Faults:

Four to five months after I purchased the car, the passenger side door handle broke. When I took it off, the inside was in pieces.

About three months of ownership, the locks went, they now only work intermittently. Usually not at all, there is something wrong with the pump for the locks (air).

Random electrical problems, they seem to usually work themselves out.

The climate control on mine has gone out 2 times. When you jiggle the wires connected to it, it comes back on. There is a bad connection somewhere, this is also common.

General Comments:

The radio is terrible. Replaced it with a Pioneer CD & speakers.

Poor construction of door handles.

Accelerates like a snail when the air is on.

Try to find one with Anti-Lock brakes. Two weeks ago I slid into someone. -(No damage)- This car is so heavy that it takes a long time to stop.

Do not be discouraged by the ticking!! I have called the dealer and they said that this is a common problem that is basically on all of these cars. They want 400$ to fix it, but this is not necessary.

Sunroof is also slow.

When purchasing, check door handles and electrical systems. Also, the trunk on mine holds some water.

Defrost on this car is terrible!!

Finally, people always look at this car. You rarely see one, especially in excellent condition. Usually, I see 3 to 4 people staring at each stop light and a few people in parking lots. This car also looks expensive.

Faults:

All components of the cooling/heating system have been replaced.

Alternator exposed to all possible forms of road crud. It had to be replaced.

Starter motor was replaces twice.

CV joints were replaced.

Bearings (front and rear) were replaced.

Heating seat connections broke.

Master cylinder was replaced. (Pressure accumulator is still dead)

Important alingment problems wasted two sets of tires.

Hydraulic lifters are noisy once a while at start-up.

Trunk lock broke, forcing me to cut through the rear seat (sheet-metal) to open it from inside.

Those dreaded door handles broke or seized one after the other.

Cruise control does not like cold weather since it works by vacuum.

Had to modify electronics to get dash lites to work.

Speed-meter connections had to be repaired.

Windshield washer tank is rediculously small.

Turbo inter-cooler hose was replaced.

Paint is chipping on front fenders (due to galvanized steel).

...etc.

General Comments:

This car is of an incomparable comfort and has great handling; especially for its size. It has every imaginable gadget, and, contrarily to what was said in other reviews, I find it to have quite the acceleration for a vehicle of this size; especially from 120km/h and up.

Another amazing aspect of this cars shape is the fact that it has absolutely no rust anywhere after years of harsh winter conditions.

On the other hand, Audi made things much to complicated for no reason. A good example of that is the design of the trunk opening mechanism. Looking at it, it is clear it will not stand many cold winters... and it didn't.

The biggest beef I have with the car is the fact that, reading info about it, every basic feature seemed to be expected to fail after ridiculously short intervals. Is it normal for major parts to fail after 50 000 or even 10 000 km??

I guess I'll have to live with the embarassing noises for the rest of the cars life.