I would also add that again Nige is right when he says parts are of a lesser quality due to costs. I have been looking at a 996 but without exception people say its going to be unreliable. I looked at a merc 350SL and again i was told that from 96-06 the quality/reliability was very poor. Audi are just another German make with a failing reputation simply because production costs in Europe are so high, from components to raw material to labour costs. financially, something has to give and that invariably has to be quality. we saw it with the British car industry where as manufactures were forced to take the cheapest quotes/tender from suppliers in order to compete with the Japanese who had better manufacturing facilities and cheaper labour. the British motorcycle industry went the same way. Germany is now having to compete with a Japanese car industry that has super high tech manufacturing facilities in the country's they supply while electronics etc are made in China at Japanese run factories ( very cheaply). the Germans cant afford to let quality slip as it is doing because they built their market on that quality and if the French can produce a new Renault megane cup with a 250bhp turbo 2ltr engine for £10k less than an S3 people will start to wonder why they are paying 35% more for German.
