Back in the Audi club. I'm now the proud owner of a C7 A7 Prestige (2013)

[MattPethel]

Hey guys,

I'm back in the Audi club. I had a B6 A4 years ago, totaled it, and was on the VW Passat Bandwagon for the last few years. I just purchased a C7 A7 Prestige (2013) and I'm flying down this weekend to pick it up and road trip it back home. I'm sooo stoked.

I checked out the carfax on it and it recently had thermostat replaced, and it was serviced by an Audi dealership to get it ready to sell. It's had 2 prior owners, and has 93k miles and it looks immaculate. Seems to have been kept up to date on all maintenance. I was also able to get an extended warranty through the dealer for 24 months/24k miles and it covers most everything except brakes and tires.

Here's a pic:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53073404434_be54b37209_h.jpg

I'll post more pics when I pick it up this weekend. It'll be about a 6 hour drive back home and I cannot wait.

[paul-g]

congrats

[sepheroth86]

ECU and TCU tune are requirements.

Do it, don't wait. I should have done it the day I bought mine.

[Valpo A7]

Since you got the warranty, listen to the engine on cold start up to see if you have the dreaded timing chain noise. If you do then push to get the chains done with the warranty. Wait until AFTER the chains are done if you plan to tune it. Depending on the warranty they might say your tune caused the problem and not cover the repairs. A full chain replacement will run $5000 - $8000 to have it done depending on the shop, higher end of that price range if the Audi dealer does it.

Hopefully when they did the thermostat they did the water pump as well but no worries while under a warranty for now.

[MattPethel]

Since you got the warranty, listen to the engine on cold start up to see if you have the dreaded timing chain noise. If you do then push to get the chains done with the warranty. Wait until AFTER the chains are done if you plan to tune it. Depending on the warranty they might say your tune caused the problem and not cover the repairs. A full chain replacement will run $5000 - $8000 to have it done depending on the shop, higher end of that price range if the Audi dealer does it.

Hopefully when they did the thermostat they did the water pump as well but no worries while under a warranty for now.

Part of me opting into the warranty is in anticipation of a possible timing chain replacement, as well as some of the other known early failures (water pump, etc.). Are there any other dead giveaways on timing chain issues other than an audible noise? Like, can it be visible in a VCDS scan? I'm fortunate to have a VW specialist in town who previously did all work on my Passat. The closest Audi dealership is over an hour away.

This is also going to be sort of a recreational/in-town vehicle for me, as we have a Pacifica S for hauling all the kids around and road tripping. I know this will be the better choice for the wife and I to take on an out of town excursion without kids though :D


ECU and TCU tune are requirements.

I'm considering keeping it stock for a while. What are the advantages of tuning, and what sort of fortifications should I make if I do a tune? Are there any tunes that don't necessarily need extra things installed?

If anything, I might try and upgrade the infotainment so I can have Android Auto/Carplay, but it's not a huge deal since I can just mount my phone and use an FM transmitter for BT streaming of music.

[MattPethel]

So I got it home yesterday. It drove like a dream. I'm in love with this car. I looked down at one point and I was doing 110mph and didn't realize. It's so smooth and comfortable.

There were a couple of faults but nothing major:

Adaptive headlight fault (if lights are on after cranking and turning the wheel)
Rear spoiler fault (on startup, spoiler button does nothing)

I think the second fault may be a relatively easy fix from what I've seen. Just unplug the module and plug it back in. Not sure about the adaptive lights though. I may wait until the warranty kicks in (15 days or 1500 miles after purchase) and take it to the shop.

Here's another pic I took when I got to the dealer:https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230731/529384a9a054161e83f5052b4c807b4b.jpg

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[sepheroth86]

No hardware is necessary for stage 1 ecu.

I find the stock transmission software lazy. The ZF8 is a fantastic transmission used in many performance vehicles. In this car, it is programmed to be soft which causes it to wear out. The tune will not cause any jerkyness it will just cause it to shift quickly, as it was engineered to do.