ED Timing & Itinerary for Newbie
 

Hello all, first post.

I plan to purchase an S4 via ED-Ingolstadt (first ED for me). I have a few questions and wanted to share my proposed itinerary for any tips/comments you may have.

I would like my pickup date to be mid-late June, 2015.
FAQ states the ED process from initial order to pickup in Ingolstadt is 2-3 months. I'd prefer to time it so that I'm picking it up as soon as it's built - as fresh off the assembly line as possible!
When should I go to the dealership to start this process? Mid-March?
Any reason to order it sooner? Also, by that point I would be purchasing a 2016 model, right? Can't find much info on 2016 model release...

My wife and I were thinking of doing the following:
Fly to Munich,
Day 3: pick up car in Ingolstadt and drive to Berchestgaden (2:30)
Day 5: drive to Innsbruck (2:00)
Day 7: Neuschwanstein Castle (1:30)
Day 8: Meersburg/Lake Constance (2:00)
Day 10 : drive to Zurich (1:30), return car
stay in Zurich 3-4 days
Fly home

Thanks everybody!

Edit: In Zurich, by "return car" I do mean "drop off"! I'm sure I won't want to return it...

Two different issues-

First - We picked up our S4 last month and don't have it yet. The A4 model will change next year, but the S4 may not be available at the same time. Audi has not announced the exact schedule yet. The S4 will likely not be available until much later.

The trip - Berchtesgaden and Innsbruck are pretty similar. Why not substitute Salzburg for one of them. Everyone loves Salzburg. 3 days in Zurich seems a bit excessive. Do you have a reason for this? Switzerland is VERY EXPENSIVE, Austria and Germany are much better bargains. If you really want to spend that much time in Switzerland, visit the country a little. You have free insurance on the car for 2 weeks, use it to visit around rural areas and don't turn it in early. Give us the thinking behind your itinerary to better help you. My wife and I had been to Europe many times, so this trip we traveled to places and areas we had not visited before.

From all our 3 weeks ED - Zurich was most boring city.
Sorry.

Thank you both!

The thinking for Zurich was that it's a good airport to fly out of and we haven't been before. I hear there are over 100 art museums which is something we love to do...

Interesting point about Berchestgaden and Innsbruck, perhaps we will go to Salzburg instead of B.gaden.

Our goals are simply: see towns we've never seen, hiking, photography, art museums where possible, soak up the alps along the drive...

We've been to northern Germany, France and western Switzerland (Geneva/Zermatt) before, it's our first time southern Germany/Austria.

One drawback of doing ED in June is the high summer air fares to Europe. When my wife and I did our ED in late June/early July 2013, our air fare from SFO->Paris, returning Nice->SFO was $1,700 per person. We went in June because the Paris Air Show was on my bucket list. If you can do your ED in the shoulder seasons, you'll probably save a lot in air fare.

More on the choice and timing for an S4. The forums (here and others) pretty much agree that Audi will probably introduce the new A4 in or around April 2015. This may shut down the factory for a while and also that the S4 model will not be available until 2016. If you want an S4 next year it would be best to get it before April.

As far as timing your trip, you will just need to work with Audi. If you are flexible on your dates, then your 2-3 month window will be fine. But we wanted to plan a trip and make reservations in advance, so I tried locking dates down much earlier. However our SQ5 did sit for a while after production. So there are definitely pros and cons.

Yeah you definitely have to be careful with production run times. If your model has a completely new makeover or even a small makeover (like the 2013 Q5 had in 2012), that causes potential delays in production. We were trying to do a September 2012 ED for a 2013 Q5, but we never got firm dates on when it was ready for production, so we ended up cancelling the ED plans. Luckily in 2013, when we were looking at 2014 models, the timing worked out much easier since there were no significant changes. As far as which model year, I would check with your dealership or Audi of America to see when production shuts down for your model next year, before starting back up for the new year model.

As far as itinerary, we only stopped overnight in Nauders (Austria), but it was a beautiful little town. I was on my way to Stelvio Pass in Italy, so we stayed overnight in a nice little bed/breakfast. We loved the place. We did a day trip in Salzburg before we took delivery on our SQ5. It's a nice city and was definitely worth visiting. But for us, one day was good enough. But it all depends on what you like and what you are looking for. We only stayed for a multiple days in the big cities (Munich, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam). Yeah the cost of airfare is ugly during the summer. We've gone to Europe twice in the past couple years, both times were near the end of September and early October. Good luck.

I cannot recommend enough Salzburg. Beautiful city, great food, lots to entertainment options. Only reservation is find a hotel that can accommodate parking so call ahead.

We are already planning a return trip to Salzburg and want to drive to Vienna

+1 on Salzburg. Went there on my M5 ED, and will go back with the audi.