dhatton in TTexas

On June 30, my TT turned 2 years old. I had been thinking for weeks what I would write and I am trying not to let the fact that my car was at the shop on 6/30 ruin my celebration of this milestone.

First of all, I waited 13 months for my Amulet/Black 2001 225 QC. I have never owned a sports car before and I had driven a Toyota Camry 4-cyl for 7 years prior to the TT.

The car still amazes me with it's beauty. I have yet to park the car and not turn back 2-3 times to make sure that the car is okay. I even open the garage door every night before I go to bed to see my car. It is so beautiful, how can you fault a few design flaws???

At two years and a few weeks I have a tad over 24,000 miles on the car. For the most part, the car has been reliable, yet I have had the following items repaired:

* stock DV replaced three times
* anti-sway bars and connecting arms replaced
* water pump (misdiagnosed problem)
* radiator fan assembly replaced (car was overheating)

In the past year, I have worked at a Lexus dealership (Sewell Lexus in Dallas, TX) and have had the rare opportunity to compare and contrast Audi/Lexus products and Audi/Lexus service.

I think we would all agree that Audi has a lot of work to do in making their service "world-class". Their products are superb, but the service is not upto luxury car standards. Lexus blows Audi out of the water in terms of product quality and service execution. IMO, Audi leads in styling and technology.

My main complaints about service are:

(1) Understaffed and undersized service facilities at the dealerships in Dallas. I have used both. This results in many, many days of my car sitting at the dealership before they can look at the car.

(2) Lack of parts supply at dealerships. Every service call I have had has been the same. 2-3 days goes by, the service manager calls and tells me that they have to order a part and it will take 1-2 days to get here.

(3) Poor diagnostic ability of technicians to troubleshoot problems and get to root cause. Yes, the TT is still relatively new and a limited production vehicle, but that's not my problem. Audi has my money and I want to drive my car as much as I can.

Regrets...

I wish I had only gone 36 months on my balloon instead of 48 months.

Thank God the car will still be under warranty when I turn it in 2 years from now. I can't imagine owning this car without a warranty.

In summary, I still think the car is the most beautiful car (outside of Maranello) that I have every seen. I feel like a rock star when I am driving it.

The car gets a B+, Audi service gets a C-.

My next car will probably not have 4 rings unless my dealership experience significantly improves in the next 2 years.

Lexx

Certainly do not regret getting the car. Would do it all over the same way. Just was blown away with the lack of service (service hours, part inventory, diagnosis, service lead time, lack of loaner policy). Certanly something to look into at our next purchase.

You get used to quality service. In our case, in the last decade, we have owned Lexus/Toyota, Honda, GM(Chevy P/U) which have all have better service overall than Audi. At least that is our observation.

I don't mind servicing the car, even paying a premium for it. I just hate being treated like a second class citizen. Hate having to bring the car back 2+ times for every repair. Not to mention other pet peeves.

Paul S