2001 Audi A4 from North America - Comments

I was in the market to buy an Audi A4 or A6 until I started to read consumer reviews. It is really disturbing that year after year these cars require frequent repairs. I have always wanted a German car, but now I will have to wait until I can afford a BMW.

I would like to thank everyone that posted their experience of the Audi models.

You will notice that a disproportionate number of negative reviews of Audis or VW's happen to be from North Americans. Is it because those markets have the top-spec complicated equipment and engines which add to the problems? The moment I see the one-sentence description for one of these cars in the review summary, and it's negative, I can count on it being from North America. VW had better do something about this. There may be differences in driving conditions in different countries, but BMW appears to be fairly reliable regardless of which side of the Atlantic they're sold, and regardless of the engine/equipment fitted. I wouldn't want to say that Americans are chronic complainers, given that BMWs would have been grilled on a regular basis had this been so. Not the case so far.

Thanks to all - audi is off my list for now. I have a '92 bmw wagon, but I wanted better mileage (than 18-20mpg) and awd would help in winter. I've been driving bmw's for 20 years and was looking forward to an a4 or a6 quattro, but I think your postings have saved me from a lot of headaches and wasted money.

That's odd, a lot of people in Europe don't have the same problems with Audi and VW, prehaps the dealers in the US don't have the same 'expertise' and don't know how to work on them. Or prehaps the cars for the US market are assembled in Mexico or South America where the cars for the UK come from Europe.

These cars in the UK etc have a good reputation for reliability, I have a new 1998 Audi A4 1.8T and did not have a single thing which went wrong for the four years I had it.

I think we have dealer competency problems in the US. They charge way too much and they are not as knowlegable as some independants. I had a dealer tell me the reason my dash lites didn't work was due to the speedo cluster when all it was was an add-on auto start. After removing, lites worked fine.

Other thing to have in mind is that the people that give a review in this site is either very disappointed with the car or very surprised with it. When someone has a lemon, he will try to find a way to discharge his anger. But someone who just get the expected level of reliability will not post a review.

Of course these reviews are very useful if you want to know the common problems of a certain car or which engine/transmission configuration are more problematic. Usually automatic transmissions and turbo engines fail more often than manual transmissions and a NA engines. That is also clear in the reviews of this site.

<<Other thing to have in mind is that the people that give a review in this site is either very disappointed with the car or very surprised with it. When someone has a lemon, he will try to find a way to discharge his anger. But someone who just get the expected level of reliability will not post a review.

Of course this reviews are very useful if you want to know the common problems of a certain car or which engine/transmission configuration are more problematic. Usually automatic transmissions and turbo engines fail more often than manual transmissions and a NA engines. That is also clear in the reviews of this site.>>

It also depends on the owner's expectations. I had a friend that bought a used BMW 318is yet insisted on putting cheap gas in it. Well, his engine had problems and he stated the car was unreliable and poorly built. He certainly was not a BMW owner since he didn't understand the car.