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All:
I wanted to thank everyone on this board for all of the assistance and money-saving advice I've received over the years.
My wife and I were a 2 x 9-5 family from 2002 until I traded my '99 SE in on a CPO 2007 A6. On Saturday, my wife exchanged her '01 wagon in on a CPO '07 X3.
The troubles with my '99 were well documented on this board, and included a replacement short-block, transmission, turbo (x2), AC compressor, DIC, etc etc etc. I owned the car for nearly 6 years, and barely put 20k miles on it in that time. All except the tranny were replaced under CPO. I loved driving this car (when it was available to me). I have never driven a car that "tracked" like it--I really felt connected to the road. My Audi has this ridiculous "servo-tronic-something" steering that really takes the road feel away . . . a big flaw in an otherwise fantastic car.
Although not nearly as needy as my former sedan, my wife's wagon has been riddled with issues as well, but mostly of the "phantom" type. Occasionally, we'd start the car, and huge clouds of smoke would come from the tailpipe . . . dealer unable to reproduce. Sometimes, the car would start, then start chugging and bucking, then eventually die . . . dealer unable to reproduce. The CEL was on nearly all the time . . . every time i took it to the dealer they would tell me that there wasn't a fault code (which i always thought was BS), and that it was probably the gas cap.
Every weekend was another trip to Pep Boys for light bulbs . . . brake lights, tail lights, marker lights, headlights. One month I put 3 new headlight bulbs in the car. 3! The average life span of a headlight bulb was about 2 months. The radio display got to the point where there were more inactive pixels than active ones. I put two replacement SAAB emblems on the hood. The sunroof leaked in the winter. The hazard light switch broke off and ended up inside the dash. Both fog light brackets broken (pretty sure i can blame that on my wife). The engine kept getting louder and louder despite fresh oil and tune ups. Almost forgot . . . broken clip on the gas pump . . . fuel everywhere for 20 miles . . . horrifying.
At some point earlier this year, I kind of gave up on the car, and decided we would drive it until it fell apart. I finally had mercy on the car last week and decided it was time to just end it. The BMW dealer gave us $2K on trade in . . . the CEL conveniently lit on the way to the dealer. The engine was loud . . . really loud. The AC compressor barely kept the car cool.
The thing is, I took care of these cars meticulously (until the last few months). Regular oil changes with synthetic oil only. All required maintenance. No delayed response to strange noises. Still, BOTH cars fell apart around us. My car had 65k at trade in . . . my wife's 75k. I just saw someone post 250k. I don't know how he did it.
Again, thanks everyone for the all of the advice. This is the only auto board I've ever seen that the users focus on maintenance and repair vs. "which coffee can muffler should I buy?"
--Scott
posted by 12.233.8...
, Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:02:30
, Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:03:20, Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:09:21
, Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:06:26, Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:00:16
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