Audi A3 SPORTBACK 1.4T FS 2013 : Misfiring & Car being repaired for the same issue!!!

My car is an Audi A3 Sportback 1.4 T FS 2013 model, I have not had any issues with the car until recently. My car started driving badly, The Start/ Stop Brake Functioning system had also stopped working and the car was not in a good running state.

I then decided to take the car to the Audi Cape Town dealership for inspections, this was on the 28 September 2017. A technician by the name of Byron, drove with me to see what the issue with the car was I described the challenge to him we drove together and he could not pick up any further issues. We then went back to the dealership and the car was booked in for service and inspection for the 16 October 2017.

However on the 30th September 2017, I was at Pick n Pay with my car, as I was about to start the car it refused to start and there was an indication that there was something wrong with the battery. I received the alert on the display LCD, my car refused to start and it was stuck.

I had to call Audi Assist to jump-start the car, the technician assisted me and I went home and parked the car for the weekend. On Monday 02 October the technician came back to the house to jump-start the car, I then drove the car to the Cape Town dealership and the car had a warning alert ECP and it was jerking and almost cutting off as I was driving.

I left the car at the dealership on the 02 October, I was assisted by Ardilah Swanepoel she booked in the car for repairs. There were parts replaced including a new battery, spark plugs , lower-wishbones removed and reinstalled, I fetched the car from the dealership on the 03 October and the car was well repaired and in good running condition once again.

Today on the 13 October my car, once again broke down and cut off in the middle of the freeway luckily I was not in danger or parked in an unsafe space. The car started, jerking again, and the car started driving badly and also cut off. I noticed that there was a problem with the car even during the week, but it was still moving.

However today, it started misfiring and also jerking off and cut off, I am still under the Audi Freeway Plan which will be expiring soon, my car mileage is currently 99784km. The technician that assisted me today from Audi Assist opened the bonnet and indicated to me that either the coil/ spark plug was causing the misfiring.

He indicated to me that with the recent repair that only one coil had been replaced, and not all four were replaced and fixed, as he told me that Audi Factory only allowed them to install one coil and that not all four coils/ plugs were allowed to be replaced at once.

This did not make sense to me at all, why would Audi SA / Factory only authorize that one coil be replaced and not at all four coils at the same time, so in essence what this means is that my car would always be misfiring and I would need to keep getting the car repaired at the dealership. My Freeway plan is expiring soon, and what guarantee do I have that this issue will not be persisting again?

My car has broken down twice in less than two weeks, and I keep having to drive a car that I am not sure of it's driving capacity. Why is Audi so greedy and negligent towards their customers? As soon as my Freeway plan expires then what will I do to repair the car, I fail to see the logic of how there is only permission to fix / replace one coil and yet the others will remain damaged. So in essence this problem will keep persisting and I will drive an unreliable car.

I am female with a young son, I also travel a lot with my car for work purposes how will I function with an unreliable car, Audi is meant to be a good brand, with high standards and caliber but I have become so disillusioned with the brand. This problem will keep persisting, and I do not feel reassured or even comfortable with Audi being able to fix this misfiring issue because only one coil is authorized to be fixed at a time. So then when the Freeway plan expires soon, I will be liable for those costs and yet it could have all been fixed immediately.

My car is currently at the dealership in Cape Town, it got towed there and I will not pick it up from the dealership until I know that all repairs have been finalized and that the problem has been sorted. I refuse to keep driving an unreliable car, and having to call Audi Assist to help me out with this car. Once again I am stuck for another weekend with no car, to utilize and I am meant to be travelling to Johannesburg next week.

I am beyond angry, frustrated and so disappointed with Audi SA, this is so unacceptable I am even considering to trade in the car, and move over to another German brand that is clearly more reliable than Audi.

What a pity, as I love the Audi brand my first car was a VW Citi Rox and I have loved the "VW/ Audi" Family connection, however I have come to a point that I am considering moving over to another brand.

This is such a major let down and so unfortunate, I am really very dissapointed in Audi SA and Audi as a brand overall.

Ntombi