jetinder

Hello everyone,


This is my first post here, so I thought I'd share a recent experience with you.

The misses and I were invited to a preview of the A8 D4 at West London Audi a month or so ago.

The car definately has a greater presence in real life than in the media. Evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

The interior is of a much better quality than my current D3 (4.2 TDi) SE. Even though the front LED pack doesn't quite blow your socks off, it is very clever stuff inspired by the R15. Interior room is less than on a D3 SWB - but that's because they had the massage front and back comfort seats (very good seats I may add). The boot is not as cavernous as the old car or an A6, but not tiny either. The gadgets in the car kept me busy for a good half an hour and I could have spent a lot longer in there just pressing buttons and tracing characters on the touchpad. It was a bit weired in a LHD car, I'm sure we'll get used to using the left hand on the touch pad with RHD.

I've taken the plunge and ordered one last week. The dealer was really helpful (Northampton)and informative - which makes a change from many dealers who don't seem to know the intricate details of their cars. I'm waiting for feedback from them after their trip to Germany this week where they test drove it against the 7 and S.

Delivery looks like sometime between end of June and July (although the dealer has had a build date of May sent to him without confirmation), but one thing I have found is that it finally supports 7 digit post code lookups on the sat nav (that's one of the biggest annoyances of the current generation of Audi sat-nav's). It looks like someones finally listened to what the customer wants!

I'll be sure to share pics etc when I get it. Hopefully no technical faults but I kind of expect them as it'll be early days. I just hope the dealers get their training to look after it properly.

I think the demonstrators start arriving at the end of April :-)

cheers

Jet

jprescott

Did the dealer give you any indication of available options and colors?

jetinder

Yes, the brochure can be downloaded from the UK website and the options are pretty clearly presented in there.

I ordered with Havannah black on the outside (which was the colour of the show car) with black interior + comfort sports seats + assam wood inserts. The headlining is moon silver by default and I've stuck with it. If you go to the German Audi site, there is a configurator there where you can choose the different colours and preview them.

One thing I was worried about was the google maps integration and internet wifi hotspot function. It looks like all the hardware is nstalled in the car but is not active. There will be a software patch availble to enable it - not sure why the delay. I think it's to do with some kind of UMTS infrastructure upgrades and availability.

jetinder

I thought I'd share the current status of the future addition to the family... it has been stuck at checkpoint 7 - Final assembly - for the last 2 weeks. That makes 4 weeks since it was painted at checkpoint 3.

We were treated to a night out this week with Audi by the local dealer. They had the UK A8 product specialist there who I grilled him a bit and he assures me the factory is taking longer with the first batches of cars to ensure they are fully functioning and tested. It may have up to 80 miles on the clock when I finally get it. I did ask about whether he knew of any plans for the Tdi coming to the US, but he didn't know (or wouldn't say!).

I'd rather have that than something unreliable, so the delay is for the best. He said that I'd have the car by the end of June worst case.

Orders in the UK now are quoting for 2011 delivery!

Jet

Emauss

I spoke with my dealer the other day. He expects a car in his showroom in June (dunno when) and pricing to available at the same time.
I told him to call me for the first test ride!

FWIW, I stopped in at Mercedes. They are quoting close to 8K off for the 2010 and said the 2011 will be simiarly discounted. A configured S550 for 95K. I wonder what the A8 will come in at.

jetinder

They finally finished the car (6 weeks+ in manufacturing) on Sunday. It turned out that it was ready weeks ago apart from one part and they left it at the side whilst the part was manufactured by the sub-contractor.

I'm guessing they ran out of right hand "bits". Either that, or they realised after winning Le Mans that they was a car that they'd forgotten about.

It should be here within 2 weeks . Finally!

Jet

derfA8L

Jet-

Congrats on final assembly!!! I'm considering Havanna Black as a color choice, so I'll be very interested in seeing pics of your car.

Emauss

..can't wait to see the pics

jetinder

The car finally arrived yesterday at the dealers. I went down to sign some documents (naturally they messed up and made me wait a couple of hours ... grrr).

But at least it's here and it'll be in our hands on Wednesday.

https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=225196
https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=225197
https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=225198

Sorry I didn't take any interior pics yet, but I will next week.

I wanted a part wooden steering wheel, but they've not got that option now. They've also introduced privacy glass on the public pdf for the A8 brochure. I mentioned this to the dealer and the internal system doesn't show that. So everyone make sure they do their research as Audi seem to be changing the goal posts on occassion!

I'd recommend the sports steering wheel, smaller than the std one with a good grip.

The sports comfort seats are excellent, I hadn't tried them before. Even though there wasn't a specific option for the sports seats at the back, they are different to the std ones. They have better support.

I'm still waiting on the Abt AS8 rear spoiler and lower valence, so I guess those will have to be fitted later.

Anyhow, I'm sure I'll share with all very very soon.

Enjoy your weekend.

Jet

Emauss

Those wheels look great. What size are they?