I place my deposit for an 99.5 2.8QMS the day the 99.5 was announced; around Thanksgiving. Now as I wait for my delivery sometime in March, I've been reading this forum every day and my excitement for this car is diminishing.<p>1. I just found out yesterday that the 99.5 is not longer offering the Opal Grey with the Light Silver exterior! (By the way, it's not available also for the Santorin Blue!) I don't get it!<br>2. Reading that the brakes don't work in the cold! Now that's a first I've heard of any car. Has anyone heard anything like that with another $30K car?<br>3. And then I read that someone has their gas pedal stuck, red lining the car.<br>4. Then the annoying things: leaking oil, cracked leatherette seats after 2 years?!, wind noise and drafts in the doors (aside from the mirrors), squeaks and creaks, failure to start the car, etc.<p>What's the deal? BMWs, Lexus, and Honda Civics don't have these basic and _dangerous_ problems. For $30K I had hoped to have a piece of mind and have less problems than my '89 Prelude.<p>Anyway I hope someone out there can give me a good word. I still feel the benefits outweigh the pains and will continue to choose the A4, though not as excited as before.<p>But if I read that someone's wheel happens to fly off in the middle of a highway ;P then I'm switching!<p>Dave

For every comment about wind noise coming from the drivers side mirror there are ten folks that have had only pleasant experiences with their ownership of the car. Face it, the majority of the folks here are automobile fanatics and perfectionists (I am)..and they will tend to talk about the creaking in the B pillar...or the smell of the windshield fluid....or the slight distortion in the windshield.....who cares?...turn up the stereo and go out and enjoy the car. It is awesome.<p>Taking everything into consideration...this car is bar far the best automobile I have ever owned. Bar none. I now have 29K miles on my 97 car I bought in July 97.<p>Steve S.<br>97 2.8QM

<br>.

Thanks.

My dealer couldn't place the order in the computer because of the grey/light silver combo. He showed me the color configuration book as well.<br>

I got my car in July '97 also (ordered it in May), and I was just wondering why you went with the 12-valve. Was it the price difference, and if so, do you mind my asking how much you saved over a '98.0?<p>Rich D.<br>'98.0 A4 2.8

And then sat there at another dealer lookin at two cars on the lot....a loaded Cactus Green 30V for about MSRP of $33.4K...and my 12V with a MSRP of $31.3K....I ended up getting the 12V car for $28.8K. The 98 1.8TQM would have been about $27.2K and 5-6 months wait...and the 12V I drove off the lot....It was a case of "gotta have it now" syndrome. Looking at the possibility of a 99.5 or 2000 1.8TQM sport now.<p>Steve S.<br>97 2.8QM

I have a 98.5 with Santorin Blue and Opal Grey

I've got a Santorin Blue/Opal cloth 1.8T on order and haven't heard anything about unavailability of that color combo.

In the middle of I-95, started to slow down in the middle lane, only to be passed by one of my rear wheels! Crappy Bimmer! ;)

If there were a place on the internet where other brands owner's can report their problems with their cars. You would see simular problems. I said this a million times you cannot use this board to determine the reliability of the car. For every owner that reports a problem there are 1000 that aren't experiencing any problems. When everything is okay people are quiet. And since you are such a big honda fan follow this link below.<ul><li><a href="http://members.tripod.com/~juan_espero/">Honda Hate Page</a></li></ul>

Thanks.<br>

I ordered an A4 2.8 QMS in light silver with opal grey cloth interior on or about 12/23/98. In response to your message I called my dealer regarding the availability of this exterior/interior color combination. He said that my order had not been rejected and as far as he knew this combination was still available. He said he would inform me immediately if he was informed otherwise.

If it will soothe your fears, I can tell you that you have nothing to worry about. Here's my<br>recent experience<p>On 12/22/98, I rolled out of Boulder for the first extended (3000mi) trip in my 99 A42.8QM. 700 miles on the odometer. The outside temperature was -13F and it had been snowing for 2 days straight so the roads were very snow packed. <p>The first hour of the trip was in Denver rush hour traffic and the roads sucked. I had a lot of opportunites to use the brakes and I can assure you they work in the cold. I also had lots of opportunities to appreciate the sure-footedness of Quattro on slick, icy, streets. <p>The first leg of the trip was approximately 800 miles. At the end of this leg, the trip computer said I'd averaged 77mph. That's with hitting a 35mph zone in some small town every 40 miles or so crossing 300 miles of north Texas on US287. Needless to say, I was cruising at 85mph+ most of the day (as a side note, the cops were out in force and my Valentine 1 came through in spades). There was never any noticeable wind noise *except* when hit with crosswinds on the driver's side. Then, I'd hear a wooshing noise like the window was slightly open. This only lasted for as long as the crosswind was blowing. I only noticed it a couple of times in the whole 10 days I was traveling. <p>While on this trip, I continued to drive the car hard through ice storms in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, heavy wind and rain in south Louisiana, heavy blowing snow in the Texas panhandle and a snow packed Raton pass between New Mexico and Colorado. <p>I can report to you that after all this, and <br>a nice bath when I got back to Boulder, the A4 still looks and drives exactly like when it bought it. No squeaks, groans, parts falling off, oil leaking, oil burning. No nothing. Of course, its only got 3600 miles on it, but there is no indication that the car is prone to *any* problems whatsoever. It starts when I turn the key and goes like hell when I push the accelerator. I agree with Steve S., "Hogwash... get the car and enjoy".<p>

l

I own a 98 30v quattro and I love the car it's a superior car I used to own a BMW 325is and even though the Audi does come a little soft on the suspension(I have the sport package)simple spring swap and shocks cures all.And the BMW is a little faster both care are world class. I only have one complain at triple digit speeds about 130mph the doors do vibrate but the dealer asures me they will fix it.

I have a 6 month old 98.5 2.8QM, and I absolutely love it. My brakes always work, my accelerator never sticks, I have incredible E code headlights, I don't have any wind noise, at any speed (at least up to 120), Quattro rocks, in well over a foot of snow, my seats and mirrors heat fine, and I'm about to roll 9000 miles. All in all, I love my car, and would encourage anyone with the means to buy one. You have to realize that this is a board which represents a very small slice of the actual A4 owners out there. We notice more and drive harder, which is precisely why most of us bought A4s! Good luck.

I don't think the posts on this forum are a representative sample of A4 owners. I think those with problems are more likely to post. Also most are enthusiasts who are more picky or have made mods which could affect reliability.

I find that incredible. The A4 has more wind noise than any car I have owned recently (except for my wife's Volvo 240). Previously, I drove a Toyota Avalon which Consumer's Reports bashed for excessive wind noise. The A4 is worse.

Although I don’t want to get into a comparison war, since that won’t help me how I think of my soon-to-get A4, I did check the Honda Civic complaint web page and BMW’s newsgroups. Honda customers mostly complain about what’s missing—not what’s broken; and BMW’s forum just seems to have fewer problems from fewer people. I couldn’t find a Lexus forum anywhere.<p>Anyway, I do understand that problems are what shows up and that this audience are truly perfectionistic enthusiasts (which is why I’m here : ), but brake and gas pedal failures are not something to dismiss. Thank goodness that those people ARE auto-enthusiasts, otherwise they might not have been able to control the car to a safe stop! Isn’t anyone else concerned? Furthermore, out of the tens of thousands of cars sold, I don’t think the vocal group of this forum (who owns an A4) is more than a few hundred. And if you accept this as even a skewed random sampling, then 2 out of every 1000 cars had a major problem and a higher percentage had more of the annoying problems. <p>Well, enough useless fencing. A4 is a great car when it works; I just hope that the 99.5 will fix these quality problems.<p>I’d like to ask a more construction question: How many of you have chosen or would have chosen if you bought the car again, the extended warranty option? $1100 for 6 years 100K coverage. I’m interested to hear from those who had their A4’s longer than a year. IMHO, car owners under a year shouldn’t have ANY problems.<p>Thanks,<br>Dave<br>

I think that about 300-400 people post on a regular basis.<p>Steve S.<br>97 2.8QM<p>P.S. would I go for an extended warranty?...nope. 29K miles...in 18 months.<br>

But I guess you don't care since all you want to know about are the problems.<p>Darryl<br>98.5 1.8T qmsb

The few problems that have been reported here are problems I have seen as typicle with cars in this price, and qaulity range. I sold cars for 11 years and stopped in 97. I sold BMW, Honda, VW, Porsche, Audi, Ford, Mazda, Jeep/Eagle, and almost everything as used. My experience is that "wind noise" is common to all cars from time to time, and I have had ALL the above cars lines need some adjustements now and then. Brakes not working in car, never heard this on Audi's or anything else, but any car can have parts seize up if left outside on sub-zero days and nights. As far as gas pedal stuck, Very common, usually it gets caught up on the floor matts. I am not saying thats what happened in the post you read, that sounded like a cable got hung up, but again I only saw this posted by one person. One thing that happens alot is when it has been wet like raining or washing car, then the temp drops fast, water feezes in all kinds of places playing havoc with moving parts. I am suprized to read how many people have their cars outside at night, this will cause problems with any car when it gets belowe zero as it has in some places. Leaking oil, Subaru just recalled a bunch of cars for leaking oil filters, but my Audi has been tight as a drum, as for cracked leatherette, how was it cared for? Have you ever seen what the FL. sun can do to a peice of material left un-protected? When Lexus first came out, they had to recall ALL their new models due to battery tray problems, I worked for A dealer that also sold Lexus so I remember it well, they handled it by going to your house and fixing it, very smart. My point is people expect alot from cars these days, and I assure you German car owners in general are very much perfectionist, thats not to say that these problem are exceptable, but having been on the dealer ship side for awhile, you get a feel for what is normal in that industry, and Audi's in my educated opinion, are above average. Proper care of these cars will get rid of 80% of the problems I read about, like keeping parts clean and dry in cold weather (not the easiest thing to do, but don't wash the car untill you know it can fully dry when it's cold)also expect to put more work into your car if you modify it, tuned cars need alittle more TLC. My 91 Honda Civic Lx had problems with the power windows and the breakes made noise untill I had the rotors re-cut, this was a brand new car, not in the Audi price range, but these parts are some-what common across price barriers.

I have 25,000 miles and the only problem I had was a faulty Coolant temp. sensor and they fixed it in one day and gave me a spanking new A6 to drive till my A4 was done, after all is said and done, do not forget you have the Audi warranty to save your ass when needed. Buy and enjoy you will be happy.

I'm keeping my car long term. It has about 62k right now. It's great but as all cars go, it is going to need wear out items replaced.<br>This can be expensive. If the extended warranty covered items that wear out as well as items that break due to a wear out item failing....then it would probably be a good idea. I'd read the fine print real well though. They may not allow certain things that are basic, in which case, it would not be a good deal.<br>If it seems fair, I'd do it. You can be sure that if you own ANY car for a very long time, you will spend more than $1100 on repairs.<br>Does this scare me? Not really. It's been such a great car, I can't imagine going back to my 'Honda days'. <br>-C.

Let's just say they were less than perfect! :-( The A4 is an extremely well built car that you can depend on in the long haul. Get it and enjoy it! :-)<p>Charles<br>

They say, "our Audi performed flawlessly throughout its 22 month stay" and called the relibality "impressive". Consumer Reports rates the reliability as Excellent. If you want to wring your hands about it, you really should buy something else. The rest of us here will enjoy our cars.<p><ul><li><a href="http://www.roadandtrack.com/RoadAndTrack/FrameSet/0,1169,_sl_RoadAndTrack_sl_Article_sl_0_cm_1182_cm _2_1_2_cm_00,00.html">LONG-TERM WRAPUP: 1996 Audi A4 2.8 Quattro</a></li></ul>

I have a 17 month old '97 1.8TQMS with 30,000 miles. It has been chipped (wett) since 19,000<br>A buzzing tweeter has been the only problem I've had...oh and a missing floor mat anchor!<br>I plan to keep it a long time and have every confidence it won't let me down.<p>My '84 Audi Coupe GT lasted 8 years and 102,000 miles without a single problem.<br>My mother's '84 5000 went 170,000 miles with only a couple shot power window motors.<p>I personally would not purchase an extended warranty.<p>

I had problems with my Avant not starting one morning. It corrected itself, though the dealer replaced the whole starter assembly under warranty.<p>The wind noise is more than it should be. But just turn up the stereo!

The Road & Track long term evaluation mentions that the driver's door is noisy on their '96 A4. My '99 is pretty damn quiet even at 90mph. It feels like I'm wrapped in a cocoon. I think most of the noise I hear comes from the Goodyear RS-A's on the pavement. I can put my ear right up next to the driver's window at normal road speeds and the noise is pretty minimal. However, if a strong crosswind is blowing, I hear much much more noise from the driver's side.

nt<br>

I have actually 24,800 miles on my 98.5 2.8QMS with no unscheduled maintenence. I've experienced the driveline shudder only once withing the first 2,000 miles on the car. The leatherette still looks new after one year. The only complaint that I have with the car, which with a little effort can be repaired, is the squeaky center armrest, and the one wheel that flew off at 55mph (just kidding on that one). The only other complaint is that with the A4, I never want to drive any of my other cars.... thus putting 25,000 miles in one year on the A4.