I have a USED 2001 180 FWD w/ 55,000 miles I have never had any problem with it yet other than normal wear and tear from the other owner's driving. Looking it up on CarFax says it was a lease car. which I would think normal people dont care about and drive stupidly. Still the car seems fine shifting is firm acceleration is quick. I have no problems

 

I am still trying to explain this one to my Fiance, but there are a few problems with the TT as you will see in a thread that I started concerning the timing belt, however the car is great!!!! I love it!! The problems it has are part of its character. Yeah, alot of them you will be able to fix your self, which is great because it helps you to know what you drive. And some you will have to have others fix, and yes you will PAY for it. A sports car isnt cheap. If you are looking for solid reliability by a Ricer, if you want something that will perform then by an Audi. I love my TT to death and with everything that breaks, it just provides an opportunity to make the car that much better. Cars are made to be driven. And that means to know the edge, and to know the edge is to break stuff. As for the cosmetic crap like the windows, what did you expect? Its German.

 

I for one admire your spirit and your way with words. Here you are ready to shell out up to $5,000 or more for damage to your car's engine from timing belt failure, at only 66K miles, and you almost make it sound like a good thing. Hell, it gives you the opportunity not only to repair the engine but to even spend more money for other upgrades. You say its an educational process because now you know the car's limitations. That is one hell of an expensive lesson. But to each his own. I don't know what you mean by a Ricer, but prior to owning my TT I had a Mazda RX7 - maybe that's a Ricer. I drove it for 240K miles and besides the normal maintenance items (brakes, oil, filters, etc) the only thing I replaced on it in all that time was the alternator, water pump, and universal joints. Performance does not have to mean poor reliability!!!

 

Dont take offense to the ricer comment. It was more of a complement than a slam. The Japanesse make a very reliable car, while the Germans over engineer EVERYTHING. And dont get me wrong. That was a VERY expensive lesson to learn, I just hope that you all will learn from my mistake. I enjoy making things better, and when they brake it gives me the excuse, I dont mean that I like throwing money away so I dont purposfully try to brake my car. But when stuff happens, instead of calling the car names and using coloerfull language I look at it as an opportunity to go faster or handle better.