Reliability of A4 over Model Years

Jeremiah Curry jeremiah at curryclan.net
Thu May 5 11:19:08 PDT 2016 

I have not been impressed with late 90s early 2000s designed Audi/VW 
products.  Had a 2001 allroad, a 99 passat and know many with other cars 
from the era.  Late 2000s and newer seem to be better as do the early 90s 
cars (C4, etc.)

-----Original Message----- 
From: Douglas Fifield
Sent: Thursday, May 5, 2016 12:12 PM
To: hah at alumni.rice.edu
Cc: Quattro List
Subject: Re: Reliability of A4 over Model Years

All,

I bought a 97 A4 1.8T Manual new and it was dead nuts solid. Never had an 
issue till it was totaled by an inattentive pizza jockey who hit me from 
behind at about 50 mph. I bought a 96 S6 Avant as a replacement. Since then 
my GF has had two A4’s. The first was a lemon with unending engine problems. 
It was a 2001 w a 2.0T and a Slushomatic. I don’t recommend that combo - the 
4 cylinder T with an automatic. Works fine w a manual. Her second A4 is a 
2008 2.0T w a 6 speed manual and that one has been trouble free.

Simple choice is to avoid the automatic with a 4 cylinder.

D.


> On May 5, 2016, at 12:13 PM, Henry A Harper III <hah at alumni.rice.edu> 
> wrote:
>
> Well this could get long so I'll put the TL;DR up front: I'm happy with 
> the reliability of my 2005.5 A4 (quattro, avant, 2.0T, 6-speed manual).
>
> I bought this car in 2010 with 66k miles, it now has 86k - I mostly ride a 
> bike for my work commute and my wife's Prius gets most of the 
> grocery-shopping miles so I drive it maybe once a week, sometimes not for 
> a couple weeks. My previous cars were a 1988 GTI 16v (owned 1994-2010, 
> 100k-269k mi) and a 1991 200 quattro (owned 1997-2010, 78k-129k). 
> Comparatively the A4 was newer when I got it and has needed less work. I 
> upgraded both older cars to euro headlights and changed out their stereos 
> along with various other upgrades/broken-fixes over time. After doing much 
> of my own work on the older two (oil changes, brake pads, winter/summer 
> wheel swaps) I started going to the dealer for some A4 service (oil 
> changes) due to the handy "service reminder" although I now have VCDS so I 
> could reset that myself. Fine, I'll get a $65 oil change once a year.
>
> I've not been left stranded by any of these cars although there have been 
> some reduced-mobility instances. The A4's was a dealer-botched thermostat 
> change (poor coolant bleeding/filling) where I was able to limp it back to 
> the dealer the next day. The GTI had some transmission rebuild/clutch 
> pressure plate spring issues.
>
> The A4 is a little harder to work on than the older cars due to 
> more-advanced packaging - the HID bulbs are difficult to replace if you 
> happen to have large hands, there's an aero undertray that needs to come 
> off to get to the turbo bypass/diverter valve, etc. Pretty cool to just 
> plug in a Bluetooth module into the back of the RNS-E nav and use VCDS to 
> tell the steering wheel buttons they now have extra functions. I also 
> carry a cheapo OBD2 code reader in the armrest so I can look up codes on 
> my phone. There was an "intake manifold flap motor" code that popped up a 
> month after the most recent oil change which was another dealer service 
> opportunity. It was nice to be alerted to the failing-open thermostat by a 
> code, and the diverter valve which I was able to replace myself. There are 
> supposed to be some carbon-intake-buildup issues with the early 
> direct-injection engines like mine but I haven't experienced that yet.
>
> I'd avoid automatic/tiptronic transmissions on the older A4s because they 
> are getting "older" now. And manuals are just more fun. I looked 
> regionally/nationally for a manual avant 2.0T for several months before 
> happening upon this one that the seller was willing to deliver from 5 
> hours away because he was coming to my town anyway. Buy as new as you can 
> afford, more service records are better, etc. etc.
>
> I think that the major engine issues are the sludge on 1.8T and carbon 
> buildup on DI (pre 2012ish when an additional intake tract injector was 
> added). Hopefully the door/trunk/hatch hinge area wiring has been improved 
> from the 200 where I had to splice & solder both front doors and the 
> trunk.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: quattro [mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Dan 
> DiBiase
> Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 8:25 AM
> To: Einhorn Hofmann <einhorn.hofmann at gmail.com>; Quattro List 
> <quattro at audifans.com>
> Subject: Re: Reliability of A4 over Model Years
>
> I can certainly comment on the reliability of my 2004 A4 1.8T, which I 
> have owned since new. I've spent almost $14k in maintenance and repairs 
> since Ipicked it up in September of 2003. While it hasn't left me stranded 
> more than once or twice, it HAS been expensive to own and maintain, and 
> considering I haveput very little mileage on it for the past 3 or 4 years, 
> it would probably be worse if I was still driving it 12k or 15k miles a 
> year. I currently have 133k miles on thecar. I am religious about changing 
> the oil every 5k miles.
>
> This also does not include a couple of major warranty items, like 
> replacing first gear in the 6-speed transmission and a new exhaust system 
> from the center mufflerback. And it also needs a new exhaust now, as the 
> center muffler is corroding. I'm also looking at a timing belt (etc) 
> change in about 20k miles, that's a $1k job.
>
> All that said, I love the car and don't ever want to get rid of it. It has 
> everything I want, is still solid as a tank and drives and handles great. 
> It also looks so muchnicer than the new Audi design language with the 
> gargantuan grilles and squared-off lines. My car has the Sport Package, 
> which lowers the car a bit and really givesit a great stance.
> The earlier cars with the 1.8T engines ran into sludge issues - although I 
> suspect any car still running has either not had that issue or has been 
> remedied. Personally,I would not buy an older used Audi unless I had the 
> ability to fix most things myself or a large checkbook balance.
> Hope this helps.
>
> Dan D'04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6Central NJ USA
>
>      From: Einhorn Hofmann <einhorn.hofmann at gmail.com>
> To: Quattro List <quattro at audifans.com>
> Sent: Thursday, May 5, 2016 8:58 AM
> Subject: Reliability of A4 over Model Years
>
> I'm currently shopping around the city for used audi options to replace my 
> current Audi 100.  I'm wondering if anyone could offer opinions on A4 
> models across the years.
>
> There's an A4, 2001 for sale, Turbo quattro, 1.8L engine with 5 speed 
> tiptronic transmission for $3600.  The owner has spent close to $6000 on 
> repairs in the past two years.
>
> I can also find an A4 2006 for sale, quattro, but no Turbo.  I'm looking 
> for more details but its listed for $4000.
>
> I have to admit, I haven't followed Audi's beyond the 1980's to very early 
> 90's.  They're so much simpler with less things to worry about, other than 
> the occasional unintended acceleration :-)
>
> MC
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