Audi future

[t44tq at mindspring.com]

Ti-
I guess your experience is much better than mine- I've had a few problems on the A4:
Front control arms went bad (2 of them, 50k miles)
Radio display went on the fritz (only a few months old, repl. under warranty)
Temp sensor died (after about 45k miles, repl. under warranty)
Driver's side door wind noise (door lost alignment)
Soft glass- windshield heavily pitted after 55k miles, noticeable at 35k miles
Sparkplug failure most likely caused by improper torque by dealership caused $2600 of damage
to the cylinder head and valve seats in #1 cyl. (dealership service issue)

All in all, not that bad, except for the sparkplug failure, which is unacceptable.

In my 200, I've had:
High pressure power steering hose leak (replaced)
Water temp gauge died (bad instrument cluster board)
Speedometer bounce (resoldered instrument cluster board)
CV boot torn (old age)
Bypass valve leak (replaced annually until I got a Bailey)
Throttle body hose leak (replaced annually until I got a Samco)
Crankcase breather hose collapsed (old age)
Both catalytic converters substrates broke up and clogged (old age? poor design?)
Seat memory died (haven't looked at this one yet)
Blower motor fan noisy under cornering (needs to be replaced)

Nothing in the 200 really amounts to poor construction, most of the stuff
I've had to fix were due to old age (13 years old and 155k miles) rather than
quality control issues. I'm much happier with the 200 than I am with the A4.

If I could find a mint low-miles '97 S6, I would buy that vehicle to replace my 200,
I don't see much else although I'm still considering an A6 2.7T.

Any thoughts/advice on the A6? Good or bad idea? The multiple recalls concern me-
gas tank senders, instrument cluster wiring, etc. If the A6 is going to be an electrical
nightmare as it gets older, I will keep the 200 and move to a BMW/Subaru combo in
the future (E39 chassis 540i and Subaru WRX wagon).

Taka

-----Original Message-----
From: Ti Kan <ti at amb.org>
Sent: Mar 26, 2004 2:36 AM
To: TM <t44tq at mindspring.com>
Cc: Audi Mailing List <quattro at audifans.com>
Subject: Re: Audi future

TM writes:
> Jon brings up a great point- why is it that Lexus can make a car
> loaded with tons of extraneous gadgets and have virtually no problems,
> bank-vault build quality and reliability?
> 
> The Germans have nearly as much difficulty with proper electrical
> systems
> as the British.

I dunno, my experience with recent Audis have been that the electricals
are quite good...  I've had no gadget-related problems on my B5 S4 and
the B6 A4, nor did I have any problems with the B5 A4 that I previously
owned.  The only nits were minor and few.

Lexus cars are not fault-free, it all boils down to perception.
People are so indoctrinated about the "Lexus reliability" (or
Toyota, or Honda, whatever) that when problems do arise, they
are dismissed as "atypical".  The dealers fix the problems, and
all is forgotten.

I have an acquaintance that typifies this.  She has a Honda Civic
that has had its share of niggling problems, from failed ignition
coils, to bad tailing wiring, radio problems, gear noise, trims
and bits warping and falling off...  Not to mention that this 5 year
old car rattles worse than my 23 year old 4000.  Yet she thinks that
no other car is as reliable as her Honda, and won't buy anything
but another Honda for her next car.

When an Audi has a problem, one thinks "Argh, these Audis are so
d*mn unreliable" under identical circumstances.

Self-fulfilling prophecy?  Food for thought.

-Ti
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