reliability A4 V6 vs 1.8T

[Ti Kan]

Arthur Marks writes:
> [ ... ] 
> >   I never claimed to be an oil expert. It's just that I have personally =
> > always adhered to a 3 - 5k mile oil/filter changes. That's considered =
> > the 'normal' oil change interval... And since Audi has changed their =
> > regimen as well, beginning with the 2004 models (first change at 5k =
> > instead of 10k) perhaps they don't know as much either... ;-)  As I =
> > noted in my other post, the sludge issue is more owner-preventable =
> > (maybe that word is more clear) compared to oil leaks.
> 
> I'm a little sensitive on the issue as I am the not-so-proud owner of a =
> sludged 1.8T. In this case due in some part to the previous owner's =
> maintenance, but I feel it's primarily due to the poor specs from Audi.

The problem is not a technical one.  The cars are not to fault.  It's
Audi of America's cost-savings measure backfiring on them.  Since AOA
pays for all scheduled maintenance during the first 4 years or 50K miles,
they (not so wisely) decided to lengthen such maintenance schedule to
10K miles to reduce the number of dealer visits.  It turned out that
the combination of using dyno oil and such long change intervals
contributed to the sludge issue.  If an Audi owner cares enough about
the car and has just a little knowledge about oil changes, he/she
would have added a self-paid oil change in between the official interval
*and* use an approved synthetic oil.  I know I do.  And with that, the
sludge issue would never have arisen.

With 20-20 hindsight Audi probably would have made a different decision
about this, but who knows whether the savings on their costs actually
outweighed what they had to shell out in warranty claims and lowered
owner satisfaction...

Btw, this is a non-issue outside of AOA's jurisduction.  The European
market does not have as long an Audi-paid maintenance program as we do
in the states, so there is no incentive for Audi to play that
penny-pinching game.  Also, they use the variable-mileage service
interval system where the car computes its own oil change needs based
on driving condition as well as mileage, not the fixed mileage system
we use here.

-Ti