FDMeloan

Those of you who visit the various BMW forums may know me but right now I am just visiting AudiWorld as I need your help. Here's my situation. My son is a captain in the Marine Corps. His wife is a 1st Lt. in the Marine Corps. He has been to Iraq twice and she is currently there. When she returns in 4 weeks she has her heart set on getting an Audi A4 Cabriolet. Since there aren't many Audis around Camp Lejeune, NC and I am in the Washington,DC area I am going to buy the Audi for my son and drive it to NC. I have 2 to 3 weeks to find the perfect (hopefully black) 2003 A4 (the 1.8T or 3.0 are both o.k. with me) Cabriolet with a beige or black interior. My problem is that I know literally nothing about specific issues or problems with the A4. Right now I am looking at a 3.0 with 55K miles. Please tell me what I should be looking for by way of issues before I write the check.

Many thanks.

Fred Meloan

paulroad

Find one with under 50K miles. This is the priority as the car will still have its factory warranty and factory maint program on it. Being the nearest dealer is over 60 miles away, you may want to opt for an extended service contract from another provider other than Audi's CPO program. This will allow them to use other than an Audi deealer for defect related problems.

In my opinion, people on military pay should not be buying an Audi without a service contract as the service and repair costs are high.

The nearest audi dealer is over 60 miles away.
Joe Pecheles Audi
203 SE. Greenville Boulevard
Greenville, NC 27858
Distance: 62.5 miles

You may want to call them an check their used inventory.

If it wer my kids in the service and they were issolated this far from an audi dealer, I would think twice about the audi.

If you do buy one, don't believe anything a dealer or seller tells you about the car. Take the VIN and call AoA customer care ask them for the warranty and repair/service history of the vehicle. Some dealer service people will do this also as the Audi database is national. Use this as you guide. You may also want an INDEPENDANT but Audi Savy shop to inspect the car befor you buy.

Don't buy the CVT, get a Quatrro only. The CVT has relaibility issues that even Audi dealers have problems servicing, let alone a non audi shop.

FDMeloan

Paul:

Many thanks for your very informative comments. Do you have any preference for the 1.8T vs. the 3.0?

Fred Meloan

JoeO

This cabbriolet forum is slow for traffic. You might want to try the other faster-paced sedan forums.

FDMeloan

<center><img src="http://home.att.net/~fdmeloan/AudiA4side.jpg"></center><p>I took delivery March 08 of a 2005 A4 1.8T CVT with only 26,xxx miles on the clock. The original in service date was August 2004 so with the Audi CPO Warranty it's covered until August 2010. Under the circumstances I think it was the best choice I could make given the dealer situation.

JoeO

That picture is funny because at first glance it looks like somebody side swiped the entire side. But it's really the reflection of the snow.

It's good to have the CPO. I have the CVT and I've heard it's extremely expensive to replace if something goes wrong ($9k?). So the warranty and CPO makes it much easier to sleep at night. By the way, my dealership never changed my CVT transmission fluid at my 40K mile service visit. They rarely see CVT's so perhaps they don't stay on top of it like they're suppose to. I don't think they're required to change the regular auto transmission fluid (non-CVT's). It's worth staying on top of. I'm paranoid about failing transissions after seeing my Volkswagen transmission fail with it's so-called "lifetime" transmission fluid (never changing). So I'm not a big fan of the "lifetime" transmission fluid argument.

Best of luck with the new Audi. I have an A4 sedan right now, but I may look into the A3 Cabriolet if and when they release it in the states.