6 months preordered - I'm surprised.

Well, I went down to my dealer today (Jim Ellis in Atlanta), intending to get some info on when the TDI would be available for a test drive. I was told the first ones (already spoken for) would be coming in around the end of this month. They also mentioned that they had a Eurospec demo that unfortunately was on loan to another dealership in the region, so I couldn't test drive the TDI. However, I did get behind the wheel of a 2.0T with the same equiipment I wanted, so I've got a pretty good idea of how the car drives.

As I said above, their soon-to-arrive stock is all spoken for. Luckily for me, they did have one on allocation with the options I wanted -- I put down a deposit, and it should be delivered around mid-December. My dealer is one of the biggest in the region, so they have some pull with Audi USA -- the inventory manager said he'd talk to them about speeding that up a bit, but no promises yet. Not that I expect anything -- I was expecting to have to wait until Jan/Feb, so even December is good for me.

I was quite impressed with the entire experience -- I've had problems with dealers in the past not listening to what I wanted, or pressing me to make an immediate buy. Not so today -- the salesman was really cool and let me drive the entire process.

So I got to drive an A3 TDI today -- one of the Eurospec ones, but essentially identical to the US version except that the speedo is in km/h, and the car was plastered with TDI and "clean diesel" vinyl lettering that won't be on the production version.

Drives just like the gasoline version, but with a bit more torque off the line. Even though the 0-60 time is a bit longer with the diesel, you don't really notice it. Can't say that I noticed any turbo lag; then again, I've never driven a turbo before, so I'm not sure I know what to look for.

Talked a bit with the sales guy -- he gave me a two page printout of the order, and explained the rest of the process. Several things came up in the conversation:

• Audi has a put a two-week hold on A3 TDI production, for reasons not specified
• Audi USA told him that they've received a total of 50 orders in the last week or so
• My salesman has taken two orders (mine and one other) since Friday

With the two week hold, my delivery will be pushed back to the first half of January. Not the greatest news to start the week with. OTOH, it gives me more time to save up for a larger down payment.

Guys, thanks for the info and reports and comparisons of the Audi diesel to the VW. Some of the links provided very detailed information helpful to make a buying decision. As well are the opinions of the people here.

My wife and I have been interested in perhaps buying an A3 diesel. We visited our local dealership couple weeks ago. They only had the gas engines. We drove the standard suspension model and the performance one. We decided we didn't like the performance one. It rides a little too firm, and we don't believe we need it. (I may be looking for a another car - a sports car - in the next six months anyway.) We're now looking for an upscale small car that would be at least somewhat green and somewhat interesting too, to be used in an urban environment mostly, with some short distance driving (1.5 hr drive to visit relatives. And a couple of nice driving vacations every year maybe.) I read that the performance setup sits lower (was it .75"?) than the standard, and that's not good for us because we have an angled driveway, so clearance is or might be an issue.

Anyway, we were invited to the dealership's sales event yesterday where they did have a eurospec A3 diesel which we both drove. It was just as described by the previous poster. My additional impressions were these: An easy touch of the brake pedal seemed to abruptly brake the car. (An owner of that car would learn to have a light touch, I suspect.) The car moves out, feels quick enough, but it is not a fast car in the sense that maybe I expected a little push back in the seat from 'all' the torque I read about. But if it was there, that aspect didn't impress me. Still, when everybody else was pulling away from the light, and I trounced it, the car moved quickly away from them all. (They weren't racing me though of course.) The car is quicker than what we drive around in now, so for us, it's going to be fine. Redline and gear changes come fast (it seems to me, bwdik). Seems like in auto mode it shifted from D1 to D2. D3 in 20 feet?

Somehow from the inside of the car, I notice the door curves out, and so I was surprised there's plenty of shoulder room - lots. I felt close to the passenger - of course - it's a small car -- but not jammed in. Actually seemed somwhat roomy. I was surprised.

Customer at the event had preordered one, so he had come in to take the test drive too. He seemed to know his performance cars, awd cars and engines, and he was pretty positive about the car. The thing is, neither he nor the salesman could find the button to open the hood. lol. They really had to hunt before they got it. (Eurospec diesel cars are different from USA a3's in location of hood opener?)

So eventually we talk to our sales guy and the sales manager. The manager says they're really not negotiating on price now. He says they don't have a lot to sell and they've had pretty good presales - and nobody's getting a deal (he assures me). But as he gets models in the showroom and if or as other dealers are offering deals, he says he will too to be competitive. For now though, no. (he says). I know that Audi sales are down 6%, although also threre's that article posted here that says a lot of the a3's are already spoken for. Talking to my wife, do we really want the car? And now? These babies are expensive and that's before taxes. I lean towards believing the sales manager. Ha. Possibly a customer's biggest mistake. -g- Seemed to be a reasonable position though. It's new, there's a number of preorders (or so the sheet they showed me indicated), and if I wanted to wait, they certainly seemed open to negotiating as circumstances changed.

The previous poster summed it up for me: You can get one of these things if you're not picky about the price or options.

The salesmanager offered us a car close to what we wanted with a little break on the price: A grey car with premium plus and the sunroof. Which met our main requirements. I compromised on the interior (I wanted light, maybe gray. Accepted black. Black seems like it'll be too hot in the summer. Geez though, most of the cars in the showroom were black interiors, so people around here must buying them.)

So we put down a deposit, and we expect to be notified that our car will be off the docks and into the showroom in a couple of weeks.

Sales experience was positive. Took couple hours to get from my "okay, we have a deal" to "out-the-door". Lot of paperwork and such.

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I just want to post my experience and what I'm doing. I don't buy a new car very often, so I'm getting exited and looking forward to taking delivery. I hope you wheeler-dealer/negotiating experts and you VW fans don't bring me down with your comments even before I even get the car. -g-

Regards.

Audi_FTW said:

The reason is that the German factory shuts down for two weeks in order to celebrate the holidays. I was told the same by my sales guy.

Click to expand...

I don't think that's it. When I put down my deposit on Oct 9, I was told I'd have the car near the end of December. On the 12th, when I returned to the dealership to test drive the Eurospec TDI (it wasn't there when I put my deposit down), they told me about the two-week hold, and that the car wouldn't be delivered until mid-January.

They then gave me a sheet with the details of the order, specifying that the car would be built the week of Dec 7 -- some time before the holidays. The "status date" on this sheet was Sep 16th -- i.e. the production date on the sheet was set before I was told about the two-week hold (which the dealer apparently didn't know about till the morning of Oct 12).

So if the car was to have been built the week of Dec 7 and delivered near the end of December, that would suggest roughly 3 weeks for shipping, customs, and delivery from the port to the dealership. When I was told of the two-week hold, I was also told delivery would be delayed from end of December to mid-January (i.e. two weeks). I'm assuming that because it was described to me as a production hold, that the slippage would be in the build date and not the shipping process.

So, the build date would be pushed back to the week of Dec 21 (just before the holidays), which with the 3-week ship/customs/delivery process would put the car in my hands mid-January. Of course, this could just be BS on the part of the dealership; they may have made up the entire two-week hold story because the salesman promised more than he could deliver and wanted to save face.

3waygeek, I agree that you absolutely don't know what's going on behind the scenes when you're hearing everything from the sales guy. However, you can't dismiss the shipping time from Inglestodt, which is about 3 weeks.

On top of that, I was told that there's also one week that the local dealer uses to ensure the vehicle has met standards and the electronics are set up properly.

Therefore, let's do some math:

Ordered today = late October
3-4 week build = late November
2 week closedown for holidays = mid-late December
3 week shipping = mid-late January
1 week inspection = early February

It's all a matter of whether they can get the thing shipped before the two-week closedown happens. Regardless of what that two-week event is, it seems to be throwing a monkey wrench in the 2010 shipping.

Hey, I'm already aggravated that it only gets the $1300 tax credit, rather than the Golf's $1700.

I can take a picture of the "open sky system". Car is "ice silver metallic". Not sure there are any other options that I can take pictures of (well maybe, 6W3, the front license plate holder, -g-)

How do I upload pictures?

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There are some people who are early adopters of technology, and there are others who are late. Somewhat surprising to me, I have turned out to be a late adopter: late with a cell phone (I still have no capability or idea how to text-msg), late with dvd players, late with getting gps. One of our cars, an '83 Saab daily driver, seems to have finally seen its last days. (Wife and I are the original owners.)

You may tell me that the diesel & tranny I'm getting, and the A3, have both been around for a while now (some media people saying the A3 is old enough to need a refresher). For me though, the combo A3 and TDI is new, and I am looking forward to finally being seen among my friends and relatives and neighbors, as an early adopter of something. I'm going to be the first in my social circle with a modern diesel, and I may be among the first here at myturbodiesel to be in possession of a USA 2010 Audi diesel. I am going to like being early and on top of something, instead of my usual lagging self. -g-

2010 A3 TDI now in my garage!!

Drive home from dealer: Car brakes not as touchy as Euro spec version I tested. More what I'm used to. Car seems to hesitate somewhat before power kicks in when moving out from stop light (car in "D"). Don't know if it's turbo lag, my driving, the inherent diesel behavior. Car also slows quickly when foot off gas (i.e. doesn't "roll" so much as other cars I have.) These are comments, not complaints. Very happy with car... so far for first 15 miles. -g-. Surprise to me, I have -- they all apparently get -- the "S line" exterior package (well, the exterior badging says S line)

After celebratory champagne dinner, I'm sitting in dark garage in driver's seat at midnight with Sirius playing while I just enjoy the radio and lighted interior. Okay, I grant that you guys who buy cars frequently have different knowledge, different expectations from me ---it's been a long time since I bought a new car. For me though, the car and features presented to me are very impressive.