Hi everyone,

I should explain that I am not the owner of the car, my father is. He took delivery of a beautiful 2011 A3 TFSI Quattro Premium a few weeks ago and he let me try it out as I dropped my girlfriend off downtown.

The problem is: on the return trip, I was travelling at about 100km/hr on the highway and I decide to test out the throttle response, so I step my foot down about a centimetre or two. The transmission gears down, the car begins to accelerate moderately and I hear a static-like sound coming from the center-rear of the car. As soon as I release the throttle it disappears.

It is consistent - I can replicate the sound easily. It is best described as "marbles in a can." It only happens ~100km/hr.

Coolant temp is around 90C, the outside temp is around -4C (Toronto). The car has about 980km on the odometer.

I have this problem in my RX8 R3, it is related to the coolant flow and only appears ~8500rpm but isn't as loud. But the sound is coming from the middle to rear of the car so I'm out of ideas.

Has anyone else experienced this sound?

On a side note, I'm very impressed with the A3. Since my car is stored for the winter it was nice driving something that is responsive and feels as if it has a soul like my RX8. I will probably never get to drive it again though, as my father loves it too much

Cheers,

Chris

edit: this is the exact sound, but from another rx8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm3NcgTnmRk

Maybe I'm just cursed and whatever vehicle I touch will begin making this sound.