RE: Coupe GT the bastard child of Audi??

["Dupree, Jim" <dupree@alldata.com>]

I agree that the 100LS and the 80s 5000's were troubled cars to say the
least but the 4000's errand a big part of there poor reputation. 
I was working for Audi dealers through out the life span of the 4000
model line and they were plagued with electrical problems. Mostly these
problems were poor grounds and too much current through switches and
connectors. Audi did thing like grounding half the interior equipment
to 2 round multi spade connector on the left kick panel and to top it of
the ground connectors were screwed to the painted body panel on top of a
sheet of plastic. These problems were not maintenance related these were
design or construction faults. 
The 4000 Quattro were by far (based on my 17years as an Audi mechanic)
the most trouble free and reliable car Audi made.
Audi Has always designed great "Drivers" cars but too often they have
fallen short on the details.
Audi's have character and personality and they quickly become a part of
your family.
My mom still remembers fondly of her 1980 4000 despite it stranding they
in the middle of Nebraska when the Hall unit failed in the distributor.
It was not easy to find a shop in Nebraska that would even look at an
Audi much less one that knew what they were looking at back then.

I saw a TV commercial that seemed to describe my life, It was show three
guys bent over the engine compartment of a truck (old Chevy I think) and
a narrator says " Your born! You die! In-between you work on cars".
Well I got to go, there is an 1984 4000s waiting a home with electrical
problems.
Jim Dupree

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	ti@amb.org [SMTP:ti@amb.org]
> Sent:	Tuesday, September 01, 1998 4:42 PM
> To:	andrei@insti.physics.sunysb.edu
> Cc:	Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com; quattro@coimbra.ans.net;
> bjmccabe@iupui.edu
> Subject:	Re: Coupe GT the bastard child of Audi??
> 
> Andrei Talalaevskii writes:
> > Despite it's technical and engineering superiorities Audis were
> often 
> > incomplete and non-rewarding for people who valued other things
> except of 
> > handling and power. I agree to live with that. Many people don't...
> 
> I think the poor reliability reputation of Audis is largely the fault
> of the old 100LS and the 80s 5000 series.  In all fairness, the 80s
> 4000s and Coupes are very reliable.  People who whine about the
> 4K/Coupe
> often have cars that are ill maintained (perhaps the fault of a
> previous
> owner), and attribute their experience to the supposed "reliability
> problem".  This then turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
> 
> It's not correct to whack the whole Audi line when there were a few
> dark spots in the past.
> 
> In my stable of Audis, the 5K was the one that needed many expensive
> repairs.  The 4K needed no more than regular maintenance and the only
> things that broke are what I'd expect to be wearables.  The A4q has
> been completely trouble-free, and time will tell it's long term
> reliability.
> 
> I know of lots of those "reliable" Hondas and Toyotas that fared much
> worse.  Hey, but once the rags brainwashsd those Honda and Toyota
> owners
> into believing that they have the most reliable cars in the world, no
> fact will alter their perception.
> 
> -Ti
> 96 A4 2.8 quattro
> 84 5000S 2.1 turbo
> 80 4000 2.0
> -- 
>     ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
>    ///   AMB Research Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA. USA
>   ///    ti@amb.org
>  //////  http://sunsite.unc.edu/tkan/
> ///