Steve Rogers

I took my Audi A4 Avant 35 TDI (purchased last August) into Derby Audi for the battery to be checked in February. Had a couple of instances where the lights didn't come on in a morning and the car seemed to struggle to start. 

Alternator was fine but the battery was found to be defective. They said it was not covered under warranty. 

I said it doesn't matter, as per S.19 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a fault which occurs within 6 months is taken to have been there on the day it was handed to the buyer. Any arguments about wear and tear are therefore nullified.

They said they would talk to the sales manager to see if they will cover the cost. Well it's either that or see you in court. 👋 

Audi called back to say their sales department would foot the bill as per my request and it was fitted yesterday. 

Would have been £508 all in if I had been paying. Good result.

I got similar from my remapped 1.4 TSI Skoda Octavia which had 180bhp. 

I now have an A4 35 TDI Avant and have seen 75mpg. 

Agreed. The diesel engine doesn't bother me in the A4 thanks to the sound insulation but it became a bit tiresome in the A3 and would leave me opting for a petrol engine if I was buying an A3.

I have made a similar observation after having an A3 courtesy car.

Well I've got my A4 back now and it feels like a Rolls Royce by comparison. The 19" wheels on the A3 didn't help and it was prone to tramlining. 

The paint is better now on the A4 so I'm just waiting for the valeter to be free to apply the ceramic coating for me. 

My 2020 face-lift A4 Avant 35 TDI Technik has gone in today to sort out the paint issue I wasn't happy with when I bought it. 

The courtesy car is a brand new A3 35 TDI S-Line. Slightly down on power and torque but being top spec, it has some features such as blue mood lighting, Audi symbol projection from the bottom of the doors and those fancy adaptive headlights that dip just in key areas such as oncoming cars.

It did have less features than my A4 in other areas though, such as 2 zone rather than 3 zone climate control, manual tailgate and no hill hold. 

The 2 biggest drawbacks for me was the step down in refinement, with noticeably more wind and road noise, and the hard suspension. Very fidgety and harsh over pot holes and other imperfections. 

Maybe it's an age thing and my dodgy spine. Once upon a time, the S-Line would have been my cup of tea but these days the creature comforts of my car is more my thing. 

Lovely motor but looking forward to getting my A4 back. 👍

Hi guys,

Had my 2020 A4 Avant Technik for almost 2 weeks now and very impressed with the 35 TDI mild hybrid.

I had a 1.4 TFSI Octavia (remapped) before this, so I have gone to a slower car yet it does not feel like it in the real world. 

The refinement is way above the Octavia and the MPG is excellent. Once on the open roads doing 50-60mph, it claimed 114mpg! 

Realistically, 60 something MPG but I have not yet given it a full tank. The tank size is 10 litres smaller than the Octavia and I used super unleaded in that. So the fuel is cheaper (normal Esso diesel) and cheaper to fill up due to capacity. 

The Octavia typically managed 400 miles from a full tank, so it will be interesting to see what the A4 achieves. 

The only gripe is that the dealer said they would machine polish some scratches out yet if it has been done, it has been done by a 5 year old! 

There are numerous swirls in the paint, various scratches remain including some nasty one's on the near side rear door which might need painting, and some cloudy patches on the bonnet. 

They have agreed to get the car back in and put it through the bodyshop. Let's hope for better results. 

Evening all!

After a few years in the VW and Skoda wilderness, I'm back with Audi. I had an A3 back in 2017 but now have an A4.

It's a 2020 reg A4 Avant Technik in Manhattan Grey. 35 TDI Auto. 

Got it from Derby Audi with 2 years free servicing, MOT, and warranty. 

Yes I went out with them the first time it went in and as Sod’s law goes, neither noise occurred. 

It seems strange for any car to have creaky suspension as a characteristic. I’ll see what they say this time. The loose item that is rolling around irritates me more to be honest. God knows what it is or where it’s coming from. 

Thanks 

This is either Sod’s law or selective hearing by the dealers. My car is going in on Thursday for the 3rd time to see if they can hear a couple of noises (it was in for other things as well last time). 

Firstly, there is a very irritating rattle that sounds like a screw rolling around in the vicinity of the front centre armrest but more towards the back of the seats. It doesn’t always do it but it does happen more often than not. I suspect whatever it is gets wedged somewhere occasionally which is why it is not constant. 

If I accelerate, brake or go around a corner, there it is rolling around and yet the dealer says they can’t hear a thing. If I knew how to remove bits of trim, I’d go looking for it myself but I’d probably end up breaking bits of trim!

Secondly, I’m getting creaking from the front suspension, particularly the drivers side. The top of our drive is on a slight slope and whenever I pull onto there, it does it every single time. 

The other day, I went over a speed bump on an incline at very low speed and the creak was very noticeable. Despite this, the dealers cannot hear a thing. 

I’m starting to think that as soon as the car runs out of warranty, the dealer will miraculously be able to hear these noises and draft a hefty bill!! 

Any experience with these noises or any opinions generally?

Cheers

I have a front wheel drive A3 with Avon WV7 winter tyres (back on summer tyres now) and laughed at all the snow too. 

By the 19th all being well. 

Ok, Derby Audi phoned a short while ago to deliver two lots of bad news and one piece of excellent news. 

The fault is not covered by the warranty and the cost to me would be between £3k and £4k. Basically it needs a whole new glass roof and all components. 

Fortunately, Audi HQ and the sales team at the dealer are going to split the cost between them so I don’t have to part with anything. One positive review coming up on Google once I have it back around the 19th

Yes good work. I just felt like a good old rant lol 

On 01/10/2017 at 9:21 PM, JQ5 said:

Hi David,

Thank you for the reply  

i appreciate the offer and will use hardwired cams in the future  

I can’t have the camera’s hardwired in as yet because the dealership have advised it will void my warranty unless it is the Audi UTC front and rear set hardwired to the fuse box  

Thats £350 for the cams and £150 for the wiring they want to take off me  

I’m holding back on hardwiring and just using the 12v outlets for now. 

The front cam cost me £150 so looking for a small cam like a nextbase 112 for £50 that other people have used and can recommend-  which works well peering out through the rear tinted window  

many thanks  

 

Here I am just browsing the forums and I spotted this. What a load of nonsense from Audi! 

I have a Thinkware dashcam hard wired in and have not been told anything of the sort by my dealer (as yet) and they are aware of it as it is in for a roof leak at the moment. 

They simply cannot void a warranty based on a dashcam being fitted. Furthermore, I would have reported them to trading standards for an aggressive commercial practice contrary to the consumer protection from unfair trading regulations. They are effectively forcing you to buy their expensive products by making such threats!

I’m not a solicitor but I have a degree in law and consumer law is one of my areas of expertise. 

Yes it’s really good and the app is easy to use for downloading the footage. The garage said they would remove the camera from the window which just slides out of the holder as you know. 

They said it interferes with their diagnostic equipment. What they mean is they don’t want me spying on their workshop activities lol

Right, the latest update is that there is still no word from the warranty people so it will be Monday before there is any decision. The engineer has confirmed that it is not the glass at fault and it is not down to something hitting the roof for example. 

It is a faulty part in the frame which has deteriorated and got worse until the rain is coming in excessively. One of the parts required is back in stock now so it should be a quicker process. Meanwhile my car is in their indoor car park for obvious reasons! 

Since back in early October (had the car late September) I’ve noticed wet carpets in the front footwells. At first I put it down to heavy rain and then of course we had a largely dry autumn. Only of late have we seen an increase in the frequency of rain. 

Besides, with rubber mats, who checks under the mats on a regular basis? Just before Christmas I noticed it was quite bad when I was vacuuming the car. So I’ve been drying the carpets out with the air con and heater every so often. 

Well I took the car to Audi today and as I drove along I noticed water dripping down from around the switches for the sunroof and interior light. I also noticed wet patches on the roof lining at the top of the pillars on both sides. 

So after meddling with it all day they have found the fault! The frame for the panoramic glass sunroof is fractured! They are going to contact Audi warranty tomorrow to ensure they will honour the claim (which may extend to new carpets if they have gone manky). 

The next problem is that the part required is on back order. This means that if I want my car back in the meantime, it'll still have the leaky roof or I just hang onto their courtesy car for however long it takes. They have given me a 67 plate A1 TDI DSG S-Line. Perfectly acceptable car but I’d like mine back soon.  

Let's see what happens tomorrow

Yep. These are the ones: http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/501-Twenty20-LED-12V-W5W-Canbus-Wedge-Bulbs.html?bulb_search=car

Photos of the sidelights as promised 

Oh yes! I had the Freelander 2 on winter tyres in the 2010 winter which actually started late November and into December. -17C was recorded on the car readout and much snow was duly ploughed through. Deepest snow for many years.

Here are the videos:

Yes late winters are the thing normally. Look at March 2013 for example. 

I had winter tyres on my Fiesta in 2014 when we had a large snowfall Boxing Day night. I enjoyed watching it fall whilst I sat watching the Avengers on BBC1 lol! 

I tried them the following morning in thick snow and they were absolutely superb. I’ve got some footage I’ll have to upload to show them in action. On one video, I stopped the car on a hill covered in compacted snow that had frozen over as it was about 7am. 

I had my doubts that I could get going again to be honest but after a small amount of wheelspin it did. A 4WD car on summer tyres would have been stuffed. As the Scandinavians say, winter tyres first 4WD second. 

The grip in heavy rain even when it’s milder is noticeable too.