Reliability Issues

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Oct 13, 1999 | 09:16 AM

Dude

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Reliability Issues

I am a prospective buyer...thinking of getting a 1.8T but I had questions regarding the track record of the A4 in terms of reliability and customer service. I would appreciate your opinions on the matter

Oct 13, 1999 | 09:31 AM

chuck

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Lease the car, the warranty is priceless.

Oct 13, 1999 | 10:18 AM

Dave M

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Re: Reliability Issues

Dude,

My early '97 1.8tm has been trouble free, and the three year free service (Audi Advantage) has given me peace of mind regarding how reliable the car will be. Keep in mind that how a car is treated has a lot to do with how reliable it will be, and that the problems you might see reported here are from quite a small sampling of folks that actually own A4's. As far as customer service, AOA seems to be doing the right things when appropriate from what I see reported here. But in general, your customer service experience will only be as good as the dealer you purchase from (there are good and bad, I am fortunate to have a good one in my area).

Hope this helps,

Dave M - '97 1.8tm, sport, sunroof

Oct 13, 1999 | 11:12 AM

stanj

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My poke...

Hey Dude:

Preamble: this is my 4th Audi, with a total of maybe 400k miles. I have had the A4 for one year and it's been in the shop more than the previous three together. Still love it, and would not trade (except for an S4 of course =))

I understand that cars can break down. I realize that I may have a monday-built lemon. I don't blame the dealer for it, nor the service department. What I do blame them for is that they take two attempts at fixing each problem, or even (some dealers) will tell you that it's "normal" or "you broke it" / "voided warranty". This way, my car has been in the shop for 4 weeks on warranty repairs within 11 months.

I'd still buy it again, even tho people at work already laugh at me "what is it this time" - I have had simply bad luck and from my NorCal A4 friends' and my own experience I know that I just got a lemon and so I buy extended warranty and that's it. All A4s have a rattling center arm rest or a bad cup holder, but for 99.9% of people, that's where it ends. With my luck of course you get some bonus problems =)

- Stan
98.5 30vQMS-X<ul><li><a href="http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~stanj/Audi/TrackRecord.html">My A4 maintenance record</a></li></ul>

Oct 13, 1999 | 11:16 AM

Steve M

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Re: My poke...

Man, you seem to have had a lot of problems. I have 11500 miles on mine, without a problem. Well, okay, the center armrest squeaked, but that was easily fixed with vaseline. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was a Honda...

Oct 13, 1999 | 11:27 AM

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Re: Reliability Issues

I have an early A4 2.8 - bought in Jan 96. It has only 25K miles on it, and has had a lot of problems. It spent many weeks at the dealers during it's first couple of years. Most of the problems were not major, and I pretty much gave up on getting them fixed. AoA were not remotely interested.

Having said that, my local dealer leaves a lot to be desired, and I think that things could have been better if I had been able to take the car elsewhere. Some of the problems were actually caused by the dealer in the first place - like the oil stains that remain on the interior, and the loose pieces of metal that rattle around constantly inside the dash.

Overall, I feel let down by AoA and my dealer, but I would still recommend the car. Personally, I'm torn between buying another A4 and going elsewhere.