A3 8P survey?

mcconnot

mcconnot

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Hi All,
Just wondering. Has there ever been a survey or something like that done in this forum. Where options are given for what has gone wrong with your car i.e.-flywheel, gearbox, engine problem, EGR valve etc etc. People just tick what has gone wrong with their car. There are so many user on here that a good response would probably give a nice view of the quality/reliability of the car. I know from my point of view as a relative newbie this would be very helpful!


Cheers,

Tom

:thumbsup:
 
I do believe that NHN is already onto something like this and he may be putting forward a complaint of some sort to Audi

Numberous peoples flywheels, turbos, DSG boxes have all had problems, doors dropping seems to be common as well
 
Yeahs thats what i mean, i dont mean every little niggle with the car but the major faults like flywheels etc.
 
mcconnot said:
Yeahs thats what i mean, i dont mean every little niggle with the car but the major faults like flywheels etc.
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The problem is forum surveys like this give no idea of how common these faults actually are. It's always misrepresentative, as yes there might be 100 people on here with DSG failure, but that's a sample of how many people?

It can give an idea of which faults are the most common when there are faults but even then, there's no way to say how accurate it is.
 
V6Pete said:
The problem is forum surveys like this give no idea of how common these faults actually are. It's always misrepresentative, as yes there might be 100 people on here with DSG failure, but that's a sample of how many people?

It can give an idea of which faults are the most common when there are faults but even then, there's no way to say how accurate it is.
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Very true Pete, i guarantee that half the people on here only become a member because they have a problem

The other 95% of Audi owners don't even know it exists as their car is fine
 
Give that the real problem was buying an Audi then most of us have a problem. i thought that by paying a bit extra and buying a quality make from a main dealer i would get a reliable car but truth is its no better than any other car i have owned including French. My Peugeot was troublesome but the dealers were 100% better at dealing with it than Audi have been. i think to be told by a main Audi franchise that if there is no fault code there is no problem is patronising and just totally incompetent.
 
paddy said:
Give that the real problem was buying an Audi then most of us have a problem. i thought that by paying a bit extra and buying a quality make from a main dealer i would get a reliable car but truth is its no better than any other car i have owned including French. My Peugeot was troublesome but the dealers were 100% better at dealing with it than Audi have been. i think to be told by a main Audi franchise that if there is no fault code there is no problem is patronising and just totally incompetent.
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It's pot luck - I've had Audi's in the past with next to no issues. My little brother for some reason owned 3 different Peugeots, and had nothing but trouble with his 307 - as did a mate with one. I agree there's a lot of us that have had bad luck / ****** service, but definitely think an Audi is a better ownership problem than a Peugeot.
 
I did actually want to gauge from a variety of forums the feedback of the most common issues that seem to crop up almost daily, eg. turbo, flywheel, cracked head & the racks, rest I dont hear much about tbh, but I cant count anymore the number of people with turbos gone due to clogged vanes, racks with the clonking on the left side, heads cracked for god knows what reason & flywheels also for no reason at all, when I say no reason, meaning yes there is a reason for everything but certainly shouldnt be down to wear & tear when some cars had done 30k, certainly not, mines done 58-59k iirc & I'm seriously fedup with paying for things that shouldnt even be anywhere near worn as I seriously dont thrash it & I've only done 10-14k on it.

I've had a number of mk3 gti's, vr6's, the S3 & S4 & this A3, albeit nice car after mods, but seriously cant believe the issues the 8P's have had & it can only be down to the parts supplied by audi, so unreliable & you read of so many goodwill gestures but audi wont admit to the fault eg. Pete's massive bill shrunk by what 75% for what reason, cause they loved him, not that I doubt he's a nice fella, but seriously no manufacturer would hand over 1.5k or more for something they dont believe is there problem, so I want to have some ammo to goto audi UK with as my dealer has agreed to help me with this as they know me well, trust what I say as shown them a few upgrades they couldnt do, so maybe this will help with audi uk, maybe not but anything to try & recoup some costs.
 
NHN said:
Pete's massive bill shrunk by what 75% for what reason, cause they loved him, not that I doubt he's a nice fella, but seriously no manufacturer would hand over 1.5k or more for something they dont believe is there problem.
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They did actually categorically state that the goodwill was because I was a fantastic guy. :jump:
 
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Nige has a good plan, Audi defo need a kick up the *** on some of the matters that seem to be getting more and more common
 
Nige is absolutely right. its not so much that it goes wrong, its the fact that its entirely the customers fault and how dare the customer keep breaking their wonderful cars.Whats more there is nothing wrong with it sir.......they all do that. i feel embarrassed to take my car back now. even the secretary on the desk knows my name as soon as i walk in and the fact that the car plays up has become a bit of a joke to them.
I have been in manufacturing/Engineering for 35 years and if my company turned out a product with the sort of issues Audi 8p's have i would have gone bust years ago. all these warranty issues have to be paid for and that is reflected in the price of the car. Its very clever marketing that sells you an A4 that frankly is not a patch on the new mondao either in build quality, ride quality of equipment and gets the customer to stump up £5k extra for an inferior product.
 
Yeah Jordan I think its something that needs addressing soon tbh as its something that just keeps popping up & I read the people with issues & some havnt even modded there cars either so that cant be used as a reason for the problems.
 
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I totaly agree, Audi need a proper old school world cup style boot up the ****! Trouble is they keep getting away with it cause we keep buying them! The only reason I was considering buying an s3 was cause I wanted shot of the a3, it's crap! I came from a skid vrs and it was by far the better car. The only reason I considered the s3 was because skoda, vw etc still can't match audis interiors but that's no reason to buy one and after my experience with the Glasgow salesman I really can't be ***** with them anymore! I'm up in aviemore right now snowboarding and took the fathers navara cause I didn't trust the a3 to get up here and surprise surprise we past 3 a3 drivers in trouble on the way (amongst others). Going to go look at some 2-3year old range rovers when I get home, somehow I don't think they would be as crap as the a3 is in my opinion!!
 
I've had two 8Ps and haven't had any major problems at all.

Just thought we needed a positive story here :salute:
 
Yeah no doubt there are some good stories like yourself Leon, but seems to be a theme here with the turbo's & the racks especially, as even some S3 owners have had changed, who was it that had 3-4 or so then returned the car for new, just dont think its fair for owners like myself to have to cough up on cars that dont even touch the outskirts of the 60k warranty no matter how old they are, albeit 10 years old ok but common sense prevails here & its only since late 03 for the 8P.

TBH its offensive to make us cough up for these parts if they havnt done high mileage, I mean my previous car had done 130k almost & it had no issues (thank feck) given engines were 7k alone, my S3 I had for 7-8 years & had very minor issues which age wuld cause.

But my point is overall these parts should last alot longer & the fact there's a constant flow of stories along the same lines seems to indicate they do have flaws & when you ring audi milton keynes, well my parts mate & they have 200+ racks in stock which trust me is unheard of for audi with my dealings & my parts guy even commented thats very unusual, then you start to see maybe there is an unspoken issue with some parts of the 8P that audi woulds rather brush aside by goodwill than admit cause recalling all 8P's which are how many sold now would be extremely expensive for them.

Am I the only one thinking along these lines.
 
NHN said:
Yeah no doubt there are some good stories like yourself Leon, but seems to be a theme here with the turbo's & the racks especially, as even some S3 owners have had changed, who was it that had 3-4 or so then returned the car for new, just dont think its fair for owners like myself to have to cough up on cars that dont even touch the outskirts of the 60k warranty no matter how old they are, albeit 10 years old ok but common sense prevails here & its only since late 03 for the 8P.

TBH its offensive to make us cough up for these parts if they havnt done high mileage, I mean my previous car had done 130k almost & it had no issues (thank feck) given engines were 7k alone, my S3 I had for 7-8 years & had very minor issues which age wuld cause.

But my point is overall these parts should last alot longer & the fact there's a constant flow of stories along the same lines seems to indicate they do have flaws & when you ring audi milton keynes, well my parts mate & they have 200+ racks in stock which trust me is unheard of for audi with my dealings & my parts guy even commented thats very unusual, then you start to see maybe there is an unspoken issue with some parts of the 8P that audi woulds rather brush aside by goodwill than admit cause recalling all 8P's which are how many sold now would be extremely expensive for them.

Am I the only one thinking along these lines.
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I agree with a lot of that - I think the accountants at VW have a lot more sway than the customer service folks.

I'm pretty sure that's the case with most manufacturers - they recall if it's cost effective for them to do so - if they think they can get away with it they will do. Who doesn't know somebody with a BMW that's cracked a wheel running stupid run flats, or somebody with a Vauxhall Ecotec engine that's had a cambelt snap. They don't recall these as it's cheaper to either ignore the problem, or pay out goodwill when you have to.

I don't think the 8P is an inherently unreliable car though - it's just a Golf Mk5 in a posh suit, and the platform is used on many vehicles through the VAG range. There are however certain issues that effect certain models fairly regularly - i.e. chain issues on the 3.2 and head issues on the 2.0 TDI.

I don't think it's Audi to blame though - just the way the world of business generally works.
 
Reading here before I bought mine, I was scared off a buying a diesel by the frequency of expensive failures as outline above, especially in the age group I was looking at. My A3 has needed a EGR valve at 24k - plastic teeth inside it sheered - the side where the gas passes through was clean and free moving????.

My old A3 8L was very reliable bar the hazzard light switch LOL.
 
V6Pete said:
I'm pretty sure that's the case with most manufacturers - they recall if it's cost effective for them to do so - if they think they can get away with it they will do. Who doesn't know somebody with a BMW that's cracked a wheel running stupid run flats, or somebody with a Vauxhall Ecotec engine that's had a cambelt snap. They don't recall these as it's cheaper to either ignore the problem, or pay out goodwill when you have to.
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Sound a bit like Fight Club LOL
 
audi upgrades
Aha there you go, thats another common one, EGR & the Intake flap, how many of these have gone pop due to absolutely pathetic design, who uses plastic in a engine component like that, I mean really who does, ok VAG but point taken I think
 
Khufu said:
Sound a bit like Fight Club LOL
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You read my mind I was trying to think of Nortons job title in that movie to explain my POV better, wasnt it loss adjuster, lol, uncanny
 
NHN said:
Aha there you go, thats another common one, EGR & the Intake flap, how many of these have gone pop due to absolutely pathetic design, who uses plastic in a engine component like that, I mean really who does, ok VAG but point taken I think
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Plastic is often used in engine parts. The Ecotec had snapped belts due to the plastic cam tensioners. I believe they used plastic rather than metal due to noise. Not sure if that's relevant with EGR valves though, as I'm no engineer...
 
audi upgrades
Yeah I was thinking noise before I commented, but given the engine noise itself, surely it couldnt of made that much difference overall in db's, but hey there's some extremely hard plastic out there too, like those plastic wheels the rich oil sheikhs I've seen on there merc's or whatever, see through, unreal, maybe they should use that material than the crap they used on the teeth in the egr etc.
 
NHN said:
Yeah I was thinking noise before I commented, but given the engine noise itself, surely it couldnt of made that much difference overall in db's, but hey there's some extremely hard plastic out there too, like those plastic wheels the rich oil sheikhs I've seen on there merc's or whatever, see through, unreal, maybe they should use that material than the crap they used on the teeth in the egr etc.
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A lot of plastic engine parts include some fibreglass in them to strengthen them. Increasing the ratio of glass to plastic can add strength.

Parts are built to a budget though - at the time they expect the parts to last ok - it tends to take a few years of wear and tear to realise they were wrong. What makes my blood boil is this crappy design being called "wear and tear" when it's clearly bad design.
 
This is the reason why i started the thread. In the last 12 months i have had my turbo, gearbox and EGR valve go on my 2.0tdi. All haing to be replaced! The ****** gearbox wasnt cheap!:keule:
 
audi upgrades
V6Pete said:
What makes my blood boil is this crappy design being called "wear and tear" when it's clearly bad design.
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Yeap & thats what is the problem here, but I would like to collect a number of peoples stories to shove in audi uk's face & if neccessary trading stadards or even watchdog, you may laugh but it takes the **** mate as think how many people dont even know of these known issues that are not aware like us maybe, how much is audi making of ****** parts in the 1st place, we'll see, as its not a quick thing to get looked into, reminds me of the 8L rusted roof channels which I also experienced in my S3, that until I saw the big thread on here thought I was alone, not at all.

Gotta love the internet.
 
NHN said:
Yeap & thats what is the problem here, but I would like to collect a number of peoples stories to shove in audi uk's face & if neccessary trading stadards or even watchdog, you may laugh but it takes the **** mate as think how many people dont even know of these known issues that are not aware like us maybe, how much is audi making of ****** parts in the 1st place, we'll see, as its not a quick thing to get looked into, reminds me of the 8L rusted roof channels which I also experienced in my S3, that until I saw the big thread on here thought I was alone, not at all.

Gotta love the internet.
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The problem is there's god knows how many Mk5 Golf derived cars on the road - even if you can show 200 people with a problem, they can still claim that to be 0.00whatever percentage of cars sold, so a freak occurence.

I'm all up for complaining, but just don't see Audi giving a toss.
 
True true, but still wanna see what they say as I've had 2 for sure & possibly a 3rd of the well known issues come to light on my car which is unacceptable on the low mileage car I have, but yes in the grand scheme of things its as you say a .000000 percent of cars sold, but then again as I said how many people have had these things changed in warranty & outside unknowing its an inherent issues with these parts, they either drop of & its fixed when come back for free or they drop of & pay there bill just happy its working again, that would be interesting statictics dont you think?
 
oops, LOL. Looks like my brain hasn't defreosted yet. Spend hour today trying to defrost pipes so I have running water again LOL
 
Was just joshing mate, post what you like fella, but who was it, I know was a well known S3 owner who had 3-4 racks & then new car
 
Even if Audi wanted to admit they had a problem with an item like a rack they simply couldn't unless it was a very real safety issue. The cost would probably cripple them because if you start admitting you have one problem, you are going to be pinned down to a 1000 problems and the margins will not stand that. and neither would the companies reputation. the 3.2 misfire is a very real problem but the moment Audi admit they have a problem they will very likely end up with every 3.2 returning at their expense at 60k miles. financial suicide.
 
Staz said:
I've had two 8Ps and haven't had any major problems at all.

Just thought we needed a positive story here :salute:
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I've had 1 8P, since new, March 2008, on 28k now and the only problem I've had is the battery going flat, which is covered by warranty, aside from that, hassle free and wonderful motoring :wub:
 
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