Re: A4 Reliability

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

just watched autoweek on speedvision and they have a a4 long term test
car.  no problems to report after 22K miles.

i'm not convinced that bmws are better built than audis nor am i convinced
that the quality of materials used are superior.  in fact i'm pretty
inclined to say that the a4 has better materials and build quality than
the 3 series bmw.  how is it that the disastrous 1992 325i's don't haunt
the marque?  my boss just bought an a4 and he immediately took it on
a long trip to CA and back.  absolutely zero bugs.  did not even have
to take it back to the dealer to fix QC misses.

my v8 despite its complexity has been outstandingly reliable.  on the last
legs of its extended warranty and so far i've not had to pay for any
repairs of any sort. however i've just seen one with half the mileage
needing a new ($6200) tranny. 

it appears that audis that are well cared for from the beginning will
give excellent long term service, while those abused and neglected
will tend to haunt subsequent owners.  just a guess.  i've bought
mine new and have been extremely happy with them, while i see others
far less lucky.


eliot