2001 AUDI TT User Comment / Complaint

I own a 2001 audi tt convertible with the 1.8 turbo engine (180hp). on february 22nd, the timing belt failed and the engine was severly damaged. the repairs cost me $3650 along with a rental car bill of $450. since my car had 47,200 miles on it when this happened, i attempted to get audi of north america to pay for the reparis but they refused. the car is no longer under warranty, but the maintainance manual specifies that the timing belt should be change at 120,000 miles. this problem is not unique to audi, to the audi tt, or to the 1.8 t engine as i found out from the large number of online postings by other audi owners.