GolfGL

I took in my Q5 for a really annoying ticking sound from the passenger seat and found out that the warranty is now 6 months. They sent out a service tech with me but sure enough there was no sound during the test drive. I asked that they atleast open up the seatback and see if anythng was loose (the sound goes away when I place my hand on the seatback when driving) but in the end they did nothing. Second issue was ignition not starting on first try (engine fires and then dies). I was pretty sure it was fuel injector related but based on my symptoms (issues only crop up after a quick stop ~1hr, not overnight) they didn't do anything about this either. The service manager said "they couldn't throw parts at it" and they had to replicate the issue before they'd do something. So, the next day, I drove across town and picked up the car with absolutely no corrections done. (Car was washed and detailed though and the service manager personally explained what they tried to do). I guess what's eating me out is that it seems Audi Corporate is cracking down on warranty charges and warranty period and in turn the dealers are reluctant troubleshoot problems. The adjustment warranty for example used to be I believe 4 years in 2000, reduced to 0 or 1 in 2006 and now 6 months?? If rattle complaints are climbing AUdi should strive to fix the root cause based on the data they colleect rather than reduce the warranty. In their quest to become the #1 luxury brand, I think Audi is losing its focus. Btw, I took out the headrest and sprayed a little bit of silicone and swapped the driver with passenger side. So far so good, but aftre paying $65K on a new vehicle it sucks to resort to fixing issues on your own.

The G Man

In my opinion, Lexus have the best warranty service in the industry, even Lexus unofficial rattle policy is only one year, although if the rattle is confirm by the dealer, they will fix it even if its after one year. You will find that most car dealers will not try to fix a problem unless it is confirm by the dealer, otherwise, they have no way to figure out if they actually fix the problem or not.