materials used inside the A4 is shvt. While doing the Passenger side mirror change on the Avant I was surprised at how crappy the quality of the door trim and plastics were compared to my old 20V CQ & my wife's 95 90CS sedan. The materials are like that of my step daughters Volvo 850. Prone to easy cracking & breaking. I couldn't believe that Audi had downgraded the material quality of their cars that much. Is it me or has anybody else noticed this too?

 

I've noticed that as well. Seems B5's used very brittle plastic inside compared to newer and older models. I just try not to f*ck with mine so it won't crack lol

 

They are indeed weak. When I pulled my C/D pillar interior trim pieces they each cracked in about 2 places. But as I was changing fabric in my car on everything (especially headliner) I decided to fiberglass/epoxy the backside of those trim pieces and cover them in fabric

If I had a quarter for every broken piece of plastic piece in my car, I'd have enough money to buy another B5

 

I always attributed the brittleness to old age, but I've been in much older cars than mine and the plastic didn't feel nearly as thin. There are many pieces of my interior that I'd like to re-cover because they're cracked or cracking

 

on my audi when the custom audio system went in the car and had it dynomated the back pillers near the back window's were all cracked to **** other than that nothing else cracked

 

Yes, some things feel a bit cheap and taking the interior apart without cracking anything is nearly impossible.