Over the past six months my 97 A4 Q 2.8 Auto has been a pain in the *** to say the least. I bought the car 2 1/2 years ago and had no problems until the engine hit 165k. First, the rear wheel bearing went out late at night on rt 70 in Eastern OH while coming home from work-car shook like earthquake beneath. I pulled the control arm off and took in to have pressed.$150- ran like a champ. Two months later, small coolant leak turned into coolant pouring from water pump. Tried to fix. No soap. Local guy charged me $1,300 for new water pump, gasket, timing belt, thermostat, and pulley and guide arm. Got the car back and temp gauge in dash stopped working next day- ask mechanic $300. Screw it-I will just watch the oil temp gauge instead. Next month, various front-end knocks and noises ignored. A week after, try to start car after leaving grocery store parking lot- nothing, no noise. $100 Tow to my garage 25miles away. Two days spend taking the starter off, and the third day getting it out of the f'n car. Total nightmare. Give me some space! Jeez! Found a worlwide starter and 2 tie rods on Sunday afternoon at Advance, and put them on. Total cost $550 w/ tow and taxi. Fixed! Cleaned it up. Nice Shine! Two hours later, yeah two! brake light and ABS light up on dash. Car drives OK. Breaks work. Forget it. Two days pass and CEL comes on. Typical. Stop start a few times and then driving looking at the cluster, and I brake- Hummmm noise- release brake- hmmmm- what the? Stop car- inspect- change fuse? Start car no ABS and brake lights on-rockin. So I brake and the hum is back. Brakes stiff and weird. Drive a little light come on and hum goes away. I did duct tape the ABS sensor/cable on the rear wheel when I pulled the control arm off to have bearing pressed in. Whatever. I'm sure I left out a few brake jobs and 4 new tires and a couple of $100 hoses and valves that I replaced. Still love the car. I used to drive an 85 Saab 900 SPG. Much easier to repair. Thanks for listening...