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graz:
God this also sounds too familiar... 2nd transmission is going into my A4 this year after in 111,000km    now and I thought I would be OK as I took out an Extended Manufacturers Warranty through All States Warranty Network (Australia) who now say they will not cover the full cost - they say "It´s not a NEW car warranty you have, it´s an extended manufacturers warranty....".  What the hell does that mean?! Audi say it would be covered under their manufacturers warranty but ASWN have been rude & their offer of $3600 of the total of $7700 cooperative in the extreme & will not release the car back to me unless I sign a release agreeing to their offer. I said no & they have increased their offer to $4600 but I´d still be $3000 out of pocket. I am now talking to Consumer Affairs AND to Audi who sold me the car & warranty. ASWN say that most of the damage is "consequential" & told me to "go and read your warranty book".    My argument is that there is NO other way to interpret an extension of the manufacturers warranty than it extends the manufacturers warranty! Do the right thing Audi and ASWN.

Unlike others whose transmissions failed at over 100,000 miles, my CVT failed at just over 50,000 miles- TWICE.  Of course the first time, the entire transmission had to be replaced- to the tune of $8000.  They told me that they had "never seen anything like this before."  Clearly, thats crap because just 2,000 miles later- the new CVT failed.  I have taken the car in multiple times, prior to the second break-down, because of shuddering and jolting, and I was told that there was nothing wrong with it.  My car is only worth $18,000 at this point, so I'm clearly not going to put $16,000 worth of transmissions in it in one year!!!  I can't believe that they are selling such poor quality cares, that they require maintenance that costs more than the value of the vehicle!!  

Very familiar to me too....I had a A6 from May 2004 and it has been messing for about 1,5 years until it finally stopped functioning. Before that I have taken my car multiple times to thegarage but they did not bother to take it in! After they "patched" it (they did not actually repair the car but only replaced the broken part with another broken part. After this service it still did not function properly and it stopped during my sumer holiday (3000 KM away from home in another country) and i had to wait for 8 days and still pay for the "repair" and a small volkswagen that I finally got for the last 2,5 days. After this my Audi did not function at all, when driving on a longer up hill the engine simply suffocated....etc. At the service back home they have told me that this is "normal" and that these gear box problems are not problems but "characteristics" of Audi brand!? They have also told me that if I want to drive in mountine area I should get myself an "All wheel drive with a bigger engine"!? I have managed to tape a conversation with the manager at my service too, so I have "inside" information! Fortunately I could argue my money that I have paid for this second "service" back but they still owe me money for all the lost time and the spoiled holiday.
I have written directly to the CEO MR.R.Stadler and Chairman MR.M.Winterkorn at Audi AG in Ingolstad, Germany...that seemed to work. However, I am still waiting to get my compensation for the spoiled holiday.
Audi has knowingly sold cars with defect gear boxes for years (in Septmeber 2004) they introduced quietly a new clutch but it seems that neither this did help because AUTOBILD magazine and ADAC, both from Germany still say that there are many problems with these gear boxes. Instead of taking care of their customers Audi started in December 2007 a very expensive marketing campain where they "promise" to take "even better" care of their customers! Instead they could have refunded all their customers with a "Multitronic" or CVT transmission, designed a new one and taken the present one from the market. "Technological advantage" my foot!  

I have a 2003 Audi A4 with 52000 miles and similar CVT tranny problems. Dealer is talking about tranny replacement. Seems like the CVT goes bad on the Audis soon after the warranty expires.

I need your help. How did you get Audi to feel responsible for making this defective product, and what did they finally agree to pay the dealership. Hope you ended up with having to pay only a small portion of the total bill. Any particular ideas of how to deal with the dealership?

I wii talk to them Monday, so any help from anyone will be greately appreciated.

THANK YOU ALL.  

wats wrong with audi a4 1.8t(2003) cvt.. ,my gearbox is not working functionly, sometime i cant shift to reverse, i mean,,the reverse shift does not work sometimes. and sometimes the shift plane just disappear from the deshboard. and i hv been told to replace a new transmission computer... is there anyone hv this problem b4?? thanks a lot..    

I'm having similar problems with my 2004 A4 1.8 Multitronic. There's juddering on gear shift at low rpm. In my country (Philippines) the cost for the replacement is $19000! My car has a 52,000 KM mileage. The Audi dealer says they tried to get support from Main Audi but this time no goodwill offer from AUDI :-(

I asked the dealer service if I can use the car for long distance driving. Dealer assured me that the car won't just stop or die. They have a 1997 model with similar issues but it's still running till this day. But after reading these post, i'm no longer assured of Audi quality.

Here's a link showing more users with Audi CVT problems: http://www.audi-forums.com/c5-forum/35159-2003-a6-cvt-problems-multi-tronic.html

Hope we can all write Audi to support us in recalling these Audi cars or at least cut the cost of replacing these parts. What can we all do?  

Ansonz

I had a similar problem about two years ago. The Automatic transission Cotrol box was replaced. It is not the GEARBOX, just the electronic controller.  

After talking to a fellow Filipino, a Euro Car Expert Tech residing in the US, I regained my hopes in fixing the car. The tech said he can't believe the transmission needs replacement at 31200 miles. He insisted that the fluid must be flushed  and replaced. AUDI PGA, the official dealer in the Philippines said there is no other option but to replace the transmission assembly (at $19,000!!!) because the transmission fluid is still in great condition. Filipino tech in the US told me he does not believe what PGA said and insisted that I have the ATF flushed and replaced. I went to the former AUDI dealer AUTO PROMINENCE, they recommended flushing the fluid properly. They showed me the flushed fluid from the A4, and it's very dark compared to the new fluid. After putting the new fluid, we made a test drive. The judder was eliminated. I drove my car again for a few more rounds to check if the juddering's totally eliminated and THANK GOD- NO MORE JUDDERING at gear shift!  

It's just so sad that the official AUDI dealer in the Philippines is totally unreliable and incompetent! I'm so glad that AUtO PROMINENCE is still capable of servicing Audi cars. :-)  

Hi everyone, I would like to point that out. It seems the story about Audi CVT transmission problem is true. I suffer from it and I have to pay $9,000 to fix it include parts and labor in a dealership.
My story was before the transmission go out. It has flashing light on the dash board which incident what gear you are in. When that happened, the gear wouldn't engage. I turn off the car and start again. The flashing light will go away and the car will drive. Until 2 weeks later, I was in San Francisco Chinatown at night. It was driving fine until I drove onto a steep uphill and stopped at the Red light. And the Transmission stop working and I started sliding backward. And I have to tow it to a dealership which that is the only place I could think of.
And at the end I have to spend $9000 to get a remanufacture CVT Transmission installed.
My car is 2003 A4 1.8T with 53000 miles on the car.

Later I found that even the extended warranty company won’t even cover CVT Transmission.

I encourage all the Audi owners who have the CVT transmission problem post on this threat. I am trying to get Audi America attention to extend their CVT warranty on their vehicles and possibly to reimburse our maintenance cost.

Please support me and you, all the Audi owners, we should demand more reliable car from the company because they should stand for better quantity and standard.  

My 2004 A4 has less than 35,000 miles and is, of course, 8 months out of warranty and I'm told that I need a new transmission, right after spending $ 3,000 on new cv joints & boots. This has got to be a defect. How can a car need new cv joints and a new transmission with less than 35,000 miles?  

My 2003 Audi A4 had a CVT transmission problem before it reach 43, 000 miles.  I was on a busy street and my Audi just shut down and stop right after I made a right turn into a shopping plaza.  I did not even step on break or change the shift to park yet and it just totally shut down on the middle of way.  I am very grateful of being lucky that I wasn’t on a freeway and did not get into any car accident.  

However, I really did not expect this could happen to me at this time because I do expect a lot more on my favorite car, Audi A4.  I always take it to dealership for any types of minor or major services or maintenance in the past 5 years.  I thought I could drive this car for at least 10 more years and never thought it would just stop there.

I am very upset to realize that my best option was to pay 50% of the repairing cost at the dealership cause I believe there is a major defect on 2003 Audi A4’s CVT transmission.  This type of hazard could be very dangerous to anyone who drives this car.  Even though I paid for total around $1500 to this incident, I still can’t agree this is a fair solution since it is indeed a serious defect on the transmission when this car was built.  I really want Audi, the company can take care of this issue seriously and take further step on recall.  I have already wrote a letter to audi and submit my opions to the following link:

http://www.audiusa.com/audi/us/en2/Company/Contact_Us.html

Hope this kind of incident won't happen to another Audi lover!  

Let us all unite! :-) Write all your complaints to:

service@audi.de

Though it takes a while, they do respond. I wrote directly to the Audi AG Inglostadt website. There was a customer support link where you fill up a form with details such as your VIN.I can't find the ink anymore. Maybe if you write through this email address, include your VIN.


AUDI AG
           International Customer Services
           85045 Ingolstadt  

Hi
i also own a4 1.8t... and also have a same cvt gear box problem.. it seems like audi is offering everybody with 50% cover for the fix. since i bought the veichle in 04 i started to have cvt problem. My warrenty expried couple month ago... what's interesting is that i took the car in the dealer shop for 8....freking eight times for the same problem but eveytime i brought in the car they just did patch job and gave me back the car as it was before... after about six attempts i gave up and was just planning to get rid of it after few more years of my stay in CA, but it broke down on the highway!!!! my tranny just failed on the busy 5hwy... luckly i was be able to get off the highway before car stopped completely.. had two of my friends in the car and i was extreamly sorry for them.. of course i was furious and i brought it back to the dealer ship.. more crazy thing was that it only had been a month since i brough it in to the dealership to fix the freakin Cvt... they apolized and they told me that they will fix it for me... after waiting for about 10 days.. they called me and said.. eventhough they have changed the moduel thing(dont know what it is exactly) they still can not find out what is wrong with the car! and asked me if it was okay for them to take the car aprat...!! service maneger knew I brought back the car in for the same reason mutiple of times.. and he said he will fight for me so i could get the car fixed for free, BUT! there is a possibilty that i will lose and have to pay for the whole! cost! arrange about 2500-5000 dollers... I felt very disrespected and argued why do I have to gamble on this.... after couple days of arguing.. the sales maneger called me and told me that they came up with the brillent idea! IF! I just trade in the car and get a new audi from them they! will cover the cost of repair! --; or they will just cover the 50% of the cost...
how is this a great idea or a deal? Nonetheless, i was exausted from arguing with these people so i went down to the sales department in hopes of finally getting rid of this problem.. but they quouted me New audi TT for $850 a month -_-;;... I guess they knew i needed a car.. so they were just going to make more money out of me!
I am not getting played by these dirtbacks.. and I am  going to maek legal moves..
currently i have turned in all the service history and the purcahse statement. ot the one of the lemon law attorney.. at this point i dont care if i win or loose..
i just want to payback..!!!    

Thank you for your post. I have a 2006 A6 with the CVT Tranny...and I tell I DO NOT like this tranny at all. I'm not sure if the "Jearking Problem" is normal. I have almost rear-ended other cars a few times because it would just jerk when you hit the accelerator. I am not happy with this vehicle at all...very disappointing. I have been a huge Audi fan...  

I ordered my first brand new car A4 2003 in Jan 2003.  In June 2003 and 6 times after that (under Warranty) I brought the A4 in to Hoehn Audi in Carlsbad CA for jerking and LOUD clunking sounds from the transmission and chain.  Now the car can only be driven manually and will not shift into gear using the CVT.  My car is now over 4 years old so it is out of warranty but only has 35K on it.  If I would have driven it more in the 1st 4 years the tranny would have gone out within the warranty period.  I took it to Escondido Audi (CA) the owner of the shop had written an email to the "boss" and said "This is ANOTHER transmission needing a rebuild" so they decided they would not repair it under warranty and did not even talk to me after that plus I had to pay for the diagnostics.  I was calling Audi USA.  They kept saying it was up to the dealer and they were NO help what so ever.  Then I took it back to Hoehn Audi Carlsbad.  They agreed with me and test drove the car.  They looked up my records and it showed I had requested repairs at least 6 times while the car was under warranty and each time they said "They could not duplicate the problem" which means they chose to ignore the problem.  This went on from January 2003 to Feb 2008.  The owner of the service was very nervous when I called to see if they had made a decision to replace the trans under warranty.  I asked what have you been doing about it for 2 weeks, he said they were going through the paperwork.  In translation that means destroying any evidence.    My car still looks and smells new.  I can't believe that Audi would not take care of this defect.  I would like to file a civil suit if anyone is interested please contact me.  

I have the 2003 A4 3.0 also.  I am interested in pursuing a civil class action suit with Audi.  How many more people are out there?  If anyone knows someone or how to get this started?  This is an injustice after spending $40K on a car that I expected to drive for quite a while!!!