Has anyone else with a 98 A4 2.8QM had the control arms, rear wheel bearings, steering rack or radiator replaced yet? Not to mention my transmission being a quart low on oil and out of adjustment after only 24,500 miles? Does anyone else's driver's seat rock back and forth as they drive? Audi considers this normal play. Does your front end rattle over bumps, do you have an air leak by your driver's side mirror that the dealer can't fix? Has anyone found AoA to be useful? If your considering an A4 consider twice. The car drives great(when it drives) and it is better than anything I've ever been in when there's ice and snow, but it's completely unreliable. Every time I go in for service I have a list. I treat it well. Synthetic oil every time, changes between scheduled intervals. I use winter wheels and tires, the car is always clean and waxed. Where's the devotion? Audi of America should be ashamed of themselves. Their 800 line is quite possibly the most useless service I've ever been involved with. Griping? Yes. If I could have taken back that September day in 1997 I would have. Four months of waiting for this. Just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced any of these problems.

 

It sounds like it to me. I have the<br>same car (with 15k miles)<br>and have had no problems worth<br>discussing. Yes, it burns a little oil, and <br>the front windshield is slightly warped<br>on the right side, but<br>none of these is significant enough to bother<br>fixing. So besides that, the car feels like<br>new.<p>It's interesting that many people either have<br>a dream car or a nightmare. I wonder how<br>the variance can be so huge.<p>-lip<br>

 

The high number and regularity of "dreams" discussed in this site is what fianally convinced me to get the A4.<br>

 

driving habits<br>tolerance for problems<br>Quality of Audi<br>Quality of the car itself<br>Dealer Service (this one is probably the one that can make the most difference)<p>Reggie<p>98.5 30vQMS

 

dfd

 

Of course, there are a few bad apples in the bunch but I think the number is rather low. (atleast I hope so) My theory, is the squeky gear (or seat) gets the oil. My point, is there are probably tons of happy content A4 owners, but the people who "gripe" (and they have a right too) are more likely to post. How often do you ask to talk to the manager and thank him for the service, but I know you ask for the manager when your pissed... same idea... I have had my car for a week, and put over 800 miles on it and loving it... (We'll see if this changes when it goes off warranty) <p>We are also a fickle bunch too, I noticed this yesterday when driving with the windows all down. I heard a strange noise, finally looking back and noticing the rear seat belt flapping. This annoyed me, and I'm going to mess around with it and see if I can stop it.. Do Audi's make people narotic? <br>

 

Go to bimmer.org and see the complaints, and please don't try to flame me by saying the BMW is not a fine car just like the Audi. Patrick has obvious reasons to complain (and he should) but I think most complaints are concentrated and should be taken in perspective. This is not a flame to those who have complaints, its just my observation. Why doesn't any one ever post "I've noticed a lot of people praising their A4's, what's up with that?"<p>Just IMO. <p>parkerpt (putting on flame retardant suit)<br>99.5 1.8T qms

 

Griping is good, after almost 15 years of living/driving/loving & agonizing with Audi's (still have the infamous 5K), I can tell you that you will either develop a love it or hate it attitude. I do not believe there is any middle ground with respect to these cars (any Audi). Apparently, hopefully (I'm assuming) all of your problems were taken care of by the dealer under warranty. After warranty there are or will be some re-occuring problems (eg. leaky high pressure hydrolic systems on the older Audi's) due to poor design/engineering which will become widely known with plenty of after market solutions and/or work-a-rounds solutions(sometimes living with it), again love em or leave em. <br>Best of luck <p>Tom S<br>99.5 1.8TQMS<br>85 5KS Avant (190K miles & still ticking)<br>

 

is what has finally convinced me to try to sell my A4 and purchase a more reliable brand. There are several reasons for this.<p>The number of problems that have gone unresolved over the life of the A4 that continue to show up even on 99.5 models such as excessive oil consumption, tie-rod/bushing/wheel bearing/control arm failures, engine failures (check engine) on 1.8T, warped windshields, and Tiptronics failures to name a few. <p>As I'm exposed to European auto enthusiast magazines, the fact that poor long term reliability problems are surfacing on the A4 contribute as well. Particularly the issues on the 1.8T and Tiptronic are disturbing. The overall reliability of the Audi marquee is declining as well. One only need reference the recent posts of the JD Powers initial quality surveys to see that the A4 is average at best. Bare in mind this is initial quality. It goes downhill and gets more expensive from there. Take the Volkswagen numbers from the same report....near the bottom. Should this be a surprise? No...Audi is supplying the Passats.<p>I know I'll get flames as I have before but I'm trying to make a difference. I have loved my car when alls well but all is rarely well. If we could get Audi to pay as much attention to quality as they seem to claim they do we wouldn't be seeing these problems. We'd be complaining about coin holders as they do on the Lexus board.<p>Audi needs to be sent a message...to their pocket book. Don't buy an inferior product. At the rate they're going, thousands of people will be seeing the long-term reliability problems in the next year or so that so many are experiencing in Europe now. Resale values will plummet and Audi will need to rebuild their name once again.<br>

 

You are right that the front suspension issues keep coming up, but otherwise, I have to disagree. Aside from early turbo problems (which isn't even made by Audi), there have only been a few engine failures. I only remember one or two tiptronics that bit the dust, and a couple manual transmissions. Most people don't have excessive oil consumption, and I think those who did found that after break-in, consumption went to normal (my case). Look at other new cars and notice that many of them have worse glass warping than the Audi's. I've seen it on Lexus, Acura (really bad!), Toyota, Honda, BMW, GM, whoever. Also keep in mind that many of the 1.8t's are modified. I think anyone here would agree that modifying the 1.8 adds risk, but that they are willing to take that risk in exchange for improved performance (I know I would!). <p>Regardless, I think you are highly exaggerating the problems. Any manufacturer can build good and bad cars, including Lexus, Honda, and whoever. I know because I had an unruly Honda Civic EX that was nothing but headaches, as well as a Mazda 626. Both were in the shop atleast once a month or two! :-( <p>It is unfortunate, but Patrick's car does seem to be problematic. Who knows; maybe once it's all fixed, it will be perfect for many many miles! At 106K miles, my 90Q keeps getting better and better! :-)<p>Charles<br>