WORD OF WARNING ANOTHER AUDI PIECE OF S>>T DESIGN

[swarcup]

Sorry for the rant but we have suffered no more than 4inch of snow in my neck of the woods, driving to work this am and i hear a scraping noise, presumed it was snow in the arches packing in, stopped at the next convienent place had a look and the whole engine under tray had fallen down at the front and was acting as a giant snow scoop so much so that most of the available space was packed with ice as hard as stone. Ive now been layed in the snow removing the undertray for an hour and a half due to there being so much ice in there, its broken off all the metal fixing points and snapped both the front and rear trays as they were bending so much, the reason i say poor design is that on the larger front tray there are 3 scoop type slots that are to let in cool air in the warmer times but in the snow they have acted as scoops for the snow, so as i was driving along they scooped in snow and then more and more and the packed snow built up and bingo the tray give way and now ive got a boot full of smashed up pieces of plastic and half an engine full of hard packed ice. I must say that in the 15 months of owning audis i have suffered nothing but expense and although the build quality is good will never buy another one, i just cant believe how many 'common issues throughout the range there are. overpriced rubbish. Thats just my opinion

 

[kevbu]

Yes NACA ducts.
Good warning, thanks. Even with the cupra splitter on mine they look the lowest part, I just looked.
If we get any snow here I think I will gaffer tape up to try and prevent a repeat of your problem.

 

[swarcup]

good idea you dont want to suffer the same believe me. inside the pile of ice was a metal bar, a 2 foot stick and i wouldnt like to say how many dead leaves. calmed down a bit now.

 

[Higgsy]

i had exactly the same thing happen to me, i spent an hour jacking the car and getting all the snow out from under it and I too have a boot full of broken plastic, its getting repaired later this week, looks like its gonna be sticking to the snow instead of the tracks for me in future!

 

[quattrojames]

In fairness I think most cars have these covers fitted now, so it's not necessarily an Audi specific problem.

 

[simon.m]

iv had it on my last 3 cars and the audi well is missing it so im thinking it come off befor i got my car so need to buy one any one no the part number ;-)

 

[NHN]

TBH I'm starting to get fedup with reliability issues on audi's, especially with 8P's, my S3 8L for 7 years had 1 issue which was caused by water but fairly cheap fix, my mk3 VR6's/GTI beforehand no issues, my S4 B6 no issues, but these 8P's are a ****** nightmare sometimes, arrrgghhhhhhhh

 

[Nutkin]

Sounds like you guys should buy a Jaguar XF

 

[NHN]

Tell you what, that car looks pretty good tbh, I like the touch glovebox opening, its immense

 

[Nutkin]

Tell you what, that car looks pretty good tbh, I like the touch glovebox opening, its immense

Thank you

p.s I may work for Jaguar

But they are lovely cars and the XF has one hell of a diesel engine if that is your bag. Of course the 5.0l Supercharged V8 is intense. Only thing that Audi does better is the smaller engines and the turbo petrols.

 

[Nutkin]

Also this

Is amazing.

 

[simon.m]

have always loved jaguars from a very young age ;-)

 

[paul20v]

As already said most cars have belly pans and also a lot are held on with a lot less than the audi ones
no car is designed to go through deep snow to be fair and you do so at your own peril
as for unreliability i do a lot less to audis than many other marques i could mention and in the 15years ive been running audis its been my most pleasurable driving years reliability included
as for jaguar when were they last actually a jag

 

[adamss24]

As already said most cars have belly pans and also a lot are held on with a lot less than the audi ones
no car is designed to go through deep snow to be fair and you do so at your own peril
as for unreliability i do a lot less to audis than many other marques i could mention and in the 15years ive been running audis its been my most pleasurable driving years reliability included
as for jaguar when were they last actually a jag

Very well put toghether words...german cars were a bit more reliable than the competition used to be but, the newer they are the less reliable they are... I have really high mileage cars wich never gave me real problems apart from general maintenance...

 

[NHN]

Also this

Is amazing.

If thats what I think it is, how frigging cool is that, reminds me partially of the new Ford multiple dis screens, Ford really do have some good ideas & tech atm.

 

[swarcup]

As already said most cars have belly pans and also a lot are held on with a lot less than the audi ones
no car is designed to go through deep snow to be fair and you do so at your own peril
as for unreliability i do a lot less to audis than many other marques i could mention and in the 15years ive been running audis its been my most pleasurable driving years reliability included
as for jaguar when were they last actually a jag

i wasnt talking about deep snow im talking 4 inches inbetween clear tyre tracks. Ford kaks do better

Is it even worth replacing it?

 

[paul20v]

I wouldnt replace it especially if your likely to get into the situation again

 

[Nutkin]

If thats what I think it is, how frigging cool is that, reminds me partially of the new Ford multiple dis screens, Ford really do have some good ideas & tech atm.

Ford had nothing much to do with it, When Tata bought us we went nuts with modern technology and they have supported us well. So since 2001 these things were in pipeline and now they are coming out the delighters in our cars are just amazing.

For the audi problem surely if you let your car warm up properly it will melt a lot of the snow that gets in the underpan?

 

[Higgsy]

my grandad used to have a V12 XJS, im hoping that one day my dad hands over the keys, i farted within 2 metres of it a while back and he didnt speak to me for a week.....fair one though

 

[Higgsy]

Thats a good point, has anyone had bad experiences with leaving these skid covers off?? cos £50-£60 every now and then, mounts up!!

Ford had nothing much to do with it, When Tata bought us we went nuts with modern technology and they have supported us well. So since 2001 these things were in pipeline and now they are coming out the delighters in our cars are just amazing.

For the audi problem surely if you let your car warm up properly it will melt a lot of the snow that gets in the underpan?

 

[simon.m]

iv not had one on my car for the hole time iv had it just over a year and no there is no problems leaving it off its just a shiled for road dirt
i will get one though one day if any one has the part number feel free to post it ;-)

 

[defsix]

What do expect ? You wanted a nice looking car, low to the ground. You can't have 4x4 height on a car like that. If you do insist on driving through 4" of snow even before checking clearance underneath the car, go and buy an aluminium skid pan like they use in the US.

 

[Higgsy]

thats the point mate, it wasnt 4'' of snow, it was a build up of a much lower height than that, i think im gonna leave the side panels and get some rotor blade tape on the fwd one to stop that gettin scooped, f**k it, everythin in motoring is a compromise

 

[markA4tdi]

What do expect ? You wanted a nice looking car, low to the ground. You can't have 4x4 height on a car like that. If you do insist on driving through 4" of snow even before checking clearance underneath the car, go and buy an aluminium skid pan like they use in the US.

thats a bit harsh! i can understand his frustration at the time of posting, (as we all would having to get down in the snow and clear that lot out) he was highlighting a possible problem to fellow owners and save us not only the expense to repairs but breakdown aswell, so i for 1 thank him for his post. Im in the north east and we have had a decent amount of snow (8 or 9 inch) and i never realised this could happen, so thanks for the original post. as we all drive our cars some distance, remember when we open our door and only see a covering of snow, our destination might be so different.

 

[simon.m]

to be fair it should be ok to drive over fare more than 4ins of snow with out any problems so i see his point and im just wonddering if the screws holding it in where lose or some thing maaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyybbbeeeee just a thought

 

[defsix]

I apologise. On second reading it does come across a little harshly, but... the OP should really have checked when he heard a scraping when driving along.

 

[swarcup]

i did stop if you read the post at the first convenient point, you cant just stop in the middle of the road can you! and i can definately say that all the fixing screws where present and tight. There was easily 10+kg of ice in there.

 

[simon.m]

so its just not a good idea to have it on in the snow then ;-) i can say iv never had this with any of my other cars in the past when they had this fitted. bet thats why my car come with it missing lol must say love audi but am a bit let down buy some of there build quality

 

[Mike B]

Maybe someone should design clip in covers for the slots to use in snow and cold when cooling is unnessary but you would have to remember to remove in the warm like the radiator covers which we had years ago to protect the grill and warm up the engine quicker and I still use on my Spitfire in sub zero temps

 

[simon.m]

that would not be to hard to make i would have thought as i dont have one i cant see how they look but it can be done and iv wondered if we can get some thing to go on the front to let less cold air in like you say you have an your othere car