I like my A4 but driving home from work (20 miles) in a freezing drizzle/snow storm, I started to notice that the front/rear defroster couldn't keep the glass from freezing. Then I started thinking what else is weak in the A4 - heater, A/C, radio reception, outside mirror heaters, windshield, headlights, Quattro in snow (Subaru better), low end torque, but the heated seats are the best!! Just what did these Audi engineers have in mind when they did their designs. They work/live in the Barvarian Alps!!<br>Doesn't it ever freeze or snow there!<p>Ironically my '94 VW GTI could cook a roast with the heater, supper A/C and all the rest above fuctioned just great!! The VW/Audi engineers work for the same parent company. I guess they don't talk at the lunch table. I'm going to go and sit in my $34K heated seats. Just blowing a little steam because of the iced up windows!!<p><br>

If you are really counting the shortcomings of the A4, you forgot the 2 mysterious shortcomings of this vehicle which are the only shortcomings I found in my two years of ownership:<br>1) The clock cannot adjust backward for one minute to one hour, you have to got 11 hours and 59 minutes to adjust to your ideal time. Reailstically, I never have any chance to adjust the clock to my ideal time.<br>2) No matter its the early 96-98.0 or later 98.5-99 models, the cupholder position and design still very ergonomically incorrect. I only hope the 99.5;s A6-like cupholder design will address this problem.<br>Other than these pet peeves, I found the Automatic Climate Control works better than E36's, its the most efficient system I have ever owned. The Quattro only slips with the optioanl Sports Package tires, I decided to change to snow tires next year. I don't have any problems regarding the outside mirrors not "heated". Low end torque insufficient? Get the Wett 1.0 chip or Neuspeed chip!! My car doesn't have any windshield distroation defects. I love this car much more than the Bimmer I used to owned for 5 long years.<br>Tom<br>97 A4 1.8TQM<br>99 JETTA GLS 2.0

(1) Have no beefs with the front defroster at all. Have tried it down to -2F. Maybe it doesn't work past that, but at -2, it's better than any other car I've owned.<p>(2) Heater. I'm so pleased with mine that I wonder what possible problem you could be having? Mine is up and cranking by the time I hit the Shell station on my way to work (3 minutes?).<p>(3) A/C - works OK - I agree that the low temp lockout sucks.<p>(4) Radio. Sucks. Replaced that.<p>(5) Mirror heaters. When they work, they work (steam rising from them.) The problem is that they are designed to burn out. Grrr....<p>(6) Windshield. ???<p>(7) Headlights. Adjust them up a notch. It'll take you about a minute and you will be amazed at the difference.<p>(8) Quattro in snow. Your mileage may vary. Not only did I pass a bunch of Subarus on hills tonight (snow), another friend who has an A4 regularly towed another friends Subaru at our Tahoe cabin. Based on driving both at Tahoe, it was rather a no brainer to go with the A4. They both had no-season tires, but I suspect that adding snows would be about equal for either car. Again, YMMV.<p>The cupholders, of course, suck.<p>--Greg<p><p>

Where do you live? Outside temp?

My car heats up very quickly. It has 160 degree temp coming out of front defroster duct, great air flow but will not melt ice on upper 1/3 windshield at 15 degrees F outside! Maybe something wrong?<p>On the windshields, I meant they chip scratch easily. I have no distortion but others do!<p>I have a 2.8MQ.<p>Sorry I forgot the cup holders, I never used them!<p>My sis has a '97 Legacy GT (auto) with the same Goodyear Eagle RS-A's, 205/55-16's as my A4. We have had snow, ice, ice covered with snow, slush all in a 2 day period the last few days. We gathered 3 other car enthusiasts to run tests using both the A4 and Sube, up a mountain from the bottom, start half way up, parking lot bashing, braking, etc. and all voted that the Sube definitely out performed the A4. All agreed that you felt more in controll with the Sube where the A4 felt too heavy and was ready to loose it in turns.<p>Hey I like my A4 and I don't drive every day in snow storms. Just some info for people thinking that the A4 is the ultimate snow car...it's not!<p>

I agree with the defroster problem. It's not that the air doesn't get warm enough, but it's the placement of the vents. The front vent is too far back from the windshield.... it defrosts the windshield okay, but it does not heat the lower part of the windshield to keep the wipers from forming ice on them. Also the side vents, do not defrost the side windows hardly at all. I drove home the other night (35 miles) and when I got home, the side windows were just barely clear at the fronts, just so I could lean forward to see the outside mirrors. I will say that the mirror defrosters worked great. I could tell they were clear maybe a mile after I left work.<p>One thing that my SVX had that I wish was available on the A4 is the ability to park the wipers in winter mode, which raised them about 1-2 inches up the windshield to prevent them from freezing in the normal parked position. Also the SVX had a switch for the heated mirrors.... but for some reason they never fogged, so I never got to use the heated mirrors on the SVX the whole 4 years that I owned the car.<p>The only radio reception problem that I've had with the A4 is that I have noticed that with some stations, the signal gets distorted when I turn on the rear defroster.<p>I also agree that the Subaru AWD system is better in the snow. However, even with all the A4's drawback's, it is the most favorite car I have ever owned, and I'll venture to say that I'll probably stick with Audi's for a while.<p>G. Hale<br>'98.5 2.8QMS

Your ice problem seems odd. If it makes you feel any better, I had a '93 Honda Civic that formed ice on the inside of the windshield at about 25 degrees. I do agree on the radio, windshield (chips easily), and the headlights are poor. Can't compare to Subaru, performance wise. My Brother has a '97 Outback, and I followed him in my 90Q at insane (above highway speeds)speeds with 2 inches of snow and climbed a steep hill about the same that had compact snow and ice. The A4 has not seen snow yet, so I don't know how it would compare to the 90Q, even. Technologically speaking, quattro is a more advanced system with better distribution. Perhaps it's primarily the weight that made things feel different. Tire pressure maybe? Hmmmm! And oh God are the heated seats nice! :-)<p>Charles<br>

Hi Bob:<br>I live in Vancouver, British Columbia in Westcoast Canada, This winter's outside temperature ranging from -10 to +2 degress C. In the summer, the hottest day can be as hot as 25 degress C. Since I own the mid-level GLS version, so I don't have VW's Cimatronic ACC system. After I picked up the car last month, the weather here had already been very rainy until now. The deforster is very effective and the fogs will disappear in only 30 seconds or so. I can say its more effective than A4's ACC system. The heater system blows heats through the ventliation in a very effective way. The only thing I don't like about the Jetta's HVAC is the A/C doesn't start automatically when you put into the deforster mode. This is the area where A4 exceeds. What the A4's ACC system's flaws are the effectiveness of the deforster and it doesn't have an OFF button as A6 does. I don't expected these two vehicles as reliable my previous Toyota RAV4 (other than reliable, I can't think of anything outstanding in the vehicle). But the A4 has excees all my "reliability and dependability" expectations, all they need to improve are those little attention-to-details issue. If judging from reliability, I will not buy another BMW products again. But if I mainly buy a car for reliable issue and drive from point A-to-B, I will get another Toyota instead (excpet Lexus). IMHO, Audi/VW's quality control is improving over the years with significantly result, but they only haven't reached the level set by Japanese automakers.<br>Tom<br>97 A4 1.8TQM <br>99 JETTA GLS 2.0

Bob,<br>I had a 95 Subaru Imprezza awd automatic with snow tires and it wasn't nearly as good in the white stuff as my A4Q automatic with snow tires. To bring out the best snow performance in any car you must know how to drive it in the snow. With practice I was able to take my Subaru just about anywhere in the snow but after driving it and my A4Q there is no compairson, the A4Q gets there with less effort. The Subaru seemed lite and had a tendency to really get yanked around in the snow ruts (which always seemed wider than the track on the Subaru). The A4Q automatic driven properly (slight acceleration in corners in 3rd gear) pulls MUCH better thru the snow and does not seem to suffer the narrow track width problem of the Subaru. To cinch it all up just think about which car you'd rather be sitting in when some yeahoo in a un-insured pickup truck with 4 bald tires slides thru the intersection and broadsides you. I'll keep my A4 thank you.<br>George<br>BTW - my Bilzzacks are now on their 3rd winter (about 20,000 miles total) and still have great grip in the snow and ice.

Bob,<br> my 98.5QMS and I live in the mountains of Quebec.So far I've seen -30C and am very pleased with the heater/defroster.I suggest you get yours checked out.My previous car 87 Outback Auto was very good in snow but certainly NOT superior to the A4.The only way you can accurately make this comparison is with the identical tires on each vehicle as they are such an important part of the equation.The Outback can't come close to keeping up with me on slippery/snowy roads.The headlights are excellent.I have no complaints high or low.The FM radio reception is weaker than some cars I've owned 70 miles from transmitter but better than others.All in all this is a fantastic car!

Not only do they chip and scratch, they BREAK easily. I managed to take one out by accidentally dropping a wiper arm (w/blade removed). The glass guy said that the replacement windshield was the lightest he'd ever experienced, too.<p>Definitely don't see the defrost problem - mine clears quickly, all around. Do wish that the rear defrost cutout wasn't so short.<br>

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We weren't comapring an Outback to the A4! We we using a '97 Legacy GT with the same Goodyear Eagle RS-A, 20/55-16, tires as are on the A4! The 2 cars have similar dimensions, weigth, distribution, etc.<p>Besides it rained this morning on top of the ice covered test area in N.E. Pa and all the testers were gathered including my sis (need a women's point of view, plus she's fearless). We didn't have the same traction as the snow/ice testing down the last few days, but again the Sube handled the parking lot bashing at faster speeds.<br>The A4 lost it in turns too quickly, with or without power applied. Plus all testers complained about the A4 ABS coming on too quickly compared to the Sube. Up hill, mid hill starts was equal between the A4 and Sube. We found a guy with another A4. So next time we test we can rule out individual car characteristics!

This isn't much, but I was told that the "RS4 is only a limited edition novelty line, not a "production" series". I take this to mean that there are only going to be a few thousand produced and it will cary a "hefty" price tag like Stephen at APR mentioned below.

Matt

Although maybe I'm a bit optimistic on this, I think that eventually, the S and RS line will be merged and one or the other designations dropped. I also don't think VW will produce the RSi line, and if they do, they most likely won't import it into the States, whereas Audi would be able to sell the RS line in the states at a premium price. VW would have a much more difficult time selling high price VW's in the US, no matter how nice they are. I can't wait to see what happens at Frankfurt.

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