RS4 Avant importation to Canada possible now? Warning...lots of reading :)

[CanuckRS]

As of June 25, 2008 the Canadian government finally amended Section215 of the Motor Vehicle Saftey Regulation act. This has now lifted all of the bumper restrictions when importing a vehicle to Canada from the USA. This means the RS4/R8/TT etc are now admissable as they previously needed some expensive modifications. Check riv.ca for the updated list.
I am very curious to know whether the RS4 Avant might now be admissable from Europe as they have aligned their test speeds with those of Europe and the USA. There is probably more to this for importing the RS4 avant, but this is a step in the right direction.


"This amendment to section 215 of Schedule IV of the Motor
Vehicle Safety Regulations1 modifies the Canadian safety standard
for bumpers via the incorporation by reference of the
bumper safety standards of the United States and Europe. This
has the effect of aligning the test speeds of the Canadian bumper
safety standard with those of Europe and the United States and
provides manufacturers the option of meeting the European safety
requirements or the safety and no damage provisions of the
United States. As a result of this amendment, there is one consistent
set of globally regulated test speeds for the design of bumpers,
which simplifies the task of designing bumpers for vehicles
destined for the North American and European markets. This
amendment also helps facilitate the introduction in Canada of the
impending Global Technical Regulation for pedestrian safety,
being developed under the auspices of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UNECE)."


FYI...interesting reading about the reason for different bumper test speeds...

"Canada and the United States introduced safety standards for
bumpers in the early 1970’s. When the Canadian and the United
States safety standards were originally introduced, they were
harmonized with a test speed of 5 mph (8 km/h) for front and rear
impacts and 3 mph (4.8 km/h) for corner impact tests. However,
in 1979, the United States added more stringent requirements that
included cosmetic damage criteria, while maintaining the original
test speeds and safety components damage protection requirements.
In 1982, the United States reduced the test speeds to
2.5 mph (4 km/h) for front and rear impacts and 1.5 mph
(2.4 km/h) for corner impacts, and maintained their cosmetic and
safety damage requirements.

In 1983, when the Canadian government proposed an amendment
to harmonize the test speeds with those of the United States
(i.e., 4 and 2.4 km/h), many Canadian stakeholders, such as the
public, provincial and territorial governments, media and the insurance
industry, were against the proposed test speed reduction.
As a result the harmonization of test speeds was not pursued; thus
for the past 26 years Canada has had a unique higher speed
bumper test requirement for passenger cars."

[b spot]

RS4 Avants aren't sold in the states, so still no dice.

This only affected US imports.

[jefferson88]

It says Europe right in the paragraph...

[b spot]

It says Europe right in the paragraph...

Doesn't matter. You can't import European cars unless they are 15 years old. There are special provisions for importing cars from the US. Just because our bumper standards line up with Europe now means nothing, as there are many many other safety standards that don't align between Europe and here. Our safety standards are more closely aligned with the US due to us sharing a border and people moving back and forth between the two countries.

[lorvar]

Doesn't matter. You can't import European cars unless they are 15 years old.

Or japanese or british or australian. 15 years is the wait no matter what and they were actually talking about extending it to 25 hear in Canada due to the surplus of Japanese cars flooding our country.

[CanuckRS]

Yeah, unfortunately the bumper test won't allow anything besides US spec cars here. If the vehicle is made for europe, we can't get it, end of story.
This is overall a good thing for Canadians, we get access to more US cars without expensive mods. Let's just see if they come up with another excuse to disallow them here like BMW asking $3K for a recall letter...one reason i would never import a bimmer.

[jerrym]

if they ship rs4 avants to the u.s. i am selling my saloon the same day LOL

[AWDCRAZY]

I am currently in talks with an importer trying to get this to happen. RS4 can come to america, as long as it is modified to meet USA requirements.

This means that Bumpers need replacing
ECU needs replacing to a USA ECU
Windshield Replacment
Charcoal Filter needs to be added to the car for Emissions
Headlight housing and bulbs need to change.
Speedo needs to be calabrated to Miles and KM, (not required though)

[Quattroownsyou]

Expect to pay well in excess of 150k to bring a new RS4 Avant too North America....not worth it IMHO. Lots of other cars to pick from in that price range eg.. 997 GT2

[EuroA4]

It would probably be easier to source the body parts and engine/ecu all seperate and convert a US A4/S4 to an RS4. Or just do the RS4 body and go BT FTW!!

[michgo]

997 GT2

..but is it an avant

As for importing one, all you have to do is replace those parts??? Doesnt seem like too much. Especially if you are spending the money on an rs4 already

[Quattroownsyou]

..but is it an avant

As for importing one, all you have to do is replace those parts??? Doesnt seem like too much. Especially if you are spending the money on an rs4 already

not an avant...agreed. If you want to spend 150k+ for an Avant, might as well spend some more money and bring over an RS6 Avant with the twin turbo V10, chip tune it to 700whp and call it a day

[AWDCRAZY]

Yep.. Those are the parts that need changing.. Ohh and then it has to pass emissions. This might require some custom ECU tuning to happen. From what I understand, the Current S4 have a difficult time passing the sniffer test, yet we only test them on Computer compliance! I doube the RS4 motor would pass the sniffer with out some major retarding to the fuel and air inputs!

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Long time lurker, but first time post, so here goes!

I am currently in talks with an importer trying to get this to happen. RS4 can come to america, as long as it is modified to meet USA requirements.

But you guys in the US already get the RS4 saloon/sedan? Or have I missed something?

This means that Bumpers need replacing

But the Canadian bumpers will be the same as the US RS4 bumpers!

ECU needs replacing to a USA ECU

As above, US RS4s will have the US ECU.

Windshield Replacment

Please explain - what is the difference between a European windscreen verses a US or Canadian one?

Charcoal Filter needs to be added to the car for Emissions

But that is already standard on both Euro and US models - so a non-starter on that point.

Headlight housing and bulbs need to change.

OK, agreed - but the US cars again already have DOT headlamps fitted at the factory. Are Canadian lights different from US?

Speedo needs to be calabrated to Miles and KM, (not required though)

Not a big issue, because UK cars have speedos in miles and kmh - so there will be pleanty of these in the parts bins at Audis factory!

[Auditude2.0T]

To bring an RS4 avant in the country you need to move the battery b/c its in the passenger compartment.

[iconoclast]

if they ship rs4 avants to the u.s. i am selling my saloon the same day LOL

lol.

[Stormin]

Teutonic_Tamer:

He's talking about importing a European RS4 Avant to the US. There are different requirements for crash testing (hence the bumper and windshield replacement), and emissions requirements are also different. Plus light pattern and output are also different on Euro cars (hence the headlight changes).

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Teutonic_Tamer:

He's talking about importing a European RS4 Avant to the US. There are different requirements for crash testing (hence the bumper and windshield replacement), and emissions requirements are also different. Plus light pattern and output are also different on Euro cars (hence the headlight changes).

Yes, I realise all that - but because you already get the saloon/sedan RS4, the bits in question should already be available (with the exception of the rear bumper - but does the rear end of a car get crash tested ??? ).

I'm reasonably fully aware of the differences between Euro and North American bumpers, and also the emissions requirements, along with the DOT headlamp requirements.

I'm not at all familiar with the requirements for differing windshields - what is the difference between the Euro w/s and the American version?

At the end of the day, if someone is seriously considering importing an RS4 Avant into the US or Canada, then the person in question should be in a robust financial position - an RS4 is a reasonably costly car - and the relatively insignificant costs of a pair of headlamps and bumpers shouldn't really blow the budget!

[Stormin]

I'm not at all familiar with the requirements for differing windshields - what is the difference between the Euro w/s and the American version?

One has a DOT marking and the other does not. (j/k) In the end, they are probably the same exact glass. But the US requires glass that has been subjected to US tests.

At the end of the day, if someone is seriously considering importing an RS4 Avant into the US or Canada, then the person in question should be in a robust financial position - an RS4 is a reasonably costly car - and the relatively insignificant costs of a pair of headlamps and bumpers shouldn't really blow the budget!

Agreed.