 I was thrilled after a couple of good years to be able to buy my 2000 A6 Avant in CASH in the spring of 2000. The car looked good, handled like a dream, acceleration was OK, and it had a 3 year bumper to bumper warranty. I forked over the $39K and proudly drove my car home. After a week, the dash light up with the check engine light. This was a light that I would become far more acquainted with over the 9 years that I owned the car. The first incident was an O2 sensor. "No problem" I thought, as the dealership assured me that they had a loaner car. Well the loaner turned out to be the mechanic's eight-year-old personal project car - with no radio. There was a gaping hole filled with wires where the radio should have been, but it got me to work for two days while my car was in the shop.  Over the 9 years that I owned this thing, six years without warranty, it cost me over $16K in REPAIRS (and I'm not counting oil changes and tires in this figure). That check engine light would come on, and the car would eat another $2-4K in repairs. I had the propellor (drive) shaft replaced twice, the airbag control computer once, brake jobs cost over $1000... it was ridiculous. And ALL of the work had to be done by an authorized Audi dealer. The dealer that I brought the car to also would fix one thing, and break something else. "It was like that when you came in" they would claim. Letters to Audi went unanswered and I got fed up with the whole "Audi Experience." When the car finally clocked 106,000 miles, I sold it in a private sale for $5K and gave the buyer a new set of snow tires, and was happy to see it go. Yes it drove beautifully when it was new, and Quattro is a fantastic all-wheel drive system, but the lack of support from Audi and their crappy dealers made me swear off another Audi. NEVER AGAIN!