Taking a Q5 from USA to Europe
04-29-2013, 06:48 PM
#21
Just wondering if this topic is still interesting for you?
I am currently importing my Q5 to Germany, too and have collected plenty of information so far.
- Tax: No need to pay any tax, if you lived outside the EU for at least one year and own the car for 6 months or more.
- Changes:
Pretty different from country to country, even from state to state within for example Germany. two points will need to be changed with European regulations, unless you are able to get an exception entered into your registration (worth a try and only works if you declare your car as moving goods with customs...):
-> Rear turn signals have to be amber (That is for the LED ones as well as for the lower ones in the bumper, even so they aren't used during driving!)
-> In combination with Xenon, auto levelling and headlight washers have to be installed
Additionally, the front positioning lights have to be disabled via VAG com or changed from amber to white.
If you want to use Navigation, SUWtech and some other company in Poland are able to reprogram and flash the unit to European standards to run European maps. That's much cheaper than changing the head unit: http://suwtec24.de/Audi-MMI-3G-Navig...uf-Europa-2011
FM radio frequencies are slightly different in Europe than in the US. Some US models need to have the radio tuner changed to receive all stations.
HomeLink frequencies are different than in the US, so also there it's not certain that all garage door openers will be recognized.
If the tail lights from Europrice are working, that may be the best option to install them. Taking EU models and installing them in a US model is said to be impossible, gives coding errors and needs adapters.
Did anybody try the Europrice tail lights yet?
Greetings from Munich,
Markus
I am currently importing my Q5 to Germany, too and have collected plenty of information so far.
- Tax: No need to pay any tax, if you lived outside the EU for at least one year and own the car for 6 months or more.
- Changes:
Pretty different from country to country, even from state to state within for example Germany. two points will need to be changed with European regulations, unless you are able to get an exception entered into your registration (worth a try and only works if you declare your car as moving goods with customs...):
-> Rear turn signals have to be amber (That is for the LED ones as well as for the lower ones in the bumper, even so they aren't used during driving!)
-> In combination with Xenon, auto levelling and headlight washers have to be installed
Additionally, the front positioning lights have to be disabled via VAG com or changed from amber to white.
If you want to use Navigation, SUWtech and some other company in Poland are able to reprogram and flash the unit to European standards to run European maps. That's much cheaper than changing the head unit: http://suwtec24.de/Audi-MMI-3G-Navig...uf-Europa-2011
FM radio frequencies are slightly different in Europe than in the US. Some US models need to have the radio tuner changed to receive all stations.
HomeLink frequencies are different than in the US, so also there it's not certain that all garage door openers will be recognized.
If the tail lights from Europrice are working, that may be the best option to install them. Taking EU models and installing them in a US model is said to be impossible, gives coding errors and needs adapters.
Did anybody try the Europrice tail lights yet?
Greetings from Munich,
Markus
Markus, et al...
I too am contemplating taking my Q5 with me when I move to Germany for my work in the next few months. Were you, or any one else successful at getting your car up to specs? Was it worth it - would you do it again? I guess my question is specific to Germany but any other intel would be greatly appreciated.
For your reference I have a 2012 Q5 S-line 3.2. I am actually not really sure of all the bells and whistles that I have on the car eg Bi-Xenon headlights leveling, headlight washers, or any of that stuff.
Where should I begin my research to find out what will be required of me to bring my car up to standards?
Thanks in advance for any assistance any of you might be able to offer.
04-30-2013, 08:45 PM
#23
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I know that David at AudiEnthusiasts.com has helped a few people with the VCDS coding to adapt US cars for European import. I'm not sure if he's done a Q5, but he's done the coding for European tail lights on my 2013
05-06-2013, 09:50 AM
#24
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Sorry guys, I was offline for a while, so I couldn't answer earlier.
I was successful registering the car in Germany. It was the 2012 model, so for the main tail lights they behaved exactly the same way than the European models (Seperate turn indicators, break lights always on, etc.). With the 2013 model, they changed that behaviour and now the blinker is integrated with the break lights. I don't know if that can be changed by coding only or if you would need to change the wiring as well.
"Only Thing" I had to do for the rear lights was to replace the whole modules with orange ones. I bought mine in the US at europrice, which were built to fit in a US model; But I don't know what exactly needed to be changed between the original european models and the US-European ones.
Biggest Problem were actually the rear lights in the bumper (the lower ones). Since they don't carry a (E) sign and blink red rather than orange, this had to be changed. Again, my local AUDI dearler had the parts but couldn't do the coding. It was a bit more of a hazzle to find the right login codes and HEX values but in the end it worked without any major problems.
For the headlight washers, I decided to change the two front bumper sides with the original factory equipped ones rather than cutting the openings myself. It just looks nicer and I didn't risk damaging the paint. The wiring was done at my local AUDI dealership but they couldn't do the coding. I did set the "headlight washer installed" bit myself with the VAGcom.
All in all, the parts came in around 1500 bucks, including Labor and the paint shop.
Let me know if you have any more questions,
Markus
I was successful registering the car in Germany. It was the 2012 model, so for the main tail lights they behaved exactly the same way than the European models (Seperate turn indicators, break lights always on, etc.). With the 2013 model, they changed that behaviour and now the blinker is integrated with the break lights. I don't know if that can be changed by coding only or if you would need to change the wiring as well.
"Only Thing" I had to do for the rear lights was to replace the whole modules with orange ones. I bought mine in the US at europrice, which were built to fit in a US model; But I don't know what exactly needed to be changed between the original european models and the US-European ones.
Biggest Problem were actually the rear lights in the bumper (the lower ones). Since they don't carry a (E) sign and blink red rather than orange, this had to be changed. Again, my local AUDI dearler had the parts but couldn't do the coding. It was a bit more of a hazzle to find the right login codes and HEX values but in the end it worked without any major problems.
For the headlight washers, I decided to change the two front bumper sides with the original factory equipped ones rather than cutting the openings myself. It just looks nicer and I didn't risk damaging the paint. The wiring was done at my local AUDI dealership but they couldn't do the coding. I did set the "headlight washer installed" bit myself with the VAGcom.
All in all, the parts came in around 1500 bucks, including Labor and the paint shop.
Let me know if you have any more questions,
Markus
05-06-2013, 10:05 AM
#25
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I was successful registering the car in Germany. It was the 2012 model, so for the main tail lights they behaved exactly the same way than the European models (Seperate turn indicators, break lights always on, etc.). With the 2013 model, they changed that behaviour and now the blinker is integrated with the break lights. I don't know if that can be changed by coding only or if you would need to change the wiring as well.
"Only Thing" I had to do for the rear lights was to replace the whole modules with orange ones. I bought mine in the US at europrice, which were built to fit in a US model; But I don't know what exactly needed to be changed between the original european models and the US-European ones.
05-06-2013, 06:04 PM
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Hi all,
I just ordered a 2014 Q5 Premium Plus in the U.S. and would like to ship it to Germany eventually.
Any ideas what will need to be converted? Any help is appreciated. If you know some German shops that do the conversion, I'd also be interested. I am ok with spending some EUROs on a shop/dealer to do the conversion...don't need to do everything myself if the price is ok.
I also came across the headlight washers question and was wondering if someone has actually been able to get it through TÜV inspection without adding them?
Thanks in advance!
Robert
I just ordered a 2014 Q5 Premium Plus in the U.S. and would like to ship it to Germany eventually.
Any ideas what will need to be converted? Any help is appreciated. If you know some German shops that do the conversion, I'd also be interested. I am ok with spending some EUROs on a shop/dealer to do the conversion...don't need to do everything myself if the price is ok.
I also came across the headlight washers question and was wondering if someone has actually been able to get it through TÜV inspection without adding them?
Thanks in advance!
Robert
05-19-2013, 10:20 PM
#28
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- VCDS is a piece of software to control a wide variety of low-level settings on Audi cars
- VAG-COM is a cable to connect your laptop to your Audi, to allow you to use VCDS
Buying an official VAG-COM cable includes a licence for the VCDS software.
05-19-2013, 10:56 PM
#29
AudiWorld Super User
http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/index.html
http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/hex-usb+can.html
http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds/tour/main_screen.html
11-15-2016, 10:00 PM
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Just Imported 2015 Audi Q5 from USA to Germany
Just got done going through the process, benefited from reading this thread, so thought I would summarize my experience as well. Much of it is similar to what others have posted.
Shipped a 2015 Audi Q5 from California to Berlin. Overall, it's unclear to me if it was worth it, compared to selling the car and buying a new one. Perhaps financially it made sense, but altogether with the hassle, I'm not sure.
I paid a company here in Berlin to take the car, and bring it back to me with all required changes, and with the German equivalent of a title and registration. They took the car to DEKRA for me (for the inspection to see
what needs to change).
Changes required, written on the DEKRA report:
1) Xenon headlamps did not have the CE symbol on them, so they had to be replaced. This was a bummer. If you have the CE stamp, then you just need to program the car to turn off the yellow side lights... or perhaps clip a wire.
2) Had to add headlamp washers, and therefore a new front bumper so the nice looking pop out doors are there. Apparently the new bumper also has a place to mount the pump, so not sure it would have been possible on the old bumper. Bumper arrives unpainted, so the shop needs to match the color.
3) Replaced taillights
4) Replaced rear bumper lights
5) Required VCDS programming changes, which not every mechanic can do. The definitions of what to change are not really defined online, so I had to find a guy who just makes coding changes for VW cars, and he needed to play around for a while to get the lights working correctly.
My speedometer was in MPH and KPH (KPH smaller), but this was OK.
I will now be sending my MMI to Suwtec to be reflashed so I have European maps, traffic reception, and for the display to have a German option (for
future resale). They can also do something so you can receive all radio stations, which the stock US radio can't (US only has odd stations like 103.7, not even ones like 103.6, which they have in Germany).
I didn't have to pay import duties since I had owned the car for longer than 6 months before establishing residency in Germany (barely). If I would have had to pay taxes, I really doubt importing the car would have made sense when you take everything into account.
Shipped a 2015 Audi Q5 from California to Berlin. Overall, it's unclear to me if it was worth it, compared to selling the car and buying a new one. Perhaps financially it made sense, but altogether with the hassle, I'm not sure.
I paid a company here in Berlin to take the car, and bring it back to me with all required changes, and with the German equivalent of a title and registration. They took the car to DEKRA for me (for the inspection to see
what needs to change).
Changes required, written on the DEKRA report:
1) Xenon headlamps did not have the CE symbol on them, so they had to be replaced. This was a bummer. If you have the CE stamp, then you just need to program the car to turn off the yellow side lights... or perhaps clip a wire.
2) Had to add headlamp washers, and therefore a new front bumper so the nice looking pop out doors are there. Apparently the new bumper also has a place to mount the pump, so not sure it would have been possible on the old bumper. Bumper arrives unpainted, so the shop needs to match the color.
3) Replaced taillights
4) Replaced rear bumper lights
5) Required VCDS programming changes, which not every mechanic can do. The definitions of what to change are not really defined online, so I had to find a guy who just makes coding changes for VW cars, and he needed to play around for a while to get the lights working correctly.
My speedometer was in MPH and KPH (KPH smaller), but this was OK.
I will now be sending my MMI to Suwtec to be reflashed so I have European maps, traffic reception, and for the display to have a German option (for
future resale). They can also do something so you can receive all radio stations, which the stock US radio can't (US only has odd stations like 103.7, not even ones like 103.6, which they have in Germany).
I didn't have to pay import duties since I had owned the car for longer than 6 months before establishing residency in Germany (barely). If I would have had to pay taxes, I really doubt importing the car would have made sense when you take everything into account.