YRS

Took car in last week after check engine light, diagnosed as carbon build up. 30,000 miles on the clock and increased soot at exhaust pipes, otherwise, really ran pretty well...probably became acclimated to decreasing HP. Talking to dealership (Checkered Flag VA Beach VA) and to Audi regional. Both have been reasonable so far (long line of Audis in my record doesn't hurt)...we'll see if they help pay the bill. All that said, if I need to pay $900 every 30K to keep this monster in good shape...she's worth it. Lessons learned, spend more time at the track to help keep the motor clean.

AofC_RR

Go through the process, it's a pain but I've seen carbon cleans covered by AoA as warranty.

YRS

Had to bug Audi for a bit, but they always called back to give me an update on progress. After the cleaning, they evaluated the photes sent by the dealership and paid for $500 of the $900 cleaning's cost. I'm more than happy with the outcome...Audi came through.

ELEVENS

They only paid $500 out of $900 to clean out the dirty mess that their crappy design leaves behind? That's BS. Obviously, Audi still doesn't get it. Demand nothing short of full reimbursement.

Winterrunner

Ive gotten my first cleaning for free, without a CEL. Second will be this spring, at my 45-6K mark, JHM IM spacers going in as well.

YRS

Well, I don't see it that way. The car's a 07, granted with just 31K miles, I don't begrudge having the top end of the motor cleaned for $400. Like I said, I'm content with the help Audi gave me, especially given the fact they've fixed what was, for me, the bigger issue with the DRC recall.

ELEVENS

And that my friend, is exactly why Audi pulls this kind of crap - because it can. We will just have to disagree on this one. Carbon in the B7 RS4 motor is a well documented design flaw that denies what is likely the #1 reason many bought the car - power. Carbon robs the car of about 1HP per 1000 miles. I carbon-cleaned mine at 33,000 miles and picked up 30HP. There are many others who have documented the same, many have picked up even more HP. Audi has it's head in the sand on this one at the owner's expense. They ask owners to foot the bill for their design flaw as well as robbing them of the power they originally paid very good money for.

Winterrunner

Its about 6-800$ every 15-20K miles, I don't understand why it's such a big deal. Just get it cleaned. Many cars high performance cars need similar work done at odd intervals... (ie some 911's, E46 M3, etc...)An F430 needs about 8K worth of work every 15K!

titanium08

I'm with elevens on this one

I spent six months calling aoa complaining about power loss to no avail
Luckily, I got a code and they covered it (albeit 200 dollars of bg cleaning that did nothing)

That is why I got it certified; car is too risky to own without warranty...once Im out of warranty; I'm out
FYI winterunner, I wanted to put the jhm spacers in but the dealer said it void the warranty...F that!

I have a question for you guys, would you buy our car if it looked exactly like an a4 or an s4 for that matter?
I upgraded from an 07 s4 and could tell you that if I was just paying for a lousy 80 hp (after choked up with carbon, it probably is 50 bhp) and 20 lbs of torque, I wouldn't have done it. Beside the 5500k kick, gunning both cars feels the same to me. (I'm not a race car driver, just a regular guy paying obama's taxes)

We could talk performance, but that is for audizine.

We bought our cars because of the exclusivity and the fact that it looks awesome.
In fact, there isn't a week that goes by that someone doesn't honk or signal me. Just the other day, I guy flags me down to tell me how amazing it is.

Everyone on this forum would cringe with the thought of walking into an Audi or BMW dealer getting into a lease that is the base model (tan color with tan interior).

spagolli94

I test drove this car back to back with the S4 twice. Two separate dealers, two sets of cars. Both times, I felt a HUGE difference in power between the two, not only the top-end surge. The RS4 felt much more responsive and after the initial punch, the revs built a lot faster as well. In the S4, it would get going eventually, but it took a while. When I punch the RS4, it immediately pins me to the seat and continues to pull hard all the way to redline.

Maybe mine (as well as the ones I test drove) don't have carbon issues "yet."