Around the time that the A4 sold, I bought a B8 S4 from another Audizine member. I flew out to Connecticut, checked the car out, and then spent the next two days driving it back home to Minneapolis. The B8 S4 is a fantastic car, but sometime in September, I realized that I wasn't completely happy with it. Sure, it was powerful, quick as hell, and made a glorious noise, but something was missing. I started casually looking at other cars, wondering if I had made the right decision. As much fun as I had driving the S4, I just never had that initial click with it that I should have.
Then it hit me, I needed to be back in a wagon. I thought I had kicked the wagon habit when I sold the B7, but apparently I hadn't. It's like a fever that never goes away, it just goes into remission. Soon I found myself searching for another one though nothing seemed to fit the bill. I couldn't find anything that checked every box, so I began to slowly accept my life as a sedan driver. I contacted a fellow Audi enthusiast who is a salesman Audi and told him I was contemplating getting rid of the S4 for something with more cargo capacity. At first, I'm sure he thought I was crazy, though he was too polite to say it. I was wanting too much car for the price range I was looking at. And he was right. I wasn't being realistic about what a car equipped as I'd want would cost in the real world. I thanked him for his time, but figured that I was just out of luck. I hate to compromise when it comes to cars, and I knew that even if I found something in the price range I was looking, it probably wouldn't be equipped as I'd want.
Then in early October, a unicorn appeared online. It was everything I had been looking for, and the price was simply too good to be true. I found a wagon in New Jersey at a BMW dealership, and according to the AutoTrader listing, had nearly every option, even ones I'd never heard of. The only thing it didn't have was the Titanium package, which as much as I like it, I could live without. It was in my price range and in the right color. I figured that either the price was incorrectly posted or that someone had hit too many options and the car wasn't really as well-equipped as it was described to be. The problem was that there were no photos of the actual car in the listing or on the dealer's site, so I couldn't verify any of the information. I emailed the BMW dealership that posted it and asked for more information. They emailed a couple photos and everything turned out to be true. This car had every option available in 2011, and was priced well below its book value.
Still, I didn't think it would be worth the effort to bring it here. I kept searching to find something closer to home, but nothing came close to this car in terms of options and value. Everything else at this price was a mid-level car. I posted my S4 for sale on QuattroWorld and Audizine in the hopes of a quick sale that would make everything else fall into place. I had a few bites, but nobody wanted to move on it, even though it was priced well below comparably equipped cars with more miles.
I took a trip up to the Audi dealer to talk to Joe, my salesman, and look at the new allroads he had in stock. Once we got to talking about numbers, it just didn't make sense. I'd be looking at a lease, and the monthly payment was way more than I was willing to pay, and that was on a relatively low-spec car. I told him about the wagon in New Jersey, and that if there was anything that he or his dealership could do to help get it here, I'd be most appreciative. He said he'd look into it and get back to me.
For a few days, that car was all I could think about. Nothing else came close on the national used market. On an impulse, I called the BMW dealer again. The salesman told me that there was a deposit on the car, but that I could also put one down and be "next in line," if it fell through. He said that the first guy had been turned down by three banks, so it wasn't looking good for him, so I figured it couldn't hurt. If the first guy got it, it just wasn't meant to be. On an impulse, I decided to do it since there wasn't any risk involved. I put the deposit down over the phone on October 6th while driving to REI to pick up the roof box I'd just purchased.
I got a call the next day that his fourth and fifth banks turned him down, so the car was mine if I wanted it. Suddenly it hit me that this could actually happen, I just had to figure out what to do with the S4. I contacted Joe and told him the good news, and that I wanted to move forward. We went back and forth for a few days trying to come to an agreement on trade value for the S4 until we finally settled on a number that worked for all parties. To sweeten the deal (for both me and my local Audi dealership), I wanted them to run it through Audi's certification process. The deal was that they would purchase the car from the BMW dealership at the price I had negotiated them down to (I forgot to mention that I'd talked them down another $1,000 from their already ridiculously low internet price), they would get the car shipped here, certify it, then I would trade them the S4 for it. Sounds simple enough, right? We thought so.
Early the next week, Joe's sales manager Jeff tried many times to contact the BMW dealer to go about buying the car. They didn't seem to want to take or return his calls. I talked to the salesman again and tried to explain the plan, but he didn't want to sell the car to another dealership, only to me. Around this point he also sent over a bill of sale with almost $500 in added fees, like $95 for a detail, $50 for documentation, etc. I told him that I wasn't going to pay those, I just wanted the car at the agreed-upon price, and that Maplewood would be acting as a middleman for me so I could get it Audi certified.
The BMW dealer finally agreed to sell it to my Audi dealership and waived the extra fees. Jeff was ready to send the funds when he got word that the BMW dealer had just fired its used car manager, so Jeff decided to hold onto the money for a few days until he could figure out what was going on. After a few more days of calling and emailing, things appeared to be settling down and it looked like the deal was back on. My dealer had arranged for transportation from NJ to Pennsylvania, where the wagon would join 12 other cars that they'd purchased at the Manheim auctions, and then those 13 cars would head to Minnesota on two transports. According to Jeff and Joe, the car was supposed to be leaving NJ on October 26th and head to PA. I spoke to them later the next week and learned that one of the transports was supposed to arrive the next Friday, and the next would arrive on Saturday, but that they didn't know which truck my car would be on.
The weekend came and went, but I didn't hear anything. Even now, we still don't really know what happened, but either the truck driver forgot about the car in New Jersey, or tried to pick it up but couldn't. Regardless, the car never left the East Coast. Oh, and there was a hurricane.
I spoke to the BMW salesman again, and he told me that, to his knowledge, no one had tried to pick up the car. As far as he knew it was still on the lot. He said he'd verify and get back to me. In the meantime, I got another call from someone else at the dealership who said basically the same thing. Yep, the car was still there. Nope, nobody knew of anyone trying to pick it up for transport. I relayed this news to my dealership, who said they'd try again the next week. The good news is that the dealership was not in Hurricane Sandy's path, though they did experience some heavy winds. Their inventory was unscathed, and the wagon was safe.
I had been texting and emailing Joe so frequently that I'm sure his wife thought he was having an affair, so I decided to break it off. I emailed him and Jeff and told them that I would leave it in their hands, and to please let me know when the car would arrive. I resolved to stop thinking about it constantly and would just wait to hear. Then, out of the blue, Joe texted me a photo of the car on their lot. It had finally arrived. It still had to go through certification and get a good cleaning, but it was becoming more real. Up to that point, I don't think any of us would have been surprised if the car just never materialized.
I drove back to the dealership on Saturday to see the car in person and take it for a drive. I was a little hesitant, because after all this hassle, I knew there was a slight chance that the car wouldn't live up to my expectations. This is where I should mention that when I was searching, I was only looking for 2011 & 2012 cars, since they had the newer 8-speed transmission. I've never been not a fan of the older 6-speed tiptronic, and since I couldn't get a B8 Avant with a proper manual, I'd at least get the newer tranny. As soon as I found the wagon on the lot, I knew I was making the right decision. The wagon instantly clicked with me like the S4 never had. Joe and I took it for a short test drive, and it finally began to feel real.
It was another agonizing few days of waiting for the car to be certified and get a good detail, but finally, today, after almost two months of waiting, it's finally in my garage. My new 2011 A4 Avant Prestige S-Line, Sport package. Fully equipped with all the toys.
I know that a lot of people will think I'm crazy for trading or "downgrading" from an S4 to an A4, but honestly, I couldn't care less. I am still and will always be an S4 fan, but it just didn't make sense for me. When you drive as much as I do (I put nearly 9,000 miles on the S4 in 5 1/2 months), I was at the gas station every 6-7 days. It definitely didn't help that the noise summoned by the gas pedal is so addicting that I found myself flooring it everywhere I went. Yes, I will miss the power of the S4. Yes, I will miss the sport differential. Honestly though, that's where it ends for me. I don't have any regrets in buying the S4 or now selling it for the new Avant.
Anyway, onto some photos, though I've already posted most of these around here already.
It came with these 19" wheels on it, and though I originally planned to get rid of them right away, they really look good on the car. I've decided instead to sell the peelers I bought for the S4. This look only last a few days though, as I had to get a set of snow tires put on it pretty quickly, since winter is right around the corner here in Minnesota.
This is how it currently sits. I had a set of Pirelli Sottozero snow tires left over from the S4, so I got a set of 18" reps for the winter. I also picked up the Whispbar setup and got an APR tune on the same day. I just put my roof box on it last night for the hell of it,but won't be leaving it on all the time.
I kept the RS4 grille from my S4, so that might go on soon, and I've got plans to black out the corner markers and get the windows tinted. I've got my eye on a couple possible sets of wheels, and just decided yesterday that I am going to skip springs and just get a set of coilovers for it. I also have sway bars and an Alu Kreuz from the S4, so those will end up on the wagon at some point too.
Anyway, since I've been lurking around this section, I figured I might as well start another build thread for the new car. And this is it. Cheers.
TL;DR: I bought a wagon and it is white.
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Originally Posted by dropshadow
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