10th Sep 2007, 21:27

I have a 98 Audi A4, it has 72,000 miles on it and I have never had any problems with it... All you have to do is take care of it the way a car is meant to be taken care of!!!

29th Jan 2008, 13:59

'97 a6 Quattro. 75K miles.

I like the handling, the look, but not the car. Plastic parts break all the time. Germans don't seem to get it. My Porsche had the same problem... dashboard looked like the Grand Canyon.

CD player is shot. Hardly ever used. Radio won't let me in now either. It's protecting me from myself. Maybe it hates music.

Rubber bushings are shot over the entire suspension and need replacing... literally disintegrating. OK, at 75K some rubber parts goes bad, but not all at the same time! This reminds me of US car syndrome; where life expectancy was 75K for any car.

None of this is as disturbing as going to the Audi dealer in Schaumburg, Illinois, after someone rear ended the car, and having the agent lie that the fiberglass drive shaft needed replacement, $2K, as a "matter of regular maintenance". Btw, the shaft is steel, and the engine light came on right after the accident and the shaft started making strange noises thereafter. He said it never happened ... right after his technician tells me that the air-bag light needed resetting for some reason. Somehow collisions are now considered regular maintenance events.

After I paid for an engine diagnostic, the agent gave me another car's diag sheet. He also told the insurance agent that the newly leaking trans seal (1000 miles old, btw) was a maintenance item and that a rear-end collision cannot possibly effect transmissions, drive shafts or engines on a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Hello-o-o... where do they find these guys? ... oh, they *look* for them?

I had to tow the car from the dealer. Insurance wouldn't cover the drivetrain repairs, and the agent left the dealership with a smile after my dealer nixed repairs. No way would I leave it with them after that kind of treatment. Today I heard that Audi has sent someone from another area to check them out. Rumors ...

Oh, and to replace the cooling thermostat... you have to take off the entire front end?! ... and serpentine belt! This is a fact according to the repair manual.

I don't think I want to buy another Audi, Porsche or VW again... honestly. Too costly to operate, and no fun to DIY.

18th Mar 2008, 15:10

I finally dumped my 1997 Audi A4 today. It was definitely a Love-Hate relationship. The car was very fun to drive, but it was in the shop pretty much every 3-4 months. During the 7 years I owned this car I spent $6,755 in repairs. This doesn't include normal maintenance, which I was very faithful.

I just replaced it with a Volvo and will likely never buy another Audi.

6th Aug 2008, 11:54

I am a Volvo owner and am looking to buy another car for our family. The problem is our budget and we need to spend under $5,000. I'm looking at buying a 97 A4 Quattro from a private dealer. It has 190,000 miles and he wants $5,000. I took it into my mechanic and he quoted $1,100 in work. (Crack in Exhaust Manifold, Cracks in front brake lines, Water pump replacement). I asked the seller if he knew when the timing belt was replaced and he said that it looked brand new when he was replacing the head gasket. Which gave me a scare when he said "he" replaced the head gasket. I know Audi's are finicky. I know that's a tough job. My mechanic was worried when he heard that but hasn't told me that it's a bad investment. What do you think?

16th Sep 2008, 18:01

The flashing OIL light on the odometer is the oil service reminder (usually 1 year or 10,000 miles) it can be switched off easily, the instructions are in the handbook.

6th Feb 2009, 02:49

One thing you must remember is people are more likely to write in these forums if they have issues with their vehicle. The people with no problems don't see a reason to rant and rave about their car.

17th Aug 2009, 14:59

Hi. I am thinking of buying an A4 quattro, but on a test drive there seems to be a dry whining noise coming from the drive train, and I am not quite sure what it could be. Do you think this could be a major fault? Would appreciate your comments.

Gaz.

21st Oct 2009, 10:16

10/21/09.

I have a 1997 Audi A4 2.8L Quattro. It has 72k miles. Fortunately, I don't drive my car aggressively as most Audi *A4* owners do.

While it is not surprising that, due to my conservative driving discipline, I have not encountered countless transmission and heating problems with the car (not to mention saved hundreds in gas) ; I DID have one major problem -- the front suspension coil snapped while I was driving due to rust. I was lucky the force of the coil didn't rip through the body of my car and take out my passenger's entire leg. This problem was a severe health/safety risk and I am lucky that no major damage was done. Cost to repair: ~$500. You need to replace both right and left suspension coils or the car will noticeably sit lop-sided, and you will risk breaking the remaining coil due to weight imbalances.

5th Jan 2010, 00:30

I have a 1997 A4 Quattro 2.8, second owner, purchased well below blue book. I've had it for a couple of years and have driven it pretty hard (including down what were, for all intents and purposes, logging trails in northern Wisconsin while doing some work for the US Census Bureau), and it's really been a champ for the most part. I've put about 20K on it, it's at 148K total now, and the only repair I've had to make was to a shot tensioner and serpentine belt, which came to $260 total. Always starts, runs well in cold weather... it's been a faithful car for me, knock on wood.

28th Feb 2010, 18:55

I own a 1996 A4 Quattro. I cannot say that this car was not worth every penny! This is a great year of production. The biggest problem I have had would be the wheel bearings, which are not a big deal.

8th Mar 2010, 22:02

I too own a 96 A4 2.8 Quattro. This car has 240k on it and still is in great shape. Minor stuff, I guess that I have been lucky. I just purchased an 02 A4 1.8T, with 68k for my wife and having it dialed in and am hoping for the same luck. The 1.8T scares me with the sludge issue though. I've bore scoped the lower end, it didn't look too bad, but I'm going to flush it prior to turning it over to the wife. Wish me luck.