RE: A4 alarm effectiveness?

[RELAYER <RELAYER@aol.com>]

<<A friend of mine is considering and A4 (his Accord was just stolen) and =
<<was wondeing how decent the factory alarm is?  Does anyone have any =
<<'real world' stories that I can relate to him?  Should he install =<
<<something aftermarket, in addition to the factory unit?  I know that 'if =
<<a thief really wants your car he'll get it', but I'm just wondering if =
<<there's much the factory unit could really be improved upon, short of a =
<<Lojack type system (which wouldn't have helped my friend: in his case =
<<the car was stolen from his driveway in the middle of the night, and he =
<<didn't know it was gone until the cops rang his door the next morning). 

John,
Here is the number one reason why your friend shouldn't worry about an A4
being stolen:  IT'S NOT AN ACCORD.  Accords are stolen because they are such
high production volume cars.  There is basically NO stolen car ring for Audis.
Audi sells maybe 15,000 A4s a year, and Honda sells probably 300,000 Accords
per year, that's why the theives want to steal Hondas, a big honda parts
market out there.

Now the A4 has a 2 way alarm: It will be triggered if you open the
doors/hood/trunk without the key or remote; and second, it has motion sensors
in the cabin that are quite sensitve.  I found this out by locking up my car
while my driver's door window was cracked, the wind trigger the sensors.  You
can disable the motion sensors by a small hidden switch if you want to leave
the windows partially open or leave an animal or wife in the car while you go
shopping at Home Depot.

These 2 alarms can be disabled by the professional car theives, no matter what
the design or how many "clubs" you put on you steering wheel.   The best thing
to do is to hook up a fuel pump cut off switch and hide it in the  car
somewhere, or in my case, make it a second fog light switch.  That should keep
his car safe.  

Besides all of that, the A4 is just flat out the best car on the market right
now for the money.

       /\        _I    Christian J. Long (& Breeze Heller - soon to be wife!)
     /    \ I_I I_I I  Orlando, Florida, USA
                       University of Central Florida Alumni 1994
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'98 Audi A4 1.8T      looking tough with 225/50-16
'96 BMW 318ti          no mods yet....
'90 Audi 90              Still in the family
Past Audis: '84 CGT, '85CGT, '87.5 CGT, '90 CQ
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