1999 Audi A4 Quattro Sedan from North America - Comments

I'm hot and cold over this car. I've owned my A4 1.8 FWD since Feb, 1999, and it now has 154,000 miles showing on the odometer.

Initially, the car torque-steered so badly that it was impossible to hold the throttle wide open when passing... the tires would grab the crown of the road and attempt to veer into the oncoming lane of traffic. Changing to Michelin Pilot tires cured mush of this problem, but it took experimentation with a couple sets of tires to arrive at this solution.

Major repairs have been with the front end... the original control arms were replaced at 95000 miles, and most of them were again replaced at approx 145000 miles. This is not an inexpensive repair, and is a component you would expect to last the life of the vehicle. I believe the control arms are a case of being an elegant engineering exercise, but an implementation disaster.

If I can get through one more Ohio winter in the A4, it'll be off to either a Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, just about anything except another Audi.

My dealings with Audi of America have also been less than satisfactory.

I own a 96 A4 2.8 5spd with 234000 miles (i purchased at 180 for the right price). I have experienced each of the repair issues except the timming belt and I replaced the h2o pump and thermostat at purchase.

Now I'm being told I need a new clutch. The clutch pedal is hard to press, but it does go into each gear. how much should I expect to pay for a clutch repair job.

Thanks,

A4 in MD.

I just had my clutch replaced and it wa 1700 Can.

Bought 1999 audi a4 in oct.06. Took it in to dealer in Feb. $2250.00 timing belt service, oil gasket leak thingy, bad trunk lights, and the crazy sound it was making which was the reason I took it in was "not found". 2 months later I took it to local mechanic about this funny sound. The rear drive shaft thingy was lose and about to fall off. We called audi and they part was 1300.00 not including labor. this guy called some other mechanics got the part used for $400 and put it on for like 120.00. Just noticed that the car is leaking coolant in my garage. hopefully it is a six dollar fix like the other post. Recently had the front struts replaced $650.00. If you are in college do not buy this car maintenance is ridiculous.

Rod.

I own an 2003 Audi A4 1.8T.

I bought it used with about 30,000 miles, and now it has close to 50,000 miles.

It's a sweet lookin ride; when I bought it someone had already put window tint, lowered it, and a body kit.

I added new tires, blacked-out LED tail lights, an intake and an exhaust, performance brake pads, and drilled n' slotted rotors.

So that was a pretty penny just makin it look nice.

Then on to the repairs!!!

A week after I bought it I realized I had a power steering leak.

Then my back passenger window regulator went out - that's about $450 just to have a working window.

Then my car starting miss-firing on all cylinders, and my CEL came on. It ended up being a vacuum hose. That ran me about $800 cause we started replacing and running test on things that we thought was the problem.

And then some girl lost control on the interstate, and smacked into my back passenger fender, sending me into a good spin since I was goin about 80mph.

On the ride home, my car just lost all power pretty much, and starting shaking really bad, and when I pushed the gas it was like I had no engine - I could only cruise at about 20 mph. Hopefully their insurance will pay for it all.

I'll find out soon.

Anyway, I like my Audi; I just wish it didn't require so much work.

Haha.

Jay.

I bought a 99 A4 frontrak in april of 02 with 49k miles. its not the 99.5. anyways I've had my fair share of problems, but thanks to the internet and a little site called audiworld. com my problems were quickly solved. I absolutely love my vehicle even with the issues I've had along the way. keep in mind I'm not a mechanic, but I can hold my own on medium to semi-difficult repairs.

My first issue was the airbag light. I changed out the airbag control module which rests behind the center console. takes a painstaking 5 hours, but I got the job done for 100.00 bucks. dealer 700.00 to 1k

Next I had issues with the ignition control module. bosch made a crappy unit and they go out about every 50000 miles. so beware. the first time I got this replaced was at an audi/vw repair shop. cost 650.00.

Then at about 90000 miles I read up on the timing belt failure rates and decided I should replace the belt. You can do this repair yourself. it just takes time and patience. cost for belts and new updated pully about 300.00. dealer costs probably over 1k.

Next common issue was front control arms were going bad.

Not the easiest of repairs, but doable. I swapped out the old control arms (both sides) and put in new updated ones for a total cost of 500.00, as opposed to 700.00 per side from the dealer.

At about 100000 miles the ignition control module by bosch went out again. this time I found a check/repair guide on audiworld. com and was able to replace it myself for 190.00. it would have been 50.00 less, but I needed to overnight the unit.

Anyways the car is great I do all the brakes and oil changes myself and most of the common problems the average person can probably do. also, if you are a current owner and have issues, I highly recommend audiworld.com.

John.

Bus.

I own a 2000 Audi A4 2.8 (purchased new). I purchased the car simply because in 1990, I purchased a new Audi, kept it for 7 years. Audi customer service treated me like a valued customer, and with only a couple of problems that were out of the ordinary, Audi addressed these in an immediate and fair manner. My second new Audi purchase has been quite a different experience to say the least. I can't begin to list the out-of-the-ordinary repairs in this paragraph, but what infuriates me is the customer service attitude of Audi of America. One example; my driver information display panel has dimmed, so numbers are unrecognizable. Audi customer service believes this is an isolated and unfortunate incident that only I have experienced! I feel Audi does not value their customers and that is the biggest reason to buy a different brand of car. Kathy.

All I can say is that I wish I had read all the previous comments in this survey before I bought my 99 a4 2.8, because just like everybody else, BOY DO I REGRET BUYING THIS CAR!!! Yeah the car drives and handles like a dream, but the repair bills and aggravation are more like a nightmare. Unless you have an endless money supply, and two other cars on standby, I would not recommend this car to anyone. It would be one thing if the dealers would fess up to the problems and help you out with info on how to do certain things, but instead they treat you like you owe them something. Audi should come out with a new model and call it the NIGHTMARE. At least then they can say that they warned us.

Anyway I bought a used 99 A4 2.8 in May of 2005 with 76,000 on it from a Chevy dealer. No complaints about the sale. Wanted an Audi for 3 years. finally got one. Happier than a pig in you know what. First 6 months, fantastic, no problems. THEN,...it all started. Losing coolant. no big deal. Just add some every month at 25.00 a gallon. Two Months later tie-rod end. No problem. Fifty bucks, did it myself. 3 Months later upper front control arm. 150.00. Did that myself to. 2 months later front brakes and rotors. $500.00 cause I did that my self to. HOLD ON THERE BOBALOUIE. Well I guess you can call that regular maintenance. Now oil leaks. Stink coming thru the heater unbelievable. Front and rear Cam Tensioner seals says the dealer. $1200.00. I'm not doing this myself and I'm not paying $1200.00 either. Just won't use the heat as much. Two months later while caughing and driving down the interstate in the dead of winter the water pump blows. Luckily had coolant reserves in the trunk. AHHH! Deja vu. Made it home OK. Got to rip the front end off to do this one. I'm not doing that outside in the dead of winter. Guess the dealer wins this time. Figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and let the dealer do the water pump, thermostat, and while the front end was off, I could save some bucks and let them do the cam tensioner seals to. I reluctently let them do it, but told them to save all the old parts for me. They did'nt. $1500.00 later and on my way home from the dealer hear a loud noise coming from back of car. Turn around and go back to dealer and they say you need both rear wheel bearings. Hummmmm??? It was'nt like that when I brought it here. Well a shouting match between me and the service manager and a half hour later they agreed to replace both bearings at just the cost of the bearings. Guess I got no choice. Hate being held hostage. they did it. while they were doing it I watched and noticed a transmission leak. Asked the tech about it and he said don't worry about it its just a small leak.??? Hummmmm. I was born at night, but not last night. I says to him how do you know if the transmission fluid is to low or not because there is no dip stick to check it with, and if it is to low then I could blow my tranny. He said to make another appointment and they will check the fluid. I said just replace the seal anyway and then top off the fluid. They agreed. Some mechanic huh. thought new water pump would solve coolant leak problem. Not so. Still leaks and by now I found a new GOOD mechanic because hell will freeze over before I go to another Audi dealership. He said leak is coming from rear of motor and he has to pull the tranny to fix it. I looked at it with him and he is right. Guess I will just keep adding fluid for now. Oh by the way I found the mechanic because six months after the dealer replaced the water pump and tranny seal, they both blew again. HUMMMM. Audi Quality Parts Huh... And now as I am writing this my A4 is at my new mechanics garage because on New Years eve my lovely A4 died in the middle of the highway and would not start and had to be flat bedded to my mechanic. He thinks it could be the crank sensor. HAPPY NEW YEAR, Another measly $300.00. Guess no vacation this year huh. So the moral of the story in case you didn't get it is, Don't buy a....... Audi.

I bought our 99 Audi 2 years ago in February of 2006 and it has been a money pit. Right after we bought it we were told we had to replace the serpentine belt so we had that, the pulleys and the water pump replaced. Then about a year after, which was in April of 2007 I was driving down the road and the water pump went out on it. The water pump was only about a year old! We had that replaced along with the belt and pullies "again." It took the mechanic two months to get it back to us because of personal issues and he couldn't get to it. We got it back in June of 2007 and "two" months later the water pump went out AGAIN! This time we decided to take it to an Audi dealer so we could get a better/dealer part and get it back sooner than what our other mechanic did. So far (5 months later) the pump is still OK, <knock on wood>. But we have other issues with the car. Right after we bought it the blinkers would work only part of the time and now they don't work at all except for when we turn them off and on, off and on manually... We also have the problem of a smoke/exhaust smell when we stop at a light coming in through the vents when the heater or air conditioner is on. Our BOSE stereo doesn't work. We think there is a short somewhere that we can't find. And the windshield is a rock magnet. We still owe $6,000 on this car and we went to see what a dealer would give us on a trade in and they said it had a lot of problems so they would only give us $900. How disappointing! I wish I could get rid of this lemon! We are telling people to not ever buy an Audi. And if they own one, we are telling them to get rid of them now while they can! Our neighbor followed our advise and sold his. We have spent about $4,000 so far in repairs above and beyond what we paid for it. And I am seeing us paying more to get the stink smell in our heater vents fixed, the stereo fixed and the blinkers fixed. And who knows what else will go wrong with it in the meantime? Oh yeah, the check engine light has always been on since we bought it and every time we fill the gas tank, we have a hard time starting the car. I have to pump the gas pedal and turn the ignition for a few seconds before it starts, and when it does, it sputters and runs bad for the first few minutes. If anyone has any advise or suggestions I would appreciate them. KC at KdrumC@aol.com.

I've had a 1999 A4 quattro 2.8 since 2002. It has been great. Changed the timing belt / water pump early because of well publicized talk on internet. Went to local VW / Audi independent mechanic. They were good and reasonable. All cars need repairs, but at what frequency? This car is getting older now, I think some people have been unlucky and were expecting cheaper car repairs and part prices. I do think that the prices on the A4 are inflated but perhaps it's best to find a good non dealer mechanic that can find you quality parts at more reasonable prices.