Zafran Hilur

Hi,

I am the ultimate AUDI owner. (I am from Toronto, Canada)

I owned a 1987 Audi 5000S for the past 12 years. I traded in my Audi for
another Audi...2003 A4 (B6) 1.8T quattro (fully loaded) a demo from the Audi
dealership. At last count by old Audi had 470,000 KM on it when I gave the
keys in. I hope to use my newer Audi for the next 5 years or more
hopefully. My Audi since it was a demo came with a 5 year Audi Certified
warranty which covers the car until 160K.

The old Audi had wear and tear repairs (bearings, brakes, hydraulic hoses,
etc) but other than that never on the engine or any major components. It
never let me down in Winter and even if the weather was -40 degrees celcius
outside the car still started without problems. I love the car but since I
got a great deal from Bramgate Audi in Brampton I traded my car in becuase
they gave me a great trade in value.

I loved the old car and felt quite bad giving it in to a scrap yard, so I
gave it to the company and let them with it as please. It gave me the best,
so I gave it a good send off. The dealer has still kept the car, 1 month
since I gave it in. When I went for service, I still felt odd, looking at
the old car.

If you plan to get an Audi, make sure you get a good mechanic. Not every Joe
out there knows to operate on these special cars and most of the time will
end up damaging them if they are not taken care of properly.

Good luck on a new purchase, try to get a demo because the value depreciates
quickly.

Regards,

Zafran



"Subba Rao" <castellan2004-mail@SPAMBUSTER.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:NKydnY7hhJIY_uXcRVn-gg@adelphia.com...
> Hi,
>
> I do not own an Audi yet but have wanted one since I have first set my
> eyes on them 20 years ago. Now I am planning (pretty close) to buy a
> car. Over the years people have told me that Audi is a problem car with
> stories such as: You tend to spend lot of money on repairs. : They
> have bad performance : Audi's quality is less than mediocre (sp) and
> they charge a lot to fix the problem ....etc etc. Such stories kept
> coming at me, yet I still want to have an Audi.
>
> If there are any owners (and non-owners), could you please share your
> unbiased opinions and experience with Audi ownership?
>
> PS - I am middle aged man and am considered middle class. Don't know if
> this will help.
> --
> SR
> castellan2004-mail@SPAMBUSTER.yahoo.com
> Please remove SPAMBUSTER to reply via email.

Steve Sears

"Zafran Hilur" <zafran@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:4WDfd.7059$rs5.615421@news20.bellglobal.com.. .
> Hi,
>
> I am the ultimate AUDI owner. (I am from Toronto, Canada)

- Wow! The _ultimate_ Audi owner? In order to be elgibile for that lofty
title I thought you had to move to Ingolstadt and work for the company
Even in the Toronto area you have Martin Pajak (www.quattro.ca) and the rest
of the folks (and me) in the West Toronto Audifans, the Audi-GT (Greater
Toronto) group, Southern Ontario S-cars group......

> I owned a 1987 Audi 5000S for the past 12 years. I traded in my Audi for
> another Audi...2003 A4 (B6) 1.8T quattro (fully loaded) a demo from the
Audi
> dealership. At last count by old Audi had 470,000 KM on it when I gave the
> keys in. I hope to use my newer Audi for the next 5 years or more
> hopefully. My Audi since it was a demo came with a 5 year Audi Certified
> warranty which covers the car until 160K.

There are numerous Audis that have over 300k miles on them - many of the
folks on Audifans.com have cars like that - they'll keep on running until
the wear and tear parts supply runs out.

> The old Audi had wear and tear repairs (bearings, brakes, hydraulic hoses,
> etc) but other than that never on the engine or any major components. It
> never let me down in Winter and even if the weather was -40 degrees
celcius
> outside the car still started without problems. I love the car but since I
> got a great deal from Bramgate Audi in Brampton I traded my car in becuase
> they gave me a great trade in value.

You didn't love it _that_ much, then.

> If you plan to get an Audi, make sure you get a good mechanic. Not every
Joe
> out there knows to operate on these special cars and most of the time will
> end up damaging them if they are not taken care of properly.

Agreed, somewhat. A good mechanic is indispensable, true, although the cars
themselves are no Ferraris to work on (ie - you don't have to remove the
engine to change the oil). Alot of the "care" has to do with the owner -
change the timing belt, change the brake, tranny fluids and coolant as well
as the oil, following the maintenance schedules......

As far as net chatter goes, you'll hear alot of complaining about things
going wrong - not as much about things going right, especially on
alt.autos.audi. During the recent Southern Ontario S-cars Winery Tour, I
was discussing how "enthusiasts" driving the older cars acknowledge each
other on the road, while many of the newbies in the A4's see their cars as
clothing (umm..."social status" should have little to do with a car choice)
and seem to behave like a wave from another Audi driver is a prelude to a
carjacking. Someone mentioned about how recently Merc has had to deal with
a huge spike in complaints from owners about non-functional items, turns out
that they found that died-in-the-wool Merc owners were used to minor systems
failing (like, say, a seat heater), but many of the owners new to the marque
were former Honda owners - with their old car, even though it was sparsely
equipped, everything could be expected to work for year upon year. With
them, a seat heater failure is a big deal. If you want to find enthusiasts
for the newer Audis, you'd be well advised to look at www.audiworld.com -
once again, many go there to gripe about problems with their car and then
disappear when it's fixed, never to post again, but there are numerous true
fans of the cars that will tell you how good they are. As far as an
"unbiased opinion"....that may be hard to get from an Audi owner.

Cheers!
Steve Sears - not in the running for "Ultimate Audi Owner", even though I
have in my driveway:
1987 Audi 5kTQ
1980 Audi 5k - my first car
1962 and '64 Auto Union DKW Junior deLuxes (ok, the '64 is in storage - but
I do have 2 spare engines in my driveway....)
(SPAM Blocker NOTE: Remove SHOES to reply)

Steve Sears

"Zafran Hilur" <zafran@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:4WDfd.7059$rs5.615421@news20.bellglobal.com.. .
> Hi,
>
> I am the ultimate AUDI owner. (I am from Toronto, Canada)

- Wow! The _ultimate_ Audi owner? In order to be elgibile for that lofty
title I thought you had to move to Ingolstadt and work for the company
Even in the Toronto area you have Martin Pajak (www.quattro.ca) and the rest
of the folks (and me) in the West Toronto Audifans, the Audi-GT (Greater
Toronto) group, Southern Ontario S-cars group......

> I owned a 1987 Audi 5000S for the past 12 years. I traded in my Audi for
> another Audi...2003 A4 (B6) 1.8T quattro (fully loaded) a demo from the
Audi
> dealership. At last count by old Audi had 470,000 KM on it when I gave the
> keys in. I hope to use my newer Audi for the next 5 years or more
> hopefully. My Audi since it was a demo came with a 5 year Audi Certified
> warranty which covers the car until 160K.

There are numerous Audis that have over 300k miles on them - many of the
folks on Audifans.com have cars like that - they'll keep on running until
the wear and tear parts supply runs out.

> The old Audi had wear and tear repairs (bearings, brakes, hydraulic hoses,
> etc) but other than that never on the engine or any major components. It
> never let me down in Winter and even if the weather was -40 degrees
celcius
> outside the car still started without problems. I love the car but since I
> got a great deal from Bramgate Audi in Brampton I traded my car in becuase
> they gave me a great trade in value.

You didn't love it _that_ much, then.

> If you plan to get an Audi, make sure you get a good mechanic. Not every
Joe
> out there knows to operate on these special cars and most of the time will
> end up damaging them if they are not taken care of properly.

Agreed, somewhat. A good mechanic is indispensable, true, although the cars
themselves are no Ferraris to work on (ie - you don't have to remove the
engine to change the oil). Alot of the "care" has to do with the owner -
change the timing belt, change the brake, tranny fluids and coolant as well
as the oil, following the maintenance schedules......

As far as net chatter goes, you'll hear alot of complaining about things
going wrong - not as much about things going right, especially on
alt.autos.audi. During the recent Southern Ontario S-cars Winery Tour, I
was discussing how "enthusiasts" driving the older cars acknowledge each
other on the road, while many of the newbies in the A4's see their cars as
clothing (umm..."social status" should have little to do with a car choice)
and seem to behave like a wave from another Audi driver is a prelude to a
carjacking. Someone mentioned about how recently Merc has had to deal with
a huge spike in complaints from owners about non-functional items, turns out
that they found that died-in-the-wool Merc owners were used to minor systems
failing (like, say, a seat heater), but many of the owners new to the marque
were former Honda owners - with their old car, even though it was sparsely
equipped, everything could be expected to work for year upon year. With
them, a seat heater failure is a big deal. If you want to find enthusiasts
for the newer Audis, you'd be well advised to look at www.audiworld.com -
once again, many go there to gripe about problems with their car and then
disappear when it's fixed, never to post again, but there are numerous true
fans of the cars that will tell you how good they are. As far as an
"unbiased opinion"....that may be hard to get from an Audi owner.

Cheers!
Steve Sears - not in the running for "Ultimate Audi Owner", even though I
have in my driveway:
1987 Audi 5kTQ
1980 Audi 5k - my first car
1962 and '64 Auto Union DKW Junior deLuxes (ok, the '64 is in storage - but
I do have 2 spare engines in my driveway....)
(SPAM Blocker NOTE: Remove SHOES to reply)

Stephen Clark

Glad you got it fixed, and yes, that was my diagnosis, among others.

How can it happen? Shock and vibration can break an internal cell connector,
and it could be making connection only intermittently. Probably a
manufacturing defect. Make sure the battery is firmly secured so it doesn't
vibrate, and keep it clean and free of corrosion.

Happy Motoring!

Stephen Clark

PS - If you are in Houston, I can recommend an excellent independent Audi
mechanic -
European Precision, 713-974-5854. Tell Fred I sent you! Shop around before
you get the timing belt changed, and be sure to change the water pump at the
same time.

"Wayne Crannell" <a@b.c> wrote in message
news:a-B98F9C.20553926102004@news1.west.earthlink.net...
> In article <10nomkpdb9uh105@corp.supernews.com>,
> "Stephen Clark" <nospam@spamnot.not> wrote:
>
> > Wayne:
> >
> > Did you get your battery problems sorted out?
>
> Our mechanic, who we trust and who works on higher end cars (he's got an
> older Rolls in his garage now!) than we'll ever own, said it was a bad
> cell in the battery, like some people here said (you?). What I don't get
> is that it was fine for the two weeks after the initial problem, then it
> went bad again, and we could not jump it. Plus, how does a battery go
> for 18 months with no problems and then all of the sudden develop a bad
> cell? I can't help wondering what electrical gremlin made this happen.
> Good news is that the mechanic managed to squeeze an A8 battery into our
> A6 for a little more oomph and almost no extra money.
>
> Everything is great for now....even found out that the brake pads are
> only half gone after 55000 miles. Next, the timing belt....
>
> --
> Wayne Crannell
> Xxxxxxx, TX

Stephen Clark

Glad you got it fixed, and yes, that was my diagnosis, among others.

How can it happen? Shock and vibration can break an internal cell connector,
and it could be making connection only intermittently. Probably a
manufacturing defect. Make sure the battery is firmly secured so it doesn't
vibrate, and keep it clean and free of corrosion.

Happy Motoring!

Stephen Clark

PS - If you are in Houston, I can recommend an excellent independent Audi
mechanic -
European Precision, 713-974-5854. Tell Fred I sent you! Shop around before
you get the timing belt changed, and be sure to change the water pump at the
same time.

"Wayne Crannell" <a@b.c> wrote in message
news:a-B98F9C.20553926102004@news1.west.earthlink.net...
> In article <10nomkpdb9uh105@corp.supernews.com>,
> "Stephen Clark" <nospam@spamnot.not> wrote:
>
> > Wayne:
> >
> > Did you get your battery problems sorted out?
>
> Our mechanic, who we trust and who works on higher end cars (he's got an
> older Rolls in his garage now!) than we'll ever own, said it was a bad
> cell in the battery, like some people here said (you?). What I don't get
> is that it was fine for the two weeks after the initial problem, then it
> went bad again, and we could not jump it. Plus, how does a battery go
> for 18 months with no problems and then all of the sudden develop a bad
> cell? I can't help wondering what electrical gremlin made this happen.
> Good news is that the mechanic managed to squeeze an A8 battery into our
> A6 for a little more oomph and almost no extra money.
>
> Everything is great for now....even found out that the brake pads are
> only half gone after 55000 miles. Next, the timing belt....
>
> --
> Wayne Crannell
> Xxxxxxx, TX