Finally made the decision to trade in the A4 yesterday with 153k on it. Owned it since Nov. 2011. My wife was the primary driver and she really loved the handling, but the car reached a point where I really could not trust its reliability. I think Audi owners have to develop a taste for the cost of ownership. Here is a little breakdown of what I have replaced over the last 4 years. 6 coil paks, 8 plugs, 1 fuel injector, timing belt, water pump, J757 relay, HPFP cam follower, 1 intake valve, PCV valve, N80 valve, fan assembly, 10 tires. The timing belt, water pump and HPFP cam follower were maintenance items, but the fuel injector and intake valve were an expensive repair. We put about 500 miles per week on the car and about 1qt of oil every 1000 miles. Almost weekly I was putting the VAG on it just to see if it had any codes and usually there were 1 or two nuisance codes. The puff of black smoke on acceleration was becoming a little more frequent. The VAG log files was always picking up a misfire, but not really noticeable in driving.

I would not say that the car was a lemon, but the cost of ownership and trust in reliability became an issue. It had to go. At this point, I would give Audi a neutral review, but Audi Forums were great and thanks for all of the assistance over the years.