Audi Electronics Strike Again

[hmp10]

Well, I'm 0 for 4 in my hope of buying an Audi without electronic bugs.

I bought a 2002 A6 4.2 with their new Telematics system. It constantly brought down the dashboard displays. After several new chips being put in over almost a year while Audi scrambled to fix the problem across their lines, I finally dumped the car.

I then bought a 2003 S6, in which I was assured the Telematics problem had been cured. Well, the displays didn't go down, but the Telematics started discharging the car battery. I had to start carrying jumper cables in the car, and when it finally began to be dead almost daily when I would try to go to work, I dumped that car.

I swore off Audi products for the next few years . . . until the new R8 appeared.

I took delivery on my first R8 in January 2008. Within an hour of leaving the dealer, a suspension malfunction warning light came on. Over the next five weeks, the car was in the shop four times for various sensor repairs.

Less than three weeks ago I took delivery of my 2010 V10. It's now sitting in the shop waiting for a new head unit to be shipped, as it was not seeing the CD player, the parking sensors were not working properly, and Bluetooth constantly disconnected and reconnected the phone while driving.

It amazes me how Audi can build cars with such refined drivetrains, suspensions, interiors, and ergonomics but cannot get electronics right (or find vendors who can) to save their lives.

[geffers]

v strange! I've had a number of Audis since 2004 - the A3 is still running strong except for a faulty lambda sensor from the catalyst which weve now disconnected. The others have had no electrical faults and the R8 has been next to perfect.

[randombloke]

i've had 3 audis, all were fine for electrics - could be bad luck or something environmental causing it eg:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11...ystery_solved/

[mngolfer]

I had some many electronic problems with my '99 A6 and '04 A8 that I knew everyone at the dealership. I even knew their kids names and what sport they played. I can document $39K worth of work done on my A8L. Most of it was electronics.

My R8 is perfect.

[the_buch]

Our A3 was perfect for electronics, though I hated the DSG transmission. My new (to me) R8 seems solid except for a loud squack the first couple of times I used my iPhone over bluetooth? Good luck,

[hmp10]

i've had 3 audis, all were fine for electrics - could be bad luck or something environmental causing it eg:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11...ystery_solved/

The A6 problem occurred in Connecticut. The S6 problem was in Chicago. The old R8's first malfunction occurred in Vermont and the rest in Chicago. The new R8 is in Naples, Florida.

Since I did have an Escort 9500ci installed in the new car the day after I took delivery, Audi of America wanted that checked out to see if it was improperly wired. The dealer called me this morning to tell me they had traced all the wiring and it was a very clean installation that only interfaced with the car wiring at the cigarette lighter where it picked up power. So AoA admitted the MMI defect was not related in any way to the radar installation.

The new MMI unit is being installed today. They're also repairing a wheel, which the driver scraped backing the car off his delivery truck.

It looks as if I'm going to have to go through the same routine of multiple fixes in the first month with the new R8 that I went through with the old. Oh, well. Once the old car had finally been rebuilt correctly at the dealer (four parts replacements in the first five weeks), it was relatively problem free for the next two years.

I really love the R8. I mean, this is my second one, after all. But this is getting really old, really fast.

[Europrice]

Sorry to hear about the troubles. At the least problems happened right away and you can get some worry free miles afterwards.

I remember the days of 5000's and 200's, you want Audi electrical problems, disasterous. A/C units from Delco, I believe, that used to randomly switch to A/C on a negative 10 degree day, autocheck displays that would randomly show half one warning and half another for no reason, window regulators that would randomly drop windows into the door, headlights that were as powerful as two flashlights taped to your hood... Heard the A8 D3 tends to unfortunately be plagued with electrical gremlins, though can't help but want one.

Good Luck!

[hmp10]

My favorite (in a sociopathic kind of way) encounter with VW/Audi electrics was in late 2002. A friend had just picked up his new Passat W8 and brought it by to show me.

I got in the car, adjusted the driver's seat, and took a test drive, pronouncing the car very comfortable and peppy. Then the new owner got back into the driver's seat and began to move the seatback to a more vertical position. When he let go of the button, the seat continued to fold forward, pressing his chest hard into the steering wheel. No amount of button pushing would move the seat back.

With me pulling as hard on the seatback as I could, he was just able to work himself out. A tow truck was called. He had had the car three hours.

[Europrice]

Oh those Passat W8's... I've heard some horror stories with that car, the electronics and the motors. That's pretty funny about the seat though. Some of the A8/S8 D2's had passenger's side memory seating and the driver actually had control of the passenger's seat with a memory button. So if the driver wanted they could set the one driver's side controlled passenger memory position to full lay down or full face on dashboard fold over. Activated easily with one sly touch of a button by the driver the passenger could be eating dashboard or falling out of the seat backwards

[hmp10]

That would be a cool feature for the R8. When the cop comes to the window to ask for your driver's license, you could be furtively pushing the button to make the passenger seat move around. Then . . . "oh, officer, could you help me? That seat started moving on its own and I got so freaked out I didn't notice how fast I had started going." It would be doubly effective with a passenger in the car flailing both his hands in plain view and with his face matted against the dashboard.