Audi S4

Which Audi S4 years should you avoid?

Going by 589 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Audi S4 years to avoid are 2000 and 2001.

• 2000143 complaints, 3.8× a typical S4 year, most often about the electrical system.
• 200187 complaints, 2.3× a typical S4 year, most often about the electrical system.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2011 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

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 →