bk1

Napoleon complex: A psychological complex that some short people have. Because they are small and in a powerful position, they act like dictators.
(It's like they're out to prove that they can still scare people even though the size of something of theirs is being challenged).
Same thing applies to Fiat Cinquecento drivers.

Nice Focus comment btw.

Jimmy S

What was the final outcome regarding your run in with the Audi Dealership? Has your car been "fixed" now? I have an A3 1.8T sport that is 2.5 years old, and has been back several times for different reasons, the first time being within 1 week of taking delivery of the car. This was for persistent dragging to the left whilst driving, which I first noticed on the 3 mile journey from the dealers to my home at the time (in Leicester). The dealer eventually came up with the diagnosis of "torque steer", even though the car still pulled to the side when freewheeling in neutral. Incidentally, all the tyre pressures were way too high (35lb/sq in) when I took delivery of the car, and a similar thing happened when I had 2 new front tyres fitted at a different Audi Dealers (in Peterborough), i.e. the car came away with front tyre pressures of close on 40lb/sq in. Am I correct in thinking that the dealer fitting the tyres is responsible for ensuring that they are inflated correctly when the customer collects the car? Or is that too much to ask?

James

UTB

I also have an A3 T Sport which is around 7 months old. I had a terrible time with little problems ranging from the exhaust rattling when you start the car on a hill, the car pulling to the left, driver seat rocking/squeaking and the Audi dealer adding to it by taking six months to resolve them. Why, Oh because they scratched the bonnet, then scratched both front wings while painting the bonnet. The front of my car has been painted about 5 times now. Finally they got it right after a lot of swearing from me.

They also scratched my glove box and broke some trim covers for the driver seat rails. They aligned my wheels twice, straightened the steering wheel as it was off to the right and put the drifting off to the left down to camber in the road.

On a happier note.
Now that I've had all of this done I'm thinking of taking the car to AMD. I've been to see them and they reckon they can remap the car from 150 to around 190/200Bhp. ( Around £650 ) I can also put this through a different Audi dealer to keep my Audi warrantee.

Anyone had this done to theirs ?

bk1

The dealership didn't want to know about the steering problem at all, telling me a full wheel alignment costs 125 pounds (I got the same quote from another Audi dealer to make sure this was true).
I moaned at enough of them (sales AND servicing) and the sales manager offered to pay half of the cost of the exhaust and engine panel repair. So I was expecting to pay about 110 pounds plus whatever the steering alignment cost. When I turn up, they say they've "done the steering" but I don't see any charge for it other than general labour, so I keep quiet, pay 108 pounds, take a good look at the new part of the exhaust and my new panel, and drive off.
The steering feels good, but I'm going to check the tyre wear to make sure there's no tracking problem - if there's a toe-in I'd expect to see more wear on the inner shoulders, etc. I need to check this to see if they straightened the steering wheel and that was all. I imagine that's all the problem was - you normally have to smack a big kerb pretty hard to send the tracking off, and these are Audi's, so it should be even harder.

If I had a problem with the car pulling under braking (on the flat - i.e. no camber) then I'd guess the tracking was out. If you don't report it to the dealer soon enough then they won't listen to a word you say - they'll blame it on speed bumps, kerbs, potholes, etc. I think you'd be lucky to get anything out of them. I hoped to get tracking fixed at a non-audi place but when I rang one they said they couldn't do it because of the airbag in the steering wheel. Bummer.

I guess that in summary, if you want to get anything out of them, try bugging the sales people as they're the ones bringing big money in and they know customers are worth something - servicing people see customers as a hassle. I can relate to that - I work in support!