Catering to used-car buyers?

[Fringe Ryder <fringe@fringeweb.com>]

This was one reason why I leased.  Audi of America offered a very good
lease, with a guaranteed value at the end of 39 months.  The all-inclusive
warranty is for 36 months, so  there's not a lot of time to screw up in.  I
suspect other purchasers used the same approach.

Don't forget though that late-model (post '92) Audis came across as
exceedingly reliable in the JD Power survey.  My '97 has not been
particularly great - in the first year it needed a new door panel, new rear
license-plate frame (old one fell off) and new lifters - but the service
was very good and my only out-of-cost has been windsheild wipers, which AoA
would cover but I wanted better ones, and the new license plates.

As for the planned obsolescence, Audi builds the most advanced cars out
there.  That's one reason you gear-heads love them so much.  I've never
even taken the engine-cover off mine (though we did do some tranny
maintanence on our Subaru Saturday), so I don't really qualify as an Audi
gear-head, but let's not forget that they were usually among the first
three to put almost every advance in their cars, such as fuel injection,
ABS, AWD, Torsen, airbags, etc.  The current ones have that great front
suspension that eliminates torque steer.  How could you accuse Audi of
planned obsolescence when most new Chevys and Fords are already, by any
technical standards, obsolete?

Regards

Paul_Royal@idx.com wrote:
>Crapuras not withstanding :-) Audi may have a problem on it's hands in
>short order when all these A4 owners get to the parts counter.
 ...
>It seems to me that Audi is building cars like every other
>company with a bit of planned obsolescence.  The question for Audi will be
>whether their product carries enough weight with the consumer that the
>consumer will allow itself to be bullied at the parts counter.  If Audi
>guesses right, they'll make a lot of money on parts and service.  If Audi
>guesses wrong, well, it's 1990 again.