Oh no....

[wideboybloke]

It took me some time (and many posts on the A3 forum) to pluck up the courage to specify s-tronic when I decided to go for an A4. I was mistrusting of the gearbox, but despite some inevitable problems, the experience of other posters was generally favourable and some would never go back to manual. So my final position was that for the first 3 years, any problems would not be mine to resolve and I would take a view when the warranty expires.

In 13,000 miles my faith has been well-founded. Until a little blip last week, that is. I had been in a slow moving queue for about 30 minutes with stop/start cutting in and out. When I got to the front of the queue, suddenly the car wouldn’t move and a message flashed up on the MMI about a problem with the electronic parking brake. If I’m honest, I flapped a bit and don’t remember clearly what happened next but I think it was telling me to select P and start the engine again, but it also flashed up another message about a gearbox malfunction and I thought I was then really in trouble - and at the front of the queue!

I then remembered what I had read on here that some owners had switched the engine off and then back on again in response to such messages. Hey presto, everything reset itself and all has been well since. I presume therefore that this was just a glitch, but with others who have experienced this, was it a precursor of further problems?

 

[cuke2u]

Probably just the box electronic control got it's knickers in a twist, mine has been perfect since the issue it had right at the beginning. Like you I was reticent about buying the stronic, but then I want all the gizmos to function fully as they should, such as traffic jam assist, so you can imaging how I felt when at 1300 miles the gearbox had a malfunction and the car was unable to move.
But fingers crossed since then no issues, only at around 9400 miles though...

 

[wideboybloke]

Cuke2 - I remember your incident! I’d not long had mine and I thought ‘just what I feared’. Glad to read that it’s been trouble-free for you since then. Fingers crossed.

I’ve read on other forums about experiences with the VAG DSG gearbox. There are some real haters, but I don’t know whether that stems from personal experience or just prejudice from stories they’ve read or chats down the pub. The most vociferous swear by torque converter units, but then you always get the die hard who’ll never change from the technology they are used to. I’ve read reviews of CVR gearboxes and they are generally unfavourable so I don’t know where I shall go next with automatic transmission - probably another VAG DSG!

 

[WesT-gefül]

If you are in warranty I would have it checked out. Also look for leaks. I found a leak on mine and it’s currently with Audi for warranty work. Ask Audi what code was stored. Will help you later on if something else goes wrong.

 

[wideboybloke]

If you are in warranty I would have it checked out. Also look for leaks. I found a leak on mine and it’s currently with Audi for warranty work. Ask Audi what code was stored. Will help you later on if something else goes wrong.

Good point - thank you. Its next service will be due in August so I shall mention it to the service guys when I drop it in.