will eventually affect thersale value of our cars? Just curious, if enough people see this site and take our fanaticism the wrong way, we might be cutting off our noses to spite our face. Please don't flame, just a thought after a long day!

... none of my co-workers would even dare to buy an Audi after they see mine more often at the dealer than in the parking garage at work. After I got mine, a co-worker was torn between 328 and A4 2.8. She went with a 328. The only reason why she's not making fun of me is that she's a really good friend.

- Stan<ul><li><a href="http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~stanj/Audi/TrackRecord.html">My unscheduled maintenance log</a></li></ul>

Most people in our office would not dare to buy
an Audi either. They have heard about all the bad
experiences from the early days of Audi cars.
They are afraid of the high repair cost and
unknown problems which nobody can figure out
how to fix them.

Well, so are the BMW cars, right? ;-)

The technology has evolved so much that entry-
level Audi cars like the A4's are equipped with
state-of-the-art interior design and performance
upgrade from the early Audi models.

/Seb

My 88 80Q Audi has been the most reliable car I've ever owned, with the lowest cost of ownership over the long haul.

All the "major" repairs can be traced to mistakes made. The Tranny had to be replaced after I tried to roll start it in reverse ( I was on a hill), never do this! A Quick Lube joint "did me a favor" and topped off all the other fluids in my car, without my knowledge, and with the wrong stuff, causing brake and power steering damage.

Otherwise, the brakes have needed replacement once in 140,000 miles, the water pump had a slight leak, and was replaced, an Airco line developed a leak and needed replacement, and the starter has been replaced.

Not bad for 12 years of never leaving me on the side of the road (other than the stupid tranny incident!)

Jim

If someone puts quality as their first priority then they probably aren't even considering an Audi. Fair or not, Honda and some other Japenese makes have a better reputation for quality.

The board is part of the reason I bought this car and is one of the things I enjoy most about my car. The A4 has a great community of owners. The track events, countours, and other events are all discussed. There aren't that many 4 door sedans that are truly treated as a performance vehicle. That's something to consider, people are driving these cars very hard. It's tough to compare it to a Honda Accord which typically appeals to an easier driving market.

I have ~14k on my car. My only problem is a slight movement in the drivers seat which doesn't bother me. I may bring it up the next service interval.

Mark (98.5 2.8 QMS)

I'll admit the A4 was what I wanted and did not want to be persuaded otherwise. I took all the praise to heart and told myself I could deal with a few extra problems to get a car that looked so good and drove so well. After 4000 miles I still have the same feeling, although I am considering the purchase of an extended warranty in not too long. I'm a little concerned that, as more A4's pass the 50k mile mark, the extended warranty coverage could go up significantly.

..on how people view this site and the number of unique people actually visiting.

In the "view the site" vein, I had told a guy here at work to check on-line at all the individual sites complaining about how sucky Dodge Rams were and all the problems they have when he was looking at them. His response? "If someone has a complaint page it will only serve to attract people who want to complain making things look worse than they are." Of course he bought a Ram and now curses the day he bought it ;)

His logic isn't too far off though. Look at it this way - this board is here for people to inquire about issues with their cars so one would expect to see a lot of complaints about this or that. If you visit a lot of the other auto enthusiast sites you would most likely see the same sort of thing - a tendency to make one believe the auto in question is the biggest piece of lemon to come along in a long time. Remember that people rarely praise but will always complain!

Now think of how many "different" people (as opposed to us regulars) actually visit this board in relation to the sheer number of automobile buyers out there. I know many Audi drivers who do not and have never visited this site. Most of Audi's demographics probably don't know this board exists so there would be no effect on them. Think of some magazine that prints a column stating Audis are problematic. If very few people read the magazine *and* the relevant column then that column should have virtually no effect on Audi sales or resale value. I believe this board has some pull on a small group but is not large enough to sway things.

Most disgruntled web users will post on a web site. This is true for almost any product out their that has a message web site. Look at computer electronics - like video cards for a perfect example.Most experienced web users will factor this into account when looking at a product forum. That said I still think a possible $30k new car buyer and/or a used car buyer will think hard about their purchase if they go to an enthusiast forum like A4.org and see owners complaining.

I think overall the car's residual will be set more by the actual real world quality and durability of the car more so than the microcosim of users on A4.org. Over time - if most owners (non-internet) are happy w/ their cars and buy another one as well as recommend them to their friends then Audi prices will do fine. If most are unhappy and say they will never buy another one then the price goes down.

MitchC 99.5 1.8tqms

It also convinced me (through other's experiences vs. my test driving experience) that I should get the 1.8 for chipping purposes only or the 2.8 for anything else.

I think that Audi builds quality cars from quality parts, but Honda wins the reliability award.