Ok, I think i'm done.

Inked

Inked

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So, three weeks after placing my order I think (hope) that I have finally stopped adding options.

When I originally placed the order, I had only added tyre pressure indicator and pearlescent paint.

The week after I added folding mirrors, alcantara, high beam assist and Adaptive headlights. I really thought I was completely happy.

Until yesterday that is, when I decided that I no longer wanted front wheel drive (and really want quattro badges on the car).

I think the wife is going to kill me if I add any more options to the car. Just got to wait and see if the latest change pushes the build date back now.
 
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lol.Dont forget the b+o!!!.To save a bit of cash and to justify more options and quattro, change to a 140bhp and get it remapped to 170 for £300.The 170 really isnt worth it.My 170 is a bit rough compared to the 140, and the 30bhp gain is pretty un noticeable.And the mpg is total shyte too.Its averaged 32 mpg since new mixed driving, look at the official figures and knock at least 40% off for a real time figure.Must have quattro though, im still kicking myself having a fwd.But do it quick!!!
 
oh, and dont get conned by that supaguard paint protection nonsense either.That could save a few quid towards the b+o
 
Black edition comes with B&O as standard, Audi are doing supaguard at no cost. I would really hope for better fuel economy than 32mpg (listed at 51mpg so was hoping for around 40 in real world) as most of my miles are motorway, thankfully I am only going to be doing around 6k a year though.
 
If you're joining the quattro club then you need to know it's never capitalised ;)

I've got the Adaptive lights and dimming/folding mirrors and they're both great. Well worth addding.
 
Never got more than 35mpg when I had my
170 quattro (B7) with the DPF engine
Also thought it was a bit sluggish.
I would've thought that the CR engine is alot better!
 
Nice one, I don't think I'd like to step back from quattro now having seen the benefits gained in the bad weather.

I know a few people with the 170 engine and they tell me that the realworld figures aren't always that great.

In many respects I would agree that the advice of the getting the 143 is good advice accept it does bring about some other considerations -

Insurance will be harder to find and more expensive as it will become a modified car.

Warranty may be comprimised if a fault develops that can be attributed to the non standard software.
 
TBH I am hearing more often the dealers arent to worried about maps & warranties so much, maybe prudent to check though.

PS. Assume life has settled now with new addition Stu, as your back on ASN :)
 
Cheers guys, thinking about it, the fuel economy is more of a secondary consideration as we always knew that changing cars was never going to save us money! If I had really wanted to do that, I'd be sticking with the fiesta! £20 road tax and 50mpg.

This car is a compromise between myself and the wife, I would have ideally gone for an A5, she wanted four doors and the budget wouldn't stretch to an A5 sportback if I wanted to buy new. (Considering the original budget for a car was £16k including trading in the fiesta, I think I've done well!)
 
NHN said:
TBH I am hearing more often the dealers arent to worried about maps & warranties so much, maybe prudent to check though.

PS. Assume life has settled now with new addition Stu, as your back on ASN :)
Click to expand...

But dealers aren't Audi. If Audi find they're paying for repairs caused by mods then the dealer will get a slapped wrist and then possibly lose the franchise. It's happened.

It the mod didn't cause it then it'd be covered anyway.
 
TBH mate, we dont know what dealers have agreed with audi for there franchise, I doubt a big dealership would lose anything if audi wernt aware of the remaps they authorised, audi know what side there breads buttered & if its a hefty multi site dealer, I'd be surprised if they closed them down, very, all comes down to one thing mate, money, as long as they make vag enough of it, they really dont give a toss IMHO.
 
Quite a few dealers are also software dealers. REVO have a number of VAG dealers on their books, likewise Wayside Group went to the trouble of starting another company to manage retrofits and remapping (Superchips software).

Where you can fall over is when the smelly stuff hits the fan and people start looking more closely. The VAS system now has a test drive process to identify non OEM software.
 
VRStu said:
All good thanks Nige, busy as ever and still struggling for sleep though ;-). You ok?
Click to expand...

Good to hear, stateside atm doing work, but longing to get back to my girls as miss them like crazy, but good old msn video calls is a lifesaver atm, see them everyday thankfully or I'd go insane, 8 months nearly she is & man its gone so quickly but would never go back, I know what I missed now, look forward to number 2 lol.

VRStu said:
Quite a few dealers are also software dealers. REVO have a number of VAG dealers on their books, likewise Wayside Group went to the trouble of starting another company to manage retrofits and remapping (Superchips software).

Where you can fall over is when the smelly stuff hits the fan and people start looking more closely. The VAS system now has a test drive process to identify non OEM software.
Click to expand...

Yeah they do actually show up the 0660 sds hack on VAS aswell for rns-e mk1's & advise exactly whats its for, lol, so they're not as daft as some of us maybe think.
 
I'm buying through the Wayside group and they offered me a remap on the 170
 
That will no doubt be Richtersport who install SuperChips software.

I don't think the gains for the 170CR are worth the hassle.
 
audi upgrades
Yeah, I had been thinking of bluefin, but was going to wait a while and see how I got on with the car as standard first.
 
You might need a trip to HQ in Buckingham to have it unlocked but after that it's all over OBD so as long as it's supported with the latest ECU's from the factory the Bluefin would be fine. SC have a pretty good money back policy as well I think.

As far as I know if the dealer ever flashed the ECU for a routine update it may lock again so it would need to be removed and unlocked again.
 
Dealers remapping and warranties :

Dealers are generally independant companies so they can remap if they want. It is exactly the same as if you had a remap elsewhere.

Just for background, for many years I was the "Liason Officer" for the Audi TT Owners Club. I had regular chats, emails, meetings with the A3 and TT Product Manager at Audi UK and occasionally with the Operations Director. We discussed many times modifications and the impact on warranties. We also discussed the dealers that were "turning a blind eye" and I was told what actions where being taken by Audi UK.
My comments are therefore not just based on opinion or what someone may have said on a web forum somewhere.

There was/is a dealer who some of you may know who was continually suggesting to people that their warranty wouldn't be affected if they had a remap etc. That was B.S. No one ever got it in writing and of course if you was elsewhere in the country and needed a fix due to the remap then you'd be on your own. That company changed from saying this to doing remapping themselves and also supplying third party warranties. This was after Audi had slapped their wrists.

If you think about it then it's quite straight forward:

A dealer doing fixes under warranty for issues caused by modifications is actually defrauding Audi by charging them for their time for work they shouldn't be doing.

Of course work on modded cars where the mod wasn't the cause of the issue is covered under the Audi warranty anyway.

You'll also notice that most of the warranties that tuners offer only cover the actual mod (i.e. the chip and software) but not any damage etc caused to the engine.

For the record I am not anti modding. On my TT I ran APR, AMD, MTM remaps with a Milltek Exhaust and Koni/H&R Suspension. My S4 was AMD stage 3 (about 390-395bhp).

I just like people to understand the potential implications. For me the implications were none as none of my mods ever caused an issue.
 
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Scotty,

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear or have caused some confusion. I'm not suggesting that people attempt to defraud a franchised dealer or Audi and not am I suggesting that because a franchised dealer is also a third party software dealer it makes everything ok. It was simply the basis of a discussion.

I don't understand this part of your post -

scoTTy said:
I'm really not sure of the relevance of posts saying "you can" or "I bought" a remap from a dealer.

Yeah and what of it? What does that say/prove/mean?
Click to expand...

or what you are getting at?

I too want people to understand the implications and hence why I posted earlier that the 'just by a 140 and map it' attitude does have some drawbacks with insurance and warranty. I also posted that I am aware that VAS has a Road Test Program designed to identify non OEM software.

Dealers are becoming very cautious when it comes to warranty work as they bear the initial cost and then claim back from Audi. If Audi reject the claim then the dealer will be out of pocket. Most defects will require a VAS report to confirm that GFF (Guided Fault Finding) has been followed and that a defect truly exists. This of course is done 'online' and therefore the cars details will have been transferred and recorded in the process.

Audi are also one step ahead of the other VAG Marques with Component Protection and SVM, again ensuring they keep a tight reign on things.
 
Is it worth me adding DVD based Sat Nav (£1150 Tech Pack Low)? I have Sat Nav on my mobile so could just use that, is the Audi one any good?
 
I think some options are what might be considered essential. I remember selling my last S3 and every dealer I spoke to muttered the same immortal words - "Does it have Bose and Sat Nav?".

Draw from that what you will and then have a look at the centre console of a non SatNav equipped A4 :eyebrows:

Of course it is largely driven by your budget but you should also keep an eye to the future and resale values. If cost is becoming an issue I would drop the headlights options from yours.
 
I should add that the OEM Sat Nav isn't normally quite as good as the more recent TomTom etc but the Audi one in the A4 is pretty good.
 
Cost is more of an issue to the Wife than it is to me!! I figure whats another grand? Can I ask what the bit under the screen is when you have sat nav? (where the radio controls used to be)
 
The other thing that may help sell it to the Boss is that the Tech Pack will also include Parking Plus which will pay for itself if it avoids a slight scrape whilst parking. Not forgetting the AMI if you like your music.

IMHO I would have the Nav as you are ordering the top spec car in the range and I think it would be a little odd if it didn't have it.

It's the DVD player and SD card slots in place of the controls.

I found this image of the inside -

Audi_A4Interiorl.jpg


and this one without the Nav -

2010-a4-interior.jpg
 
Black edition already comes with AMI and Park plus, thats why I was unsure about it. The pics you have put up are different to the ones on the Audi configurator.

Without Satnav
wss4gq.jpg


With Satnav
wss4gq-1.jpg
 
Ah yes my mistake I forgot the AMI and parking were standard. The pictures I linked to were only as a rough guide, taken from google but they look pretty similar to me.
 
I just couldn't tell what the bit below the air vents was. Text the salesman a minute ago and he has already emailed me through a revised order with techpack low. Total price now is £32200 (List price with options £35795 OTR) :wacko:

Thanks for your help!
 
VRStu said:
This is going to be night and day compared to your previous cars!!
Click to expand...

Tell me about it. I only passed my driving test 6 years ago (always had the motorbikes before that). Never had a new car until buying the Focus in '07, then the Fiesta at the end of '08, and vowed NEVER to buy new again.

Really wanted a used model with no finance, but struggled to find exactly what I wanted for a reasonable price as they all seem to be holding their value pretty well.

Really hope this lives up to expectations, I only managed to get a test in an Avant as thats all they had in an S-line with the 170 engine, so haven't actually driven the saloon at all yet!
 
VRStu said:
I don't understand this part of your post -

or what you are getting at?
Click to expand...

I removed it within a min of posting as it didn't read the way I wanted. You're too quick on the draw though ;)

Inked,

I ordered non-nav originally as I stupidly believed a salesguy saying the MMI controllers were unaffected by if you had nav or not. I then realised and added it to my order. I think without nav it looks like one big blanking plate and it's no where near as ergo nomic. Admittedly it's not the best nav in the world (e.g. you don't even get full postcode support) but it's nicely integrated and it works well enough for me. Also you get the "Individual setting " with Driver Select if you order nav.

Here's my pics of the differences :

Non Nav .............................................................Sat Nav

A4_non_nav_upper.JPG
A4_nav_upper.JPG

A4_non_nav_lower.jpg
A4_nav_lower.jpg
 
Cheers, really does look a lot better with the controls there, haven't taken drive select tho!
 
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lmfao, yeah & look at the results Stu lol
 
Inked
I think you'll be pleased with all the spec amendments!
Is the dealership still quoting the same build week now?
I'm at my dealers in the morning and I'll see if my week 26 build has
Improved (but I doubt it!)

Cheers
Keef
 
Keef said:
Inked
I think you'll be pleased with all the spec amendments!
Is the dealership still quoting the same build week now?
I'm at my dealers in the morning and I'll see if my week 26 build has
Improved (but I doubt it!)

Cheers
Keef
Click to expand...

Still waiting for dealer to get confirmation of whether build week has changed, keeping my fingers crossed it's still week 21 but think I may be unlucky.
 
whatever you get youll love.Took me a while to bond with mine.Start counting the days!
 
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