1987 Audi 5000 CD Turbo review from North America

All components of the cooling/heating system have been replaced.

Alternator exposed to all possible forms of road crud. It had to be replaced.

Starter motor was replaces twice.

CV joints were replaced.

Bearings (front and rear) were replaced.

Heating seat connections broke.

Master cylinder was replaced. (Pressure accumulator is still dead)

Important alingment problems wasted two sets of tires.

Hydraulic lifters are noisy once a while at start-up.

Trunk lock broke, forcing me to cut through the rear seat (sheet-metal) to open it from inside.

Those dreaded door handles broke or seized one after the other.

Cruise control does not like cold weather since it works by vacuum.

Had to modify electronics to get dash lites to work.

Speed-meter connections had to be repaired.

Windshield washer tank is rediculously small.

Turbo inter-cooler hose was replaced.

Paint is chipping on front fenders (due to galvanized steel).

...etc.

This car is of an incomparable comfort and has great handling; especially for its size. It has every imaginable gadget, and, contrarily to what was said in other reviews, I find it to have quite the acceleration for a vehicle of this size; especially from 120km/h and up.

Another amazing aspect of this cars shape is the fact that it has absolutely no rust anywhere after years of harsh winter conditions.

On the other hand, Audi made things much to complicated for no reason. A good example of that is the design of the trunk opening mechanism. Looking at it, it is clear it will not stand many cold winters... and it didn't.

The biggest beef I have with the car is the fact that, reading info about it, every basic feature seemed to be expected to fail after ridiculously short intervals. Is it normal for major parts to fail after 50 000 or even 10 000 km??

I guess I'll have to live with the embarassing noises for the rest of the cars life.