We bought this car for my wife's principal use, and spent over £33,000 with extras - no discounts, as it was a new model in short supply. Previously we had always bought Mercedes, and so this was our first non-Merc in 15 years. Initial impressions were quite good. The car felt solid and the impression of quality was excellent - the stitching on the leather, the fit and feel of the dashboard, the external panel fits, etc. The first two years were fine, but we only covered around 16,000 miles. Then things started to go wrong - the hood would fold, then as the rain started, it would rise about 70% of the way and fail. It could be persuaded home with a lot of fuss and a quick read of the manual, but this happened several times. Then the 2nd service arrived - odd, but the 1st service only happened at 13,000 miles from new, but the 2nd arrived just 6,500 miles later. Our dealer - who had supplied the car - charged a mere £670 for this interim service. When queried as to why the car could manage twice the mileage from new to the 1st service comapred to 1st to 2nd service, there was no answer. A simple soul (such as me !) would have worked out that a technician had changed the car from variable usage service intervals to time / distance, since the indicator appeared at 19,750 miles and just before 2 years elapsed. Then we ran out of warranty at 20,000 miles and three years. So the hood mechanism failed again - 3 weeks out of warranty ! My wife had enquired at the last hood failure about this happening, and was assured we would be covered by 'goodwill out of warranty'. Not so - £700 was required. The hood mechanism, of course, failed again 6 days later !

From 20,000 miles to 22,000 miles, the car cost just under £2,000 in service costs - and was just weeks outside its warranty. The attitude of Audi UK was - so what ? The MD of the local chain (Smith Knight Fay) never bothered to reply to letters, could not even manage a phone call, and the local dealer principal was a study in 'used-car-dealership'. He even told me, face to face, that 'If this was my wife's car, I'd be really annoyed at such costs and unreliability' - but then (of course ?) offered me no recompense.

Mercedes have been through this syndrome a few years ago, and are now very much improved. The Audi went, to be replaced by a Merc cabriolet, what an improvement ! Decent dealership, good after sales, and a car with comfortable seats and decent ride quality. So far only 6,000 miles, but compared to the Audi - it is wonderful.

Audi bad points - dealers don't care about after sales service; car is poorly engineered & built - cannot manage a 1st MoT and 20,000 miles without a rebuilt brake and suspension system; it eats tyres - no more than 10,000 miles per set; ride is atrocious; seats are uncomfortable; electric seat option is dreadful - slow, and no memory facility is available; the CVT gearbox is a joke - it likes to 'think about things before it makes its mind up', so pulling out from a T junction or away from lights is very 'hit and miss'; options cost a great deal.