Just bought a used 1998 A4 2.8 Quattro (I do so love saying that!) with 58K miles from CarMax. Not even a month out, it needed an oil change (that's okay). I took it to Audi of Alexandria (3 blocks from my house, yay!), and heard the dreaded phrase "while we were in there...." They want to replace my tie rods and I have a cracked thermostat housing causing a coolant leak. Don't have any questions about the thermostat, but I did some research online and some 1998 A4s were recalled for tie rod END problems -- but my VIN number wasn't included in the recall. I want to build a rapport with Audi of Alexandria, but I'd be seriously bummed if they were saying I needed bogus service right off the bat. Can anyone offer reassurance??? Thanks in advance!

Do you have Audi assured? If so, I would take the car to them for a second opinion.

other than covering my floor mats with dirty boot prints, which they were nice enough to shampoo for me!

Watch out buying NEW there. The finance guy Ed is a slippery one, will lie about cost of addition maintenance and such, and then not fix it to your satisfaction.