Hi,

Just to give those of you who are interested an update after my meeting with the Audi UK Regional Technical Manager.

Basically, it was a good humoured meeting, no arguments. :)

1) There is NOT a head office "technical unit" in the UK, that can recieve cars, and a team of specialists go to work on it. Basically, the dealer is *the* point of call for problems, and thats were the problems will be fixed.

2) Wet weather braking: This issue was taken very seriously. I explained how to reproduce the problem: 70-80mph (possibly even less), very wet road surface, lashing down rain, drive for 10-20 minutes, then stamp on the pedal = brake fade, no immediate brake response, 2 second (approx) delay before the brakes bite. He said that it wasn't a known problem, but it will be investigated by the dealer. So, sorry, no actual solution yet.

3) Interior, squeaky door seals, creaking interior panels: Went out for a drive, but it was a fairly warm day (7-8degC, Sunny) and he drove the car on different, not as bumpy, roads. So some of the problems didn't make themselves audible. But the squeaky door seals did, and the creaks in the lower parts of the door panels.

* RE: DOOR SEALS. Apparently there is a special lubricant for the rubber/"furry-textured" seal that goes round the upper part of the door frame above the window. It's important that this is lubricated regularly, because it can dry out. Now, I don't know how much truth is in this, so don't flame me if regular lubrication doesn't solve the problem. It costs about 28GBP per small can. I don't have the name right now, but I will post.

But basically, his words were that the dealership has tried everything to solve the problems. They have accessed the technical briefings etc. and no solutions are listed. So the solutions are going to have to be developed as we go along, until I am happy with the outcome. So again, we'll have to wait and see.

4) Fuel economy: I have kept a fuel input, distance travelled, and consumption spreadsheet since getting the car brand new. So I gave the guy a copy of that. It clearly shows a drop of 26miles (average) from pre to post oil service. I knew that spreadsheet would come in!! :) Anyway, this will be invesigated by putting the car on the diagnostic system, running a couple of full tank MPG tests. But he tried to put the difference down to winter weather conditions. And because the car will have got looser, it will be quicker, and thus use slightly more fuel. Yep, I was puzzled too! I think that was BS basically. So we'll have to wait and see on that one too.

So, sorry I don't have any solutions for you. The car goes in in 2 weeks time for 5 days. So if I get any information, or (hopefully) any fixes, I'll let you know.

Regards,

Alan
'99.5 A3 1.8T MS Silver

Sounds like the same BS I've heard before. My previous car, a Saxo VTR, was riddled with problems such as rattles, power steering malfunction, suspension failure, brake whine etc etc - basically it drove me nuts! 14 garage visits (as in keeping the car, not just popping in) in one year was too much.

I spoke to the Citroen "cheif mechanic" on numerous occasions and was told that the garage was my only point of contact etc....

Seems that the dealers are great until real problems start then they get a little disinterested.

I'm curious about the brake prob, this is well documented on the A4 as far as I know, ? taking official point of view??

However, glad to hear that your meeting was, perhaps, more positive than my previous experiences and at least it was good humoured! Also, it is great to know that there are others out there that will take what many dealers regard as trivial problems seriously and take action. The 3rd Citroen garage I used gave me the impression that I was mad for complaining about steering that rattled and groaned mercilessly - I was even told I should expect it in that price of car! (Guess so, hence the change)

Tell me, how many dealers have you used regards your cars problems?

Keep us up to date

David

...now that we all, especially you guys from UK, started to contribute more and to discuss real problems like brake fade. Your input makes the time I spend browsing this forum worthwhile.

Many thanks Alan and please keep on posting your updates.

ravenx
'00 Black S3

Cheers David.

Yes, the brake problem is a known problem on the A4 but not the A3, even the dealer said that (in a previous conversation). I haven't searched the A4 forums for "the solution" as yet, basically because there is usually so much info to trawl through, plus repeated results entries in the search results - which is a pain.

As for dealers. I've just been going to the one dealer at the moment - the most local to me. There are a couple of others within 15 miles, but I can't be a%&ed explaining the problems again to somebody else.

You know, you start to get to the point were you feel like giving up. It's really hard to keep motivated and driven in getting these sort of problems fixed. You must have felt the same way with your Saxo(?)

Alan.
'99.5 A3 1.8T MS Silver

You are right, it is starting look like a real forum now, and I for one, am glad to be a part of it!

But we do need more input from people. There must be thousands of A3/S3 drivers in Europe (and other parts of the world) that are online, but don't know about this site.

How can we increase peoples awareness of this site and especially this forum? I mean, there might be someone out there with the answers!

Is there another forum somewhere where all these people are talking?

Maybe this site needs to advertise itself a little more?

Cheers,

Alan
'99.5 A3 1.8T MS Silver

Check out www.vwvortex.com. They have a pretty good forums section and in the Audi section, there's still no A3/S3 forum.

Thanks for the posting Al - very interesting reading.

Taking point 3 about the door seals creaking...

I was plagued by this problem for months. My dealership replaced the door seals on both doors and sprayed the "furry textured" seal with the silicon spray you mention. The problem still existed.

On taking it back a third time they applied some self adhesive silicon (I think) tape to the upper edge of the door opening, actually onto the body shell - apparently this was a solution proposed by Audi UK so I am surprised they haven't done this to your A3. This cured the problem on one of the doors but not both. I have since had the car looked at again and it came back with a new door seal and tape and this time the problem has dissapeared, although I suspect part of the reason for this is that my dealership appears to have lowered the door slightly as it now drops when opened !!!!!!!

Although this works, quite frankly, this is a complete bodge and doesn't look particularly good when the door is open as the tape is full of air bubbles and dirt has already started to get behind it. I would suggest you go back to your dealership and see if they know of this fix. You could mention that Lincoln Audi know of this solution.

Having experienced the brake fade problem recently, I would be very interested in getting Audi UK interested in this potentially lethal problem, do you have a contact name for Audi Uk's Regional Technical Manager as a possible starting point? Perhaps if more of us made Audi aware of our dissatisfaction with this situation, maybe they might take it more seriosly and come up with a similar solution as that in the A4??

Graeme,

The two contacts I have are as follows....

Julian Sleight - Aston Green Audi (Slough) - Technical Manager
julian.sleight@astongreen-audi.co.uk

Rob Taylor - Audi UK - Area Service and Technical Manager

Two other options are Watchdog, www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog and if you're a Which subscriber, their legal department.

It would seem that Audi UK are leaving it up to the dealership and the dealership are leaving it up to Audi to sort out...so the more 'hassle' these people get, the more likely they are to do something about it.

Steve

Graeme, Steve, thanks for the posts.

Regarding the braking issue. I think the only thing people can do is contact Audi. Log a call. Even though Audi pass the call back to the dealer, at least it's logged into their system. So eventually, a trend will start to emerge.

Thanks for info on seal lub. So it doesn't work? Great. :(

Cheers,

Alan.
'99.5 A3 1.8T MS Silver

at lunch time. Been given an A6 1.8T for the week. I'll let you know what I think.

Alan
'99.5 A3 1.8T MS Silver

Hi,

Well I've got my baby, sorry, car back. And I must say it's good to be back in it. The A6 was good and sounded brilliant, but the A3 just fits me like a glove. Handling and steering precision feel excellent - it all comes flooding back why I picked this car.

Anyway, on to the problems.

1) Squeaky door seals.
The felt strip that was a "quick fix" and not really acceptable, has been removed. The drivers door & seal no longer squeak.
Passenger side, 99% ok, not really squeaking anymore. But there is still a regular tap/squeak over certain roads. May have this looked into.
But generally, I don't know what they've done to fix it. But I will be contacting the dealer to find out. There does seem to be a lot of that "special" lubricant everywhere, so maybe thats the solution.

2) Creaking door panels.
Drivers door panel no longer creaks on opening. Fitment of the panel now really solid, no movement in dark section near the window.
Same passenger side.
Again don't know what they've done, but I will try to find out.

3) Wet weather braking.
Not sure if anything has been done here. I've not been able to do any testing as it's not been raining that much, a rarity in the Manchester area I can tell you!!

4) Fuel Economy.
Again, not sure if anything has been done. They gave the car back with a full tank of fuel, so I'll see what range I get at the end of it.

Sorry not to be of much help. But I will find out what has been done.

Cheers,

Alan
'99.5 A3 1.8T MS Silver