Advice needed, RS4 B8 S tronic gearbox failure

[djc206]

Long story short my RS4 had its gearbox replaced a fortnight ago due to an unspecified "mechanical failure" (waiting on further details). The car is just over 2 years old and has 14k miles on the clock so the work was carried out under warranty. Aside from a courtesy car that wasn't like for like which Audi don't do the local centre were good and the repair was carried out quickly.

I do however have a gripe that I have challenged Audi UK over: they have said that there is no additional warranty on the new part. Essentially this gearbox comes with just a 10 month warranty (the balance of the manufacturers warranty). Hypothetically if it were to fail again in 11 months I would have to fight the goodwill fight. What is baffling is that had this failure occurred outside of warranty the gearbox would come with a 2 year parts warranty, and on a new car it would come with at least a 3 year warranty. Why is their warranty policy so riddled with inconsistencies? I'm fairly sure that if the gearbox were to fail in a years time legal action would see them replacing at no cost to me since it would not have lasted a reasonable time.

I have escalated this point to the "executive team" to no avail. So despite having purchased 3 Audis and loved owning them they have opted to lose many more sales over offering a 14 month extension to a warranty on a part that will almost certainly last many more years. It would cost them nothing but they are not willing to capitulate and neither am I.

Has anyone had any luck battling Audi in any other way? I haven't emailed the UK director yet so I suppose I could do that. I will also be contacting my local sales manager to let him know why I won't be returning. The lady from the executive team said I would need to turn to Motorcode if I didn't accept their final position. Any advice appreciated

[djc206]

darreni said:

Its standard practice among all manufacturers - you would only get the 2 years warranty if you paid for the part, which you did not, therefore any parts supplied & fitted at Audis cost pick up the remainder of the original new car warranty.

I understand it is policy but why is it policy? Either the part is good or it is not. If it was something small I'd probably just accept it but a gearbox is something that should last the lifetime of the car and I can't accept that it only has a 10 month warranty. You would think that an S tronic gearbox failing at 14k miles would be embarrassing enough to warrant a slight bending of the rules.

[djc206]

shtu said:

Because the warranty you've called upon is for the car, not the part.

I understand that entirely. My point is that the gearbox has proven itself to be a weak point and that to allay fear that this part will fail again as quickly as the first one has with a potential bill of over £10k it would, in the case of a major part failure be reassuring to have a warranty placed on that part beyond the existing manufacturers warranty for the car as a whole. A show of confidence from Audi in their product and a show of goodwill to a customer who has had the inconvenience of such a major failure in the first place. I wouldn't expect it for say a failed shock absorber for clarity, that would make warranties awfully complicated.

To give a little background when they finally, over a week after they claimed they would call me back made contact they asked me what I wanted by way of goodwill. I believe people negotiate free services, meals, experience days etc. I asked for them to show me that they believe in their product by offering in writing a commitment to replace that gearbox if it fails within the next 2 years, they said no, can't do it. Can't and won't are two very different things. I don't want cash, food, flowers or any such unrelated nonsense I want a manufacturer to show me they have faith it what they make but they "can't".

Anyway they're not going to give in so the one thing you can take from this is that S tronic gearboxes are not all as bulletproof as many claim.

Aside from all my ranting about warranties I have asked them to let me know if/when they find out exactly what went wrong with the gearbox. I'll share that in a more succinct and less moany way by way of apology for this thread!

[djc206]

You make a few very good points and yes perhaps with a clearer head less clouded by frustration with their inability to return calls or put someone of the end of a phone who knew anything I should have started by trying to negotiate a full extended warranty for free and settled for a discount.

In this case I believe that the failure was wholly caused by and contained within the gearbox itself. I do of course understand that would not always be the case.

Anyway, moving on.

[djc206]

XMT said:

do feel your pain though - I would be equally as pissed. I still think if its literally just happened within the past month I would still try to complain to Audi UK and try and swing a discounted warranty if possible for an extra year. No harm in trying

I'm still waiting for them to call me back about the details of the failure so I the opportunity still exists

[djc206]

Palmball said:

Nothing to add on the warranty aspect beyond the sense spoken by MTX, however on this point, I'm not sure why you'd not buy another Audi because of this experience.

Every other manufacturer would have the same policy so, in this respect, you wouldn't get better elsewhere. Avoiding a product you like (especially when the brand has in fact stood by their warranty and swiftly resolved the problem) does smack a little of biting your nose off to spite your face.

I have had 3 Audis, all have required some major warranty work and quite a bit of minor warranty work including return visits to fix unresolved issues meaning they've been with Audi for about 3 months in 5 years. For none of that time have I had a courtesy car that could be considered comparable, most weren't even clean. On no occasion has the communication from Audi been adequate, Audi UK have never returned a call without multiple follow up calls from me. On two occasions I was asked to abuse the Audi Assistance service in order to obtain a hire car. On two occasions my vehicles have suffered minor damage whilst in Audis care.

The gearbox is merely the straw that broke the camels back, there's no spiting myself, quite the contrary. You could reasonably argue that purchasing the RS4 was folly.

[djc206]

Little Lofty said:

It may have been a post on here but I'm sure I once read that if you contribute towards the cost of the repair (say £50) they have to give you a full warranty of say 2 years, if you accept the repair free of charge then standard practise is for the warranty on the new part to expire when the manufacturers 3 year warranty ends, whether that's in 35 months or 1 month.

I did not know that!

I emailed the CEO of Audi UK a couple of days ago not just about the gearbox but also the other concerns I had and today received an email saying that they will replace the gearbox again if it goes wrong in the next 2yrs/60k whichever comes first so long as the car is maintained in accordance with the published service schedule.

[djc206]

Murph7355 said:

You are 100% justified in your frustrations IMO, even though the position is prevalent at all levels of the car industry.

I'd try for the extended warranty but wouldn't hold out much hope. Time to ditch the brand with experience like you've had (I would).

My FiL recently had an s-tronic box replaced on his bog standard A4. Lunched itself. Car was 1mth out of warranty. Ended up contributing £800 IIRC. I wonder how common s-tronic failures are...

I think they're pretty good generally but when they do fail it's a horrendously expensive job. I was given the figure of £14k for the RS4 box the service advisor. I'd say that £800 was a lucky escape but that timing is rotten luck!

Anyway Audi have capitulated, had they done so earlier they could have saved themselves a few quid and me wasting everyone's time on here with a rant

[djc206]

gottans said:

Blimey, Audi UK do something people think is acceptable. This is news, from soft wheels on the original RS4, DRC suspension on the RS6 which needed stories in the national press to make progress on, this really is shocking.

Did you get this in writing, signed in blood?

In writing yes, I think asking for blood might be pushing my luck a tad.

[djc206]

NelsonM3 said:

The above would factor if your vehicle was out of the 3 year warranty period and Audi/The Dealer were making a contribution.

If it's any consolation I worked for Audi for 14 years up until earlier in the year and recently took my five year old BMW M3 for a Service. They gave me an Enterprise Vauxhall Corsa as a hire car. If that happened at an Audi...well, it just wouldn't! They really do throw a rediculous amount of money to keep customers happy, certainly more than BMW and Mercedes.

Ha that's terrible. I've generally had A4/A5 diesels with suspiciously low miles given the state of them. I get that people treat courtesy cars like st but in my experience my local dealership don't tend to make much effort when it comes to cleaning them. When the alternator regulator packed up on my RS5 I was given an A3 cabriolet 1.6tdi in red with a blue roof, who specced that!? I politely requested a different car as soon as one became available. People genuinely laughed at that thing, at least a corsa although mundane is low profile!

I've a friend who works for Merc and they are quite generous with their regulars by the sounds of it.

[djc206]

va1o said:

Sounds like you guys have been lucky, I got an A1 1.0 courtesy car the last time I took my S5 in to Audi! Not sure if it's just an age/ insurance thing though.

I don't know how old you are but I was 25-27 when I had my RS5. Is it 26 when insurance gets cheap(er)?

[djc206]

Guvernator said:

Have you got that email address by any chance? Having issues with my DSG gearbox too and my dealership are being a bit "difficult" despite the fact it has a warranty. Time to light a fire up their arses I reckon.

I have but Andre Konsbruck has buggered off back to Germany according to the guy I spoke to yesterday. The email still reaches the executive team though.

[e-mail]

[djc206]

Guvernator said:

Thanks, will hold fire for now to give them a bit more time to come to their senses but I rapidly running out of patience and want something in the ammo bag if they continue being difficult.

Good luck!