Mjship2001

Hey guys, I really wish I didn't have to write this, but... This is how our experience with Audi has been so far.

We picked up our brand new Q7 in March of 2017. The first 5,000 miles were amazing, and the car was flawless. Around 5,500 miles, a grinding sound started coming from the engine bay under acceleration. We let time go by, and on Tuesday September 5th and 8,655 miles with the sound still there, we finally took it in.

The car sat at the dealership for almost three weeks, while they 'tried' to fix our car. First, they thought it was the catalytic converter. Took over a week for the part to come in. After installing it, they realized they were wrong and it was not the catalytic converter making the noise. Back to the testing they went... THEN, they thought hmmm, its the high pressure fuel pump! WRONG again! Another week gone by waiting for parts. After $3,158 spent on wasted parts, they figured it was the rubber steering boot that was loose and letting noise come in the cabin. We got the car back on the 22nd, problem still not fixed. They let us take the car home as they ordered a new one from Germany and it was going to take a while.

On Monday, October 23rd, we got the call to bring the car in ASAP because the part was ready for install. We dropped the car off for the part to be installed, and for the 10,000 mile service to be performed. We also noticed the driver's side seatbelt was ripping, so they replaced that, along with a module for the MMI unit which was causing the system to reboot up to 5 times per day. TODAY (10/27/2017), at 7:30 in the afternoon, we go to pick the car up. We get the keys and are on our way home with the Q7. Less than 1 single minute into the drive, I noticed something was SERIOUSLY wrong... There was about 1/5th of a turn's worth of play in the steering wheel. It felt as if the steering wheel was about to fall off. I immediately turned around, and headed back for the dealership. After turning around on the highway, a bright tire pressure warning saying to proceed with extreme caution popped up, followed by a high pitched beep. This was odd to me, considering they JUST performed a 10,000 mile service and a tire rotation. Now, the car is back at the dealership and we're back with a '18 Q5 loaner. I am just in total SHOCK that the dealership gave us back our car that was 100% unsafe to drive.

We 100% LOVE the Q7. It is the best car we have ever owned, but these frustrations with all these problems, and the service center make us want to NEVER buy an Audi again.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with Audi like this before? This seems odd to me that we've had this many problems considering how well Consumer Reports rated Audi. If the problem doesn't get resolved again, we will try to file for lemon law to get a new one. We've got family members and friends that have Audi's for over 10 years, and they were in shock to hear how our experience has been so far.

Thanks to you if you read this all, I look forward to hearing what you all have to say.
-Matt

pcaddict66

Will you please try and describe in some detail what the original sound issue was?

larryV

Sorry to hear about your Q7 misfortunes.

However, from reading your post, it seems that the issues you’re having are only being exacerbated by this particular dealership service department’s ineptitude. It sounds like they didn’t even bother to adequately test drive it after installing the parts for the steering system, otherwise they would’ve discovered something was not right or that the technician may have improperly re-assembled things to cause the “play”. Unbelievable.

Hopefully, they will make this right for you eventually, after which you may want to look into finding an alternative dealership to service your car in the future. For the benefit of others, may I ask what dealership is servicing your car?

nokfromapp

How many days has the dealership had the car for (total), for fixes? And make sure your repair orders accurately describe the problem and have the right start and end dates. You will need all of that if you intend using your state's lemon law. Which state are you in?
Also, because you took the car in the same day (today), ensure that this visit (after you turned around and went back to the dealership) should count as a different repair attempt

You should involve Audi corporate so they can involve a tech.

RJC 1

They offered you a replacement, no offense, what am I missing?

Mjship2001

here is a link to a video I posted of the sound.

Mjship2001

Yes, the issues we're having have been exacerbated by this particular dealership, but the fact of the matter is that a $70,00 car shouldn't be making concerning engine noises, faulty MMI unit, and a broken seatbelt at 10,000 miles. We have located another dealership recommended by friends that we will use for future services, but we would like to make this dealership resolve the issue. And the dealership we're using is Flemington Audi.

The car now has been in for 21 days, going on 22. Who knows how long it will be by the time they fix it. I am in Pennsylvania, the car is being serviced in New Jersey.

They have given us a 2018 Q5 loaner. You're missing the fact that it isn't convenient to take over an hour out of my day just to take the car to and from the dealership, AND put up a battle with the department over the fact that our $70,000 car is full of issues and they've failed to resolve them multiple times.

RJC 1

In response to your post above, please see the text in bold. Has Audi USA reneged?

gsobol

I think he meant the part not a replacement vehicle, as in "They let us take the car home as they ordered a new (part) one from Germany and it was going to take a while."

RJC 1

Makes sense, if you add the word part in, thx. Since Audi doesn't step up so easily I thought he should be grateful they did.