A4 Cab - Lead times???

[timjhoward]

Hi All,

I am sourcing my A4 Cab through a leasing firm (Lex) - the order was signed off and passed to my local dealership (Coventry Audi) on 1st August and immediately on the Lease firms intranet site I was able to see an estimated delivery date to the dealer of 19th October.

I wouldn't be able to collect my car from the dealer until December 17th as that is when my current Saab 9-3 is up for it's renewal so I wasn't too concerned when the build week was announced as week 47 and delivery date slipped back to 14th December as after a quick PDI I should be able to collect the car the following week in time for my Christmas break - I was smitten!

I was told yesterday by my leasing firm that delivery had now been pushed back until 10th January with no explanation as to why?

Is anyone else having problems with delivery periods? I am trying to work out where the fault lies on this, Audi, the dealer or Lex. This is now approaching 6 months from order to delivery which to me seems ridiculous, it's not like I am after an R8! Pretty sure that even Lamborghini can hand build and deliver in this kind of timescale!

Got to say that it is beginning to sour my experience with Audi, I am conscious that the new A4 will be out soon and no doubt the replacements for the A4 Cab will follow, be it an A4 or more likely just the A3 Cab and A5? Wanted to at least have a few months enjoyment before mine becomes the 'old model'.

 

[R14AYN]

LEX ARE THE WORST LEASING COMPANY I HAVE EVER USED!!!

I have had to order 4, yes 4 different cars form them only to have the order canx - I ordered my first one in March this year. Had trouble with order 5 as I wanted Exclusive paint and because the saloon is at the end of its build run it was touch and go. Finally got confirmation from the Audi Garage that I had build week 46....then got an email from Lex to say they might have issues with the paint (2 weeks after the issue was resolved directly with audi).

My advice is to sort all issues with the corporate contact at the garage it will be ordered from as Lex will either be weeks behind eveyone else or just wrong. Sort everything with audi and then tell Lex what the deal is.

 

[timjhoward]

Well I complained to LEX yesterday and highlighted that I signed paperwork 6 months before the car will now be delivered. I have also now been given three delivery dates October 19th, December 14th and now January 10th!

Getting to the stage where I might as well hold out for an 08 plate!!

Anyway they came back to me to say that the dealer had reported it was the factory's fault. Week 47 is so close to the closed period over Christmas that the car is unlikely to make it to the UK before the new year. I did respond that as neither Christmas nor week 47 will have moved I am unsure why this hadn't been realised right at the start. I also would have thought that as Week 47 must be 4 weeks away from Christmas at Week 51 that there would be plenty of time to ship the car to the UK. The whole thing seems a little bit of a 'can't be bothered attitude' and has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

LEX did offer to try to source the car elsewhere, I thought they would be lucky as I have opted for quite a few extras, however they came back with a couple of cars in different colours, with lesser specs......what was the point, if I didn't want BOSE or Xenons or Phantom Black and Wine leather then I wouldn't have ordered them - I suggested if they could find a black S-Line with BOSE I'd take it but in the end told them to give up and I will just have to wait another few weeks. At least I will be that much nearer to Spring I guess!

 

[Gilly]

You are not on your own, I placed an order for the A4 CAB special edition, the same day Audi released details on their website.

Audi stated in there press release that first deliveries would be in December, but my expected delivery date is FEB 28th 2008.

Mine is not a LEX order, so i dont think the problem lies solely with them.

 

[R14AYN]

LEX did offer to try to source the car elsewhere, I thought they would be lucky as I have opted for quite a few extras, however they came back with a couple of cars in different colours, with lesser specs......what was the point, if I didn't want BOSE or Xenons or Phantom Black and Wine leather then I wouldn't have ordered them - I suggested if they could find a black S-Line with BOSE I'd take it but in the end told them to give up and I will just have to wait another few weeks. At least I will be that much nearer to Spring I guess!

They tried the same thing with me, I told them as far as I was aware there arn't to many kicking about with suzuki gray paint....they never got back to me.

At least everything seems sorted now and we'll all be getting our cars...late but here none the less

 

[PeterS]

Hello - interesting thread for me, as I ordered an A4 Cab 2.0t S-Line in September - no complicated options; Quartz Grey, light pack, heated seats and auto dimming RVM - but I have still not had a delivery date.

On the other hand we then ordered an A3 Special Edition for my partner; this was a factory order as we added a few options (ice silver, leather steering wheel, light pack, front arm rest, outside temp gauge and concert stereo). The order was placed October 16th, build week confimed yesterday as 47 and delivery expected mid December.

Is there really such a long lead time on the Cab ? And even more strange, as the delivery date has not been confirmed I thought I'd see if I could change the Cab order to the Special Edition ('free' Bose, PDC, Symphony and S-Line exterior syling IIRC, none of which I'd ordered) but was told it would delay the (as yet unconfirmed anyway) delivery...

Peter

 

[timjhoward]

The order was placed October 16th, build week confimed yesterday as 47 and delivery expected mid December.

Well you could speculate that the capacity to build A3 models is far greater than A4 Cab's and therefore there is a shorter time from order to build. But the fact that you have been given the same build week as my car ordered back in at the beginning of August and yet your car is due in to the dealership during Mid-December (as mine was originally) makes me even more insensed that I am now waiting till the middle of January!

I'd even considered going and collecting it from the factory, until I realised that this would not be an option!!

Hope you don't get let down with the A3 delivery, and good luck with the A4, I think that if it was my own car I would probably accept the delay and take the Special Edition model, but maybe that is because I have already waited so long!

 

[timjhoward]

Hi Peter,

Have you received a delivery date for your Cab yet?

I obtained an email address for Coventry Audi from audi.co.uk on Monday 19th and sent them an email asking for some justification for the latest delay or preferably some action to bring this forward.

By my reckoning this week is week 47 so my car might actually exist....somewhere! Anyway I would have thought that it should be possible to transport my car to the dealership between now and Christmas, I haven't even thought about buying presents yet!!

Well I hadn't received any response to my original mail so today found a different email address on the Coventry Audi website and have forwarded the mail to them on that one. The website suggests a response within 2 hours so I am waiting to see if I get any contact this afternoon?

If not I may then forward my mail to Audi themselves as I have no idea whether my issue is caused by Audi or indeed if the dealerships are responsible for arranging delivery to themselves? I see that £575 of the total cost of the vehicle pays for delivery and reg plates, I therefore feel justified in chasing this - somebody (dealership or Audi?) have had circa £500 to get this car to me!

Good luck with the A3, hope your mid-December delivery hasn't 'slipped' to use the official term!

Tim

 

[PeterS]

No Tim, nothing on the Cab at all... Did speak to the dealer (which is different broker and dealer to the one cab is coming from) about the A3 though, who confirmed it has now been built Should still be on track for mid December apparently, but they'll give me an exact date by the end of next week :icon_thumright:


Given the current state of the car market in the UK - most dealers still chasing targets - I'd guess they'd do everything they can to get a registration in '07, if only to help towards bonuses... Finger crossed for you!!

Peter

 

[timjhoward]

Result!!!!!!!

I did indeed get a response within two hours, admittedly it was only to say that my request had been passed to the relevant department but this morning I received a further email to say my car had arrived at the dealership!!!

I diverted my journey home via the dealer to say thank you (I was hoping to have a sneak peek at the car!) but dicovered that it was at their PDI centre in Rugby - but I'm not complaining!! Now have to see if I can persuade LEX to let me have it before the 17th December, dealer says it can be ready for the 4th!!!!

Sounds like worst case it will be 3 weeks away today!

Apparently it was built ahead of schedule. I know it is a bit fickle but I am now as happy as a pig in muck!

Hoping my next post will be post delivery, and a positive one!!!

Good luck - amazed you still haven't had any communication on the Cab though, might be worth a chase. Hope the A3 is fantastic when it arrives, the spec sounded nice!

 

[PeterS]

Good news Tim - you'd think the sooner LEX let you have it the sooner they can start charging, so shouldn't be any issue registering ASAP hopefully!! Must chase mine tomorrow

Peter

 

[R14AYN]

I phoned LEX yesterday to see where mine was as it was on a boat last week. They had no Idea. I phoned the dealership direct this morning and they said they cant deliver it till Sat.....Couldn't do it, I jusr couldn't wait so I've just driven 300 miles to pick it up!

One Happy Chappy!!

Scary going from an oil burner to petrol though - 28mpg on the motorway !? I take it this will get better as the engine runs in?

Good luck in getting it early Tim

 

[timjhoward]

Not getting it early, but can't complain as my Saab is not quite 3 years old yet and that is the deal with LEX. I'll be there bright and early on Monday 17th December though!!!

I am like a kid on Christmas Eve to be honest, I can't wait - The Saab has been a massive dissapointment, and I just have a horrible feeling it is going to break down in a big way soon.....the auto gearbox sometimes does nothing for a few seconds when you put it into 'D' and then you get a massive kick in the backside as it seems to find gear!

Off to Newquay for a Stag Weekend tomorrow so hope it lasts a little longer....just a couple more weeks!

 

[PeterS]

A quick update: A3 will be delievered on Monday 17th - bang on the mid December estimated delivery date

And more good news - after hearing absolutely nothing on the A4 for months I got a call from the broker on Thursday last week saying the car was at the dealers Talk about lack of communication...anyway, I've decided that we'll take delivery of that one in the new year :icon_thumright:

Peter

 

[Gilly]

I had some great news on my A4 Cab SE delivery time - brought forward from 28th feb 2008 to 30 dec 2007.

there is hope for all of us !

 

[timjhoward]

Great news both, well with only hours left I am rather excited about my 11am appointment to collect my car. Booked the day off work so despite the cold am looking forward to clocking up some miles tomorrow (albeit probably with the roof up, or with a hat!!).

Following my last update. The Saab did make it to Newquay, and a trip to Manchester the following week, but then died just over a week ago....this time it was the intercooler (already had a new turbo and manifold), engine management light came on and I lost about 50% power! Took it in and mentioned the gearbox issue - they came back saying it needed an new intercooler and gearbox!!!! They changed the intecooler and 'tweaked' the gearbox to make it a little better, however I last drove it on Thursday as having parked in the underground car park a work the thing refused to engage gear at all, and only after moving the stick back and forward a few times did it move at all! I've not dared drive it since, just hoping it gets me to Coventry tomorrow to make the swap!!

Sorry I know that was off topic but kind of ironic I felt!

Hope the Audi is an improvement over the Saab in terms of reliability, it eill do well to be worse! So if anyone sees a 54 plate Saab 9-3 with 59K miles on the clock for sale at auction - don't touch it!!

Right one more sleep till I get it....night all!!!