Should I be paranoid of an 'S-Tronic' Gearbox ??

[gary_a4_quattro]

Currently looking ( seems like a long time !!! ) for a 3.0 Tdi Quattro A4 Avant.

I'm assuming that the original and mostly bulletproof 6 speed tiptronic 'box was superseded in the B8 by the S Tronic 7 speed around 2010 ?

Having read some horror stories around the S Tronic (or certainly the earlier versions of ) should I be overly concerned of having a later vehicle with the S Tronic box or just hold on in there for the right car to become available with the old Tip' box ??

Thanks in advance !

 

[benjie]

You don't have to necessarily panic about it. When you see a car you like, go to Audi and ask them to pull up the service and warranty history of the car - it will show you any work the car has had done. If that all looks okay, take the service info and contact each dealer who has done a service on that car and ask for a copy of the invoice, so you can see exactly what work was done. If that all looks okay, take it out for a drive - it should be smooth from cold. Find a slight incline (steep enough so that when you lift off the brake, the car doesn't roll forward or backwards) and stop the car, make sure auto hold isn't activated, apply the accelerator gently and it should pull away smoothly - no little jump in revs before as it pulls off. Also drive at 26-30mph in 5th and the revs should stay constant, not pulse. Reverse should be smooth, reverse up a hill, it should be fine. And, obviously, make sure the oil has been changed. Audi say 40k, service book says 38k(!)

 

[gary_a4_quattro]

Thats brilliant info and advice @benjie , thank you muchly ! Certainly gives me bit more confidence to look at an S Tronic now.

 

[Dippy]

And, obviously, make sure the oil has been changed. Audi say 40k, service book says 38k(!)

The very first cars were oil change only. The boxes had 2 oil filters which were supposedly lifetime fit items. Then from sometime in 2011 one of the filters was deleted and the other became a service item. The safe path is to buy a car with a service record that shows that oil AND filter were changed.

 

[benjie]

^^ What he said, I knew about that change but forgot to mention it the other day!

 

[Fctaff]

Currently looking ( seems like a long time !!! ) for a 3.0 Tdi Quattro A4 Avant.

I'm assuming that the original and mostly bulletproof 6 speed tiptronic 'box was superseded in the B8 by the S Tronic 7 speed around 2010 ?

Having read some horror stories around the S Tronic (or certainly the earlier versions of ) should I be overly concerned of having a later vehicle with the S Tronic box or just hold on in there for the right car to become available with the old Tip' box ??

Thanks in advance !

Warrenty direct for peace of mind