2006 Audi A3 1.8 turbo from Norway
Summary:
Nice car, but horrible quality
Faults:
Engine coils, first one and then a new one, and finally all were replaced, fixed under warranty. This gave me a lot of problems, since the car would cut off suddenly and then work seconds later. It took the dealer many visits to find out that all 4 coils were defective.
A lot of brake problems, especially rear brakes, were replaced 2 times. Paid for it myself.
Various problems with Xenon lights; fixed under warranty.
Sensor problems that gave reluctant acceleration; fixed under warranty.
Heavy oil usage, but dealer said it was normal.
RUST, RUST, RUST. Galvanic slippage. Endemic problem on this car. The car was partly resprayed, but it really didn't help. When I sold it, rust was reappearing on the doors, and on the underneath of the front wings there was serious rust.
General Comments:
Very nice driver, but this car was let down by poor quality and horrible dealer support. The dealer was reluctant to fix paint and rust problems that appeared after a few years. Paint was peeling off the lower part of the car. Even after 2 partial resprays, the car looked scruffy when I sold it. The problem was galvanic slippage that many of these cars suffer from, i.e. the Zinc used to galvanize the lower part of this car doesn't stick properly on the sheet metal and peels off.
Heavy oil usage was also irritating. Never leave home without a can of oil was basically what the dealer said. Any complaints against the importer; forget about it. Nothing helped.
In the end I basically got fed up and sold the car. I considered suing, but simply got rid of this oil-drinking pile of rust. I'll never buy an Audi again!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 14th March, 2014
10th Jul 2014, 11:39
Reviewer here: I was approached by the new owner of this car. Turns out that this car ended up in a car dealer and this poor soul ended up buying it for top money. He wondered about the repair record for my old car, and whether proper rust treatment was done. The dealer seem to have made a quick and dirty repair to make the car look good, but rust has apparently started to appear again in all the trouble spots, and he was in an argument both with the dealer and the importer; both were blaming each other. They were also making a big issue out of him missing a rust inspection last year, but as he said, why have a rust inspection when the car is already full of rust. He also complained about all sorts of things, including heavy oil usage. I just said, welcome to the Audi club.