Some of you may remember I posted a message two weeks ago that my '97 2.8's coil pack shorted out frying both my catalytic converters. Well guess what? Two weeks later I'm still waiting for the parts. They got the right cat. from Canada, and the left one from Germany. When they put the left one on the car it made some strange rattling sound inside, so they had to order another one. TWO weeks later I'm still without my A4!!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable!<br>

long waits for parts seems to be a common problem for audi-no?

I don't know. This is the first time I've had a problem in 37,000 + miles. I hope it is not common. Now I have a loaner car to drive. It would be a REAL drag to have to rent a car while I waited for a part once my warrenty expires. You would think a company that is trying to be a big player in the market would have the parts thing worked out.

thats too bad....i certainly woulnt put up with it and you shouldnt either. if enough people<br>complained about it instead of acting like a bunch of car groupies audi would get it's<br>act together......

Yeah, I ditto the groupies part as well as glorifying the car too much. <p>Audi cars certainly have their own (rather characteristic) set of problems, and it seems to me that both the AoA and service departments tend to explain them as being "normal." Maybe I could accept this if they would not insist on that "Vorsprung mit Technik" slogan, as well as the service usually applying the "you-should-be-happy-with-whatever-we-do-because-it's-free-service" attitude. And here we have the groupies who help by, for example, recommending to ignore weak radio reception, or to buy an aftermarket unit, if I care about sound that much - explaining that car is made for driving (!?). <p>So, I agree, I believe that we have to raise some voice and concern regarding Audis behavior. Some of the "normal" problems, as well as "too-insignificant-to-play-with" annoyances (wind noise, radio reception) should not be happening that frequently on $27k+ (German) cars.

First of all, I understand your frustration. I've been through similar situations myself. But I wonder just how often Audi's, or any cars, suffer catalyst failure? Any ideas? See, my guess is that it's not very often. If it's not often, Audi would be wasteful if they stocked every parts department with catalyst replacements, those things are expensive. If they did stock every parts dept., we might find the base price of the car rising a bit. So, part of the problem could be Audi related, part could be supply and demand.<p>FWIW, the last time something like this happened to me was when my '95 Pathfinder, with less than 20K miles, lost 2nd gear. It was in the shop for over two weeks waiting for parts and later, installation. Nissan was okay about it though, they rented me a car for the duration of the warranty work. Is Audi supplying you with a car?<p>It's not just Audi. All marques suffer weird, catastrophic failures now and then. It's a byproduct of mass production. But yes, it is frustrating to be stuck in a Escort while your A4 is in the shop.<p>Andy

Yep. I have a loaner car. A fairly new Jetta. I agree that it might be inappropriate to stock a cat, but there were NONE in all of the USA. None! Then it took two weeks to get one from Germany. That seems rediculous! I can buy just about anything over the internet over night. It just seems that for all the effort they are putting into re-establishing themselves as market leaders, this kind of thing shouldn't happen.