New Member from the SF Bay Area
 

Hi All! Just made the move to the dark side after owning a 2012 BMW 328i and a 2015 BMW 228i. Will be taking delivery of a 2018 Audi A4 Premium Plus / Sport Plus 6MT in the next day or two :) . Looking forward to learning about and enjoying the hell out of this car!

hello nice to meet you :D

I'm moving to the Bay Area in 2 weeks. Can you recommend a good shop to get serviced at?

Congrats and welcome! I'm a new comer here too, with a similar build to yours (florett silver, premium plus, 6MT, sport package, navi, black optic). In fact, I test drove the 2017 version of your car, which basically sealed the deal for me.

I really, REALLY wanted sport + but wasn't in love with the 5 color choices so ended up ordering with my top color choice and the regular sport package. MT was the biggest decision maker. I'm curious to see how you like it! I'm coming from a 2007 Honda Civic and occasionally drive my husband's MT 2008 328xi which is way more fun, but a gas hog.

Can't wait to hear your impression after your first few rides.

Since this is my first Audi, I'm not sure I could say with much authority :) I live in the East Bay, so the closest dealers are Audi Livermore and Audi Concord.

Welcome to the West Cost. The best dealership here is Audi Concord. They are the only Magna Society Elite dealership in NorCal (https://media.audiusa.com/en-us/releases/149). If you are looking for a good Indy, then I can recommend Griffin Motorwerke in Berkeley.

Congrats and welcome to you too :) . Your car sounds beautiful too! I really struggled to decide between the sport plus package and the sport / black optic (and 19in wheels) packages. 19" wheels look great on this car. If Audi had allowed it, I would have ordered the 19s, but you can't get the sport adaptive suspension with them. So I decided to go with function over form. I had adaptive dampers on my 228i, so it's just nice to switch to comfort real quick when the roads deteriorate. I wasn't in love with the color choices either; I thought about the scuba blue b/c it's similar to BMW's esoteril blue, but it didn't go well w/ these sport+ wheels (to me anyway). So I figured daytona grey pearl effect would be a safe choice. I love the interior and the alcantara seats / trim. Materials seem upscale and put together nicely. Especially love the interior lighting at night - especially the "S" emblems lol.

Coming from a sporty RWD coupe (also 6 speed manual), it's definitely a change. While the 228i is more agile and has more power, the A4 is deceptively fast. The A4's clutch also a lot lighter and forgiving than the BMW's. I was afraid that the A4 would feel too FWD'ish, but so far I haven't felt that nose-heavy sensation in the twisties (i guess the quattro is doing its thing). I love the engine note (fake or real) in the A4 - definitely better than the BMW's; really makes you want to rev the engine to hear it lol. The shifter feels good; the throws are slightly longer than the BMW's, but feels tighter. Otherwise, the car is quiet and stable at speed as German cars typically are. No complaints on the dynamics yet. I'm planning to take it up to Tahoe in 2 weeks, so I'll get some extended non-commuting time in it :)

From a tech perspective, I think Audi has caught up and surpassed BMW is some areas. The B&O sound system is really nice (though it needs to break in a bit still) and it plays all my lossless FLAC albums via a USB hard disk. Voice commands and Android auto work well. I love the virtual cockpit and the ability to work the same car functions in the virtual cockpit or the mmi screen.

I'd say overall, I'm very happy with it so far. The only thing I'm trying to figure out right now is whether the car has Hill Assist Control or not. It's there in the manual - but I'd like to be sure before I drive in SF or somewhere. Another luxury I got used to w/ the BMW. Knowing the brakes would hang on for a few secs once you put the car in gear on a hill :)

How are you liking the A4?