularly between the five and eight-year points.
Perhaps customers entering showrooms across the UK will now pause before selecting a brand to invest in.”
Drivers paid PS182.94 on average for Audi repairs in 2017, 11% less than the PS207.11 quoted in 2016.
The C-Class and A4 have the most discrepancy in repair prices between the manufacturers’ corresponding vehicles.
Repair costs for the A4 are 39% greater than those for the C-Class, and it is 28% taller than the BMW 3-Series.
In contrast to Mercedes, which is the most expensive of the three manufacturers for this kind of maintenance, Audi is the least expensive for steering and suspension, electrical, and battery repairs.
With an average cost of PS369.92, Audi is also the least expensive for a cambelt replacement, as opposed to Mercedes, which costs PS475.54 and BMW, which costs PS826.22.
“The reason for this price disparity is because BMW and Mercedes frequently employ timing chains rather than cambelts, which are more costly to fix.
However, Preston noted that requests for BMW and Mercedes timing chain repairs were 20 and 100 times, respectively, less frequent than those for Audi cambelt repairs.
Mercedes clutch replacements were estimated on average at PS670.58, while BMW and Audi were PS544.85 and PS578.39, respectively.
The average cost of an Audi gearbox repair is the highest of the three brands; a manual gearbox repair costs PS567.73, an auto gearbox repair costs PS428.68, and a reconditioned gearbox costs PS744.60.
Around the five-year mark, Audi repair prices start to rise; at this point, Audi is around PS75 more expensive than Mercedes and PS25 more expensive than BMW.
Jeremy has worked as a journalist for 30 years, 20 of them in the automotive B2B sector. Before launching the AM website, he spent three years as a writer and news editor for AM’s sister publication, Fleet News. He has served as Bauer B2B’s head of digital for the past five years, assisting in the management of AM’s digital assets as well as those of Fleet News, Commercial Fleet, Rail, and Smart Transport.
Does Audi require more upkeep than BMW?
If you’re deciding between an Audi and a comparable vehicle, you might be curious about how Audi maintenance expenses compare to those of other manufacturers. In comparison to Audi vehicles, BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz vehicles provide comparable degrees of luxury and price points.
- Compared to Audi, the maintenance cost for a BMW is $5,400 higher at $17,800.
- Audi vs. Mercedes-Benz maintenance costs: Mercedes-Benz automobiles require maintenance that costs $12,900, $500 more than Audi.
- Audi costs $5,400 more to maintain than Lexus, which has a $7,000 maintenance cost. The least expensive premium automobile to maintain is typically a Lexus.
Which requires less maintenance: Audi, BMW, or Mercedes?
Mercedes, BMW, and Audi dominate the pre-owned luxury car market, which is still developing, according to IndianBlueBook, the first pricing and analytics platform for the Indian automotive industry. Any premium brand’s value depreciates by 50% in three years, according to the report “Residual Value Analysis of Luxury Car Segment,” making them particularly sought-after in the used car market. The total cost of ownership, which is anticipated to be 60% more than the vehicle’s on-road pricing over three years, is another factor that prospective buyers should take into account.
In the used car market, BMW vehicles are more expensive than Mercedes and Audi. But when compared to its other German rivals, Mercedes-Benz vehicles are 24 to 29 percent less expensive in terms of service costs. According to the data, only 1% of pre-owned luxury car searches conducted online really result in actual sales, even though these searches account for 7% of all searches made overall. This indicates that premium vehicles have a high aspirational value in the used car market.
Sales of new and used luxury cars are anticipated to suffer as a result of the Indian government’s recent decision to demonetize high-value notes, even if this effect is only expected to last a short while. According to the research, certification of luxury vehicles with warranties has also emerged as a key driver for this market.
The BMW 3 Series 320i Prestige, Audi A4 30 TFSI Premium Plus, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class C200 versions’ on-road prices were also compared by IndianBlueBook. Over the total on-road cost, the analyses also included extras like leather upholstery, cruise control, GPS navigation, parking assistance, a sunroof, and iPod compatibility. After this, the C-on-road Class’s pricing (or price after the installation of these items) turned out to be less than the prices of the other two German automakers. This suggests that investing in a used Mercedes-Benz will offer a better deal than either of the other two.
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Which is superior, the Mercedes or the Audi?
Audi is a clear choice when it comes to performance and dependability since Mercedes only offers all-wheel drive on a few of its models while Audi is all about it. Speaking of which, Audi proved to be a far more dependable brand than Mercedes in Consumer Reports’ road test.
How dependable are Audi motors?
Audi’s reliability as a manufacturer ranks 34th out of 40 on the Reliability Index, which shows that it is significantly below average. Mercedes-Benz and BMW, the other two significant German luxury automakers, do not much better, coming in at 30th and 31st, respectively.
On the other end of the scale are the dependable Japanese automakers Honda, Toyota, and Nissan, as well as the Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia. These automakers demonstrate their trust in the strength of their vehicles by providing warranties that are substantially longer, lasting 5 or 7 years.
The J.D. Power 2019 UK Vehicle Dependability Study, which evaluates manufacturers by “issues per 100 vehicles,” supports this subpar performance. They compiled feedback from 11,530 owners of newly registered vehicles between November 2015 and January 2018 and counted the problems they encountered between 12 and 36 months after buying the car. With 167 faults per 100 vehicles compared to an industry average of 119, Audi ranks 22nd out of 24 manufacturers. Peugeot takes first place with just a 77.
Consumer Reports presents a significantly more favorable picture. With an average dependability score of 60%, Audi has dropped three positions to seventh place in the 2019 Consumer Reports manufacturer reliability rankings. Its most dependable vehicle is the Audi Q5, and its least reliable model is the Audi A3 Saloon. Although this survey only takes into account 29 manufacturers, some of which are American (thought to be the absolute opposite of “German engineering!”), the outcome is still far better than in other studies.
These contradictory statistics make it impossible to determine whether or not Audi is one of the least dependable automakers. It’s probably more helpful to consider the typical issues that Audi vehicles experience as well as the cost of repairs.
Audis are difficult to maintain?
When budgeting for Audi maintenance costs, remember to account for unforeseen breaks in addition to routine maintenance. Even if it’s impossible to foresee when certain components in your car may fail, you should at the very least take Audi dependability into account when calculating the total cost of ownership.
Our evaluation team uses RepairPal, a reputable price-estimation website, to gauge reliability. Based on average annual repair costs, the frequency of unanticipated repairs, and the likelihood that a necessary repair will be deemed “serious,” RepairPal evaluates automobile brands for reliability. Any repair that costs more than three times the annual average repair cost for all models is considered a serious repair.
RepairPal rates the dependability of Audi vehicles at 3.0 out of 5.0, placing the carmaker 28th overall among the 32 brands analyzed. The following list provides a thorough breakdown of Audi dependability:
The fact that Audis face unanticipated problems at a rate about double that of the ordinary vehicle contributes to the comparatively high annual average cost of Audi repairs. Even routine Audi repairs can be expensive, though their likelihood of being serious isn’t significantly higher than usual. The following graph lists several common Audi problems along with their approximate expenses.