Another Fault - What Now?

Yes, my F30 3-series broke down last year and Enterprise broke a leg to get me 3-series from a branch 30 miles away when the local branch had plenty of cars.....BMW assist insisted!
 
Pulp84 said:
Yes, my F30 3-series broke down last year and Enterprise broke a leg to get me 3-series from a branch 30 miles away when the local branch had plenty of cars.....BMW assist insisted!
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Yes, a pain in the rear at times. I'd be more worried about depreciation than a customer having a c-class for 2 days.
 
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Pulp84 said:
Think its different dealer to dealer.

I have a friend who works for enterprise and he has the D*ck Lovett Swindon Ferrari / Porsche account. He usually provides S6's, A8's, E or S class Merc's to their customers. I thought that was odd but that's what they get!

When my S3 goes to have its bonnet re-sprayed this week I'm getting a 1.0 litre Up! - for some reason my Audi bodyshop uses these cracking little cars. Quite looking forward to the experience!
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I've driven an all electric up, something different.
 
I had an issue with my C350 CDI (intermittent vibration noise from the dash) which resulted in it going back more than 10 times over an 18 month period. A complaint to the managing director of the dealership resulted in £1200 in cold hard cash and a free 3 year service plan :)
 
After making my displeasure clear on receiving an A class courtesy car, I had an M350 and an E class convertible the next two times it went in lol
 
Mercedes dealers on the whole are very good, and take customer satisfaction reasonably seriously.
 
I would buy from them again, purely from a customer service point of view. No complaints there whatsoever. It was an annoying and difficult to diagnose problem as it only happened at certain temperatures.
 
Last time my a3 was in for its 4th MMI replacement I was given an A7 3.0 s-tronic for the whole week, absolutely awesome car. Definitely one to aspire to in a few years time...
 
4th MMI replacement? Of the 5F unit?

I think you probably hold the record for the most replacement units!

:lmfao:

My previous S3 ate rear springs, had these changed so many times under warranty.
 
veeeight said:
4th MMI replacement? Of the 5F unit?

I think you probably hold the record for the most replacement units!

:lmfao:

My previous S3 ate rear springs, had these changed so many times under warranty.
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Yup, every time its ever gone to the garage its had a replacement. I've never noticed any faults but apparently there are error codes on it each time. I still suspect there is an underlying fault with another component but they've been adamant its the 5F unit. At £4k per unit its cost them a fair bit so far.....
 
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S3 8P ate rear springs. I had 4 springs in 40,000 miles.

My colleague at work is on his second set, 12 Reg S3.

You probs never noticed cos you don't go over 40mph ......
 
Your so wrong it's almost funny.

Had rear springs go on both S3's I've owned, 8L and 8P - both times replaced both sides at the same time.

It's a common thing on S3's maybe A3's but obviously different setup.
 
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I love the RS3 we currently own, but the amount of time it's been into Audi for warranty issues is scary.....
I've owned all sorts over the years and none have been back to the dealer as much as the Audi.
Never had anything fancy for a loan car either.
 
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Veneeringman said:
I love the RS3 we currently own, but the amount of time it's been into Audi for warranty issues is scary.....
I've owned all sorts over the years and none have been back to the dealer as much as the Audi.
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It's the Audi Ownership experience ;)
 
Having spent lots of years working in various quality related assignments for a vehicle manufacturer the suggestion you should accept that it will break down as its a complex mechanical item is just so wrong.

Warranty issues should not happen, if they do then there's an unplanned issue. It will wear out and that's expected.

I've had lots of new cars that in the years I've owned them they haven't had to visit the dealer once other than for servicing. This should be our expectation.

Make your dissatisfaction known to the dealer and to Audi customer services. Do it I a reasonable and calm manner and you're likely to get better service than if you kick off or become unreasonable.

Let us know how you get on.
 
.
Expectation and Reality are two different things. If you buy an Audi and expect totally trouble free motoring, then the reality is going to come crashing down around you.

Based on actual breakdowns and warranty data, the Warranty Direct Reliability Index places Audi as a manufacturer for fault free motoring, 34 out of 39. The index mainly reflects cars 3+ years. Sample size 50,000+ cars.
http://www.reliabilityindex.com/manufacturer


The Reliability Index score is calculated on a combination of vehicle criteria:
• Frequency of failure
• Cost of repair
• Duration of repairs
• Average age and mileage






This is the previous generation of A3.

dz04olw.jpg



Of course no manufacturer wants durabiility and reliability issues, however things are not always designed perfectly as a system, components aren't manufactured to spec, tested and validated exhaustively in all markets, and things aren't assembled correctly. There are safeguards to minimise this, but there is no guarantee against and that is why faults occur. In every car.


The top 100 cars in the Reliability Index:
http://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100



Most reliable by country of design/manufacture:

Japan-1
France-2
S Korea-3
USA-4
Sweden-5
Germany-6
Italy-7
UK-8
 
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In the 17 years and 9 A3s that I have owned I have had few problems and any problems that have arisen have been very minor and quickly sort by the dealer. Before my first A3 I had also owned four previous Audi's and again had hardly any problems with any of them. One of the reasons I keep going back to Audi. The Brand is much less of an 'exclusive' brand than it used to be, even when I had my first A3 but that doesn't really bother me. Providing they still produce a car that I like to a quality that I personally find acceptable I will continue to but them. To me where Audi are really so much better than a lot of other manufacturers is in the quality of the interior.
 
The Challinor said:
Your so wrong it's almost funny.

Had rear springs go on both S3's I've owned, 8L and 8P - both times replaced both sides at the same time.

It's a common thing on S3's maybe A3's but obviously different setup.
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I had the rear springs replaced on my previous 8P A3 S-Line. Both within 6 months of each other although I probably should have had them both done when the first one went.
 
Right that's it, just to be on the safe side I'm cancelling my S3 order and getting number 3 in the list instead :p

Vauxhall%20Agila%20(9).jpg
 
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France number 2?

That does surprise me!
 
It did me too.

Maybe Peugeot aren't making terrible cars!

edit: there have been quite a few collaborations with the Japanese though, eg Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo & Peugeot 107, which will have bumped the French figures upwards!
 
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veeeight said:
.
If you buy an Audi and expect totally trouble free motoring, then the reality is going to come crashing down around you.

.....places Audi as a manufacturer for fault free motoring, 34 out of 39.
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Hmmm......not quite as the Audi Salesman put it to me when describing the Audi Brand ;)

:flush:
 
All cars go wrong.

Some faults are minor so you'll never know about them.

It's how the dealer deals with it that's important.
 
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Mercedes can't do enough to help when something goes wrong, courtesy car available at short notice, no quibble regarding warranty claims. Staff welcome you when you drop your car off and get you a coffee. Taxi provided if you just need lift to / from town.

BMW / MINI woeful in my experience. 4-6 weeks regardless of dealer for courtesy car, will drop you in town when your car is being worked on but won't pick you up, reluctant to investigate warranty issues, indifferent staff, say it's fixed but have had many experiences where it hasn't (I could go on).

Audi / VW generally OK. Courtesy cars usually available in a week or two, warranty issues sometimes queried but generally after a direct conversation gets sorted, coffee on arrival, taxis provided, nice staff. Not sure if it's because I now have an S car but feel the service I get from my dealer now is just a bit more polished than when I had my A1.

Cars go wrong regardless of brand - it's how you are looked after when it does that makes the difference in my book. Mercedes IMO are the ones to beat out of the mainstream premium brands
 
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The Challinor said:
I've always been advised that and I can't remember 100% but I think they were only sold in pairs.
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Well, since I had them done I learned that I should have really got done them together but it was an Audi Dealer that advised me that only one needed replacing so only one was replaced until the other one went about 6 months later.

Having said all that I didn't even notice that they had broken until I had it in for a service and they advised me!
 
jimmydougle said:
Morning all,

I feel kind of miffed and I’m not sure what action to take now.

I have had yet another fault this morning with my 9 month old S3; this brings the total amount of faults to 5, although I think it may be 6.
  • Seat belt fault
  • Crank shaft sensor fault
  • Coolant leak
  • Start/stop fault
  • ACC fault
This morning it was the ACC. Now I don’t mind going back to Audi and having the fault fixed, but it seems to be every other month I’m going down to the dealership to get something fixed, the girls on reception can even remember my name now! With the wait time for a courtesy car is about 3 weeks; it means that I have to live with the fault for 3 weeks each time.

Any ideas what I can do from here? I know I’m outside the 6 month rejection window, but I don’t really want to go down that road anyway as I love the car. However, a slight reduction in monthly payments would be useful.

Or, am I just being a moany person who needs to wind their neck in? Are these common, normal faults?
Cheers,
James
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Back to the post - all I think you can do is speak to both Audi UK and the dealer and explain your unhappiness with the quality of the car.
But be clear on what you want as a consequence of that chat though - have a purpose. Which reading the above, is to avoid the 3 week time wait for a courtesy car the next time it happens?
 
A3Kent said:
Well, since I had them done I learned that I should have really got done them together but it was an Audi Dealer that advised me that only one needed replacing so only one was replaced until the other one went about 6 months later.

Having said all that I didn't even notice that they had broken until I had it in for a service and they advised me!
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If it's just the pig tail which it was for me you pretty much can't tell until it fails a MOT lol
 
jimmydougle said:
Ha! That doesn't surprise me after the experience I've had. What happened to German efficiency? If only their cars didn't perform so well and look so good.
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Germans are very efficient!! I've heard they can knock out an A3 in under an hour nowadays lol :audibash::rolleyes::rolleyes::barbershop quartet member: and they save at least £300 per car on bits they don't put on :undwech:
 
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