A big nice car
Many problems with door locks.
Some problems with ignition system.
This car is nice to drive. Not much noise when driving. The car handles well. The fuel consumption is pretty high if compared to engine power. Spare parts are expensive, but the car is very reliable. This is a nice car for peaceful long trips.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 15th June, 2006
Rustproof, reliable and spacious everyday car
Minor leak in the infamous hydraulic system. A banjo bolt with 2 seals had to be changed and clear the filters.
Transmission (original!) needs new oil seals and bearings.
Left front wheel bearing is ready to be replaced. Bearing has been bought already.
Multi-Function Sensor replaced. Some coolant had leaked there.
Some minor electric problems.
Some old plastic parts in body and interior have been cracked. Moldings and covers.
Surface rust in wheel arches from last winter. Original paint coat so it's understandable.
Hand brake has failed once. Nothing happened though.
Great 5cyl engine sounds on high rpm range.
Has never failed to start or run. Very reliable.
Runs about 1000 km (~620 miles) with full tank. With care and less worn engine even more.
Low oil consumption. No need to level up hydraulic oil (very rare). Gear oil leaks.
Even the FWD version is very good to drive in bad weather conditions at high speeds.
Easy to repair and maintenance. In the same time you change H4-bulbs in a modern Audi you could disassemble and rebuilt the whole front in typ44. Well, almost, but you get my point, right?
Relay modification required to get most of the average headlamps and to prevent electrical problems.
Seats haven't worn out and are still comfortable.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 4th May, 2005
A German oiltanker
The whole of the hydraulic system. First, the power steering rack leaked, which was the condition when I bought the car. However, I did not know that this is a typical fault in these cars. Second, after a half year driving, I had to change the "bomb", i.e. the hydraulic accumulator. Finally, after a year of usage a dummy seal (an o-ring) in the hydraulic pump leaked on a highway. I could not stop immediately. After changing the o-ring twice I eventually had to change the pump. All these three repairs have cost about 1600 euros, since the spare parts are quite expensive. Some leakage in motor oil has occurred recently. Also, one of the wheel bearings have been changed, but no other big problems during 18 months of ownership.
Although the cost of ownership is quite high, I really like this car. It is very roomy and nice to drive on the long distance trips. To me, it has enough power and fuel consumption is quite OK for a car of this size (on highway 8-9 l/100 km).
Because of the damned power steering (see the "gone wrong with this car" section above), the car is also quite easy to drive in a city traffic. A friend, who has lots of experience on Mercedes-Benz and has an old Audi 80, with a diesel engine commented after driving my car about 500 km's: "it is a little bit lazy, but runs like a tank through the blizzard".
On long trips, the drivers seat has caused some aches and problems for my back, but this might be an individual problem.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 28th December, 2004
10th Aug 2008, 17:15
I finally sold the Audi after 5 years of ownership & 285 000 km mileage, of which on my account about 55 000 km. After having fixed the hydraulic system, the car appeared to be quite reliable. No big repairs for 4 years. Generally, I regard the car a very nice and spacious, but little too low for more than 190 cm tall guy - nowadays I drive with a Ford Fiesta 2002, which is quite tiny, but provides with much more room for my head. So, something excellent and something poor.