So I've had my A4 for a little under 6 months now (wow, has it been that long?), and I'm starting to get a little worried about it. It's a 2003 A4 1.8t FWD w/ 56000 miles. It is a blast to drive, and I really like having a good solid (feeling/built) car... I really do love the car. It's got the CVT transmission, and its soooo smooth when I shift (mmm. I love those buttons on the steering wheel... no automatic-mode for me!).

What worries me is the amount of stuff I've had to have done to the car in the last 6 months. Everything that has gone wrong seems to be pretty standard stuff. First, I was a victim of oil sludge. I dropped $800 on having the shop take apart God-knows-what and cleaning it all up. Works great now, though!

This past week, I've started to hear weird sounds when I turn the wheel. I'm guessing the really weird weather here in Nashville is part of the reason, and I'm going to check the steering fluid level this evening and top it off if necessary.

I got the dealer where all serivce had been done by the previous owner to print off a service log, and it was gigantic. Looking through it, I noticed that between 40000 and 49000 (when I got it) several major components had been replaced: the turo and the exaust system. Over the life of the car, it has been brought in many times for minor fixes here and there, but routine maintaince was always done exactly on time (or a little before) which is a very comforting sign to me. I talked to the previous owner when I bought it, and he said he had been very happy with the car and almost wish he hadn't traded it in for his gas-hog Lexus SUV.

Before the car, I had a 1998 Chevy S-10, and it had nonstop problems as well. Wipers wouldn't work sometimes, weird noises, pumps always going out, alternators never working, and on and on. Am I having bad luck, or is this pretty normal for everyone? This is only my 2nd car (I'm 19), so I'm not sure if a red flag should be going up or if I should just deal with it.

-Chris

 

sounds like lemon's love you

 

Noises are hard. If it is a slight squeek coming from below the steering wheel, it could just be the steering wheel knuckle. You can either grease it, or just move the steering wheel tilt and extend back and forth, and it shoud go away.

 

If you had a sludge problem at 56K miles, Get your oil change receipts and the sercie logs, and go to the Audi dealer and see if they will reimburse costs.

 

I have a 2002 1.8t and have had it 11 months.Only problem so far was one morning high beam on drivers side was on and wouldnt
switch off. Audi sorted it under warrenty.Everything else ok apart from catch on armrest broke off.
Do you have bad luck with other mechanical things.

 

Join the motherfuckin club lol! ive spent 4k in the last year on my lemon.

 

Audi will only cover it if all the maintance is done at a Audi dealer

 

I bought my 02 b6 1.8t tiptronic at around 40k miles.

it now has 51k and i have had basically no problems at all.

only thing i have had to fix is the windshield washer fluid pump and the fuel pump.

regardless of the minor issues i have experience, i will admit that it is very comforting to know that my car is under extended warranty for another 3 years.

 

Dude, welcome to Audi. There will be no end in sight for all the maintainence. I've completely lost track of how much I've spent on mine but it's been well in the thousands and I've only had it for 1 year.

 

welcome to the car world. Mass production of everything