Dan ex S4 owner

Talked to my dealer earlier this week, he said he should have more info for me this week. I got all excited, but it turns out today that all they got was an article about the release of the Avant (they were expecting more).

However, their rep said they'd have order sheets in a week or two and hopefully "unofficial" info sooner than that.

WagonBoy

I got sick of my dealer saying "We should have more info by the end of the month!" Well, they said that in July, August and again this month. So this time I got pissed. I decided to email a friend that works for AoA in the marketing department. I asked if he could verify some information for me, basically I tossed out all the rumors that have been floating around, and this is what I got back....

"Rick,

Hello, well the day is getting closer that the dealers will be able to
order the S4 Avant. You are correct that we have already ordered the
launch volume, which will be allocated to the dealers to sell. The
reason we have to order the launch volume is because they put production
restrictions on the launch cars. The next allocation should include custom S4
Avants. Although I don't work on the A4's I will keep you posted."

I emailed back for some more clarification, but haven't gotten a response, but basically we are looking at the following scenario...

1) AoA spec'd cars have been ordered for dealers as their first allocation. This means that if you want an S4 Avant that is of a generic color ( not a flame, but I mean Silver, Black, or similar ) then you could probably get one of these right away.
2) Custom order cars will be in the second allocation, but due to production restrictions there is no definitive time set for these allocation. This means that special orders will probably be built in October, at the earliest, and delivered in December/January. However, a more likely scenario is November build and January/February delivery.
3) Dealers with lists made up will be scrambling to determine who gets what and in what order. I'm #2 at my dealer, but I could pretty much garauntee that they will not get what I want in the first allocation, which means someone below me will probably jump ahead and take it instead. Oh well, so much for getting one of the first ones in Colorado.

I hope this helps,
Rick
98.5 Avant QMS

DaveE

You might get lucky although yellow cars, in general, don't seem to be all that common in this country. Not sure about the Nav system. There is zero chance they will get one in that fits my specs on anything but a custom order:

2001 S4 Avant Cactus Green
Onyx leather w/ silver alcantara interior
6 Speed

The cars that are part of the launch volume will undoubtedly come equipped with at least the premium package (which I could really do without) and I would be shocked to find one with alcantara. Cactus is also one of the least popular colors. I'll go through the motions of asking my salesman about ordering Achat Grey, but I'm not holding my breath.