Audi is a luxury German car brand that is well-known for making some great cars. And, while the Audi A4 is generally a great luxury car, Audi has made some mistakes in the past. Here’s a look at the worst model years of the Audi A4 that you should never buy.

The 2011 Audi A4 is the worst model year

According to Car Complaints, the 2011 Audi A4 was the worst model year for the vehicle. That said, while Car Complaints considered it to be the A4’s worst model year, Car Complaints didn’t give the 2011 A4 the “Beware of the Clunker” badge nor did it give the 2011 A4 the “Avoid Like the Plague” badge. That is a reflection of the quality of the A4 as even though it’s the worst year for the car, it’s still not the worst car you can buy.

But, regardless, the 2011 A4 still had a lot of issues, with most of them having to do with its engine. As Car Complaints said, the most common problem that the 2011 A4 had was that it ate up oil. This isn’t a dangerous issue, but it is a very expensive one. 

Not only does it mean that the 2011 A4 will force its owner to buy more oil to feed it, but when the owner does decide to fix the issue permanently, it’ll also cost a lot of money. In fact, Car Complaints says that the average cost to repair this problem was $6,000. This was because many owners decided to replace the 2011 A4’s engine entirely, and that obviously cost a lot of money.

The 2009 Audi A4 had the most complaints

While Car Complaints considered the 2011 A4 to be the worst model year, the 2009 A4 actually had the most complaints on the site. That said, there were a lot of similarities between the 2009 A4 and the 2011 A4. For one, despite having so many complaints, the 2009 A4 also didn’t receive any of Car Complaints’ awards for being a terrible car. Once again, this shows that the 2009 A4, even though it has a lot of issues, isn’t that bad of a car. 

But once again, just like the 2011 A4, the 2009 A4 also mainly suffered from engine issues. And once again, unfortunately for 2009 A4 owners, those issues had to do with the 2009 A4 drinking up an excessive amount of oil.

Just like with 2011 A4 owners, this could cost a lot of money to fix as 2009 A4 owners had to buy more oil to feed their car before ultimately fixing the problem permanently. That said, Car Complaints reports that the average repair cost was significantly lower for the 2009 A4 than for the 2011 A4. On average, it only cost 2009 A4 owners about $400 to fix their car. This is likely due to none of the owners choosing to replace their engine entirely.

Other model years to avoid

Just like the 2009 and the 2011 Audi A4 model years, the 2010 A4 and the 2012 A4 also had a lot of complaints, and most of those complaints also had to do with it guzzling oil. Just like with the 2009 and 2011 model years, all of these excessive oil consumption problems happened at around the same mileage. 

Once the A4 hit about 60,000 miles, many owners encountered that excessive oil consumption problem. But, with that said, Audi has since fixed this excessive oil consumption issue. The 2012 model year of the A4 was the last model year that Car Complaints says has an excessive oil consumption problem.