1998 Audi A4 t review from North America

All steering control arms and links needed to be replaced at 85,000 miles (a $1,700 repair job!). A known problem for which Audi has not issued a recall.

Replaced rear differential seals and CV boots at 72,000 miles.

Replaced the window control safety switch (keeps kids from rolling down the back windows) at about 75,000 miles. Another item that the Audi dealer refused to repair under warranty, so rather than take the chance of my daughter getting her arm chopped off by a passing car, I paid for the replacement myself.

Idler assembly for the air conditioner belt is broken, not replaced yet (mechanic has a replacement part on back-order).

Needed fix to increase the range of the remote keyless entry to a useable level (it was about 10' before this change). Even though this was a known problem (listed in an Audi Technical Service Bulletin), the dealer refused to repair it under the warranty.

This car has excellent handling and is well thought out ergonomically. Overall, it's fun to drive. It's great looking and gets many comments.

However, I'm afraid it may bankrupt me in maintenance costs! That certainly takes some of the fun out of it for me.

The driver's seat and position are great, but the passenger seating is not that good and the back seat is dismal.

It has embarrassingly low torque off the line. You have to get to 5K RPM before the turbo really comes in.

The climate control seems convenient at first, but is hard to live with. It's especially bad at keeping the windows de-fogged during rainy weather (for some reason it decides that the air conditioner should not be on and there's no way to override that).

The Bose stereo is fantastic. The bass is a little boomy, but that's OK in a car. The GAIA feature (which varies the sound according to your speed) is a little annoying at times).