According to their website, “Audi is a manufacturer of exquisite cars – attractive, sophisticated and technically perfect [emphasis mine]“.
Within a year of purchasing my Audi, the automatic climate control system started to work erratically and become uncontrollable.
Some times there would be heat when the air conditioning should have been on. Other times the air conditioning would be on when the heat should be on. At other times there would be no air conditioning or heat at all. In one instance, in the middle of winter, the interior temperature was far in excess of 25C (77F) despite my having set the climate control to only 17 C (62.6 F).
My dealer, Crosby Volkswagen Audi, first looked into the problem around January 2008. They told me at the time that it was operating to Audi’s specifications.
On March 4, 2008, Crosby conducted further tests at my insistence. They set the control to 16 C (60.8 F). They then put a thermometer inside the car. The temperature on the thermometer varied somewhere between 18 to 19 C ( 64 to 66 F). They conducted the same test on an “identical vehicle” and contacted Audi Canada.
After all that, they then told me, according to this invoice, that the “vehicle is operating according to manufactors [sic] specifications”.
A climate control system that is off by 3-4 C (5-6 F) is not what I expected from the famed German engineering I’ve heard so much about. It certainly isn’t what I would consider “technically perfect”.
I have since been told by a few mechanics not affiliated with Crosby Volkswagen Audi that there are three interior temperature sensors in the vehicle. They have suggested that it might be a fault with one of these sensors. It doesn’t appear, based upon their work order, that Crosby even investigated this possibility, though one can infer that if the manufacturer claims the car is not capable of better temperature accuracy, one simply has to take their word for it.
If an Audi is “technically perfect“, the definition of perfect may need some revisions.
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