a3innyc

Been driving my 2015 1.8 A3 for the past 11 months. I've used it for my daily commute in and out of NYC, and some occasional road trips (just crossed 14k miles). Was driving into the city yesterday when it felt a bit like the gears were slipping. About 10 minutes later, an error appeared:

Transmission Malfunction: no reverse gear (you can continue driving)

It seemed like the power dropped out, and I was suddenly in what felt like 2nd gear. I pulled over, turned the car off and back on again, and everything was fine. Continued for another mile (while calling my dealership) and it happened again. This time, I had to pull into someones driveway, and I had no reverse gear to back out. Turned off and on again, reverse came back but this time the check engine light was on steadily. As I made my way to the dealership, the car dropped into first gear, so I had to drive slow with my hazards on and limp it into the shop.

Just heard back, will need a total transmission replacement. Anyone have any experience with this? I'd expect some weird quirks with a first gen model, but this is pretty extreme.

mroberte

That sounds like a nightmare! I haven't read anything about the transmission failing, but a few S3 owners had bad engines on delivery. I literally just bought Audicare on top of my norm warranty and seems like its pretty much needed. Was also reading about the electrical nightmares on the new TT's.

All in all, at least you'll have a brand new transmission which hopefully has better internals than the one you had!

19hole

I agree with buying Audi CAre, but not as a security blanket for failures. Audi Care is not a warranty extension, it is a pre-paid service agreement.

mroberte

Yes Audicare is not warranty at all, just prepaid maintenance, but its just added peace of mind for me as I keep reading about mechanical failures.

You'd think they would of figured all this out considering the A3 was out 2-ish years prior in the EU market before entering the US market.

gamegenie

This was my thinking, when my sound system in my A3 went out. Here's hoping when the dealer gets the replacement part installed it's a fixed revision and not just another working one that could go out again.

musantemike

this scenario is the exact reason I do not want to CHip my car. For something that sounds like a manufacturer issue to not be replaced under warranty would be heart wrenching.