Sportback NO,Avant YES?

[Evotek]

So my Sportback that i ordered at 20th december have been delayed again and the latest info said week 16(ETA was week 10-12).

Now i´m not really happy about it and have told the stealers that i don´t find this acceptable and wanted some kind of compensation,meanwhile the Audi A4 Avant 1,8T Quattro with a very nice spec was offered to a very reduced price here in Sweden.

About £1500 more and it was a no brainer so i called the stealers and yes there was a car available already here in Sweden and after some discussions with the Chief salesman i was able to cancel my Sportback and get the A4 Avant instead and should get it in about a week.

The spec on the A4 is called Prosport here in Sweden and it has the S-line exterior with sportseats/E-lumbar,3-spoke multi steering,S-line suspension and about everything else that you would need,but no Xenons.
Black with chrome-trim(rails,windows,single-frame,etc)5-spoke wheels.

More info when i get it but did i make a good choice as the Sportback has arrived and was available also next week,hmmm.........??

 

[mcmasman]

What spec you have originally intended for the A3?

 

[Evotek]

The specs on the Sportback was a Standard with Proline-pack.
Proline=Comfort package(ACC/E-windows,E-mirrors,Concert II,etc)
Light-pack,Storage-pack,Thru-load system,metallic-paint.

Total price on that spec about Eur 24000,without discount=Eur 26000.

The Avant has all of the above and S-line exterior,E-Sport-seats,S-line suspension,coming home,Light/Rain,Cruisecontrol,Mfsw,aluminium-trim in/out and some more.

Total price on this spec about Eur 25500
,without discount/campaignprice=Eur 32000

 

[mfspen]

In your position, I would get the Sportback, mainly because the 1.8T is very, very old engine design. It won't be in the same league as the 1.8 TFSI for refinement.

 

[mcmasman]

In your position, I would get the Sportback, mainly because the 1.8T is very, very old engine design. It won't be in the same league as the 1.8 TFSI for refinement.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I always thought that 1.8T is short for 1.8 TFSI?!?

 

[Evotek]

MFSPEN.

I know what you mean and it was one of my concerns but on the other hand it´s a well known engine and compared to the newer TFSI-line a bit more on fuel but still easy to remap and get about 200Hp from it.

I wanted the Avant from the beginning but did not have the finances for it but with this campaignprice it cleared my limit of Eur 27000.
The main reason i made the switch was for boot-space as i felt the Sportback being a bit to small for my needs allthough it was enough.

 

[Evotek]

1,8 TFSI are a new engine and my order was one of the first on the way.
1,8 T have been around since late 90's i think

 

[mcmasman]

Now i´m not really happy about it and have told the stealers that i don´t find this acceptable and wanted some kind of compensation,meanwhile the Audi A4 Avant 1,8T Quattro with a very nice spec was offered to a very reduced price here in Sweden.

About £1500 more and it was a no brainer so i called the stealers and yes there was a car available already here in Sweden and after some discussions with the Chief salesman i was able to cancel my Sportback and get the A4 Avant instead and should get it in about a week.

The Avant has all of the above and S-line exterior,E-Sport-seats,S-line suspension,coming home,Light/Rain,Cruisecontrol,Mfsw,aluminium-trim in/out and some more.

Total price on this spec about Eur 25500
,without discount/campaignprice=Eur 32000

So let me get this straight, the A4 Avant has all the options/trim the A3 has plus much more, and on top of that it has quattro too, for only £1,500 more than A3?

 

[mfspen]

The main reason i made the switch was for boot-space as i felt the Sportback being a bit to small for my needs allthough it was enough.

If you need the extra space, that's fair enough, but if the SB is in next week, I would at least try it out.

I used to have an old A3 1.8TQ, so speak with some experience of that engine ! Compared to the old (150bhp) FWD A3 1.8T, it offered no more performance due to the extra losses in the 4WD system, but the noise was dreadful ! The A4 should have better sound proofing, so it might not be so bad. It's torque will be a lot less that the TFSI though, so it might feel underpowered compared to the SB 1.8TFSI.

 

[mcmasman]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I always thought that 1.8T is short for 1.8 TFSI?!?

A quick look in the Audi configurator sort me out, thanks for the correction.

 

[mcmasman]

I used to have an old A3 1.8TQ, so speak with some experience of that engine ! Compared to the old (150bhp) FWD A3 1.8T, it offered no more performance due to the extra losses in the 4WD system, but the noise was dreadful ! The A4 should have better sound proofing, so it might not be so bad. It's torque will be a lot less that the TFSI though, so it might feel underpowered compared to the SB 1.8TFSI.

mfspen, £1500 extra for a bigger car with more quipment and quattro, might just be worth it for re-sale value sake?

 

[mfspen]

mfspen, £1500 extra for a bigger car with more quipment and quattro, might just be worth it for re-sale value sake?

Evidently not, since the dealer is trying to off-load the car at a heavy discount.

 

[Evotek]

I discussed the resale value with the seller and the heavy discount will not affect the value later on.
Ofcourse the value will go down when the new A4 arrives later this year but the new Avant modell will not come at that time but about a year later.

I got a bigger car with more equipment and quattro for only 1500£ more allthough an older engine but here in Sweden probably 70% af all Audis sold have that engine and would probably not be an issue for resale values since it´s a popular engine.
i could get a 2,0 TFSI quattro instead but then the pricetag would be more like Eur 35000 so i´m happy with my choice.

I thought about trying the Sportback out before i made my decision but since the campaign cars where going fast and there was only 2 left with desireable colors i decided not to and to be honest this car will be my everyday familycar and i have a 2 seater sportscar to drive aswell so i really don´t need to consider what performance i get or not.

Thank´s for your input guys.....

 

[Evotek]

My euro calculations where a bit of,the prices in GBP are as follows.

Sportback:265000 SEK -11%=236000 SEK=About 17000£
A4 Avant:311100 SEK - discount=259000=About 18500£

Should be more right,anyway a very good discount.

 

[mcmasman]

nice price, enjoy your new car!

 

[benw123]

I'm surprised there was such a delay in the delivery of your Sportback. Doesn't seem to be a difficult spec to order to me and with around 900 8Ps leaving the production line every day, you'd think six weeks would be long enough.

 

[Evotek]

Probably part of the delay was due to the new 1,8 TFSI engine that i ordered,was told that my order with that engine was one of the first so....

I´m guessing now but my understanding is that in every productionweek there are a certain kind of specced cars for instance engine of choice.