Also, I reading more it looks like the side airbag option is just for the thorax air bags. Head curtain airbags come standard for front and rear. Besides the option cost...are there any or other cons to having the additional side thorax air bags in the rear?
I'm not sure myself if there are any pros or cons. I plan to dig into this specific question myself before ordering.
According to
this, the Allroad will be the only A4 wagon in the US, they will be pulling the standard Avant completely. Pussies.
So the decision for me is back to Allroad or S4...
The Allroad looks sharp. But, I'd take the S4 with the 6MT over an 8 speed automatic all day long and twice on Sunday. Audi has systematically dropped the Avants because they hardly sell in the US. US car buyers just don't buy wagons.
The one small feature my TL-S has that I really appreciate is if I unlock my car using the key fob and then continue to hold the unlock button, it will roll down my windows and open the moon roof until I let go of the button. Does Audi have anything like that for a feature? If I want to roll up the windows or close the moon roof, I can't do it from the key fob, but if I put the key into the physical door lock and lock the car and hold, it'll roll up the windows.
Audi/VW's have the ability to do this from the remote. You will need to do a
VAG-COM mod to enable it though. I think it can also be set to put the windows up and close the sunroof by pressing and holding the lock button on the remote as well. I believe the sunroof can be omitted from the feature as well if you don't want it to open/close by remote.
What's the most defining difference between the Allroad and the Avant? Is the Allroad bigger or based off the A6 (or something else)?
The Allroad is A4 based this time. Last time it was A6 based. The biggest different is about 3cm of extra lift in the suspension giving more ground clearance.
Stereodude is going to have a shitload of posts to read through in the morning. haha
Yes, I noticed.
Anyway, what about the
Audi Q3 that was just announced recently? Is that too much of a CUV/SUV compared to the Allroad or Avant? The article claims it has a 314-horsepower 2.5-liter five-cylinder TFSI engine in it. Is that some kind of derivative of one of the VW Jetta engines?
The turbo 2.5L is a detuned version of the 2.5L monster in the TT-RS and S3. It really has nothing in common with the 2.5L in the Jetta other than displacement. I would not expect to see it in a production version of the Q3 regardless of what some of the automotive press is reporting. Audi is likely to keep that engine all to itself.
Just tried it and no, but there is a company that flashes Audis and gives you things like that and remote start. I might be interested in such things. I'd need to look them up again.
Ross-Tech sells a product so you can DIY changes to the car's behavior. Remote start is out of the question on most models though (especially if you have a 6MT).
Yes, I am considering an S4. At this point it really matters what the pricing of the Allroad looks like. If it is already inching towards an S4 I would likely just go that way. I do have an awesome dealer here, and since you two are already picking features on your own, I don't see why it couldn't work. Hell, once we all pick what we want, just give each of our local dealers the ability to bid on the action and take all three sales.
Something tells me that even with three cars on the line we won't be seeing much below MSRP out the door on such high demand models, though.
That might only benefit the person who was local to the dealer. Having to pay out of state sales tax and shipping (or a one way flight and driving back) would likely kill most of the savings for the other two. In addition, dealers don't get much allocation for the S4 so they wouldn't likely be able to order 3 at the same time and they wouldn't probably want to eat up 3 of their S4 allocation slots anyhow.
I ran the numbers on buying a 2012 S4 out of state at the cheapest dealer I could find (about $500 over invoice) and didn't find hardly any advantage if I could get a local guy down to about $1500 below MSRP (roughly $1500 over invoice). The savings get eaten up in the higher sales tax (7% in NJ in my example vs. 6% in MI), and shipping (or gas on the way back + one way air fare). Not to mention ultimately you will get better treatment at your local dealer if you buy the car there. IMHO, for a few hundred dollars net savings it just isn't worth the hassle and the potential pitfalls.
Oh, and I wasn't against 4 doors, I prefer 4 to 2, but I wanted a proper hatchback. The S5 is closer to it than the S4, but with that 4.2l V8 I think I'll pass.
Unless I missed something, doesn't the S5 lose the V8 and get the Supercharged "3.0T" for 2013?
