March 14 ED S4
12-12-2010, 06:48 PM
#1
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March 14 ED S4
First, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time over the past few years to post the details, recommendations, pics, etc. of their experiences, and especially those who have gone out of their way to help newbies and find answers. This has been invaluable and reassuring. I will now go from lurking to participating and sharing.
After three years of drooling over the S5 and lurking on this blog, I finally decided that the S4 was the right car for me. There were a few nice examples of 2010s on eBay and Auto Trader, but none had the right combination of options, so I decided to order a new one.
October 14: I placed my order – Premium plus, Sprint blue, MT6, sports diff, Black Alcantara, B&O, Nav, rear shades and rear side airbags. The order would take about three months. I had always wanted to do a European Delivery, and was told it would take about four months, so I could expect a late February delivery. Based on the 5% ED discount, and the fact that the Geneva Auto Show is always held in early March, I took the plunge, and placed the order for pickup at the Forum in Ingolstadt the week of March 7. Car would be built second half of January, paperwork and payment mid-February, pickup early March. I had always envisioned doing ED September or June, but this made sense.
One note about my dealer, Steve: he is extremely knowledgeable, direct and straightforward with me; always gets back to me, very detail oriented and has personal ED experience. Great guy... I’ll continue to refer to him as “my dealer” in these posts for simplicity.
October 16: my dealer called to tell me that the rear shades option required the Prestige package. The website showed it as an option for Premium plus as well as Prestige, but the computer would not accept the order. I gave up the shades. The order was then placed on October 18.
In the meantime, I worked out my trip. My son’s spring break is the week of the 14th, so we will fly to Geneva on the 11th, see the auto show, then rent a car or take a train to Ingolstadt, pick up the S4, do the Audi, BMW and Mercedes museum and factory tours in Ingolstadt, Munich and Stuttgart respectively, then drive back to Geneva, drop off the car there, and fly home.
Scoured and re-read this forum, made a list of key follow-up items. First was winter tires. I emailed John Lance at EDWintertires.com, but he only covers BMWs. I emailed Audi ED. No reply. To this day. I figured that March 14-18 is late enough in the season I can probably play it by ear and adjust my plans if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
October 28: I emailed the dealer to change my pick up date to March 14.
October 30: I received confirmation that my order and delivery date had been tentatively accepted for ED. I received the commission number, and was told to expect a welcome kit within two weeks. I’m still waiting for that.
December 7: Dealer called with news that my S4 had been built. Wow, that was really ahead of schedule. Audi ED hadn’t answered my email about winter tires, still hadn’t sent me the promised welcome packet, but they had built the car. Asked dealer to confirm factory will hold the car until March 14.
December 8: Dealer emailed “your new Audi S4 is built, listed in Audi's internal Status 20 "Intransit From Factory" and has a USA VIN number …” Shortly after that, he emailed again telling me: “Audi may ask you to consider postponing your pickup date to April 1st or thereafter due to European regulations about snow tires in Winter months. Apparently snow tires are mandatory now...”
I emailed back and explained that April would ruin the trip for me, since the timing was very specific to the Geneva auto show, Purdue spring break, not to mention work and family birthday commitments. Not to mention that the lease on my Passat is up on March 1, and I didn’t want to drag that out to June. I also called him to discuss the winter tires. Based on everything I read in the ED threads, this is not a new issue, and I feel Audi needs to step up to the plate and facilitate the purchase or rental of winter tires. We’ll see.
December 11: based on infocor’s post about his messed-up order, I requested confirmation of what the factory actually built, and he emailed me the factory configuration. He had already verified the accuracy per the order.
I will post more regularly as things happen, to avoid further longwinded posts like this one.
After three years of drooling over the S5 and lurking on this blog, I finally decided that the S4 was the right car for me. There were a few nice examples of 2010s on eBay and Auto Trader, but none had the right combination of options, so I decided to order a new one.
October 14: I placed my order – Premium plus, Sprint blue, MT6, sports diff, Black Alcantara, B&O, Nav, rear shades and rear side airbags. The order would take about three months. I had always wanted to do a European Delivery, and was told it would take about four months, so I could expect a late February delivery. Based on the 5% ED discount, and the fact that the Geneva Auto Show is always held in early March, I took the plunge, and placed the order for pickup at the Forum in Ingolstadt the week of March 7. Car would be built second half of January, paperwork and payment mid-February, pickup early March. I had always envisioned doing ED September or June, but this made sense.
One note about my dealer, Steve: he is extremely knowledgeable, direct and straightforward with me; always gets back to me, very detail oriented and has personal ED experience. Great guy... I’ll continue to refer to him as “my dealer” in these posts for simplicity.
October 16: my dealer called to tell me that the rear shades option required the Prestige package. The website showed it as an option for Premium plus as well as Prestige, but the computer would not accept the order. I gave up the shades. The order was then placed on October 18.
In the meantime, I worked out my trip. My son’s spring break is the week of the 14th, so we will fly to Geneva on the 11th, see the auto show, then rent a car or take a train to Ingolstadt, pick up the S4, do the Audi, BMW and Mercedes museum and factory tours in Ingolstadt, Munich and Stuttgart respectively, then drive back to Geneva, drop off the car there, and fly home.
Scoured and re-read this forum, made a list of key follow-up items. First was winter tires. I emailed John Lance at EDWintertires.com, but he only covers BMWs. I emailed Audi ED. No reply. To this day. I figured that March 14-18 is late enough in the season I can probably play it by ear and adjust my plans if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
October 28: I emailed the dealer to change my pick up date to March 14.
October 30: I received confirmation that my order and delivery date had been tentatively accepted for ED. I received the commission number, and was told to expect a welcome kit within two weeks. I’m still waiting for that.
December 7: Dealer called with news that my S4 had been built. Wow, that was really ahead of schedule. Audi ED hadn’t answered my email about winter tires, still hadn’t sent me the promised welcome packet, but they had built the car. Asked dealer to confirm factory will hold the car until March 14.
December 8: Dealer emailed “your new Audi S4 is built, listed in Audi's internal Status 20 "Intransit From Factory" and has a USA VIN number …” Shortly after that, he emailed again telling me: “Audi may ask you to consider postponing your pickup date to April 1st or thereafter due to European regulations about snow tires in Winter months. Apparently snow tires are mandatory now...”
I emailed back and explained that April would ruin the trip for me, since the timing was very specific to the Geneva auto show, Purdue spring break, not to mention work and family birthday commitments. Not to mention that the lease on my Passat is up on March 1, and I didn’t want to drag that out to June. I also called him to discuss the winter tires. Based on everything I read in the ED threads, this is not a new issue, and I feel Audi needs to step up to the plate and facilitate the purchase or rental of winter tires. We’ll see.
December 11: based on infocor’s post about his messed-up order, I requested confirmation of what the factory actually built, and he emailed me the factory configuration. He had already verified the accuracy per the order.
I will post more regularly as things happen, to avoid further longwinded posts like this one.
12-13-2010, 07:10 PM
#4
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Thanks, I hope I didn't come across as complaining or unhappy. It's all part of the adventure, and reading this forum gave me an excellent idea of what to expect.
My goal is to contribute my timeline and provide details and additional reference points for the database.
Once I settle the winter tire issue with Audi ED, I'll be on my way to accomplishing two items I have been talking about doing since college. My unplanned bucket list...
My goal is to contribute my timeline and provide details and additional reference points for the database.
Once I settle the winter tire issue with Audi ED, I'll be on my way to accomplishing two items I have been talking about doing since college. My unplanned bucket list...
12-13-2010, 07:21 PM
#5
AudiWorld Super User
Thanks, I hope I didn't come across as complaining or unhappy. It's all part of the adventure, and reading this forum gave me an excellent idea of what to expect.
My goal is to contribute my timeline and provide details and additional reference points for the database.
Once I settle the winter tire issue with Audi ED, I'll be on my way to accomplishing two items I have been talking about doing since college. My unplanned bucket list...
My goal is to contribute my timeline and provide details and additional reference points for the database.
Once I settle the winter tire issue with Audi ED, I'll be on my way to accomplishing two items I have been talking about doing since college. My unplanned bucket list...
You post was perfect example of Audi not paying attention for their customers needs.
12-14-2010, 04:51 AM
#6
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Keep in mind that it will likely take the full 6-8 weeks to get your car so depending on when you drop off you'll likely be mid-May.
I hope it works out for you with the tires, Audi really should provide an option for the tires (perhaps charge a small rental fee based on mileage?) then swap them before the car gets on the boat... or at the dock in USA. Although easier, they do it with loaner Navigation.
12-21-2010, 01:32 PM
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sounds like a business opportunity. At least audi could rent you winter tires and store your summer tires with the proviso you have to drop off the car where you started...
When do I get my allroad TDI, euro delivery please? Audi, do you ever listen? Not to mention Audi Canada doesn't do euro delivery so us Canadians are out in the cold (again), pun intended.
When do I get my allroad TDI, euro delivery please? Audi, do you ever listen? Not to mention Audi Canada doesn't do euro delivery so us Canadians are out in the cold (again), pun intended.
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01-01-2011, 07:52 PM
#9
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You're absolutely right. My understanding is that BMW does some 2000 EDs a year while Audi does 200. With so few orders to track, you'd think that Audi ED would give us some, heck any, customer service stateside. The 7% discount BMW ED discount is also nice.
John Lance (EDWintertires.com) has helped me find a set of winter tires to purchase from a previous customer. Through my dealer, I've confirmed that Audi will deliver the car to me in mid-March based on the premise that I will drive it straight to the tire depot and get the winter tires mounted. Let's hope the weather is dry that day. Otherwise I'll probably arrange for a flatbed truck. Would be nice to get some support from Audi...
I've worked out the details of my trip and booked my flights and hotels. I'll email the itinerary to Audi ED on Monday so I can finalize the arrangements as well as book my night at the airport Kempinski.
I can't wait.
On another note, I'm already pre-planning my next ED: I'm planning to pick up an A7 in June 2014. Our summer break starts before June 1, so I'm hoping for good weather, and fewer crowds than July or August. This came up because I wanted to time my S4 lease term correctly. I figure I'll need 42 months - from first payment in Feb 2011, to August 2014 (two months after my June ED).
01-01-2011, 07:56 PM
#10
AudiWorld Super User
BMW ED forum - BEST ED forum from all.
That doesn't mean Audi forum should be second to best!
Last edited by TIME89; 01-03-2011 at 07:43 AM.
