My 2003 Audi must suck the most by far! Just turned 65000 miles (15000 miles out of warranty) and now it sits for good. It's at the shop. Here is what it needs.......A new transmission ($6000.), New turbo's (about $4500.), a new front left fluid motor mount ($unknown), new cam belt ($2500. maybe lot's more), a new radiator (no guote yet, but I've heard over $1000., this started leaking when the mechanic and I were test driving the car for the transmission problem), new power steering unit ($unknown), new front axels including cv boots and axle joints (over $1000.).
This car looks perfectinside andoutside, no signs of abuse. I am over 50 years old and have never abused a car. The factory reps in Michigan and the dealer in Utah are absolutely no help! To make things worse, I am 180 miles from Boise and 350 miles from Salt Lake City (the 2 closest dealers) and have been guoted $800. to tow the car to Salt Lake and $300 to Boise. And then what........spend $15,000 to fix it and have a car that the Chevy dealer says he will give me $13,000. on a trade in for a new Tahoe? I will never again buy a car from a dealer very far from my home. What to do????? Maybe mount it on a pedistal in front of a business I own in town with a sign that says "Audi Sucks"! I'm really considering doing that. Maybe I can save some other poor bastard from making the same mistake I did.....buying an Audi in the first place. Boy, they sure run nice when they're actually running, but beware of what the future holds. The salesman sure laid me away with how great this car is, but funny enough he doesn't work there anymore! This is a car that cost over $50,000. new, not including tax and license. Now I know why they stopped making them. I have heard so many stories on Audi's problems, but I mostly dismissed them in the past, not any longer. I would like to take this opportunity to appologise to anyone who is or is considering buying an Audi...........I feel your pain.......in advance!

 

Ummm, lemon??

 

I just got my first Audi 5 days ago. so far I like it. as I see it, a car is a car. how you maintain it is how its gonna treat you. also how difficult it is to work on a certain car followed by maintenance requirementswill determine the price.This is why I'm a mechanic, for the love and the money. but there are a few in a bunch that are straight pos. you paid so much for the car do you expect to maintain it with pennies? maybe you got dealt a bad card. though if you want a car to last with basic maintenance I'll suggest a japanese car. I've owned a Subaru and still have a Nissan, though I'm bias. may I ask, whats wrong with the trans & turbo? how did they determine they are at fault? what are your problems?and don't trade the car in for that price. I think they are trying to make a bunch of money off of you both ways. if you fix it or trade it in. I doubt I live in your area so may the truth be told.

 

I don't see how a turbo can be a $4500 repair/replacement. Freakin' K04's are only $800!!

 

Answers to some of your questions.
I have a large classic car collection including many muscle cars from the '60's and a few 356 Porsches, a 2002 BMW M5, and a '87 Porsche 930 which I bought new in '87. All are in showroom condition. I know how to maintain a car! I am probably tooooooo ****. I bought this '03 Allroad because I was tired of driving a big Suburban and I need 4wd (I live in Sun Valley, Idaho). My Suburban has 187,000 miles on it and other than regular maintainence and oil changes every 3000 miles (which every mechanic I have talked to says is not necessary, but just a cheap "insurance policy") I have only had to replace the front brake rotors. And I bought that car used with 55k on it...........a Chevy, go figure. Isn't an Audi supposed to be the height of German engineering? My '87 930 turbo Porsche has only 30k on it (I bought it new) and I have only had to replace the tires on it. Nothing else. I'm thinking I know how to take care of a car.
As far as the cost of the Turbo, most of that is labor, but I'm just going by the quote of the dealer who sold me the car. In Utah no less.
The transmission does not work, what more can I say? OK, I did exaggerate a little when I sais it would cost $6000. The quote here is $5763. The service manager said Audi recommends replacing the timing belt at 60,000 miles. I actually saw them doing another Allroad at the time. They had to take the whole front clip off the car to access it! Bumper, lights, radiator, everythind! The car looked really funny sitting there with no front. I thought I was in a body shop, but that was around the corner. Who in their right mind would buy a 50k car knowing that they would automaticly have to replace such a costly item in such a short time? He told me it was recommended in the manual. Sorry, but I'm not in the habit of reading the manual when I'm sitting in the "closing booth" buying a car! All the prices quoted were from the dealer. I know I could save some money by going to an independent, but I am a little worried about doing all that work and having something go wrong again.
Don't you guy's find it funny how a shop might have an hourly shop rate of up to $100. per hour, but they go by these shop books that designate how much time to charge for a specific job and then they do that job in less than half that time and still charge you the book time. These books must be guoting the job as if I were doing it myself (I am a very slow mechanic, it takes me about an hour to change an air filter in an old Chevy......I have trouble turning a wing-nut!). Most shops want their mechanics to bill 16 hours for an 8 hour day. I'm not making this up, it comes from my old neighbor who owns a BMW dealership. He told me that a mechanic who bills less than that won't last long. The service department is designed to float the whole store, parts and sales are what they call the gravy (profit).
If anybody thinks I don't know how to maintain a car, that is your option, but it is just not true. Don't assume facts that are not in evidence, it just dilutes the truth.
So bottom line is that I have a beautiful, black,'03 Allroad with every option available (that's the way it came) sitting here that is not worth what it would cost to fix it.
By the way, one of the Audi service technicians told me that the problems I have are not at all unusual. He seemed like a stand up guy. I don't think he was lying to me. He told me he works there because of job security......we had a good laugh over that!

 

Oh yeah, the turbo......it is dripping oil and making noise. The dealer says it's toast.

 

Don't know what to tell you, but it sounds like you have a pretty nice collection.

I still think you got a lemon. If all Allroads had this many problems, there wouldn't be any left on the roads.

I would try to take it somewhere else besides the dealership, myself, but it's your car, so...

 

you thirsty? u got so much lemon in that car u can make a beverage

 

Thanks. You may be right.....lemon! Although I have heard that my problems are not that uncommon. The feds considered a recall a fews years ago concerning the turbo's and transmissions (Audi mechanic told me, actually the service manager), but nothing ever happened and Audi has refused to show any sort of "good faith" with regard to an out of warranty car.
I appreciate your input, this is the first time I haver participated in any sort of forum on the internet.With regard to my collection, I bought a Ford Boss 302 and a Shelby GT 500 in the early '90's and plan to sell them (prices have gotten SOOO high) the summer before my first born goes off to college in a couple years. I think between the 2 cars, my kids can go to any university they want!

 

It's amazing how fast some cars can appreciate in value.

I don't know if it would do any good, but you might try b¡tching to the AoA. I've heard thatdoing thatcan getthings done, sometimes.

I don't know if checking into local lemon laws would do any good since some of the problems are common, but that might be worth a shot, as well. I would think showing anyone estimates like that would do some sort of good. Common or not, the dealership should've done a decent inspection before passing all of the problems off onto you, in my opinion.