First Time Audi Owner & The Joy of Driving is Back After 3 Years!!

[Sharontha]

Hi Everyone,
The lease on 2009 Altima and my wife's SUV was coming to an end since we are only 3 weeks away from the arrival of our second child we decided that my wife was going to get a mini-van. well ended up being a 44K mini-van which kinda left me in the same predicament as the first time when I downgraded from my 2008 Saab 9-3 Aero so my wife can get the 40K loaded Murano and us stay within our car budget. The Altima was a nice car but honestly no fun to drive. Prior to the Saab I had a 2005 Acura TL which I loved. This time around I was not going back to a Nissan and when we started looking last week, I decided to go look for a used 2009TL and almost pulled the trigger at the same Nissan dealership for a used TL with 36K miles for about 26K. Then on Sunday when I was looking for a other used TL's I came across a Beige 2009 Audi A4 with 33K miles on it at Hudson Hyundai. Talk of love at first sight. Then when I saw the asking price on this I thought it was a mistake. The Hyundai dealership was asking for $21,800 for this beauty and it had the Premium Plus pkg. The only thing the car was missing was the Navigation which until now was a "must have" in anything I bought. Not anymore; As of Monday evening I was the proud owner of an A4. Yes I love getting in this car and driving it!!!

Since I settled for a model without Navigation I have been crawling all over the net looking for ways to retrofit a Audi 3G Navigation to replace the Audi Symphony Stereo and also possibly adding on some 19" wheels. The great look of the stock wheels have made me put this thought on the back burner for the moment(kinda)

I just have a couple of questions which I hope some of you can possibly point me in the right direction.

1) I know the retrofit can be ridiculously expensive So I thought I'd look on eBay and similar sites to maybe start building up to the required hardware. Then I called Jack Daniel's Audi in Paramus NJ just to get an idea of what it would cost to have the dealer do it. From what the gentleman at the dealership suggested it could not be done and what they offer was adding a aftermarket system for $2500. This is contradictory to what I have read on-line and was wondering if this was possibly because of the cost of buying the parts and installing at the dealership? Or will this retrofit compromise the electrical system in the car in any way(even if done the correct way)

2) Sticking with the assumption that this is a possible upgrade. Something I have not seen on-line (prob did not look hard enough) is if the Premium Plus comes with a pre-wired Navigation antenna in the shark fin?
3) Can this upgrade be done in stages? meaning add the 7" monitor, the MMI interface and the head unit as Stage 1 and then adding in the navigation component as stage 2.
4) Now to the non-nav questions: at about 60-65 miles an hour there is a slight wiggle on the steering and what feels like a bad tire sound coming from the back. Then from reading thru this and other forums I decided to go check my tires and found that the 2 rear tires are Pirelli P6's. Is this actually the tires or do I need any balancing work done?
5) Is there any Audi dealership anyone from Northern Jersey can recommend? Asked Jack Daniels Audi about the 35K service and they want $550 for it.
6) Finally: I have until June 2013 or 50K miles before the warranty runs out. The same dealer wanted about an average $1K per year with a $100 deductible. What would you guys recommend and what have you paid as far as a Audi warranty? What about after market Warranty companies?

Again.... Thanks ahead for any input. Look forward to being an Audi owner and a member of this forum.
Here is a pic of the car on my facebook page...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...1&l=155ee35ef0

P.S: One thing I found out yesterday: As a habit I asked my wife for the address I was supposed to meet her at yesterday thinking I can go to the car and plug it in the nav. Then when I get in the car ofcourse I do not have a navi system. So I downloaded the TelNav application on to my iPhone and connected it to the Audi Music Interface hoping that the voice would come thru the speakers..... YES IT DOES!!! so all is not lost. Plays very clearly while automatically reducing the music playing off the iPhone. Only downside is that I have to keep the iPhone on as the source. well beggars cant be choosers.

[A4 Centaur]

You could probably get a wrecked S4/A4 with a Prestige Package (http://www.easyexport.us/) and retrofit everything. Kufatec has everything you will need to do wiring. This is proly difficult but very realistic with some solid research beforehand.

[Stubek]

PM DavidB8 and check his website audienthusiasts.com for info. He can tell you about upgrading the MMI. I know going from the MMI3g (2010 - 2012 cars with Nav) to the new 2013 MMI can be about $10k because of all the other things it connects to. Not sure about a 2G to 3G upgrade.

[ferrariyellow44]

Wow thats an insane deal

[Pared]

Check out Drive Autoworks in Lyndhurst - great, great shop.

[A4 Centaur]

Retrofitting a stereo or MMI 2g should be straight forward using the wiring and equipment from a wrecked car. You can proly get most everything for less than a Grand.

Kufatec has the 3g for 1,100 Bucks: http://www.kufatec.com/index.php?mai...oducts_id=1202

[Sour]

congrats!

[dracolnyte]

wow that is very cheap, was it in an accident before?

[Sharontha]

Thank you very much for the information everyone!

wow that is very cheap, was it in an accident before?

I looked it up on CarFax and could not find anything at all. That does not mean it did not have an accident before so I looked as much as I could for any signs of body work and could not find a single scratch (not exaggerating) on the car. Also had them put it up on a lift to look at the undercarriage. If there was an accident the person who did the body work was tremendous. Besides the price,another huge point was that the original owner was not from the New York city area. The roads in this area are horrendous and prob would have added a years worth of wear on it. Based on the CarFax, the car was purchased in New Mexico and the person moved to Pa before selling the car to this Hyundai dealership. I think the guy at Hyundai who priced the car made an error and priced it at a barebones base?

[Sharontha]

PM DavidB8 and check his website audienthusiasts.com for info. He can tell you about upgrading the MMI. I know going from the MMI3g (2010 - 2012 cars with Nav) to the new 2013 MMI can be about $10k because of all the other things it connects to. Not sure about a 2G to 3G upgrade.

Thank you! Was on his website and it's a mini library!

Check out Drive Autoworks in Lyndhurst - great, great shop.

Thanks!! this is great info! Only a few miles from me and sent them an email last night. Could not find a single negative review on Drice Autoworks

[name.goes.here]

Congratulations - from what I've read, adding the navigation/MMI is not necessarily cost prohibitive, but the installation can be an involved process.