reliability A4 V6 vs 1.8T

[Grant Lenahan]

BINGO! we have a winner.

Grant
On Jan 26, 2006, at 3:29 PM, Ti Kan wrote:

> 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
> _______________________________________________
> quattro mailing list
> quattro at audifans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro