If anyone is interested in my purely subjective thoughts on why I chose the options I did, here goes...
Daytona Grey - REALLY wanted the sepang blue but not available, and the navarra blue is a little too dark for my tastes, and has a purple tint to my eyes. The Daytona Grey is the right shade for me, not too dark, not too light, and has a lovely metallic glint in sunlight. It is a bit low key, but I hope should suit the understated nature of the S4 Avant.
Inlays - Carbon atlas - Thought the aluminium would lighten the black interior, but when I sat in an A4 with it I thought it looked a bit cold, and the carbon is a differentiator for the S4, and will hopefully give the interior look a special feel.
19" 10-V spoke
alloy wheels - Really wanted to stick to 18" wheels for the ride but I don't personally like the standard ones, and not keen on titanium or diamond cut wheels in general. Since the only options are 19", and having been urged to go that way for resale, the 19" 10 spoke ones were only £275 and normal alloys. They look really hard to keep clean, but the cost saving over the other options should pay for a few hand washes if I can't be bothered to clean them myself.
Adaptive S Sport suspension with damping control - Had this on my last few cars, and bearing in mind my concern over the ride on sports suspension and 19" wheels, this was high on my list. My wife's A1 S-line is very bouncy on poor roads and it a little tiresome. I find the adaption to road and driving style works really well, coping well with poor road surfaces but stiffening up in corners. P.S. Tried a test drive in a new
A4 TFSI with 19" wheels and the ride was pretty awful, but the sales manager reckoned as the car was brand new it would have still had 60 psi in the tyres!
Light & Vision Pack - Probably the best bargain on the spec list, love the sports view on the Virtual Console and the Matrix lights sound very good.
Driver Assistance Pack - Tour - Very keen on the Adaptive Cruise after having tried it out on a test drive, and the active lane assist sounds fun.
Parking Assistance Pack - Have to have the 360 camera after getting used to one in my BMW, find parking so much easier when you can see all round the car. The parking bit could be useful, as I get poorer at parallel parking as each year goes by!
Parking Assistance Pack Advanced - Gonoe for this advanced pack as it includes Side Assist, which sounds sensible as visibility in modern cars gets worse, probably due to safety regulations affecting the size of the windows, etc. As with all these safety aids, I reason that they need only save the grief of a single bump or even scrape to pay for themselves. Hard to justify the cost if you were only keeping the car a short time, but over 4 years or so they should pay for themselves.
Electric panoramic glass sunroof - lightens the car, especially in the back. Very rarely open a sunroof, but I do like to let more light in and the new A4 does have quite narrow windows.
Bang & Olufsen 3D
Sound System - I'm a sucker for a good stereo!
Audi Phone box with wireless charging - solely for the second bluetooth connection, as otherwise it connects to my wife's phone before I get in the car, then I would have to switch the connection to take calls on mine. If the external aerial helps my
iPhone that would be a bonus (I suspect it won't) and one day in the next four years Apple may go wireless chargeable, but they seem very resistant to any non-Apple standards.
Privacy and Acoustic glass - mainly for the Acoustic glass, as I don't like wind noise, and for resale, as I am not that keen on privacy glass myself.
Heated front and rear seats - to make riding in the back a little more pleasant, along with the three zone climate that comes a standard.
Heated 3-spoke steering wheel - thought I'd give it a try, as everyone that has a heated steering wheel seems to rave about them, and I really don't like the flat bottomed ones so that wasn't an issue for me.
Electrically adjustable front seats with memory function - electric seats should always have a memory function for the driver, as with almost infinite adjustment after any changes it's otherwise hard to get back to exactly what you are used to. I will be swapping with my wife fairly regularly so this will be a real help, and it is only £200.
Door mirrors - memory and auto dimming - only £100 to add the auto dimming and since the rear view mirror does this it seemed to make sense.
Storage Pack - like the cup holders in the rear, the extra little compartment in the front and any extra stuff in the boot is handy.
Hill hold assist - no idea why I need this, or why it is an option, but £75 seemed cheap to ensure I didn't regret not getting it.
Audi Warranty for up to 4 years - the fourth year warranty is very cheap and it should encourage me to keep the car that extra year and get a bit more value from all the expensive options!
Didn't go for the HUD, Sports diff or dynamic steering as they are expensive options, and you have to draw the line somewhere. Obviously if they were free I would have them (apart from maybe the steering), but I'd rather have the other options and don't think I will miss these ones.
Also didn't go for the
keyless entry, as blipping the key is something I'm used to doing my entire life and the security of
keyless entry has been questioned many times. Also the red calipers as £300 to paint something red seemed excessive and with the 10 twin spoke wheels the calipers are not that visible.
They have since made the black exterior styling available, but I don't want to change the spec and I'm not sure that I like the black grill or window surround anyway, especially on Daytona Grey. If it were white or silver I might be tempted.
With so many options to choose from, I find getting the spec right is quite stressful, as you loose so much money if you don't keep it for a repectable period of time. I have sold high spec cars after just a year, when they really didn't suit me, and I got murdered on depreciation! I preferred the days when a sunroof was the only option!
Geoff