>> Thanks, David---good advice. I'm at 45K on this Audi and have gone
back and forth about paying $3K for an extended warranty for another
50,000 miles of relative peace of mind. I had a Volvo that burned a
valve with less than a thousand miles left to go on its warranty and
that saved me almost $3000 so I've experienced first hand the value of
a warranty. <<

50K miles but it probably has a time limit too.  When we bought my wife's
Audi A4 in 2002 it had 55K on it and I wanted the warranty (I've ALWAYS
ended up using car warranties) but my wife and mechanic said no.  They were
right, it never needed a large repair BUT she only has 72K on it now. If
that was me driving it I'd have allot more. Fast forward to the '03 Eurovan
I bought this summer. I insisted that if it was not already covered when I
bought it I was going to at LEAST purchase an extended power train warranty
for which was only $900 (full coverage was $2400)  My van ended up having an
extended warranty when I bought it. I would not be able to sleep at night
without it. Of course the tranny will blow 1 week after it expires but that
give me some breathing room.

Be sure to read the fine print on your extended warranty. Deep deep down in
mine it specifies what I need to do to keep the warranty valid, i.e.
transmission fluid changes every 12K miles instead of VW's 40K, oil change
every 3K, no towing allowed, leopard skin seatcovers not allowed ;) , blah
blah blah.

Bryan