Re: '86 4KQ vs. "86 Honda Accord

[ti@amb.org (Ti Kan)]

Buchholz, Steven writes:
> > What was Audi doing during the '85-'87 period?
> > 
> Making some damn fine cars if you asked me!  I'll put my '85 4kSQ
> (approaching 220K miles quickly) up against any Honda you want to toss this
> way.

What Steve said!  I have also heard my share of Honda horror stories from
owners that rival the worst anywhere.  Now the funny thing is that despite
all that, the owner would probably still say "My Honda is reliable" just
because they are "supposed" to be.  I have seen this self-fulfilling prophesy
over and over.  "Don't confuse them with the facts, their minds are already
made up"... :)

> While I'm not so sure about some of the cars that came after the mid-80's, I
> for one consider the early-mid '80s to be a good time for Audis.  I bought
> my '83 QTC in '86, and it has required little to no maintenance after I got
> it sorted out from the state it was in when I bought it.  I would tend to
> say though that an Audi will be likely to age better when it has proper
> maintenance, and I'd say that having to replace multiple door handles is a
> sign that the car you have may not have been.  

All my Audis have their original door handles, including the 20-year old
4000 that has so faithfully served me.  The type 44 5000T had its
Archilles heel(s) (bomb, rack, pump, PS hoses, window regulators), but
now that those have been fixed with new and improved parts on mine it has
been quite the champ too.  The new Audis?  My 96 A4q is really quite the
paragon of reliability.  No problems or complaints whatsoever.

I drive my Audis hard and fast, but I do keep them religiously well
maintained.  This is just how Audis like to be.

-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://metalab.unc.edu/tkan/
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