Well after 11K miles, I have a major rattle. Actually, it sounds like the frame of the car is creaking/groaning when flexing ( turning into slightly raised parking lots or drive ways). Took it to Audi here in SF and they checked for loose bolts underneath the car, also all the wheels. To me it sounded like and felt like something was moving under the left rear wheel. Maybe a strut--or shocks, something in the brake/wheel? Barring? I'm so P.O'd right now--it's a rare sunny and hot weekend here and I really wanted to take the car out for a weekend drive.
So I decided to take it to my dealer in Palo Alto and see if they can tell me what hapened. What concerns me is that I baby this car. It is very well cared for and I drive very carefully. What would happened if I actually drive it half way rough? So I'm thinking that maybe I'm going to rip the dealer a new one on Monday.

Then, I'm going to buy a ............ Chevy.

I still haven't taken the plunge yet, but planned to by the end of the month. I'm hesitant now. Could '04s have been improved? Descions........

I don't know...I'm hoping it's just a bad strut or shock. I've had worse things happen to a Honda I owned. I would question the quality of any car these days. I'd say make sure you know your lemon law for your state ( if inthe US). One good thing about living in California is that the Lemon law is pretty helpful. I'm soo bummed though. I love this car --it looks so good. There is nothing out there that Ilike. I looked at the 3-series convertible again while waiting for them to chec out my car and just wasnt' impressed. So dull, so common place out here.
I'll drop the car off tomorrow afternoon and find out what the problem is by Tuesday or Wednesday. I have a friend at another Audi dealership and he tells me they have no major problems with the cab except keeping them on the lot.

---sigh----

Though I'm careful that I don't damage the car in any way, I do drive quite roughly - well, roughly is not exactly the right word. Let's just say I demand a lot from the car, including 1200 mile trips to Germany where I drive with 150mph for hours at a stretch.

You will hear the occasional creak/groan when your vertical torque is tested (for example when the front wheels drive on an inclination while the rear wheels are still on level ground).

I've done 13000 miles with this car now in a few months. I constantly accelerate with turbo boost, brake like hell, drive for long times at a stretch at very high speeds and simply demand a lot from the car. But it never failed me and I absolutely trust it. Don't worry. This prolly is just a minor problem.

I wouldn't worry about the car's structure as such - maybe you have a one-off fault, but in general the Audi Cab can take more than babying. My daily use is at full pelt on British suburban and country roads roads which are far from the smoothest. I've also been around some pretty rough roads with it while away: including a couple of pretty mad wheel-jolting mountain passes (with one hair-raising moment on a 1-in-3 gradient when the engine pulled OK but the tyres struggled to gain traction, while the whole car slid backward for a moment...).

Anyway, the point is that you don't usually suddenly gain a creak by driving over bumps (though I do have issues with the handling - it seems easy to lose perfect wheel alignment, though not during the above stunts for some reason).

Hope you gets yours fixed, but you should be able to drive pretty much anywhere once you do. It's not exactly an SUV, but excessive fragility to rough driving is not a design 'feature' in this car.

thanks--let's hope no worries..I took it to the dealership today. the service guy heard the first creak noise and said --"what that?!?" like it was nothing. then we pulled forward and the whole body creaked and groaned...his beady little eyes got bigger and filled with worry. So there is sits at Audi for now, they gave me a trubo beetle to drive. Now get this...Iget home from my 45 mile commute and the oil light comes on the beetle! So I try to open the hood---it's stuck! I can't open the hood!
If this car blows an engine tomorrow, I'm going to buy Japanese from now on!

>and the whole body creaked and groaned

Mmmh... that sounds more serious though. Please let us know the outcome! This cab still has the best torque in the market, but that is ofcourse assuming it has been built well.

My 2001 TT convertible had the same terrible creaking/groaning after just 3 months. It took the local dealer (now no longer an Audi dealer) 5 times to figure out what was wrong. I sold it last year. Ended up being several parts related to the front suspension.