Kudos to Audi: March10 ED in Ingolstadt
03-18-2011, 07:31 PM
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Kudos to Audi: March10 ED in Ingolstadt
I just got back from Munich, from the European Delivery of my new S4 at the Audi Forum Ingolstadt.
The experience was outstanding. Fantastic. Thrilling. The entire process at Audi was impeccable, exceeding all my hopes and expectations. Picture perfect from start to finish.
Kudos to everyone at Audi who made this experience a great success.
And sincere thanks to all you guys who came before me and took the time to share your experiences and lessons learned on this forum. Thanks to you, I was able to prepare, plan, and proactively address the issues you raised.
I'll follow up with a few posts and pull together a quick list of thoughts and suggestions. Might even figure out how to post some pics.
Most importantly, in 39 months, in June 2014, I'll be going back for the ED of an A7, which I plan to pick up at the Audi Forum Neckarsulm, where they make the A8, A7 and A6, i.e. the "Aluminium" models.
The experience was outstanding. Fantastic. Thrilling. The entire process at Audi was impeccable, exceeding all my hopes and expectations. Picture perfect from start to finish.
Kudos to everyone at Audi who made this experience a great success.
And sincere thanks to all you guys who came before me and took the time to share your experiences and lessons learned on this forum. Thanks to you, I was able to prepare, plan, and proactively address the issues you raised.
I'll follow up with a few posts and pull together a quick list of thoughts and suggestions. Might even figure out how to post some pics.
Most importantly, in 39 months, in June 2014, I'll be going back for the ED of an A7, which I plan to pick up at the Audi Forum Neckarsulm, where they make the A8, A7 and A6, i.e. the "Aluminium" models.
03-18-2011, 09:26 PM
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I apologize in advance: I am very bad with names, and since I didn’t write them down at the time, do not remember any of the names of the terrific people at Audi.
I flew in the day before, arriving at 8am. Bought a simcard plus a recharge at the airport, then took the train (S-Bahn) to the main train station (Hauptbahnhof), and checked in early to the Courtyard Hotel. Showered and changed, then walked to the main square Marienplatz, from where I took the subway (U-Bahn) to BMW Welt. More on that in a separate post. For now I’ll just say that I’m glad I went, and this added perspective to my visit to the Audi Forum. That evening my childhood friend flew in from Paris to join me.
The next day, a black A8 (not A8L) 4.0 TDI was awaiting me at 08:00 as scheduled. Light beige interior, perforated leather seats, very comfortable and impressive. This was my first time in a 4.0 (V8) TDI. Traffic was heavy in Munich, but we arrived at the Forum before 09:00. We were greeted at the door by Miriam, the main contact for American ED customers. She checked us in, put cloth wristbands on us (like a kid, I’m still wearing mine!) and did the paperwork transaction in about 10 minutes. She also had a surprise for me: two tickets to teh Geneva Auto Show, where they knew I was heading. That was very thoughtful touch.
That left about 40 minutes before the scheduled delivery time of 10:00, so we browsed in the Audi shop, and had breakfast at the snack bar: espressos and pretzel bread sandwiches. We could have had a full breakfast in the restaurant on the house. The check in area, coffee bar and shop are on the mezzanine level overlooking the delivery area. There’s a flat screen with scrolling customer names and delivery times.
Right at 10 am, we were called, and another guide walked us down to the delivery floor, took the official photo of me with the car, and gave me a very thorough walk through all the features and systems. We synced my blackberry with the MMI via Bluetooth and downloaded my address book. We also connected my iPod. She walked me through the nav system and voice commands, and we went through the basic convenience setups (one click unlocks all doors, etc.)
Audi provided the emergency triangle and two vests (required by law in Germany), as well as a sticker needed to drive in the center of Munich.
By 10:40. We were done, so we drove the car out into the courtyard, where I backed into a space near the main entry.
Did a bunch of shopping (Audi briefcase, Audi jacket, models of UrQuattro, A7, A4 (I passed on the s4, a limited edition series, available in white only, or yellow for the Avant, and costs 109 euro) plus handful of others. Made sure to request a VAT reimbursement form.
At 11:00, we walked across the courtyard for the factory tour. This was the English tour; there was one other American ED customer (a family of four who picked up a Q7) plus a bunch of Americans and some other nationalities who were more comfortable with English than with German. The tour took us from the bare sheet of steel to the complete car driving off the assembly line. We saw the bodies of A5 coupes and sportbacks, and A4 sedans and Avants being formed and built in sections, then welded together, by robots. Then the final assembly line outfitting the painted basic body shells and completing a line of A3s. We were shown a video of the painting process. The precision, efficiency and speed of the manual processes were fascinating. The tour took a couple hours. I recommend it very highly.
Next we ate a buffet lunch at the restaurant run by Movenpick, an upscale cafeteria food court similar to the food halls at Purdue. Wine, beer, pasta bar, everything was very tasty and free.
We finished up by spending an hour at the museum mobile, which was much more interesting than I had expected. Some people still refer to Audis as gussied up VWs (which to them is a bad thing) which lack the lineage of a Mercedes or a BMW. How wrong they are. The museum does a great job of establishing the Auto Union long and broad history, which includes some very imposing and impressive old Audis, Wanderers and Horchs, as well as the 1930s V16 Auto Union racers, small DKWs (“Das Kleine Wunder” or the little marvel). The streamlined old racers, the recent and modern racers complete the picture. The lowest floor is all Lamborghini, with an interesting early prototype, and a gorgeous Miura.\
At 15:10 we had to run out to Ismaning (Germany’s Silicon Valley) on the northeast side of Munich, to Reifen Buechler to get the winter tires I had bought from flightjunkie mounted. The weather was quite warm, in the 40s, so I didn’t really need them, but it is the law.
The car looks great, is terrific to drive, and I’m extremely happy with the looks, the performance and the options. The color looks amazing, and it drew a surprising numbers of stares and pointing at traffic lights.
I flew in the day before, arriving at 8am. Bought a simcard plus a recharge at the airport, then took the train (S-Bahn) to the main train station (Hauptbahnhof), and checked in early to the Courtyard Hotel. Showered and changed, then walked to the main square Marienplatz, from where I took the subway (U-Bahn) to BMW Welt. More on that in a separate post. For now I’ll just say that I’m glad I went, and this added perspective to my visit to the Audi Forum. That evening my childhood friend flew in from Paris to join me.
The next day, a black A8 (not A8L) 4.0 TDI was awaiting me at 08:00 as scheduled. Light beige interior, perforated leather seats, very comfortable and impressive. This was my first time in a 4.0 (V8) TDI. Traffic was heavy in Munich, but we arrived at the Forum before 09:00. We were greeted at the door by Miriam, the main contact for American ED customers. She checked us in, put cloth wristbands on us (like a kid, I’m still wearing mine!) and did the paperwork transaction in about 10 minutes. She also had a surprise for me: two tickets to teh Geneva Auto Show, where they knew I was heading. That was very thoughtful touch.
That left about 40 minutes before the scheduled delivery time of 10:00, so we browsed in the Audi shop, and had breakfast at the snack bar: espressos and pretzel bread sandwiches. We could have had a full breakfast in the restaurant on the house. The check in area, coffee bar and shop are on the mezzanine level overlooking the delivery area. There’s a flat screen with scrolling customer names and delivery times.
Right at 10 am, we were called, and another guide walked us down to the delivery floor, took the official photo of me with the car, and gave me a very thorough walk through all the features and systems. We synced my blackberry with the MMI via Bluetooth and downloaded my address book. We also connected my iPod. She walked me through the nav system and voice commands, and we went through the basic convenience setups (one click unlocks all doors, etc.)
Audi provided the emergency triangle and two vests (required by law in Germany), as well as a sticker needed to drive in the center of Munich.
By 10:40. We were done, so we drove the car out into the courtyard, where I backed into a space near the main entry.
Did a bunch of shopping (Audi briefcase, Audi jacket, models of UrQuattro, A7, A4 (I passed on the s4, a limited edition series, available in white only, or yellow for the Avant, and costs 109 euro) plus handful of others. Made sure to request a VAT reimbursement form.
At 11:00, we walked across the courtyard for the factory tour. This was the English tour; there was one other American ED customer (a family of four who picked up a Q7) plus a bunch of Americans and some other nationalities who were more comfortable with English than with German. The tour took us from the bare sheet of steel to the complete car driving off the assembly line. We saw the bodies of A5 coupes and sportbacks, and A4 sedans and Avants being formed and built in sections, then welded together, by robots. Then the final assembly line outfitting the painted basic body shells and completing a line of A3s. We were shown a video of the painting process. The precision, efficiency and speed of the manual processes were fascinating. The tour took a couple hours. I recommend it very highly.
Next we ate a buffet lunch at the restaurant run by Movenpick, an upscale cafeteria food court similar to the food halls at Purdue. Wine, beer, pasta bar, everything was very tasty and free.
We finished up by spending an hour at the museum mobile, which was much more interesting than I had expected. Some people still refer to Audis as gussied up VWs (which to them is a bad thing) which lack the lineage of a Mercedes or a BMW. How wrong they are. The museum does a great job of establishing the Auto Union long and broad history, which includes some very imposing and impressive old Audis, Wanderers and Horchs, as well as the 1930s V16 Auto Union racers, small DKWs (“Das Kleine Wunder” or the little marvel). The streamlined old racers, the recent and modern racers complete the picture. The lowest floor is all Lamborghini, with an interesting early prototype, and a gorgeous Miura.\
At 15:10 we had to run out to Ismaning (Germany’s Silicon Valley) on the northeast side of Munich, to Reifen Buechler to get the winter tires I had bought from flightjunkie mounted. The weather was quite warm, in the 40s, so I didn’t really need them, but it is the law.
The car looks great, is terrific to drive, and I’m extremely happy with the looks, the performance and the options. The color looks amazing, and it drew a surprising numbers of stares and pointing at traffic lights.
03-19-2011, 11:37 AM
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We drove to Geneva via Lake Constance (Bodensee), Zurich, and Montreux.
The autobahns are indeed speed-limit-free, except built up areas where the speed limit is 120 kph. Approaching any sort of tunnel, it drops to 100 and then 85 in the tunnel itself.
I was instructed to keep my rpms below 3000 for the first 1000mi. This was very tough, it meant shifting without holding each gear. At 3000 rpm in 6th, I was running 130 kph. And getting passed by every little Peugeot and Renault. By the time I’d passed the 800 mi mark (they did say 1000km, right? Not 1000 miles), I decided to take it up to 3500 rpm and then 4000 rpm for brief periods of pure fun.
In Switzerland, the speed limit is 120 kph on freeways, and few cars exceeded that. Here are a couple of my favorite pics taken en route:
In Geneva I went to the Geneva Auto Show, which was spectacular. Even though I’d read all the articles and blogs, and seen the photo and video posts, being there was a whole different experience. Seeing, touching, experiencing cars in person which I’d only seen in photos was something else. I’ll post a link to some of my favorite pics soon.
The autobahns are indeed speed-limit-free, except built up areas where the speed limit is 120 kph. Approaching any sort of tunnel, it drops to 100 and then 85 in the tunnel itself.
I was instructed to keep my rpms below 3000 for the first 1000mi. This was very tough, it meant shifting without holding each gear. At 3000 rpm in 6th, I was running 130 kph. And getting passed by every little Peugeot and Renault. By the time I’d passed the 800 mi mark (they did say 1000km, right? Not 1000 miles), I decided to take it up to 3500 rpm and then 4000 rpm for brief periods of pure fun.
In Switzerland, the speed limit is 120 kph on freeways, and few cars exceeded that. Here are a couple of my favorite pics taken en route:
In Geneva I went to the Geneva Auto Show, which was spectacular. Even though I’d read all the articles and blogs, and seen the photo and video posts, being there was a whole different experience. Seeing, touching, experiencing cars in person which I’d only seen in photos was something else. I’ll post a link to some of my favorite pics soon.
03-19-2011, 06:22 PM
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Drop-off at shipper at Munich Airport: As you know from other posts, the drop-off has moved from Garching to the airport itself. It is on the same street as the Kempinski, literally caddy-corner from the hotel:
Here is the car parked in front of the Log In Out offices:
And here is a wide angle view showing the relationship to the hotel. Terminal 2 is in the background between the hotel and the office.
Facing the other way, my back to the terminal:
The idea of using the Audi-provided hotel night for my last night worked out perfectly. I drove to the airport, emptied the car, did the paperwork in about 10 minutes, then walked across the street to the hotel. The next morning, I walked to the terminal and checked in. The Log In Out people were very friendly and helpful, and the whole transaction was very easy. They have been very responsive on email, and consistently respond to my emails (which I tend to send at night) the next morning.
They work with MB and BMW as well. They park the cars in a remote lot. There was one MB, some 20 BMWs, and mine was the only Audi. This represented a couple days worth of cars (Friday, Saturday and Monday drop-offs) since the last truck had shipped out on Thursday. They truck the cars to Bremerhaven, where they load them on ships to the US.
The office complex also houses the Audi Forum Munich Airport, which is an Audi shop plus a showroom / display. They had several cars including a nice RS5 and a new A6, a coffee bar, and sales literature and paint and leather samples. Own in the courtyard they had a display featuring the new A6, and about 25 A6s plus some 8 A7s all lined up in a grid. Turns out that Audi had a bunch of dealers flying in for sales training and to drive the new cars.
So that's the trip. I'll probably post some pics of the Geneva auto show plus some bullet points when I get a chance.
Here is the car parked in front of the Log In Out offices:
And here is a wide angle view showing the relationship to the hotel. Terminal 2 is in the background between the hotel and the office.
Facing the other way, my back to the terminal:
The idea of using the Audi-provided hotel night for my last night worked out perfectly. I drove to the airport, emptied the car, did the paperwork in about 10 minutes, then walked across the street to the hotel. The next morning, I walked to the terminal and checked in. The Log In Out people were very friendly and helpful, and the whole transaction was very easy. They have been very responsive on email, and consistently respond to my emails (which I tend to send at night) the next morning.
They work with MB and BMW as well. They park the cars in a remote lot. There was one MB, some 20 BMWs, and mine was the only Audi. This represented a couple days worth of cars (Friday, Saturday and Monday drop-offs) since the last truck had shipped out on Thursday. They truck the cars to Bremerhaven, where they load them on ships to the US.
The office complex also houses the Audi Forum Munich Airport, which is an Audi shop plus a showroom / display. They had several cars including a nice RS5 and a new A6, a coffee bar, and sales literature and paint and leather samples. Own in the courtyard they had a display featuring the new A6, and about 25 A6s plus some 8 A7s all lined up in a grid. Turns out that Audi had a bunch of dealers flying in for sales training and to drive the new cars.
So that's the trip. I'll probably post some pics of the Geneva auto show plus some bullet points when I get a chance.
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03-19-2011, 07:13 PM
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Yeah, my original plan to drive it for a full week plus a weekend just didn't work out. I scheduled my trip around the Geneva Auto Show and some personal and work priorities. Then I found out the Audi Forum was closed from Friday the 4th through Wed the 9th, and the earliest I could pick it up was the 10th.
I arrived Wed Mar 9 at 8am and flew out Tuesday March 15 at 11 am. Picked up the car Thursday morning and dropped it off Monday afternoon.
I covered 941 miles and four countries (counting the slivers of Austria and France I drove through). I had a full experience.
I arrived Wed Mar 9 at 8am and flew out Tuesday March 15 at 11 am. Picked up the car Thursday morning and dropped it off Monday afternoon.
I covered 941 miles and four countries (counting the slivers of Austria and France I drove through). I had a full experience.
03-19-2011, 10:01 PM
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Man, I can't wait to be able to do something like this.