A4 gone , ****hit takes it place

[Chippo1]

So the A4 has been passed on, still with its gremlins poor economy, quirks and issues with the SS and odd occurrences with electronics. All in it was reliable and a reasonable place to be but underwhelming and totally useless dealers and poor service from Audi UK

After a lot of messing about landed up in the VAG Pissst , looked 330, Mondeo ( really nice interior ) and first choice Mazda6 but Pisssts are being given away free with a packet of cornflakes at the moment so it's leased , 25k miles per annum for £250 per month.

Much nicer interior than the out going A4 more sharp and modern with fewer ergonomic errors, at least from a fairly normal driving position you can see the fog light switches and the touch screen in place off MMI control is in a better place nearer ones sight line. Seats more comfortable

Slightly more engine noise than A4 But generally a better ride quality and in some ways improved handling , although it does like to break traction , maybe that's a result of lower kerb weight , slightly odd lack of stability in a straight line on the motor way best description I can give is it seems to need full time steering input. It tramlines a bit and this is a bog standard car no big wheels or rubber band tyres

More space inside especially rear seat leg room , bigger boot, relaxed m way cruiser.

Fuel economy so far registering 6 mpg better unless this is more VAG chicanery, life time average on A4 was 46.3

But , has touch screen fail twice , just went dead , stop car , restart its ok , dealer shrugged shoulders

Sitting in passenger seat for first time wind noise from door seals , so back to dealer

Hint of a vibration/noise at slow speed in gear , sounds like something is touching something some where it shouldn't , return to dealer

And now last night numerous alarm triggers , AA came out plugged in, found no alarm faults but faults in dash cluster or some such ,, so car now left unlocked until Monday and back to dealer

Interesting as well last week returned to house after starting with key engine running , left key in house door and drove 2 miles without key before I could turn around !!!!

Oh Bluetooth not a patch on the A4 system , it keep dropping out and reconnecting , a right pain.

Car says it has voice , steering wheel has button , touch screen says it needs turning on , dealer says not fitted!!!!

Nice plastic on the dash !!!

[RammyMP]

So You're not very impressed with the Passat then?

[Chippo1]

Sorry if I. Gave that impression , I think it's a better car than the outgoing A4 , and it does its job so far , but I do not have the rose tinted specs that many have and wax lyrical regardless of deficiencies . All cars have them .

The only thing that is a pain is the electronics which seem to be less than reliable and stable , this backed up by the first dealer I went to, the customer service manager shrugged his shoulders and stated that this was pretty much the norm now , lots of electrical maladies , but I would suppose most car are pretty much the same now , what car is not crammed full of FREDs !

Although the wife's Jazz has been faultless in all respects for 3 years and 33k miles and her previous one for 110k , not even requiring a single new lamp between them .

[Sticks.]

Re BT, it might be worth deleting any paired devices from your phone and starting again from scratch if you haven't already.

[Chippo1]

Already deleted previous pairs, from day one actually , it's the same phone that worked perfectly with the A4 ,

[Chippo1]

Booked in to be looked at , as luck would have it,the touch screen packed up as I was driving to the stealers , so left car on and they took photos , lots of mumbling about replacing an ECU we will see what happens .

They are looking at the other things , it's due in for 2 days .

The odd feel at speed seems to have abated now , might have been tyres maybe being new , also I did raise the PSI on all f our as my pressure gauge suggested they were all at the lower limit of the suggested pressures.

[Chippo1]

So after taking an hour and ten mins to book it in they had it for2 days, they gave me a stinky , smoke and st UP, sitting with engine on idle the engine was as rough as a bag of rusty spammers , car all wobbly , other 3 pot engined cars I have driven have been pretty,smooth lumps .

No call back, had to call this afternoon to find out what's happening Debbie was busy and call back , no call turned up at five fifty , oh sir ur car needs parts , on back order 10 to 20 days delivery , new touch screen back light required , can't see how that will cure it not working etc ! No road test for the noises carried out , so 2 days sod all done , there is a list of defects with the ecu which are apparently all known issues and require a software up date , not done ! No answer yet for the non recorded alarm triggers , again nothing done, apparently not even a diagnostic check.

So I ask for a proper car as the ste UP is no good for this weekend , no sorry sir none available , well I will have one of,the salesmanship cars , the service managers care etc , can't do sir , so after lot of messing I am back I. My car .

Pretty poor inefficient service , not impressed so far

[RammyMP]

Chap that I work with had a 3 year old golf, it's been with VW since mid December to fix the heating matrix, the service he's had has been piss poor, really puts me off ever getting a VW.

[Chippo1]

In my experience , Stansted Audi and Harold Wood Audi were no better . If fact worse in some respects although a bit quicker to book a car in .

[RammyMP]

Last time I had a problem with service from an Audi dealer, I complained and they refunded the cost of the service (£300+) and gave me a bottle wine.

[Chippo1]

So fuel consumption has dropped of to average of 47 , some what less that the claimed , but hey ho virtually the same as I achieved with the A4 , must have leaden right foot !

Auto hold function now failed for 2nd time , first time was a switch supposedly

Still odd loss of sound from the infotainment system , requiring it to be turned of and on .

Bluetooth still drops out

Odd vibration noise at 1800 rpm , turns out to be a well known problem , heater matrix pipes touching the body

Still got clutch squeal when pushing on as the clutch engages with each gear change , I suspect a fault with the DMF

So when the Auto hold failed again and I nearly rolled back into another car I popped into to dealer and agin left car running to make sure the warning on the dash was showing. Service manager and fitter looked at it , and confirm vibration/noise a know proble with heater matrix pipes , this was Tuesday , manager was to call back with proposed date for booking car in with loan car on Tuesday , Wednesday no call , Thursday chased them , still no call , what cracking service .

So all in not a bad car to drive , but build quality and service below par !