Audi A4 or A5?

I get 44-46mpg out of the 170 in a Leon, it's not brilliant but not bad. Check both have had belts - VW revised the EK blocks down from the manual (which had ridiculous milage between belts only) and at least my block requires every 4 years now. I think you'd be good for a few years then you might need some injector work, possibly a DPF etc...
 
Yes. As I said, it was (repeatedly) achieved between Macclesfield and Barnstaple.

Amazing.

Even more amazing considering that living in Devon I am always up and down the M5 and economy Southbound is usually at least 10%.worse than northbound because of the prevailing winds.

All of my economy records are therefore headed in the opposite direction to you. So going the other way you must have been near 80mpg?
 
Economy is boring, get a V8! :p :D

I wish!! I had an S4 (2.7ltr biturbo V6 iirc?) from 2007-2010'ish and the absolute most I could squeeze out of that was around 300 miles per tank lol. That kinda mpg would bankrupt me now :(

What about a reasonably spec'd Mondeo or Octavia. Should get you a newer car and if a decent spec will be a pretty comfortable place to be for 20K miles per year. I think at this budget getting a BMW/Audi will get you fairly reasonable and older example, though I wouldnt discount other makes.

I can't believe how rare Mondeos / Skodas and the like are in Northern Ireland... They prefer their Merc/BMW/Audis over here, the SUV equivalents even more so! But thanks for the sanity check, I'm back to autotrader over my lunch breaks ;)
 
How important is that 30k extra miles, apparently they are all motorway miles?

Given I tend to go for higher mileage cars for their age I've heard this said on numerous occasions by salespeople. How exactly do they know this? Have they been sat in the passenger seat of the car since new? At most they might have interacted with the previous owner when selling or trading in the car and have got some idea of the type of use of the car.

Buy a car based on condition not based on mileage (unless it's a BMW then just make sure it's under 60k for the warranty!!)
 
Ah, so the claimed 66mpg motorway / 52mpg average for the A4 is BS? I mean i'm not that naive to believe they would be completely accurate, but I thought they should be at least fairly close?

Initially I was preferring the BMW 3 series due to their "EfficientDynamics" engine claims of 80mpg motorway / 70mpg average - more BS?

Damn, looks like i'm back to square one...

Any number you read re fuel economy, on a newish car is based on fantasy. Ok, it's on a real car, but on a rolling road at a set routine, with all non-essential tech turned off, and no wind resistance.

Factor for around 15-20% less than that, and you might get there if your driving miss daisy. Downhill with a tailwind.

However, they should, mostly, be comparable. While you are unlikely to average 70mpg in a 320d, 50 mpg might be achievable. My personal experience is that modern (CR) VAG diesels lie like there is no tomorrow, and I would be happy to see a 45mpg average out of a 2.0 TDI, but this is not my experience, nor that of a few other members on Audi-Sport at the same time I was having my issues.

I wish!! I had an S4 (2.7ltr biturbo V6 iirc?) from 2007-2010'ish and the absolute most I could squeeze out of that was around 300 miles per tank lol. That kinda mpg would bankrupt me now :(

That's about the same as I got from my V8 S4. It was painful. But not unexpected.

I can't believe how rare Mondeos / Skodas and the like are in Northern Ireland... They prefer their Merc/BMW/Audis over here, the SUV equivalents even more so! But thanks for the sanity check, I'm back to autotrader over my lunch breaks ;)

Skoda's will have basically the same VAG engine. Make sure you take a decent test drive in one before committing. One where you can reset the trip computer and take in a decent amount of roads similar to what you would normally drive.

I struggle to get 60MPG with my 1.6 TDI, not sure how your 2.0 TDI gets 70MPG.

I'm quite sure he doesn't. But hey, I guess there is always that 1 in a million.
 
I struggle to get 60MPG with my 1.6 TDI, not sure how your 2.0 TDI gets 70MPG.

I don't find it that hard to believe, we went down to the south of france in a 2.0TDi 110 5 speed Mk6 golf the other year and it averaged 74mpg across the trip, we had done around 725 miles by the time we were there and the fuel light wasn't even on. That was mostly sat at 75mph on cruise control with some traffic around Paris. I regularly see high 60s out of my 2.0TDI 140 Mk6 golf. I'm guessing this is down to the fact that the cars cheat emissions.

The massive wheels they fit to the S Line Audis probably dont help with the economy and If I drive my car hard enough sure I'll only get mpg in the 40s.

I've driven a few 1.6TDi cars and I've never been able to get much more than low 50s, they're such an underpowered engine you have to push them all the time.
 
I don't find it that hard to believe, we went down to the south of france in a 2.0TDi 110 5 speed Mk6 golf the other year and it averaged 74mpg across the trip, we had done around 725 miles by the time we were there and the fuel light wasn't even on. That was mostly sat at 75mph on cruise control with some traffic around Paris. I regularly see high 60s out of my 2.0TDI 140 Mk6 golf. I'm guessing this is down to the fact that the cars cheat emissions.

The massive wheels they fit to the S Line Audis probably dont help with the economy and If I drive my car hard enough sure I'll only get mpg in the 40s.

I've driven a few 1.6TDi cars and I've never been able to get much more than low 50s, they're such an underpowered engine you have to push them all the time.

My 1.6 is 110PS. I find it hard to believe a 110PS, 2 litre, 5 speed car can do 74 MPG when a 110PS, 1.6 litre, 6 speed struggles to get above 60?

My 2011 90PS 1.25 litre Corsa would only do 64MPG on a long drive.

EDIT: Bare in mind I'm talking doing 70MPH with CC on a motorway for hours on end, not a mix of roads.
 
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Ive had regular use of a 2.0tdi 2015 Audi A4 since november last year, utter pile of ****

slow, unrefined, uneconomical, poor quality, badly laid out interior/switchgear

it reminds me of them cheap chinese head units available... all the bells and whistles, but deep down its a stinking pile of cheap ****

I dont normally get this vocal/opinionated, but I really do hate the thing
 
My 1.6 is 110PS. I find it hard to believe a 110PS, 2 litre, 5 speed car can do 74 MPG when a 110PS, 1.6 litre, 6 speed struggles to get above 60?

My 2011 90PS 1.25 litre Corsa would only do 64MPG on a long drive.

EDIT: Bare in mind I'm talking doing 70MPH with CC on a motorway for hours on end, not a mix of roads.

You do have to bare in mind this was on a very long trip. Just because an engine is smaller doesn't mean it will be more economical, especially at higher speeds.
 
[TW]Fox;29042371 said:
Amazing.

Even more amazing considering that living in Devon I am always up and down the M5 and economy Southbound is usually at least 10%.worse than northbound because of the prevailing winds.

All of my economy records are therefore headed in the opposite direction to you. So going the other way you must have been near 80mpg?

Odd as north is up hill.
 
For 20k miles a year, when you are buying the car personally, I would go for a brand like Volkswagen or Ford etc. - you are going to put some wear on the car and likely need to spend some cash on various parts, and anything with an Audi/BMW/Merc badge is often going to cost twice as much, whether in labour or parts.

I'd suggest a sensible Ford Mondeo or VW Passat as you can get parts and labour (via independents) cheaply - not sure what deals you can get in NI, but, one I've found from a main dealer would still have a couple of months warranty, so you could get any issues sorted too: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201601049801247
 
For 20k miles a year, when you are buying the car personally, I would go for a brand like Volkswagen or Ford etc. - I'd suggest a sensible Ford Mondeo or VW Passat [/url]

Wow, so even with all the Volkswagen emissions thingy (OK and I do appreciate Audi is owned by VW) you would still pick VW over BMW/Audi? Well I am going to see a Mondeo on Sat, same year and price as the A4 but with just under half the mileage. I can see it's the sensible thing to do, but sensible isn't always exciting ;)

Ive had regular use of a 2.0tdi 2015 Audi A4 since november last year, utter pile of ****

Another "wow", after seeing the A4 parked next to a 3 series, I really thought the A4 was nicer looking inside & out, better equipped, more refined etc. (And I'm honestly not trying to start an Audi vs BMW fight here - just my observation of 2 cars). I guess its a thin veneer... I'm also going to test drive the BMW on Sat to see how it feels alongside the mondeo...
 
Wow, so even with all the Volkswagen emissions thingy (OK and I do appreciate Audi is owned by VW) you would still pick VW over BMW/Audi?

As you identify in your post there is no point separating Audi from VW for that purpose - they are both affected?!
 
Another "wow", after seeing the A4 parked next to a 3 series, I really thought the A4 was nicer looking inside & out, better equipped, more refined etc. (And I'm honestly not trying to start an Audi vs BMW fight here - just my observation of 2 cars). I guess its a thin veneer... I'm also going to test drive the BMW on Sat to see how it feels alongside the mondeo...

The difference here though is that he is talking about a 2015 A4 which although is the same car as a 2010 A4 (Or even a 2008) is likely being compared to the current 3 Series. A £10k budget buys the previous model 3 Series instead, which isn't as modern.
 
Another "wow", after seeing the A4 parked next to a 3 series, I really thought the A4 was nicer looking inside & out, better equipped, more refined etc. (And I'm honestly not trying to start an Audi vs BMW fight here - just my observation of 2 cars). I guess its a thin veneer... I'm also going to test drive the BMW on Sat to see how it feels alongside the mondeo...

To be fair, when I swapped my A4 (B8.5) to my 335d (e91) I also thought the Audi was better looking, both inside and out. The BMW just felt far more plain. Initially. I would disagree with the more refined aspect though. Initially I felt that aspect top be about the same.

After a while though, I forgot all about it, and realised the BMW had everything I wanted out of a car at that time. Sure, I swapped for economy reasons. And I didn't actually gain much. But I did gain a better overall spec, and far more power to boot. I guess if I'd swapped to a 320d I might not have liked it so much, but I'm quite sure I would have got much better economy, which would have made up for a lot.
 
Another "wow", after seeing the A4 parked next to a 3 series, I really thought the A4 was nicer looking inside & out, better equipped, more refined etc. (And I'm honestly not trying to start an Audi vs BMW fight here - just my observation of 2 cars). I guess its a thin veneer... I'm also going to test drive the BMW on Sat to see how it feels alongside the mondeo...

You're likely comparing a base spec SE model of the current(now previous as of this year) A4 alongside a relatively new 3 series so the difference will definitely be staggering. The previous gen 3 series had a rubbish interior.

I wouldnt buy the A5, you'll expect a sporty coupe and be disappointed. Get the A4 if you like it but go for a relatively decent spec - the cloth trim, for example just brings the interior back 10 years!
 
the a4 is more practical than the a5. the a5 is meant to be a coupe like. as for diesels to ensure the turbos dont go in those, always wait 5 minutes before switching the car off.
 
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