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To stay within your budget, any A4 wagon you’re likely to find will be getting on for around 15 years old. A4s from this era weren’t bad cars (they were actually great to drive) but the old expression that there’s no such thing as a cheap, second-hand European car has its roots in the truth.
The fact is, an A4 of any sort will be more expensive to repair and maintain than many, say, Japanese or South Korean cars of a similar size. This isn’t Audi-bashing, it’s just a fact; the Audi is a more complex design and European car parts are just generally more expensive to buy (blame exchange rates).
None of this is to suggest that an A4 can’t be bought and run on a budget, but only to a certain extent. At which point, skipping vital maintenance might seem like a good financial decision but is most certainly not. A complex machine like the Audi is also probably not the best car on which to begin learning about maintenance, if that’s on your son’s agenda.
If there are any common problems and complaints about Audi's reliability or faults, they'll likely show up on our Audi problems page. You can also calculate a car's projected resale value via our price and specs page.
Audis are made world wide. Production sites can be found in Germany, Hungary, Belgium and Mexico. Through Volkswagen - Audi's parent company - Audi also manufacture out of Slovakia, Spain, Russia, Brazil, India and China.