Avensis D4D or Audi A4 1.9TDI 03-05 Which is best?

Am going to upgrade car from Nissan Almera to either Avensis D4D or Audu A4 1.9TDI. Which is best for the money. I have about 16-18,000 to spend. Car will be shared between partner and myself doing long journeys for work which should average out at about 18,000 miles per year. thanks for advice

Audi wins hands down! My brother picked up an audi last week & it has great power!

The Audi is a better car. I'm not sure which is the best value for money.

Audi every time. The Avensis would even bore an Almera driver! No comparison between the two. Just be sure to get the 130bhp version and not the slower one.

thanks for the replies. I asked my mechanic and he said the Audi A4 was the better car too all round. So that is 4-0 for the Audi so far!!

It's an absolute no brainer if you ask me, the Audi is the better car.

Audi A4 here too. Didn't think anyone would need to ask..... Have one for the past 5 years and still impressed.

All them taxi drivers can't be wrong tho!

A guy I used to work with drove an Audi A4 1.9 tdi (2004) - he liked the drive, badge etc but after a couple of years of niggly troubles with it he decided to change it for a ......... Toyota Avensis.....

Changed an Audi A4 this year for a Avensis estate (for pratical reasons) I still miss the Audi and gaze longingly at A4's - get the Audi

Toyota for reliability. Audi for everything else.

Neither for value.

Hi RS2K, what car would you recommend for good value??

An imported one most likely

A used Mondeo TDCI is pretty decent.

Toyata Avensis D4D will not break your heart like an Audi A4 will.

The Audi might look better, a bit faster but your head will tell you the Avensis will keep going, service bills will never come near an Audi and the Audi will keep either breaking down or bits just stop working, elec windows, egr valves, oil pumps, turbos, gearboxes etc.

And when things go wrong, your Toyota dealer might be booked up for a week or so but you Audi dealer will be booked for at lease 3 times the lenght of it's closest Toyota dealer.

It's true.

Not only do you breakdown more offten but you also have to wait longer to get your car back on the road. This adds to your cost, car hire, trips to and from the garage and phone calls. How annoying is it for you to have to do all the chasing, leaving msg after msg and then told we will get to your car when we can.

According to the following site the A4 scores better than the Avensis:
[broken link removed]

Mr2 said:

It's true.

Not only do you breakdown more offten but you also have to wait longer to get your car back on the road. This adds to your cost, car hire, trips to and from the garage and phone calls. How annoying is it for you to have to do all the chasing, leaving msg after msg and then told we will get to your car when we can.

Click to expand...

My understanding of these garages was that you only waited for a "service" - I was recently told by Murphy & Gunn (Milltown) that I had to wait 19 days before I could drop my car in to be serviced - but that they fix important problems asap.
This has been my experience anyway. My brake light came on a few months back...dropped it down to them the following morning and they said they'd fix (new brakes) there and then as this was vital to the car being safe. So I went to the top of the list.

I don't see that much of an issue of having to wait a few weeks for a service. Most people get their car serviced yearly. Ring the dealer in advance and drop it in in a few weeks. I don't see that as a big issue unless I'm missing something...

Incidentally...if I can drop a car in to be serviced this week in garage A and in three weeks time in garage B..that either means that cars from garage A have more problems...or that garage A does more business. Food for thought.

Finally...I'm not yet convinced that the new Avensis will have the same reliability of its predecessor. Isn't it built in England/Europe these days?

The new Avensis is not as reliable as the old one but it's still a lot better than the Audi. UK markets and customers are not the same as Irish people.

It's a false survey, you ask a Toyota customer, car might break down once in three years and the Toyota customer start saying they don't build them like they used to.

An Audi customer will prob break down three times in three years (or in some cases I've had three times in three weeks) and they don't mind because they say when they are going they are a great car.

Price servicing around, Toyota dealer close to same town first service €150 and second service €210, First service on Audi €220, second service €290 and told I'd prob need tyres and brakes, total bill could be over €500.

Gabriel, you may not see the problem with waiting 19 days for a service but people in general are only happy to wait a max of three to five days.
Most people are not that organised as to booking that far in advanced and most do not remember when they do book. It's always a last minute thing, "I'm going abroad next week", "I'm going away for the weekend", " I've to bring x to the hospital on Thursday" etc etc etc, the last thing I want is my car to break down, when can you service it?

These are the people you deal with every day.

Sorry Lads, (I presume ye are lads, sounds like lads talk), but we have A4 and Focus and the service bills are about the same, depends if anything is needed. Live in North Cork and never have to wait for longer than a few days to book in for service, either to the Audi Garage or the Ford Garage.

We were expecting hugh bills for the A4, but thankfully in the last 5 years and our 2nd car, things are not bad at all, will go again.

How is that 'Lads'.

Interesting comments here. It seems the Audi is a better car but Toyota cheaper for servicing and little bit more reliable. As part of couple we have a 01 corolla and it is very good for miles per gallon. Friend has Audi A4 and he reckons miles pergallon is over 60!
I think they are both good cars adn whatever I choose will be ok. thanks for all your comments