withanee

Joking aside, I heard an interview on the radio a few months ago with a structural engineer talking about how the weight of modern cars, especially EVs, is a real emerging problem with older multi-storey car parks, that simply weren't designed to carry that much weight. He was talking about how many will have to be strengthened and/or have their capacity reduced to cope. Perhaps not so surprising when a modern EV weighs double or more than a typical family car of the 70's.

Hi everyone. Newbie here, hoping the forum's collective wisdom can guide me on this. My wife has a '67 plate S1 Sportback with 50,000 miles on the clock. Bought it as an ex-demo with 600 miles on the clock from Audi main dealer and serviced exclusively by them since. Took it in last week for a routine oil service, to be told it has 2 repairs "requiring urgent attention" at a quoted price of £6,668 - more than half the current value of the car! Here's the technician's report: Requires urgent attention 2 items Oil Leaks Oil Leak from transfer box. Coming from middle section were they join. No repair available, requires a complete new bevel box (transfer box) if left untreated, could cause the gearbox to fail internally. 400TU to remove and install £4,320.00 INC. VAT Other Prop shaft boot leaking grease (front) going into transfer box. Checked on elsa, no repairs can be done on prop shafts. Requires complete new prop shaft. 300TU to replace. 700TU in total to replace both prop shaft and bevel box. This is because the subframe and exhaust system requires removal. If prop shaft left untreated, could cause the shaft bearing to overheat/seize which could cause the prop shaft to snap £2,348.28 INC. VAT I have attached photos of the faults from their video report. I'm shocked that a car of this age and mileage is facing a repair bill of that size. But more specifically I'm wondering: how can the transfer box casing suddenly be leaking? It's a fixed joint not a moving part or wearing seal. How does that happen at 50k miles and 6 years old? My wife drives it, it has never been thrashed. has Audi really designed a car where a split/leaking prop shaft boot requires a full propshaft replacement at £2300? We're talking about a slightly sporty S1, not an exotic supercar. Split/perished/leaking boots are not uncommon, surely? I am querying all this with the dealer and I know their prices will include extortionate hourly labour rates, so I will be getting quotes from independents. But I'd be grateful for comments and advice from the knowledgeable folk here. Do the reports pass the 'sniff test'? Are the proposed repairs correct and proportionate? What would you do in my shoes? Many thanks in advance