khash

Excited, astonished, expectant...

Yes, we all know how wonderful the S4 is. After all, here we are, on its enthusiasts' page, either driving the car or breathlessly anticipicting its arrival on our driveway.

But why must we tolerate all the little quirks? And please, no "woman" analogy.

I have heard about faulty oxygen sensors, rattles, warped brake rotors, noises, and mixed reviews on the cool xenons, just to mention a few.

Is this a price we pay to own a "higher" class car? Is this normal and to be expected? Well, I don't buy it. I want a PERFECT car when I spend 1&1/2 times the amount I spent for my '94 Prelude-VTEC, which was as close to perfect as you could come....

I know many others have shared the same concerns and have received comments such as being on the "wrong" page, etc. I think that's nonsense.

We all love the car, we all have been wanting it, some still waiting, salivating..... But why must our enthusiasm be marred by poor workmanship? The darned car is made in GERMANY for pete's sakes!!!!!

Or am I overracting? Are these little "imperfections" few and far between? Should we rely on luck of the draw? I say even this is unacceptable. Luck must not enter the equation when dealing with a world-class machine.

Additionally, the problems are not so small, it seems to me, and there seems to be a trend. They are not just a loose plastic cover on the inside or a scratched wheel.

What is more disconcerting to me is thinking about what the future holds. Am I to be plagued with nagging engine lights, wabbles, rattles, design flaws, and other myriad of problems as I joyfully continue driving the car into the future, dismissingly saying, "Oh, well, but look at the power and how I blew this car or that away" when the car is not in the shop?

Any rational and constructive comment is much appreciated.

Robert Dinkel

Yes, I believe you are overreacting. These are wonderful cars. The engineering, quality and workmanship are far better than virtually any other vehicle you may purchase. I have had my new S4 for only two weeks, but I can tell you already that it is the finest vehicle I have ever owned (or even driven). I have not had any of the problems you mentioned, but I know that if I do experience any my dealer will be very responsive in getting them fixed.

There are no "perfect" complex mechanical devices. And even us humans get sick at times. Do you also fault our maker for that? Enjoy the S4 for what it is rather than for what it is not.

BOBP

Got a set of wheels that is in excess of $40K which isn't chopped liver by any means. The workmanship and design is almost too good,but some of this stuff I'm reading about bring back ugly memories of my '87 5000CSQ 5-speed breaking every other week!I trust Audi on these issues and feel they will be corrected without too much pain,after all we have a 36 mos,50K warranty. Some performance issues may come up..BMW didNOT warrant the 6-sp clutch if ABUSE was detected!$.02

dave

3700 miles on mine and NO, let me repeat, NO problems of ANY kind. I've had to add oil and gas

Jerry K

I have had no rattles, noises, bad brake rotors etc. My dealer-Key Audi in Jacksonville-has been outstanding when the little problems that always occur on new cars popped up. I have heard of other dealers playing games but I just called ahead and got a 1999 A6 as a loaner for the 4 hours my car was at the dealer.

Those problems I had were that the headlights were not totally aligned, and that I initially had the radio gremlin (which after 3 times is not reproducible).

One problem that the dealer said that was unfixable due to a design flaw is the front vents. There are 3 front vents in the middle. The one on the left blows air very poorly while the right one blow air great. Audi made the left 2 vents run off the same duct while the right one has its own. So the dealer told me.

The only things I wish the car had for the price are memory seats and steering wheel radio controls. I have been told that these are planned for the next year. I guess it is the price we pay for having such a great car now.

Audi Dudey

I would have to agree with khash about his concerns regarding quality control and workmanship. If I spend over 40K for a car, I want damn near perfection! I'm not worried about things like a little body roll or a long throw to the shifter. But things like electrical problems, warped rotors, burning clutch smells, etc. are more than just minor complaints. If I could buy a car in the past (Honda) for less than half the price of this and have absolutely no problems, I certainly expect the same or better from Audi.

It could just be that those who have the problems are the most vocal (I know I would be) but in actuality, they are a small minority of the owners and the majority are having no noteworthy problems. Let's hope so. My sympathy does go out to those having the problems, however, and I hope that Audi resolves them successfully. I live over 60 miles from my dealer and if I have to keep running back and forth, I'll be one unhappy camper.

Chicago Joe

Having sadly been on the Internet upwards of 10 years, I've seen this happen in plenty of other arenas. Take computer forums (well, newsgroups.) You'd have a newsgroup with a bunch of owners of whatever type of device. You'd get a few complainers who talked about their issues but the silent majority whose devices were working just fine usually didn't say a thing. Seeing all of these messages about problems but very few messages in the other direction would cause a lack of confidence among the whole forum, even though maybe 95-99% of the people were just fine.

-

If you're a perfectionist then I'm sure you're disappointed a Lot.

khash

Thank you all for taking the time to post your comments. As I expected, most were optimistic, the way I read them.

I simply wanted--and want--to learn what I should expect from a car that finally tore me away from my Honda.

It will be interesting to visit this site in a year and read what has been happening with the car.

Thank you again, and I wish you ALL (and myself!) good luck with the S4 experience.

BOBP

Good point(nt).