To Whom It May Concern:
First of all, I want to be respectful of your time and appreciate your consideration for the outlined concerns herein that I, and many other Audi drivers, share.
As an Audi enthusiast, I have become increasingly frustrated as of late. I purchased my first Audi as soon as I could afford one (after being a loyal VW customer); a used 2004 B6 S4 which I loved. At my first opportunity, I sold the S4 and jumped on a chance to purchase my current B7 RS4 which I was literally dreaming about since I first heard of its release. I purchased it sight-unseen from a dealership in Ohio. I cannot express the immense pleasure I felt seeing the car delivered off the truck. I purchased the car with the intent to drive the car “forever.” By forever, I really believe in the future “classic” value of the car and plan to maintain it for as long as I can as a daily driver, then retiring it to occasional driving to keep the car young. I am continually interested in further releases and have participated in the Audi Enthusiast driving program when it came through Miami. I plan to own future Audis (please bring the RS5 and S4 Avant stateside!!).
With that being said, I frequent Audizine.com to share my passion with other Audi drivers. The forum is full of people that care in the same way about their Audis, and it is an amazing source to learn and share information. Audizine is just one of many such online communities where a few plaguing issues for the RS4 have started to surface, and more frequently, for other Audi owners with FSI engines as well. While I understand the newer FSI technology has potentially corrected for the carbon build-up issue, many of us with the original implementation have looming issues for our engines.
I won’t go into too much detail regarding the carbon issue with the FSI engine as I am sure you are aware of the problem. My intention is to communicate the frustration that the Audi community of loyal customers is experiencing with this, and urging your attention. With the nature of the issue being more of a question of “when” rather than “if,” many of us are wondering what to do…especially as we are the most loyal and own our cars, and many of us are being turned away at the local level when we approach the dealerships about this issue.
I can tell you that for me personally, the problem might not be as advanced as for some, but I am still a very concerned owner. My car did start to misfire on cold-starts at around 30k miles, and my local dealership “updated” my ECU and blamed that as the problem. I’ve researched and read enough to be at least skeptical of this as a resolution. There is some question as to whether Audi is simply making the ECU less sensitive and ignoring the larger issue of carbon-buildup as the cause. I know for some owners, after repeated visits to Audi for misfired, they forced to removing the intake manifolds themselves (or footing the cost), and even after this and providing significant documentation (pictures, etc) Audi still claimed that the problem was not “advanced” enough for the issue to be their responsibility.
I know Audi has worked hard and for over a decade to overcome their image as a stodgy and lack-of-quality-plagued brand. This re-imaging of Audi as a young, sporty, modern brand was achieved in-part by the role all of us on the Audi community; some of who are on their 4th, 5th or 6th Audi. We are the “mavens” that are critical for a company to hit a “tipping point,” which Audi has clearly crossed. As enthusiasts or “mavens,” we have strong influence in our respective social circles when it comes to car buying and conversation. I can tell you since buying my first Audi, I have influenced 2 of my 3 business partners into buying Audi’s (A6 and A3), and most recently, a friend of mine just put in an order on the newest A3 last night.
All we are asking for is an official statement from Audi about what they understand about this issue and what they are working on to resolve it. I’m asking as a concerned Audi loyalist. I know that everyone has their own “tipping point,” and there is a lot of murmur and chat in these online communities about dissatisfaction, frustration and potential banding for protests or worse, class action lawsuits.
Again, I really appreciate your time and kind consideration. I look forward to hearing from you, but more importantly, I look forward to relaying any positive reassurance I can get from you to your most loyal customers. Thanks.
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Originally Posted by mad70sx
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