Audi have always been mid-tier at best for relibility. The Touareg seems to have LOTS of problems. Is buying a first model-year Audi, made in the Touareg plant, a recipe for disaster?

My understanding is that they are not made by same workers.

My 2004 Touareg was the 1st one off of the dealer lot back in 2003 and has a VIN below 00750. I have not had a single problem with it in the 2.5 years I've had it (knock on wood) and has really been a pleasure to own. Many other 2004 owners were not quite so fortunate, though, and the VWVortex Touareg board can be a bit of a depressing place to visit. Based on the Vortex posters, however, quality and reliability have increased markedly with each model year.

The only hesitation I would have about replacing my Touareg with another Touareg are the exorbitant costs of maintenance (I now end up doing as much maintenance myself rather than fork over $120 to the dealer for an oil change).

The Q7 is based on a modified chassis Touareg chassis. So while the factory/workers have 2+ years under their belt to work out the manufacturing process, the Q7 is a bit different.

They are very aware of Touareg and Cayenne issues and made a conscious decision to assemble Q7 under their own control. Word is that Q7 has the most QC invested in it of any Audi model to date. They have supposedly tested it to death, as there is a lot at stake, given they are so late to the market.

Will be interesting to see if this indeed plays out in the production models.

The Touareg is made there too, but the Cayenne is only partly build there, so the issues you are talking about are not a real production problem. Also the Q7 is pretty much more different than you think I tend to say it won't have the same issues.

Latest modelyear T's and C's did not had much problems, even most of the first ones are still fine.

Since Audi took most of the electrical components out of their own boxes, there is no way to compare this to the T/C.