dbuxton13

Because of my somewhat unique circumstance of taking delivery of a US-spec S4 in Germany, while living here on a three year tour, I had to receive the car from an authorized military dealer. Picking up at the factory in Ingolstadt was not an option. This made me sad.

After driving the car (and loving it) for a few months, I decided it was time to rectify the situation and return the car to its place of origin and see what Audi HQ is all about. What follows is a [relatively] brief narrative with pictures of this experience from the last couple days (18 to 19 Feb), with my two teenage sons (the youngest is merely months away from the dreaded teenagery, so close enough).

First up, a reflection on the reality of the German autobahn. This is the trip data from my village of Weltersbach to Ingolstadt:

Converting to 'Merican, that's an average speed of 72mph over 240 miles. Not that amazing. There were brief, thrilling stretches at max speed (130mph on my speed limited winter tires), countered by multiple, excruciating slow-downs to a crawl for construction and the odd stau (traffic jam), especially passing near Stuttgart, which we like to call "Staugart." Before moving to Germany I believed the autobahn would be the ultimate freedom. To a degree, it is truly wonderful to go WOT without that dread feeling (you know what I'm talking about) of keeping an eye out for traffic cops. However, these unrestricted sections are few. In practice, it seems that I usually get a few minutes without speed limit, followed by long sections of 120 or 130 kph limits, broken up by construction lasting several miles at speeds of 60 to 80 kph, then back to 130 kph limit, then an occasional unrestricted section; rinse and repeat. The unrestricted sections make it worth the agony between, but this is a snippet of the reality.

Within 30 miles of Ingolstadt you start to notice the sudden abundance of Audis on the road. I was practically swimming in them. My sons and I ooh'd and aaw'd at some of the rarer models like RS4, RS6 and some R8s that seemed to drive around like it's no big deal.

We arrived after dark and stayed at a hotel in the village. I have travelled extensively throughout Europe the last couple years, but I was caught by surprise with the parking situation in Ingolstadt. There ain't much. The hotel offered parking in a tenant garage for 80 Euros per night. After regaining control of my wide open eyeballs, I declined. I went out into the streets in search of parking, only to find every conceivable spot taken. I finally found a commercial parking garage and hiked back to the hotel, about 8 minutes away. The overnight cost was a more sensible 10 Euro. As a bonus it was sheltered, and kept company by an A6. We were also treated to the acoustic vibrations of an RS3 mashing its pedal around the garage.



I had booked in advance the English factory tour for 1130am, so the next morning we planned on going straight to the Audi Forum and visiting the museum first. On the hike back to the car we passed a prominent Ingolstadt landmark, the Kreuztor. It's a two way car passage now, but when built in 1385 it was the western gateway to the medieval city center of Ingolstadt. Neat-o.



After parking at the Audi Forum I sent my drone up to collect an aerial photo:



Only kidding, of course. I bought an S4, a drone will have to wait!

The museum cost 4 Euro for the three of us, which makes it the cheapest experience I have ever paid for in Europe. They even validated my parking with the purchase, which would have cost at least 10 Euro for the time we spent there, so it was almost like they paid me to see their stuff. It was quite worth the time though. The top floor has all their oldest models from the early 1900s. The cars from the 1930s are amazing specimens. It is unfortunate that I can't not see Mr. Hitler riding in the back of all of them.



The collection is truly fascinating, particularly if you are an Audi loyalist or enthusiast, as I have come to be. This post could turn into a museum photo gallery, but I will refrain and only show a few more of my favorites:


The 1982 Audi Quattro, their first passenger car with permanent all wheel drive, and the beginning of a legend.


This mesmerizing, slowly moving conveyor belt platform system, displaying many unique builds both old and recent.


This chromed out R8!

Making our way to the meeting point for the factory tour, just outside were a couple employee owned cars, including an S5 and an RS4, the latter taunting me with its forbidden fruit.



The factory tour itself was truly something to behold, and well worth the visit (takes 2 hours). Over 800 robots and 44,000 human workers run 24 hrs on weekdays building high quality, world-class cars. Unfortunately no cameras are allowed, so the best I can do is provide an Audi-endorsed link to a video showcasing what I saw. For anyone interested, the last 4 minutes are primarily for the A4/S4 and A5/S5 assembly line (they run the together). The parts of the factory we saw focused primarily on the A3 and Q2 lines, which are run together. The entire grounds cover 29.5 million square feet, so we were bused between buildings.

Audi Factory Ingolstadt

After the tour we walked over to the cafe for lunch, and were not disappointed. Lots to choose from, with mostly traditional Bavarian offerings. Also a nice view of the main square, watching customers pick up their new cars.



The indoor part of the customer pickup area is impressively large all on its own. It would have to be, as a yearly average of 73,000 people choose to travel here to receive their cars. In left foreground is an A5 "g-tron" with an interesting paint scheme of matte black with crystal blue hexagons.



Finally, it was time to go, but not before pulling my Mythos black BO S4 (covered with snow melt spray from the drive there) up next to a Nardo grey BO RS4 to compare and contrast:




I know some of you here would commit heinous crimes to get your hands on an Avant or RS4, but I have to say that personally I prefer the shape of the sedan.

Auf wiedersehen, Audi Forum Ingolstadt, we had a lovely time. Next up in April, the summer wheels go back on and I head to the Nürburgring. I have driven it a few times already in rented track cars, but this time I will be putting my wonderful B9 S4 through all 12.9 miles and 73 bends of the Nordschleife "Green Hell."

markcincinnati

I have been to the factory and taken the tour now six times -- been to the Audi Forum (like a boutique of Audi bling and clothing) and the museum, too. I must say, you have "produced" a wonderful collage of pictures and narrative that makes me long for trip #7. On one of my trips, we took the German tour and the guide was all too happy to give the tour first in German and then in English for my wife and me. We ate in the "executive" dining room four of the 6 visits and were served a 4-star meal with wine all while our host teased us with "what we're working on now" stories, which included -- then -- diesel hybrid A4's. They also had a showroom with every possible Audi made all in silver with camel leather interiors (a combo, as I recall, that was never allowed in the US -- you could get silver paint OR camel leather, but never both in the same car at the same time.) It actually looked great to my untrained left-brained eye.

And, BTW, great looking kids, too!

farmerjones

Thanks for sharing....looks like you had a wonderful time, and Audi has invested in a great opportunity for owners to visit the factory. Tomorrow I visit the John Deere factory to watch my $500,000 combine come to life from flat sheets of steel....factories are amazing places! Overseas delivery is definitely on my bucket list.

markcincinnati

I thought that too, but then I found that you can rent an Audi, BMW or Mercedes -- true, not your own, but still a similar model. Not so keen, now, on doing the ED thing, parking tolerances are so tight, I can just see my new sheen coming to the US with a few door dings and not being a happy camper.

Last time over, I rented an E-Class Mercedes, I also have rented an A4 and BMW 3 -- took all three on the Autobahn and did find several opportunities to go flat out. The Merc was a diesel and as I recall it could run without breaking a sweat to about 200km (about 120MPH).

millersntx

Awesome. Quite jealous here. Thanks for sharing

superswiss

Nice collage. I did European Delivery with my RS5, but I'm also originally from Switzerland. Brings back memories. Regarding the German Autobahn, yeah, the unlimited sections are few and far in between in Southern Germany. Especially around Stuttgart and Munich. I have an acquaintance in Stuttgart. Northern Germany is much better. A28 and A31 in particular. Long strechtes of unlimited rural Autobahn. The closer you are to cities the less unrestricted stretches. As you probably know, some stretches are limited during the day, but become unlimited at night and when there is little traffic. If you haven't been up north to Hamburg and then drove towards Ostfriesland and continue down along the border to the Netherlands, then perhaps worth a trip to do some real Autobahn driving. My biggest issue up there was having enough fuel to make it to the next gas station after going at 174 mph for 20 minutes :-). There isn't much up there. One time I came back from the Netherlands and made a mistake not to fuel up at the last gas station before crossing into Germany. Finally made it to a gas station on fumes. Part of the problem was that I needed an attended gas station as back then the American credit cards didn't work at the automated pumps. Nowadays with the chip cards, that's no longer an issue.

Glisse

Nice post, dbuxton, with great photos.

You'll need to get to Neckarsulm before you transfer out of DE. Whilst your car was conceived in Ingolstadt, I'm fairly sure the US spec A4/S4 pop out in Neckarsulm. Maybe things have changed now that D5 and C8 production is up and running there. Anyway, excuse for another road trip!

stan23

Very cool. Thanks for the pics. I did something similar at BMW Welt in Munich. Liked it so much, I went home and bought an M3.

dbuxton13

6 times! I figured you had gone a few times before. Of course, I think we all agree you automatically win the award for Bestest Most Awesomest Audi Person in Audiworld (and likely the actual world). I am humbled to have walked in your well trod ground.

Thanks, I'll embarrass them with that information later, haha.

Have fun at the John Deere factory, I can only imagine what kind of machinery it would take to build a combine of that size... must be intimidating considering how wow'd I was at Audi's large, rapidly moving Kuka machine arms.

Hamburg is good 8 hours from where I live, and for all our long trips around Europe we have to use the family van (I also have two younger daughters). Thankfully there is nice long stretch of typically sparse unrestricted autobahn running from home towards Trier, on the way to the Nurburgring. I go that direction for fun I'll have to find an excuse to get up North, though. It just seems all my trips around Germany fall in the same pattern off go fast, go less fast, slow to a crawl, and repeat. I haven't found a pay at the pump system here in the last 2.5 years, those exist?! It seems I always have to go inside to pay.

Thanks, Glisse. Neckarsulm is only about 2 hours away, and it's on my list. The tour guide did say though that at least for the B9 S4 and new S5, all models sent worldwide come from Ingolstadt. We got to that part of the factory at the end and I saw a couple S4 and S5 bound for the U.S. rolling off the line (with those stupid amber front reflectors). What did surprise me though was seeing several RS3 going down the line at Ingolstadt, I had assumed all R models were made at Neckarsulm. It seems they flex and adapt their factory lines as new models go online, and their Ingolstadt line can now handle avant or sedan variants at the same time. According to the Neckarsulm info page, they do make the A4 sedan only there, as well as the A5/S5 cabriolet.

Also just a point of gee whiz for anybody... the 11th character in the VIN is the location where the car was built, A is Ingolstadt and N is Neckarsulm. Now you can look at your car's VIN and see for yourself!

superswiss

Yes, I know it's a long drive to Hamburg from where you are. I've done it several times. In fact when I picked up my RS5, my acquaintance, and Audi aficionado himself, joined me in Ingolstadt and then we drove to the Stuttgart area. He lives in Ilsfeld. Next day I hauled up to Hamburg to meet with my brother-in-law from Japan, who coincidentally was on a business trip, and then I continued to Leer visiting a customer of mine. Good times. The A7 through Würzburg to Hamburg is an awesome drive. Nice unrestricted sweeping Autobahn through the mountains.

You might be right on the pay at the pump thing. I think I'm confusing that with Switzerland. Now that I'm thinking about it, the problem in Germany is that some gas stations close for the night, so you can't get gas at all.