return of the inline 5....

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Oh, goody, another thread about how wonderful is the Inline 5 cylinder
engine.

Well, I think it is, and in fact, I really think that the 5000/200 series
Audi is really a better package than the new cars will ever hope to be.
Overall, that is, as a motor vehicle for use, that is.

I had one each of those cars, both of which were bought as used vehicles.
The 200 was replaced by a 100CS, which was bought for the automatic
transmission as my wife cannot drive a stick.  It is a wonderful
car...smooth, quiet and although a bit down on power, it is a perfect
vehicle for my wife, and for normal use on a daily basis here in Maine.
Well, almost.....

The 100CS is a '94, which I bought just less than a year and a half ago.  It
had 39,000 miles on the car, and a perfect service history.  It now has just
shy of 63,000 miles, and I am getting pretty moody about what seems to be
happening.

Oh, I guess it isn't a real big deal, but I wonder.  I just had the timing
belt/water pump/tensioner/roller marathon performed by the Audi dealer that
I have known for many years.  They did a couple of other small
items....chased down a vacuum leak which was causing the check engine light
to come on from time to time, and fixed a door lock that was causing the
alarm system to malfunction....an even thousand bucks.

The money part wasn't a big deal...I figured it would be about that anyway,
owning a V8 Quattro and having had a Porsche 928S4 in the past.  What did
get me down, that including a holiday in the mix, the car was at the
dealer's for six days.  Yes, I DID have a loaner.  The dealer is almost
exactly 100 miles from here.

Now, a little less than 3000 miles later, I am getting a drivability
problem.  The car "flutters" under load, as if the transmission doesn't know
whether or not it REALLY wants to downshift.  I suspect that the problem is
vacuum line related, because of the way that this "fluttering" happens, and
by how the car performs under full throttle.

Then over the weekend, I lost the thermostatic control of the HVAC unit, and
the heat is set to "Roasting" only.  The only way to control the heat inside
the car is by turning the entire system off and letting the interior cool
off.  I expect this repair to be VERY expensive.

So my gripes with the "new(er)" Audi , is that while the vehicle itself it a
much better platform, the overall quality of the car is simply not on a
level with the 200 that I had previously.  I bought that car with 61,000
miles on it, and sold it with around 135,000 miles.  I am not sure that the
'94 will be around that long.

On the Mercedes list, there is a thread running about the new Mercedes
600SEL.  There is a recurring commentary about how much Mercedes qualtiy has
slipped since around 1992.  Now, I have read here, about the new "compact"
V8's requiring a week's work to change a timing chain in the new VW/Audi
engine.
There seems to be an epidemic of cheapness creeping into all the formerly,
"quality" cars.

It is making the GM dealer, which is four miles from my door, look a LOT
better.

Roger