dbbude

This may be following the same pattern MB did with the new C43 AMG. I have been looking into that car as well.

The cars were kept at port for a while, supposedly for EPA checks, which made the release date a major mystery. Posters on mbworld.org expressed a lot of the concerns I see here about lack of granularity regarding release and suboptimal communication.

Might be the same situation?
DB

dave329

Yup it sounds exactly like our situation. My sales guy did warn me that there was a good chance the car will be held in port until Audi decides to launch it. Funny enough when I first placed the order back in October the estimate port delivery time was set for mid-March. Then the second update showed 2nd week of January. Finally arrived on the 16th but now it's just sitting at port. Audi is toying with our emotions at the moment. Best way to describe this feeling is like you're waiting for your child to be born but the stubborn little guy/girl doesn't want to come out. Lol

jokes aside... are these said C43s still held at port? If not do you recall how long it took for EPA approval process to clear and officially launch?

dbbude

It was a few weeks. The cars were out before the holidays. If I remember correctly, the original dates quoted were not that far off at the end of the process. As someone who had not ordered a car, it seemed like the company really had no control over the EPA part. Also seemed like some more communication/transparency would have been helpful.

DeepOvertone

I've been lurking since I asked the question a while back and I still have questions. People have been commenting on Audi taking orders and their cars being produced and all of that but I still have the question of why don't they have the car on their website as a future or current car. Shouldn't it be one or the other? Are they purposefully doing this to drive sales of their current inventory? Waiting till they've moved as many of their current gen cars before the new gen is announced which would certainly make people wait for a new and improved model?

But if thats the case, wouldn't they just not have a "future cars" section on their website so that the general public can't see whats coming for the future and therefore not wait in anticipation of something new?

Why is just the S4 being treated this way? I don't get it.

plat27265

As other posters have mentioned above, it is most likely an EPA thing that's holding the S4's in port. The port owner and car manufacturers really does not want a stock pile of cars in their lot for the simple reason of space. Lots of cars come through the ports. Like any business, the car manufacturers will be very happy to get rid of their stocks as quickly as possible.

dave329

I wondered the same. I recall someone else mentioning this but it seems like they want to market the A5/S5 sportback here more in the US since it's the first time they are bringing that model across seas? I'm not sure... but I'm with ya.

dave329

gotcha. Thanks for the info!

shansoft

From my understanding, the B9 S4 wasn't as exciting to drive as the B8.5 S4.

Many reviews also point out that B9 S4 is really just a faster A4, unlike the mini version of RS4 from previous generation. Similar to BMW 340i to M3, just a engine bump and minor style changes.

To me, this seems to be the very specific reason why the new S4 isn't that popular.

gk1

This sounds about right.
And B7 to B8 went from 4.2 V8 to 3.0 V6 but was still faster. (That's something to talk about. As was the longitudinal DSG at the time.) The B9 maintains the 3.0 displacement swaps the supercharger for a single turbo resulting in the exact same HP they managed out of the previous gen SQ5. 354 HP albeit with a very minimal 20lb-ft extra torque. (Many buyers will just know that the "old" S4 had a V6 and the new one does too...) And they stepped away from DSG back to the ZF 8-spd. It just all seems lackluster and not as exciting as a new US model S5 Sportback. This is just theory coming from previous S4 owner and Audi enthusiast. Only Audi really knows why there is less info and marketing push for the S4.

adg44

There are a lot of assumptions going on in this thread. Audi has said the S4 will go on sale in Q1 of 2017, and it's only the third week of January. So perhaps we just need to wait a little longer and see...