Friday 7 March 2014

Vorsprung leak Technik?

Local businessman David Armstrong staged a protest on Saturday 8th March at his local Huddersfield Audi dealership. He was complaining about the high level of oil consumption of his new Audi A5 Cabriolet, which he claims has used one and a half gallons of oil in its first 9,000 miles of motoring. 


Mr Armstrong said the oil light is never off for long, we have to top it up with oil almost every time we fill up with petrol. Audi UK has stated it is acceptable for his model with the 2.0L Petrol TFSi Petrol engine to use up to 12.75 pints of oil in 9,000 miles and therefore will not do anything about it. 


Mr Armstrong decided to re-iterate Huddersfield Audi's statement of acceptable oil usage on the side of his firm's van.  He then parked it on the road outside his local Audi dealers. 

 

The Cover-up

The Audi Dealers response was to try and cover up the facts. They seemed to prefer their small print not to be spelt out in such large letters.


Audi Customer Care Response

Huddersfield Audi then called the Police to have the vehicle removed.


Mr Armstrong said his protest was like David and Goliath. Audi is a large Company who are not being open about its cars oil consumption levels in their sales literature. Had he known about it before buying the car he would not have purchased it. 
Mr Armstrong only resorted to this protest after giving Huddersfield Audi over 2 years to resolve it. 

He hoped his protest would help to make other car buyers more informed and that Audi in trying to cover up the true facts have only succeeded in helping to publicise them.

The official Audi UK statement is acceptable oil consumption for their 2.0L TFSi Petrol variant engine is 0.5 litres of engine oil every 621 miles (1,000km). Therefore 12.75 pints of oil every 9,000 miles is within the manufacturers accepted usage limits.

Google searches revealed Mr Armstrong was not alone with this issue something which the Huddersfield Audi dealer refused to admit, despite evidence to the contrary.

Links to Audi High Oil Consumption topics:

Audi user forum California 

Another Audi user forum thread on high oil consumption 

Honest John's Audi experience

Audi A5 owners club  


You can Google "Audi high oil consumption" to find out just how big a problem this is for many Audi car owners and how Audi are not addressing it. 

Update: 

Many websites report a manufacturing fault in a batch of piston rings in 2010-2011 as the cause of the problem. Audi in the U.S.A. appear to have acknowledged this and are rectifying vehicles there. But in the U.K. where Group Class action lawsuits no longer exist they are simply ignoring or denying the problem. 

This leaves UK customers to each argue their own individual case for a repair to a company that refuses to acknowledge there is even any problem at all. Audi also appears to have raised the acceptable level of oil consumption for this engine, presumably to deny most affected car owners a warranty solution for the problem. 

The VW Audi Group reported £105 million in profits in 2012 according to the latest Companies House financial reports.

Conclusion: 

After a local news reporter became interested in the story, the local Audi dealer agreed to purchase the vehicle back from Mr. Armstrong at its current full retail value which Mr Armstrong agreed to accept.



 





 










9 comments:

  1. I bought my Audi A5 NEW from Audi Tamworth UK. Its registered Oct 2009. Oil problem was always there but they claimed it was normal. But it got so bad that they had to look at it Nov 2012.

    It was repaired under warranty and given back to me. Other forums say it is a case of replacing Pistons and Con rods. But they said it only required to replace the crankshaft seals and breather valves.

    But late 2013 it all started again!! I was due a service anyway so I booked it in and got it back all serviced. They said Oil has been sorted and if the warnig light comes on, then call in

    Sure enough it did! A reduction in performance was noticed staright away and the black exhaust mark on the garage floor appeared. The oil was going from full to RED warning light in 250 miles !! Thats easily over a litre, maybe two of oil

    Part one test was conducted. Failed

    Part 2 test failed and Audi UK got involved with the dealership.

    The solution is to replace Pistons and Con Rods. And once in there, if they notice any other damage, then that will have to fixed.

    Audi UK agreed to give the parts free. Dealer reduced his costs from £120 per hour to £86 per hour. Total for 21 hours was around £2146.

    But thats the minimum. once theyre in the car, they might find they need to charge for more.

    I have decided to recover my car from the Tamworth Audi dealer, who still wants to charge me £200 for doing the oil checks

    Following all the AUDI OIL CONSUMPTION PROBLEMS on the internet, and the poor experience I received, I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER AUDI EVER AGAIN !!

    My Audi A5,....RIP !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same experince and feeling in Finland (with A5 2010 model). In other having same experience in Finland?

      Delete
  2. I just thought I'd point that my car also chews through oil but it's actually a 2003 A4 2.0, not 2010 and above. Everyone I've spoken to also seems to be topping up their own oil every fuel day to every second fuel day. It's a shame as I really like these cars but it is definitely an inconvenience with the cost added. You'd think that this would have been resolved by now considering it was happening in the 2003 models (and possibly earlier)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Audi will tell you that this just affects cars from 2009 - 2011. They are just waking up to the fact that earlier cars are also affected. They don't seem to want to look after customers with the older models, it is too bigger problem for them to sort, too many cars are affected.

      So as yours is a 2003 model it will be the same problem, best thing t do is get rid before too many people become aware of the problem! Which will happen via social media.

      Delete
  3. As a result of this information, I have decided not to buy an Audi.
    Many thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. In the story, it says AUDI have agreed to buy the car back. Guess what they will do with the car? Most likely, they will sell it at auction ' sold as seen' and the next owner will not have a leg to stand on!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm loving reading about your own perspective in this post. I actually recognize how well formatted it is and just how clear your material has been composed. You've carried out an extremely nice job of making yourself heard.
    Audi Greensboro

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the feedback, we no longer have any Oil issues as we have now bought a Tesla Model S and every miles a smile.

      Delete
  6. Been reading alot about this condition but I think the problem goes alot deeper than the years stated.
    I know a few audi fanatics with earlier models including myself,

    2006 Audi A4 Avant 2.0 tfsi s line special edition,

    Who are now having similar issues.

    Ive got mine booked in for stage 1 oil consumption test later this month.

    Keep you all posted

    ReplyDelete