Audi Service - some advice please

[Big Chris]

Car: Audi A6 Avant 45 TFSI
Age: Bought new in September 2020, 70 plate so 3.5yrs old
Mileage: 39k so about 12k a year
Usage: mostly A & B roads on daily work commute, school run, I don't drive it hard by any means

It had an oil & inspection service yesterday at Audi Oxford and there were a couple of findings which I wanted some opinions on.

1. They've said front & rear brake discs & pads are 70% worn so don't need doing immediately but will soon. Their quote is near enough £1,800 for this. Am I right in thinking this is ludicrous? By my reckoning I've still got a good 6-9 months use in them, is this something I should get done elsewhere with a reputable garage, or best done by Audi themselves? I've had the car from new and these are still the original discs & pads so not had to replace them until now.

2. They've advised the rear lower spring mounts are worn and need immediate replacement at just shy of £500. Is this to be expected on a car of this type/age/mileage/usage? Appreciate this is a somewhat subjective question given wear is no doubt linked to how the car is driven, but I'm far from an aggressive driver and it's not like the roads I drive on are tank traps. I've not had a car from new before so unsure if this is about right for spring mounts to need replacing. I asked the technician who looked over the car and he said, "yeah it can happen" which didn't really help.

Lastly, the fuel consumption seems to have taken a dive in the past few months. For more than three years since new I was getting about 450miles from a full tank of regular unleaded (around 58 litres full). This has dropped to around 375 in the past few months, doing exactly the same journeys with no change in driving style. If anything, since I noticed it drop I've been consciously easing off more yet still getting obviously less from a full tank. Again I mentioned this to the Audi tech and he said "it must be your driving style" which was again less than helpful. Does MPG naturally fall off over time or could there be something else going on under the hood?

 

[Big Chris]

Thanks for the input so far.

It's just me who drives the car, and I actively avoid potholes where I can so unless it's to be expected that lower spring mounts wear after 40k miles of average driving I will question that and get a second opinion I think.

What's the feeling on £1,800 for new discs & pads? Seems to be opinions that this is both about right and too expensive?

On the MPG, tyre pressures are checked regularly and treads all are 5mm or 6mm having been changed in September last year where they were balanced and laser aligned. I've not had any seasonal dips in consumption in the three years I've owned the car and the MPG remained the same after the tyres were changed last year for 4-5 months until recently.

 

[Big Chris]

Ok thanks guys, I will tell Audi to foxtrot oscar and get the brakes done elsewhere when the time comes.

Looking for an independent Audi specialist to have a look at these mounts too.

As for tyre PSI, I keep them at 36 which is the recommendation in the manual - tyres are Goodyear Eagle F1 255/40 R20.

 

[Big Chris]

I paid for the extended warranty which includes servicing so will carry on with that at Audi, but I think I'll find a good alternative garage for this other kind of stuff going forward if they're going to try and fleece me every time anything else needs doing.

 

[Big Chris]

Apparently not, they've said the mounts are worn rather than defective and that it "can happen". I'm going to question it further though as it's far too vague for a £500 bill.

 

[Big Chris]

Update...

Took the car to a local VAG specialist and they've confirmed the rear mounts do look worn and need replacing. There's a rubber casing which protects the mount and it's dried/cracked so the metal underneath is corroding. I've done some snooping around online and found lots of other people saying they've had similar issues so it appears to be a rubbish quality part sadly. £400 to replace with the specialist over Audi.

They've quoted me around £1,550 to replace all four discs & pads which is still eye-watering. I have no frame of reference as to whether this is reasonable or not having not previously owned a new Audi, but I thought it was only Ferrari owners paying that sort of money for new discs and pads! I've found another Audi specialist in Oxford who I'll ask for a quote, but should I try pricing up the bits as others have and asking them to fit? Euro Car Parts has Brembo discs for between £50-£150 which sounds much more like what I expected to pay - however I know absolutley nothing about brakes and whether they'll see me into the nearest ditch or not!

Lastly, had the spark plugs replaced and already MPG seems to have improved so will see how that goes.