Last year in July just after the EV tax credit was voted away, and my ID4 leases coming it an end after a six month extension I decided to look for my next VAG replacement. The Q6 and A6 had just launched and it represented a huge leap over the MEB platform.
Holy shit was I wrong.
I used a broker who was precious VW salesperson. They did an okay job. At the time I thought they did great. I know better now.
Within a month and 200 miles the Q6 had the steering rack fail and it was out of service for 35 days. Audi didn’t give a shit. They didn’t expedite the new part nor hurry when it was finally delivered. Automatic lemon. From the time I sued them to turning it in the Plug & Charge and digital key never worked. I was locked out of my car and the rear doors several times. Many times it refused to start. Lots of errors. I got all my money back plus a sweetener. The terms are confidential but I’m happy.
While this is happening my A6 seems a peach in comparison. The plug and charge and digital key works, most of the time. But the hatch never opens all the way automatically and fails to close. But there was no fix so I waited for a major update in January. At that point it broke the cruise control and there was no fix until maybe now. I decided to “game” the system and get the criteria to lemon the car. I was in a hurry to get rid of it and order an i7 before the 2027 was out. So I didn’t sue them, just got my money back. I drove the shit out of it and only used the free EA charging.
I was a life long VW owner. Not anymore. The Q6 was replaced with loaded iX 60 custom ordered, and the A6 was replaced with a loaded i7. VW lost a good customer. The BMWs make eight cars in eight years. I’m now BMWs customer to lose.
As someone who’s seen both Audi/VAG’s response to a lemon, and BMW’s response? You should’ve stuck with Audi.
I’ve been taking my i4M50 to the dealer 1x-3x monthly since January 2025. Charging interruptions, power supply failure, thermal throttling/battery overheating… they literally plug the car in to a “known good charger” (that happens to be the 40kW charger at the dealer) and say no fault found. Last time I took it in, their “test drive” was them doing a pull in the parking lot that thankfully got recorded in my BMW app. I’m unfortunately not the only person I know who’s having issues with their BMW EV, and apparently even the X5 PHEVs aren’t immune to bad batteries.
You’re going to miss the Audi service departments when you spend more time in a base model 330i that you’re paying specifically to not have to drive. Good news is if they see you often enough, they might give you an M-Lite from time to time!
It sounds like you’ve got a really shitty BMW dealer, which can happen with any brand. My Audi experience was terrible and I was lucky to even get a loaner, and when I did it was a shitty base A3. When I took the iX in for a camera fault they gave me an EV and always gave me the car I requested. But I have a feeling your experience is better the more you spend. I’ve got a special ordered iX and loaded i7 and I get new cars all the time so they want to keep me very happy. They’re also aware I left Audi because of the shitty experience.
My advice to you is to get a highly rated lemon law attorney. Don’t ever deal with the manufacturer yourself. The worst case with a lemon law attorney is they have to file a lawsuit to force the manufacturer into a buyback.
Way ahead of you, but the legal process is a long one. RE: your other response, this is across 5 dealers in the SoCal area. I’ve had a LOT of different experiences with Audi/Mercedes/BMW with my RS/AMG/M or M-Lite models and it really just seems like unilaterally the EV experience sucks because the intent is that there’s less moving parts to diagnose and they just plug it in and parrot what the computer says about the issues. BMW is notably more litigious than other German mfgs, so here’s hoping you don’t have to find that out the hard way.
There is an inherent problem with German EVs when it comes to service/diagnosis. At least with VW/Audi and BMW. I’d be shocked if Mercedes were any different. The iX was out of service for over 30 days because one of the drive assist cameras stopped working but didn’t have any faults. I just couldn’t use hands free DAPP. They needed an effing engineer from BMW to look at it. They act like they’ve never worked on a car before.
I’m waiting to see how the iX5 turns out. Technically I can lemon the car. Not sure how that would work if I don’t suffer or document any other faults between now and December. Because I have heard BMW is much more litigious. But I’d be curious to know if they just means they force cases to trial/mediation. Or whatever the process is if the manufacturer doesn’t settle.
