A4 reliability, snows, etc.

["Christopher E. Cieurzo" <ccieurzo@moose.uvm.edu>]

Hi all,
I noticed a question a couple of days ago about A4 reliability. I have 
had a hard time getting internet access, which is why I am so late in 
replying. I have had my A4q since mid September. So far, the dealer has 
had to replace the inner door seal on the driver's side because water 
leaked into the car during heavy rains. Also, the horn doesn't always 
work in cold weather (which has yet to be resolved). Other than that, the 
car has been great. I am willing to put up with a few annoyances like 
that since the car is such a great drive. However, it only has 3300 miles 
on it, so we'll se how much I like it if stuff like this continues much 
longer. 
Regarding the snow: we got about 4" here in Portland, ME yesterday before 
the rain came in and turned everything to slush. I had a blast tooling 
around in a parking lot, and then downtown when it started clearing out. 
The car handled beautifully. It had 205/55R16 Eagle RS-A all seasons on. 
Although they did not give quite the bite that the Hakkapelita 10's on my 
old car did, they were respectable enough that I decided not to blow 
$400+ for new snows. Their traction in combination with the AWD made it 
easy to get moving even on some of the nastiest hills in the area. 
Stopping was a little more of a challenge, but not too bad. Lateral 
acceleration was also slightly deficient, but errors were easily 
correctable with a little throttle input. Four wheel controlled slides 
are fun (in empty areas).
For what it's worth, I think it is a great car and I'm very happy with it 
so far.

Chris
96 A4q
92 CBR 600F2

"Speed doesn't kill, speed differential does."