Why I Am Choosing to Get Rid of My 2001 A4

I used to really love my Audi. It's a sporty 2001 silver A4, 1.8T with Quatro. I leased it from a dealer, who I will leave unnamed right now, in NJ. I have had so many problems with it that I am now considering doing whatever is necessary in order to get rid of it. I had nievely believed that all of the "bugs" I had experienced with it were worked out before I perchased it off the lease only a month ago. Now I know better.

Since September of 2001 I have experienced the following:

1. Winshield - A cracked winsheild that was determined to be a "factory default". The dealer took a month and a half to repair it and tried to get me to pay for it out of pocket while it was still under warrentee.

2. Mysterious Engine Problems - The engine light has come on many on many seperate occasions. Once it was the oxygen sensor. Another time it was the fuel condensors. Multipul times they sent me home only to have it come back on before I even made it a few miles away.

3. Radio With A Mind of It's Own - The radio has a phantom that turns itself all the way up & to the right speaker. In fact, now that speaker is blown. Sometimes the display that shows the disk/song # disappears on the dash.

4. Shifter That Jumps - The shifter pops out of gear without the clutch being depressed. Other buyers have complained about the same thing here.

5. Crappy Service - I wish I could say that I had good service from my dealer to make up for all of the problems but I have to say that they have been the worst people to deal with ever in my history of owning cars. I should have known when my salesman left our store to work for another Audi dealer and sent all of his customers a letter explaining exactly why he chose to leave. He stated clearly that he felt my dealer was unfair to customers and was purposely trying to rip people off and that he could not sell cars there anymore with a clear consience. (If car dealers even have them then I do believe he was sincere.)

Since before my salesman left, the dealer never has a loaner car. After yelling and screaming during one of the many services that were found not to be my fault, they rented me a SUV from Enterprise. They never call when the car is done. Rarely, have they only ever reluctantly given me a ride to work in the same town while servicing my A4. They have had a bad habit of holding my car far past what was quoted on many diffrent occasions while it was being serviced.

6. Eats Tires - The Quatro apparently eats tires. Esp. the dealer required Z-type you need to have on it for the end of the lease. After my second year on the lease all it failed NJ inspection and all four tires had to be replaced.

8. Oil problems - Last week the oil light came on. I checked the oil and noticed it was low, I added oil and the light went out. Called the dealer same day because the light came back on. Service department said to put more oil in and go ahead and drive it. I asked if they were sure since the manual says that this light is a very bad thing. I did as ordered and only two miles down the road stopped to have it towed. It was the oil pump. And since I was at 52,000 miles, only 2000 miles over my warrentee, I had to pay $1000 out of my own pocket on Christmas Eve.

Here's why I'm disgruntled.

When it was finished I called and asked if there was anything else that needed to be done. The service department gentleman said only that I would need rotars soon, which I can understand but will have to wait for. When I picked the car up, a note on my bill said that the engine gaskets and seals are leaking. When I asked the service manager if he thought that was normal for a car with only 52,000 miles on it he admited that it was "premature", only to have a second service person cut him off and say, "oh, noo. That's normal."

For what? A Ford? No car should leak oil or blow a pump at under 100,000 miles. Their quote is for another $900 to repair the seals. Something that may have been able to have been done while they were putting the new pump on. But that would have made them less profit for the labor, right?

At this point, I am just sick and tired of the headaches. I am sure that there will be many people who will try and say this is isolated, but I'm really starting to suspect it's not.

So if you have had simular problems I'd like to hear them. At least offer me some companionship while I look for a new car. :banghead:

Your dealer wouldn't happen to be in Rahway, NJ would it. I have had the windshield problem also. Mine cracked 2x. The first one was covered, the 2nd replacement I had to eat.

I don't have any of the other problems, I love the car, well not as much anymore. I have a problem with the turbo now, it has decided to not function. I have discontinued used the dealer in Rahway for service. I now use a German car shop for all work.

Also looking to get rid of my car.

Well first I would never lease a car period! I have heard and seen so many problems with ALL kinds leased cars! I have heard that a dealers will try lease the "problem cars" or damaged cars. And really you should have demanded a new car along time ago before your warrentee ran out. And really if the whole A4 line was a lemon then one would have seen recalls. So I think you two just had bad luck, try a different dealer...or just go BMW :evillol:

Most recalls are done for saftey issues !!!!!!! Every day I see the problems angrygirl is having on other A4's!!!!!!!!! I'm a Audi Tech!!!!!!! That is why I can't under stand why every one thinks they are so great!!!!! Wish Therion would read this!!!!!

MBenti,

No, my dealer was further north. I only lucked out with the winshield because I happened to go to the same glass company that the dealer uses. They convinced the dealer that it was a factory defect on my behalf.

I do have to add that after stomping back to the dealer last week with the headlight out and the service light still on, the head of the Service Department was very apologetic. He has now offered to redo the valve seals for free, which I will not refuse. I am still frustrated, though, I can understand why you would be too.

angrygirl

Most recalls are done for saftey issues !!!!!!!
Actually thats not really true. Car companys make recalls all the time that are not just for safety reasons, however if a line of cars has a common defect they will recall it because they dont want to end up like ford and get sued. Because in the world we live in people will sue you for any thing and even little defects can be dangerous in the long run. Some other reasons are
1) Consumer reports and other companys like them would be on their ass
2) A defect in the windshield of a car is a MAJOR safty risk, infact they just had a story on the News about how you should not just let anybody change your windshield because it is a weak spot in your chassis. So it needs to be strong (well as strong as a windshield can be) and done right. (For an Automotive TECH how the hell chould you miss that?)
3) If the engine has defects I would as so call that a safety issue. Guess I dont know anything though because im Not and AUDI TECH! :rolleyes:

I never said you didn't know anything, and yes it could be considered a saftey issue!!!!!! Sounds to me like your just an Audi owmer that can't handle the truth and likes to argue about it. Dude RELAX!!!!!!

Why do I need to "RELAX" I'm not the one who always jumps in going "I'm an Audi Tech" and im not the one who uses a ton of exclamation points!
And no I dont own an Audi but I do like them. However I like all kinds of cars and I'm not blind to their weak points no matter how much I like them. So hears what I think. You say you see so many defective Audi's at the shop you work at. You ever think thats maybe because ITS AN AUDI GARAGE! And thats where people go tp fix them? You would see the same thing is you worked in a Nissan garage, tons of broken NIssans. Does that mean they are all lemons? So im sure if you look at the ratio of Audis sold in your area compared to the number of defective ones you will see that the A4 is truely NOT defective.

I never said they were defective. I have worked in a Nissan dealer, Warnock in Morristown N.J. And I see more problems with Audi's then I did Nissan's. Chrysler's were pretty bad.Look no exclimation points. I sence a bit of teenaged wise ass attitude in that last post.

Cause I am a teenager. And im sick of people coming on here and saying they have this car of that car and Spreading BS. Now maybe your the real deal and maybe your not, but from what I have seen dosnt seem like it.

ok not to jum in the middle of the audi tech thing but I work for Continental Audi in the chicago area. Audi as a car line are not as unreliable as certain folks are making them out to be. On the other hand, we have had a couple cars out of thousands that have been sold here come back repeatedly. Its luck of the draw, thats any brand,make,model. I currently have a 97 a4 2.8 quattro with 207k on it and havnt had problem 1 that wasnt cause by stupidity. When i purchased the car the previous owner had put a spark plug in wrong and damaged the head. It went 160k like that. If you are having problems with your dealer try another one if possible. Some dealers around here deal with problems like the one you are describing but not all are like that. Better luck in the future