DIESEL: FILTH; FURY

The ‘Dirty Deeds’ report (Wheels, June) was excellent reading, and anyone considering buying a diesel vehicle should seriously take note. I only wish I had known all this four years ago.

In 2014, I purchased a 2009 Audi Q5 3.0 TDI with 52,000km on the odo and full dealer service history. Unfortunately, exactly as your article describes, I’m guessing the former owner used the car for predominantly short urban trips and the EGR clogged up shortly after I took ownership. My (non-factory) Euro-specialist workshop diagnosed that the whole EGR cooler assembly would need replacing as the cooler would also be blocked. The repair quote using Audi supplied parts was $2285 plus labour.

After some on-line research, I found the exact same OEM Audi part could be purchased from the UK for A$1018, shipped. Labour ran to $1150, so all up the fix was less than the part cost here in Oz.

When I inspected the old EGR cooler, I saw it had a month/year stamp that was younger than the build date of my vehicle, therefore it had already been replaced (at least) once before.

Sadly, in this country we are not well-informed by vehicle manufacturers, and dealers are ripping off the motoring public for repairs that shouldn’t be required in a vehicle’s lifetime.

“Dealers are gouging for repairs that shouldn’t be required in a vehicle’s lifetime”