Audi A4

[mattk]

I am shopping for a new car and I have stumbled across a few Audi A4s that seemed to be pried right. If you have stories to share about your Audi experiences (good & bad) I would love to hear them!

Thanks,
mk

[KSagal]

which one was accused of just jumping into gear, for no reason? For some reason I want to say it was the A5? M5?

[wwhopper]

I am very active with my car club - the Mercedes-Benz Club, and we work closely with the local chapter of the Audi Club, so find out your local chapter and talk to some of those folks

http://www.audiclubna.org/

We have a number of Audi drivers at our Auto Cross Event, and they all LOVE their Audi's. I find the Audi club guys a lot lower key than either the BMW or Porsche guys, and for sure lower key than the M-B guys or the Segway folks for that matter.

Not sure if Audi Club has this benefit, but BMW has had it for years, and we just got it running, but a rebate to members of the club on the purchase of a vehicle from a dealer.

Like any enthusiast group, it pays to belong, if not only for the knowledge for the actual cash benefits!

If you want I can hook you up with a couple of my local Audi owners that I work closely with.

[byped]

Originally Posted by KSagal

which one was accused of just jumping into gear, for no reason? For some reason I want to say it was the A5? M5?

was the 5000's. you don't have to worry - these day's nothing is connected to anything on a drive by wire arrangement anyway. A segway i2 is a perfect example!

[Sleepy]

I had a 2000 A4 Quattro 1.8T for about 5 years (80k miles). The first 4 (60k miles) were awesome! The warrantee was great and covered everything down to the windshield wipers, and I didn't have many problems with it during that time. It was a really fun car. But literally the day my warrantee expired, things went downhill fast. It seemed like every time I took my car in for service, it was another $1500 in repairs. The *day* my warrantee expired, I had a $600 sun visor replaced for free due to a small broken plastic clip that held it in place. It ended up not making financial sense to keep it, especially at 19mpg with premium gas.

Last year I bought a Camry Hybrid and I've never been happier. I miss the fun handling of Quattro. But now I prefer the quiet fuel efficiency of the hybrid.

If you don't mind repair costs or if you get lucky and find one that's all fixed up and ready for another few years, it's a great fun car. Quattro is great! But it might cost you more than you expect.

-Alex

[cruiter]

That was back in the early 80's. It was the Audi 5000 automatic. I was selling them then when the story was 1st broadcast on 60 minutes. Sales tanked. The problem was the media and Audi's slow response. It wasn't really a problem, but similar to Segs problem prior to the recall. Specific non-normal events had to take place to cause a problem, but with the help of the media, Audi really took it in the keister.

Prior to that, Audi (which was marketed with Porsche at that time) was really gaining ground to catch and over run BMW, but not after the story.

Originally Posted by KSagal

which one was accused of just jumping into gear, for no reason? For some reason I want to say it was the A5? M5?

[KSagal]

I generally try not to be too ignorant, and this Audi 5000 story from 20 years ago demonstrates a powerful point... The only thing I remember about the issue was a slam piece from the often wrong major media...

I find it exemplative of the cumulitive affect of all the backhanded slams against the segways... Most major media events have been only marginally positive at their best, usually with many caveats. There have been very few positive stories without some sort of off colour comment.

I have seen far more entries that make fun, or diminish in one manner or another the segway...

Anyone not specifically knowledgeable about how wrong the report is, would eventually develope a warped sense about segways, in a similar way that I had a warped recall about the Audi. Even after 20+ years, I remembered Audi and the model # 5 being involved, but none of the real facts, if I ever knew any....

[cruiter]

Karl

You couldn't be more right. The media did such a blitz, it did scare a lot of folks, not only from changing their mind on purchase but to selling what they had in many cases. Unless I'm wrong, it was the '83 model. The problem was the break pedal placement and size. For most folks it was fine, but some large shoe size folks seemed to hit the accelerator instead when panicked or distracted. They fixed the problem easly in future models and that led to the release button you must now push to remove your selector from PARK to any other gear.

Shortley after that, Porsche's marketing team split from Audi and now they import on their own though in Europe there are still strong connections.

But you know, it's sort of like that bad smell that never seems to clear your nostrils even after it's long gone. That memory continues to linger.

Trivia question I will answer later if no one knows. Who knows what the 5 rings in the Audi symbol represent????

Jim

Originally Posted by KSagal

I generally try not to be too ignorant, and this Audi 5000 story from 20 years ago demonstrates a powerful point... The only thing I remember about the issue was a slam piece from the often wrong major media...

I find it exemplative of the cumulitive affect of all the backhanded slams against the segways... Most major media events have been only marginally positive at their best, usually with many caveats. There have been very few positive stories without some sort of off colour comment.

I have seen far more entries that make fun, or diminish in one manner or another the segway...

Anyone not specifically knowledgeable about how wrong the report is, would eventually develope a warped sense about segways, in a similar way that I had a warped recall about the Audi. Even after 20+ years, I remembered Audi and the model # 5 being involved, but none of the real facts, if I ever knew any....

[Desert_Seg]

Originally Posted by cruiter

... Trivia question I will answer later if no one knows. Who knows what the 5 rings in the Audi symbol represent????

Jim

This one is easy (at least if my answer is right it is easy).

The four (not five) represent the four companies that merged to make up Audi, but don't ask me their names.

Steven

[cruiter]

Great catch!!!
It is Four and your very close. They represent the German Auto Union (at least back then). Somewhere in my worthless colection of tresures packed in un-opened boxes, I probably have some old 100LS brochures.

Jim

Originally Posted by Desert_Seg

This one is easy (at least if my answer is right it is easy).

The four (not five) represent the four companies that merged to make up Audi, but don't ask me their names.

Steven