pfcoach

Cinci Mark: Thanks for taking time & relating your lengthy experience & valuable observations.

I concur wholeheartedly that a good relationship w/your dealership is most important. My dealership has been around about 7 1/2 years & when they started were rather lame, causing me to negotiate 700 miles away for my current 2010 Prestige/sport diff, etc. S4.
The local dealership has developed both a very good service team & (more recently) a good sales group, who understand that, in the electronic era, we don't have to "take it or leave it".
The sales manager let my wife & I take a Sepang Blue, black optics sport package S6 out for an afternoon romp, which made me think a lot about moving up. While there was noticeable turbo lag, the car was very quick & the air suspension was terrific. However the B9 S4s were just coming in & knowing that the 2019 S6s are rumored to be way more trick than the current model, I ordered a 2018 Tango Red/Prestige/sport & steering pkgs/19" about 3 weeks ago. Did not know about the ACNA discount and am not a member but still got a 4%+ discount. Will definitely join well before the next buy.

BTW, I have a bit of preference for the body styling of the S5 but considering the reduced headroom (w/the new sliding roof), more crowded interior, less luggage space, about a $3K price differential & the supposed slight underperformance vs the S4 reported from a couple of car mags, opted for the S4. Have to say that I am expecting that I will some remorse over the loss of the supercharger.
Thanks!