1999 Audi A4 1.8t review from North America

Numerous things since I purchased. I will try to list all below.

1.) Camshaft Seals leaking oil. $450.00

2.) Coolant pipe cracked leaking orange coolant on driveway.

3.) Instrument cluster had to be replaced, gauges just didn't work one day. $600.00

4.) Timing Belt tensioner, and the main timing belt gear was sheared off about 15 degrees causing the engine to idle funny. About $1000.00 to fix all that. I still have the old part, looks like metal fatigue?

5.) Turbo went at about 58,000 miles $1200.00 to fix. Found out that audi keeps this part in stock at the dealer. I wonder why?

6.) Oil Pump failed which is ridiculous. $680.00

7.) Alarm goes off by itself.

8.) Rack and pinion making some weird noise.

9.) Lower Front bumper fell off in parking lot. Had to put in trunk till I fixed it with some machine screws.

10.) Drivers side power window making some strange noises.

I will start off saying I really liked this car when I bought it. It is a 1999 Black AUDI A4 1.8T 5-speed. I payed $12,900 for it used with 48,000 miles. I do enjoy driving this car when it runs. It has good acceleration, handles the twisties pretty well and is a great highway car. You can take this car on trips and you don't get the fatigued feeling and you back dose not hurt you after a 150 mile trip. It is the kind of car where you try to find a excuse to go somewhere just to drive it. The interior is layed out well and everything is pretty much simple to use. The larger size spedo and tach is a plus as is the red lit gauges, radio, climate controls, and window/sunroof swiches. Everything inside feels solid.

Well, that is the way it is until stuff starts to break and you have to get the check book/credit card out. The first prob. I had with this car was the valve cover gasket leaking oil. I had that fixed under warranty. Then the instruments broke and you had to guess your speed/temp/rpms/fuel/ect. The dealer had to replace the whole instrument cluster. A black plastic cooling pipe off the back of the engine started to leak red anti-freeze and I replaced it my self which was a real pain to get to. I couldn't understand why AUDI didn't make this vital cooling part out of metal. The plastic was real brittle and I noticed a crack in the old one. The part was only $6.00 at the dealer which I could not believe. For about 6 months I didn't have any problems.

I decided to play it safe and have the timing belt changed this month at 62,000 miles due to a faulty timing belt tensioner problem on other people's A4s. I really didn't want to risk it and have my engine seize. I am glad I had it done because when the mechanics were putting the belt on they noticed one of the cam gears was sheared off almost completely and the timing was off about 15 degrees. I don't know how that could of broke. Total cost of timing belt job with new seals, tensioner and cam gear=$920.00. I then had a problem with excess boost and I thought the factory blow off valve went bad. So I had that replaced with a new one ($40.00) but the problem was still the same. Not to long after that the Turbo went bad and was replaced. It was a $1200.00 job. So now at 64,000 miles, no warranty and the oil light came on. Took it to the dealer this week and the oil pump went bad. I have to ask how does that break since it is in oil all the time? Estimated repair cost $600.00. I am now driving my friend's truck and having to make payments on a car that is broken again. This car only has 64,000 miles on it not 264,000 miles. I have decided to trade this car in on another Acura or Toyota since my last Acura Integra had 155,000 miles on it and gave my no problems at all. I have to wonder if all Audi/VW 1.8T engines have the same problems. By reading reviews it looks that way. In my overall opinion of this car I have to say that it is a lemon and would not recommend it to anyone even if they were rich. Its just too aggravating dealing with crappy Audi overpriced service and wondering if you are going to make it to work.