aj84

Hi all,
Probably a fairly boring/uneventful thread so worst case, it helps you fall asleep.
Had my very early 2019 e-tron booked in on Wednesday for its annual MOT which over in the UK we have to get done - a mandatory test of sorts to ensure the car is road legal...for that one day at least :- )
The car is set for bi-annual or 20k mileage servicing and given there is not much to do on these, I opted to remain on the 2 year schedule so this is not required until next year.

MOT
As far as the MOT is concerned - passed through with no issues at all including advisories.
A battery health was carried out and like brakes + tyres, they work on a RAG system - all green so I assume either no degradation or minimal.
Brake Pads: I have 8mm left on them so 4mm wear.
Tyres were also all on 5mm so 3mm wear in 1 year/7500 miles to the date.

Reported Issues
Onto the issues - I have been renewing the extended warranty so still covered by this - as a result, I raised some minor concerns.
1. Noisy air con compressor- very audible buzz but not always
>>Second time I booked it in and both times it failed to reproduce the noise which was frustrating however on leaving the dealership today, I finally got it to happen so it was demonstrated. Lets see what happens with this one!

2. Every so often, the drivers side door handle refuses to unlock/lock when using keyless. The other 3 are fine. The drivers door is also fine if I use my phone to lock/unlock using the virtual key - bizarre!
Interestingly, some corrosion has been found in the connector of the drivers side handle / sensor - this is not covered under warranty so a little frustrating when this looks to be bad design if an external part is allowing liquid ingress internally. Contacts are cleaned so lets see how it functions.

3. Every so often, I would get various pre-sense or adaptive cruise errors - this raised a flag in regards to a software update - again will monitor this and report back.

4. Rear vents have a clicking noise when heat is on (maybe cool too who knows). This got reported on day 1 of ownership but was deemed a lot of work for something too small by both parties - essentially weighed up the risk of disturbing something/making it worse to get around a fairly quiet clicking noise. Decided to let this be once again.

And that's pretty much it - not bad for a 4-5 year old car with 37k. It really has been pretty faultless.

Issues to date

1. Feb-23:
-Adaptive cruise dead. This is been talked about a number of times on here by others - in my case, a software update fixed it. Almost seemed like a kill switch after x years.
-12v battery under performing - replaced under warranty

2. Very early on, had a whole host of software issues in and around function on demand - this was finally rectified once Audi DE got their finger out.
Also had quite scratchy brakes - disks were replaced under warranty.

3. The usual recalls we all know about

Spend to date
General spend-wise has been fairly low too with most of it being cosmetic!

Set of sun blinds all round £78
Charger cables bag for frunk from Audi £28
Audi genuine rear seat + front seat (for the back) covers £80
Bosch wiper blades all round £38
1 full set of 21" tyres all round: £1100
Dechrome windows + grill: £400
Eventual Grill replacement to black gloss official Audi: £300
Extended warranty: £350 per year (I think)
Service plan: £800 so far (covers 2 services, 2 pollen filter changes, 2x brake fluid changes, 2x MOTs)

I know we all have different build cars, some more reliable than others, and of course geographic differences but hopefully this might help anyone totting up costs.

Audi Q4 thoughts
I was in an Audi Q4 for the last 2-3 days while they had my e-tron and I must say, I'm really glad I had a chance to drive it as we're thinking of replacing the Q3 with it.
Firstly there are two elephant in the room observations.
The range - amazing. I can't see why this can't do close to 300 miles. I am heavy-footed but I still got an average of 3.0miles/kwh. At 51% it stated 140miles left so 280ish on a full charge and this was with heating, seats etc all on.
Amazing obviously is relative but coming from my big e-tron giving me a max of 180miles on a good day...it was nice.

The other main observation was a negative - I am so very happy to have air suspension. Despite the Q4 being on 20's, my 21s on even Auto is far more comfortable and less crashy.

-Other than that, it was a mixture - no frunk, no lower boot/trunk space.
-MMI was much newer with the 3 tile home-screen which was really nice...but laggy despite a factory reset. Did like the fact it is angled towards the driver.
-Liked the headlights and ability to change the battery via the MMI very much but maybe a gimmick.
-Seats were very nice - much nicer than mine.
-The "B" gear setting seemed a lot more economical than mine at the most re-gen setting.
-Hated the touch steering buttons - I have fat fingers and my thumb just did not work well with it.
-Unsure if MMI screen is bigger than our e-trons or if just seems it because its frameless ?
-Lane assist is very weak in the Q4.
-I really don't like my steering wheel but did like the Q4 flat top/bottom wheel. I think I just want the flat bottom more than anything .... just anything but this round one!
-Brake pedal was very strange ! A lot of pedal travel to brake but equally if on the "B" setting, you physically saw the brake pedal move in by itself when braking.
-I don't get the really long dash by the time it meets the windscreen - it also caused a lot of reflection on the windscreen from the various joins of the dash.
-Finally, I felt the build quality just is not there. Maybe we're spoilt but a lot of plastics, doors feel weak when you shut down - most of the time I needed to shut them twice to actually close

In short, I think it would be a really good replacement for our 2015 Q3 - its bigger (or seems it) and more modern but it would feel massively downgraded from even a base-spec e-tron let alone one that has everything.
And yes I know the Q4 is not a replacement for the e-tron but many have considered the downgrade on the basis you get more range, more modern, not as beefed up in size etc.

The End.