Check engine light at 79,800 miles, dealer replaced N80 valve. $330 repair.
Dealer said upper control arms were worn, replaced all 4 upper control arms on same service visit as above. With parts, labor and alignment, $1200 repair.
Replaced serpentine belt at 60K per service recommendation.
Recently transmission intermittently hangs in 2nd, 3rd, 4th too long after a lot of stop and go traffic. Driving a few minutes in manual mode seems to clear it up. (root cause not yet diagnosed)
All other maintenance was routine, (oil changes, tires)
Must be able to drive at higher than US speed limits to really appreciate this car. I've had it to 130mph and it wanted to go more. Very aerodynamic for a wagon.
Seats are a little firm for my 50 year old frame for longer than 2 hour drives.
I get consistent 20 mpg highway.
Heavy front end has under-steer, but it will go where you want it and hugs the road good on curves.
Very little service required, but what has been done is expensive. (no real surprise)
Just wanted to post an update:
Car is still running well. This June I bought a 2000 Volvo Cross Country to help take some of the mileage load off if the Audi, and 2 months later it got totaled from someone rear-ending me... so the Audi lives on. Currently at 91,500 miles. Always hand washed, always garaged. The last time I took it in the dealers' technician commented to the Service Manager how it was one clean, 90,000 mile wagon. One thing about high mileage cars-you can really tell if the owner took care of them or not. Thinking of replacing the timing belt before the 105K recommendation, as there seem to be plenty of posts documenting early failures.
Annual update:
Around 96K I decided to investigate the trouble with the trans intermittently hanging in lower gears until 3000 RPM after it was hot. Complete fluid change at the Audi dealer fixed this issue.
The car now has 101.5K miles,
I got the timing belt, water pump, and tensioners replaced at 100K miles, 7 years.
The old timing belt still looked in good shape, but may have been stretched because now the engine seems extra tight at higher RPM's.
The mechanic also found a vacuum-modulated venturi adjuster that had a broken link, so that was replaced too.
It runs better than ever now.
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