Since a fair amount of stock coilpacks tend to go bad on a B6, would it be recommended to do some preventative maintenance and replace all 4 of the coilpacks on a 1.8T with the "R" revision or Hitachi E's and just keep the stock ones as spares or should I just wait for one of stock ones to go before replacing it?

I have 60K miles on mine.

 

If you have a 1.8 you can replace them with the TT version IRCC

 

I decided to replace mine prior to getting REVO software, as I have read of many failures right after. it's about $100 to replace them yourself and you will have some spares to carry with you. Seems inexpensive to me to replace something that will fail at your own convienience.
I got mine here
http://www.audipartssuperstore.com/c...roducts_id=473

 

Supposedly, if I get one of the above, those should last a lot longer than the stock coilpacks, right? Will there be any difference in performance?

 

There are some varied opinions on which coil packs are better, but either "R" or "E" are better than stock. Performance modifications (primarily performance software) seem to cause more stress on coil packs, either due to higher boost pressures or timing changes. There seems to be an opinion by some that the "E" are slightly more reliable but "R" offers better performance.

 

I haven't gotten mine chipped and I don't have plans to anytime soon. Still recommended that I change them out?

Is it always necessary to keep spare coilpacks in the trunk? I'm just thinking about those folks that aren't in the know about the 1.8T coilpacks. What happens if those guys blow a coilpack while they're on the road? Do they always have to get their cars towed to the dealership to get them replaced?

 

It is not a big worry if you don't get performance software. I believe that generallya failure will cause the engine to misfire and eventually throw a code. The engine will start misfiring from time to time and will gradually get worse.

 

mines went out at 67k I bought the hitachi from ecs tuning

 

Well every part in your car is going to fail some day. My wife has and 03 A4 1.8tlike your own, and one of her coils went last month at around 80k miles. Luckily I used to own an older 1.8t Jetta that went through coils like crazy so I knew the symptoms well. They will still run on 3 cylinders. Not smoothly, but enough to limp home for a couple miles or to get to a safe area. Typically a dealership will have you drive in or get a tow. They don't want you to know that it's a $30 fix.