German reliability

Today I had to take my car in unexpectedly to the service center so I spent a good chunk of the morning waiting for my car to get fixed.

I own an Audi. Always liked German cars but Audi's in particular for their understated elegance. Not near as flashy as the MBZ's or BMW's. Great cars to drive and solidly built. In fact, Audi build quality is legendary and considered the standard bearer of the automative industry. The Ingolstadt manufacturer's fit and finish are beyond reproach.

Years ago I started out Japanese. Japanese reliability was always drilled into my head by friends and family and so when I was ready to buy a car, I bought Japanese. A Nissan Maxima to be precise. It was good car and pretty reliable but it had no soul and the steering was utterly and completely lifeless. In short, no bloody fun to drive!

For some folks, a car is simply a means to an end. For me, it's the same but I strongly believe that you have to love what you drive. That love enhances the driving experience ten fold. Much like anything else in life. So I enjoy my Audi. I love driving it. I love the feel of a German car especially on the freeway. These cars were bred on the legendary autobahns. When it comes to high speed stability and road feel, German cars are still a cut above the rest. At least in my opinion.......

German cars however have one major drawback. Reliability. Now I never thought I would admit this but it's true. I've owned German cars for a few years now. Prior to this Audi, I owned a Volkswagen Passat. Although they are techonologically sophisticated and brimming with the latest gadgets, Deutschland simply doesn't understand the concept of reliability unlike our Japanese friends.

My Volkswagen Passat was a great car when it worked. But "when" it worked. The Volkswagen spent a lot of time in the shop. It's problems were mainly electrical. Like the digital compass going out, myriad sensor lights coming on, power window going kaput. All on a pretty new car with less then 10k miles. Once at about 8,000 miles, the ignition just died. I inserted my little key fob to start the engine and it simply wouldn't start up. Had to flat bed my baby all the way to the dealer who took a couple of days to fix her because parts weren't available.

My Audi's reliability has been markedly superior but I've still been plagued by a number of little issues. The first one and my car was hardly 3 month old then, was the oil warning light that kept coming on which warranted trips to the dealer. It turns out Audi's love OIL, and go through quarts of the black stuff very quickly. So the oil warning lights up every time levels dip below recommended levels. Not safe levels but recommended levels. Every couple of months I have to top off the oil which I've learnt to do by myself.

Today's trip to the dealer today happened because the engine alert warning light came on yesterday and the user manual recommended I take it in asap. Of course the dealer doesn't really care much about the fact that I need to take precious time out of my day to deal with the problem. Initially they asked me to drop my car off, get a rental at my own expense and come back when the car was ready. Absurd. I insisted on waiting and the service advisor was nice enough to make my car a priority. Apparently a coil for one of the cylinders expired and needed to be replaced. A $300 job had I been out of warranty.

High maintanence, yes, but the payoff is the opportunity to command a splendid machine.