Audi A4

Which Audi A4 years should you avoid?

Going by 2,898 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Audi A4 years to avoid are 2006.

• 2006295 complaints, 2.3× a typical A4 year, most often about the headlights.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2014, 2018 and 2017 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

Too new to judge: 2025. Complaints take a few years to arrive, so a new model year looks better than it is.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →