I took my 03' A4 Quattro to a import specialist garage for an oil change. When I came back to pickup my car the mechanic informed me that my A4 was slow and sluggish when he would stomp on it. I bought the car used, and I have never noticed a decrease in the performance of the vehicle but at the same time I have no idea what the car is supposed to feel like.

He made the suggestion that he could hook up his VAG-COM for $75 and let me know what the issue is. Could any tell me what the possible causes in the reduction of performance, and is it worth the $75?

 

My first suggestion would be to find someone local with a VAG-COM and read the CEL code it's throwing. If you can't find anybody local, go to an Autozone and they'll read it for free, then write down the code and search for it on the forums. I had my MAF sensor go out on my B5 A4 and it was throwing a bunch of CEL codes, mainly cylinder misfires. But the MAF going bad would definetly make your car run like ****. Just make sure not to drive the car if the CEL starts blinking, that's a big no no and you can do major damage. BTW, my MAF sensor went bad on my 1.8T around 72,000 miles. Hope this helps, good luck!

 

If you have a laptop you can have your own vag-com for under $20. Hooking up the the cable and reading the codes couldn't take more than 5 min, fiddle around another 5. I am surprised he didn't do it for free. I would find another mechanic.