Does anyone else have this concern (or should it be a concern at all?) I drive over 100 miles on the highway every day for work. I'm usually travelling between 75 & 80 mph. At that speed, the tac is around 3,500+ rpm straight for over an hour. Is this bad for the engine?

These things are made for the Autobahn! I guess we Americans are too used to big engines and low RPMs. You've got a redline so use it!!

no problem whatsoever.

Ten year old normally aspirated engine with 185 hp with decent gas mileage. Too bad the torque steer was horrible along with all the blown head gaskets.

80mph = 4200rpm. Really high revver but it's pretty cool that your always near the peak torque band on the highway. I think my 1.8t is right where it should be and is definitely non-intrusive as far as decibels go.

For comparison my 99 z28 revs at around 1.5-1.7k rpms at 70 in 6th.. around 22-25 mpg
around 4k in 3rd..
Its been a while since i've driven it though :(

Hehe, what a comparison..

This is a characteristic of VW/Audi engines. They are designed to rev high and run hot. I have had several VW four bangers that lasted well into their hundred thousand miles. I drove a A4 1.6 in Germany where it was over 4000 rpm at crusing speed on the Autobahn. I just replaced my '85 Jetta GLI with an A4 and that Jetta when it was hit had 207K miles on the original engine and was still very strong. I really wanted to find out what the limits on this engine were but I was robbed of that chance. My goal is to try and find out on my '97 A4 1.8TQ

...the later models so maybe the gear ratios are different too.