Audis arent actually all that good are they?

[DGT]

Ive been driving VW's for 18 years and recently decided to get an Audi. I found a nice A4 avant tdi 130se 116k miles FSH. Little did i realise that this car was set to be even more of a nightmare than an alfa 156 jtd i had for a while!
Why do they need so many steering arms..complete overkill and a pain in the **** to change? and why, after changing 8 steering arms 2 drop links and one engine mount am i still getting an annoying knocking noise from the front?
why can they still not come up with decent clutches/flywheels? (which completely ruin the whole owning experience for me )
why cant they give the audis decent suspension, it seems theyre either too sloppy or too harsh?
why has all the wiring cracked between the door and the a pillar cutting out my speakers and windows?
I was kind of willing to put it down to bad luck until the other day when my mums 2006 B7 2.0tdi (that shes had from new and she drives it well) with 60k on the clock, decided to detonate its flywheel and leave her stranded 300 miles away from home!
now im putting it down to the ,the fact that these days theyre only designed to last 3 years and people,like me, are suckers and are being taken advantage of .

rant over..feel better now

back to good ole golfs for me i reckon:zx11:

[towcestervag]

all cars have their problems
over 30yrs of working on VW/AUDI i still find them better built than most others

[Alan02]

I`d rather drive an Audi, been under lots of other cars and when you compare the build, not many match up. Had a few Audi`s now, up to 225K on one, and other than wear and tear items been great. Depends how they`re used and looked after.

[theskyfox]

Have to agree with Alan on that one. Been driving my 2004 A4 for years and never had a problem..still smooth as the day I got it. I drive a lot of hire cars for work, usually get given brand new peugeots, ford focuses etc and I find them incredibly tinny and clunky in comparison. Not saying Audi's are perfect..but the drive and handling is a damn sight better than many other cars out there...

-Andrew

[warp_speed]

I have to agree, I had a vauxhall omega before and had no end of problems with it, had to change the head gasket due to a water leak, suspension arms were always going every 20k miles and it rusted like a SOB.

[Dark Horse]

Definitely agree build quality on Audi's is much better than most other cars. I think only Mercs really measure up but having said that, it seems other car companies are putting more effort into build quality. You can always tell by the sound a car door makes when you close it :)

[fourringsrus]

On my sixth or seventh Audi now and love them,my favourite thing other than the drive and general quality is that I never have to think about rust

[qa15ar]

You can always tell by the sound a car door makes when you close it :)

Thats nothing to do with build quality, the only thing that effects the klunk is the catch design in door. manufacturers spend hours perfecting the klunk to give an impression of build quality.

i know this as i have worked with several manufacturers on the design of closures on cars.

[Dark Horse]

Interesting, thanks for that mate. If that's the case then, surely all manufacturers would always go for a good "thunk" instead of a "clap"?

[zollaf]

i think audi doors just close with a good clunk, as they are well put together solid cars. other manufacturers then spend a fortune trying to design the same into there cars. whats the saying,' imitation is the sincerist form of flattery '.
oh, and dont get me started on mercedes build quality.

[Embisix]

Thats nothing to do with build quality, the only thing that effects the klunk is the catch design in door. manufacturers spend hours perfecting the klunk to give an impression of build quality.

i know this as i have worked with several manufacturers on the design of closures on cars.

Surely the contstruction of the door, guage of the steel, rigidity and door seals have a part to play in the 'thunkiness' of the door. You could have the silkiest door catch in the world, but if the door was made of steel so thin you could read throught it, you'd still get a tinny sound no?

[Dark Horse]

i think audi doors just close with a good clunk, as they are well put together solid cars. other manufacturers then spend a fortune trying to design the same into there cars. whats the saying,' imitation is the sincerist form of flattery '.
oh, and dont get me started on mercedes build quality.

Merc build quality used to be great until the late 90's when they got a bunch of spiv accountants to run the firm and the cars started rusting because they were built in the US.

[Clinterous]

Golf's are from the same stable as Audi and share many of the same parts and design. The flywheel which went on Mother's car is the same as in the Golf's.

All cars fail/breakdown at some point during their working life - that's the risk of car ownership. No car is car bomb proof, however, some are built with better quality parts and construction, all be it with design imperfections.

I drove a mates 2003 2.0 Afla 156 recently - it only has 78,000 miles, and it felt slack as anything through the gearbox, steering and pedals compared to my Audi which has now done 236,000 miles and is the same vintage.

A car is for life......

[qa15ar]

Surely the contstruction of the door, guage of the steel, rigidity and door seals have a part to play in the 'thunkiness' of the door. You could have the silkiest door catch in the world, but if the door was made of steel so thin you could read throught it, you'd still get a tinny sound no?

guage of steel used be around the 0.8mm mark for door skins and around 1.2mm for door inners and was pretty common across vehicle manufacturers, not sure about nowadays. Rubbers dont really play a part in the thunk, they are mainly there for noise reduction and waterproofing.

The door catch is not as simple as you think, you have to achive the correct hardness differential between the 2 materials to create the thunk while balancing the springs etc. Cost becomes an issue when you use more expensive materials, hence not all manufacturers bother. But the top manufcaturers all have dedicated acoustics departments who spend all day on this type of thing.

because of the clunk it gives an impression of good built quality but doesnt necessarily mean anything.