[bri]

i'm this close [] to inking on an S5, though i'm concerned about waits and production issues. i don't have a car going away that makes this an issue, so waiting isn't a problem there, i'm more worried about interest rates and the impending collapse of the u.s. economy which i guess is less within my control anyhow.

so, assuming i can find one to test in the area and i can fit my 2yr old and an infant car seat in the back, i'll be joining the ranks of the S5 drivers in NoVA! at some point in 2008, i mean.. maybe 2009.... 2010....

 

[SAJ_1982]

Well whenever u get it, welcome to the forum from me.

 

[S5France]

No problem fitting your 2 yr old in the back. I have a 6 year old and a 3 year old - no problem. The gymnastics take a little to get used to, but they are liveable. Mine are now both on booster seats, and the eldest climbs over into her seat easily and buckles up alone ( the 3 year old will be doing that soon I expect)...... A lot easier for kids to get into and out of.....

 

[A5inReston]

bri..... welcome to the Forum.
Many of us are in a state of waiting for AOA to give us our dates, but the wait will be worth it.

We should have a fair number of S5's in the No Va. area by spring/summer.
What dealer(s) are your working with?

 

[bri]

i haven't started working with a dealer yet, i'm assuming a few things:

1. it will take forever to come
2. i will buy it for MSRP

anything you can add to #2? i suppose i could try to play a few dealers, but i'm imagining it's like it was with my B5 S4 and they're going to stick to MSRP due to the small number of allocation slots.. that's fine by me, i expect to be buried in this car so a few extra thousand and waiting a few months isn't going to make me too upset..

i used to go to HBL and i was amazingly unimpressed with their service department.. so after that i tried audi of alexandria and then eventually settled on rockville porsche audi, they always treated me well - the service department was top-notch (i used the 'show up with a dozen krispy kremes' trick also, which seemed to help).. back when the B6 S4 came out i won an audi club contest to take any car for the weekend, and rockville gave me the keys to their showroom S4, and we spent a memorable weekend with my buddy's E46 M3 and another buddy in my B5 barreling through wva.. i walked into HBL to talk to them about the S5 back in late October i think it was, and they couldn't try to be less interested in my business.. i eventually had to light myself on fire to get anyone's attention - but i knew that from my previous dealings with HBL, i don't fit the HBL customer 'look', i guess.. fine by me, it's almost as long to get to rockville and i have a much more interesting drive through MD farm country instead of the toll road..

so i guess i just answered my own questions there, i'll probably order it through rockville.. i'll get the loaner service option and i'll never be without something with 4 rings on it, which makes me a very happy boy..

i did the thing where you send the request for more info to all the dealers and the only ones to get back to me were tischer and HBL - tischer called to say they had one i could drive (which i'll take advantage of if nobody closer has one) and HBL emailed me to ask what was important, still no reply on that.. i'm dismayed by the posts all over i see of dealers selling their demo cars, so hopefully someone has one i can test out - i really need to see that the family fits in it otherwise it's probably a deal breaker, sadly..

anyhoo, i look forward to seeing some S5s soon, preferably at least one in my garage!

 

[Nate]

Someone killed the clutch in the demo at HBL. It's been offline since at least late December, and Audi hasn't sent replacement parts yet (finishing customer orders is probably priority #1). Tischer and Alexandria have them for sure, and I'm guessing Rockville does too. Nobody is selling the demos until March 1, I believe, so you have time. I called Tischer and the rep was annoyingly pushy and had incorrect dates about the S5, but some people like the dealership a lot, so maybe I just had bad luck.

My mom bought her audi at HBL (now Audi of Tysons I think...new management), and has loved the service. So I called up HBL and the rep I spoke with (Joseph Jay) was great. I went in and he let me sit in and turn on the broken S5 without issue. When one of the early orders was canceled, he e-mailed me offering the chance to get one of the first S5s, which was Ice Silver (I originally placed an order at the end of December for Meteor Gray, but now don't dig the green hue).

My experience with Joseph so far has been great. I've stopped by a few times and he's always been attentive. I also sat down with the leasing folks just to run some numbers -- they were all very friendly. Every time I show up to HBL (always in jeans and sweatshirt), they've been quick to jump on me even before I make it inside, so perhaps you just went at a super busy time? I usually went around 1-2pm during the week.

Granted, I already knew I wanted an S5 and it didn't take much selling on their part, but I've been impressed with the folks at HBL thus far. We'll see what happens when I actually take delivery of the car, but I'm guessing I can probably go to any Audi dealer for future service if I have a bad experience.

The only thing that was lame at HBL was the embarrassing low appraisal they gave my 2007 Mazda3 ($7k less than KBB!), which Joseph actually crumpled up and apologized for, saying that due to the economy they haven't been wanting to buy trade-ins. Plus, it wasn't an Audi.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

 

[bri]

additional 2 cents are always valued..

i popped by around 2pm or so - i go to an endocrinologist (yeah, i guess i am getting old) around there so i figured what the heck.. it was me and a tumbleweed in the dealership that day, and nobody had any clue of what was going on with the S5.. i was a bit disappointed at the extreme apathy.. i explained that i missed my S4 badly and was very interested in the S5 but it didn't seem to budge anyone into lifting a finger to find out what the scoop was.. shoot you know this may have been september actually, but they should have known *something*, they had brochures already.. dunno - like i said, maybe it's me..

of course, when salesmen jump right on me i don't like that either, i guess i'm tough to please

well, to clarify that statement, the two dealerships i've used the most, rockville down here and what used to be clair audi up in boston, they've always treated me fantastically.. salesmen were the right blend of helpful and attentive but not outwardly worried about a sale.. good enough salesmen that i didn't feel i was being sold to, but also felt like they were doing a bit of work to meet my needs which is how i like it..

i probably won't go there if i can't drive their S5, otherwise i might have given them another shot based on your report - maybe showing up with the fam and letting my 2 year old sit within reach of the MMI would get some attention..

thanks for the info, i'll add it to my figurings..

so did you take the silver? i'm thinking about the silver.. my S4s were Nogaro, which you either love, or, well, you know - so i like the idea of sprint blue, but i'm not 25 anymore either.. i like the black/magma, either of the blacks, or possibly the silver or dark blue.. dunno - i was sold on the magma until i saw a picture that made it look more candy-apple, i'm hoping it was just a lighting issue..

 

[Nate]

To clarify: When I said "jumped on me" I just meant asking if I needed help. Since every time I stopped by I just said "I'm here to see Joseph" it was no issue and nobody tried to sell me anything. I guess it always depends on the day. There are plenty of Audi dealers in the area, so definitely go with the one you feel most comfortable with

When I originally placed my order, I spec'ed the S5 with Meteor Gray and Magma red leather based on the little I had looked online (same as the demo cars at most dealers). Since I didn't go in the demo car the first time around (service guys had keys, didn't have time to wait), I hadn't seen the red in person. On my second visit I spent some time inside. The red isn't bright like it appears in some pictures, but it does stand out. And I decided looking at a back seat full of red while I'm driving would just get annoying after a while. Because I don't want to deal with cleaning a white interior, I decided black would be best (brown is classy, but I'm not a huge fan). I also didn't like the Meteor Gray very much upon a second viewing, because it's too green. Of course, this is all personal preference.

Since my order at the end of December would have meant delivery in May at the earliest and more likely sometime in June, I did jump at the chance to take the Ice Silver with black interior. The car arrived in port on the 16th and should arrive at the dealer sometime this week, so I haven't actually seen it yet. However, I did spend a lot of time at the dealer and looking at images online, and I suppose I'll make a final decision when I see the car in person

My thinking broke down like this: Red and White cars I'm personally not a big fan of. Black (both of them) is too much of a pain to keep clean and looks less interesting with black interior. The Deep Sea Blue was a bit too dark (almost black) and the Meteor Grey was too green for me. I considered Quartz Gray, but while it's absolutely amazing in bright sun light, it came across a little flat otherwise. So that pretty much left Ice Silver and Sprint Blue. While I've always wanted a blue car, the Sprint Blue is just too light for me. As my Audi rep put it: it's kind of like driving around in a sweet tart. It can look beautiful in certain light, but under normal sunny days, it's just not a deep enough blue for me like the BMW Montego Blue.

So in the end, I probably would have opted for the Ice Silver anyway, despite it being a common car color. If I was ordering from scratch now and had no choice but a June or July delivery, I would consider spending an extra $2500 for a custom color, like Daytona Gray or a different blue. But I'm betting the silver is going to look great in person and I'll be very happy with it. Plus, it doesn't seem lot a lot of people have ordered silver yet

Anyway, that's all my personal opinion and colors depend very much on the person. If we all liked the same color, it would be damn boring to drive on the road! The S5 is such a beautiful car, it's going to look great no matter what you pick. I live in Baltimore now, but I'm frequently in Reston (oftentimes in Plaza America picking up my mail), so if either of you guys want to check out the Ice Silver in person (assuming I don't dislike it), I'll let you know when around.

Sorry for the length

 

[bri]

oy when it rains, it pours - i just got off the phone with a dealer who says they may have a cancellation on a black/black due in to port around mid-late Feb.. gonna have to think long and hard about this one, i do like the black/black combo, my current ride is all black and i don't mind the upkeep. i'm worried i'd be settling for something as opposed to getting what i really want - even though i don't know what that is yet. part of me wants to jump on this just to get one after hearing of the problems in allocation and the speculation on the reasoning. i'd rather not wait for a stronger dollar to improve my chances of getting one of these.

the dealer also offered their demo when it comes off the 3-months, though i would never take a demo car without some significant extended warranty action and a price break - especially in light of the condition of the HBL demo car. so i guess you could pay me enough, but it's probably a lot more than the dealer will be willing to do. oh well, can't tell until i go talk to them.

i like my cars undriven by anyone else though, i always order them and wait and usually watch it come off the truck and get prepped while i fill out paperwork.. something about knowing nobody else had a chance to do donuts in it while i wasn't looking, i guess..

speaking of the HBL demo car - if it's still offline, does this reflect how difficult it will be to get parts for our cars?

yeah, the nogaro was (imho) a fantastic color in indirect light.. overcast days, in the morning and evening times it was a great color.. in harsh sunlight it washed out a bit and wasn't as impactful - less saturated and more diluted.. i much preferred it to the BMW blue, but i think i like to be a little less obvious now - more subtle, which goes well with the S5 since it looks a bit more interesting than the 4 platform in that it's new, a coupe, and an audi, so it stands out, for now at least..

so i'll go drive one tomorrow probably, then make a decision on that all-black one and see where i go from there..

 

[Nate]

Well, I wasn't disappointed in the Ice Silver at all. It looks amazing. I picked it up today and it drives amazing too. Not cheap, but worth every penny.

I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post some more details. Ran into another forum member at HBL before I left

 

[A5inReston]

BRI...I hope you can hook onto a canceled or abandoned order. HBL (Joseph, my guy too) says that new S5 orders will could likely show up around August. As for the MSRP, I got no push back from the dealer on that. I assumed that what it would be with no added premium.

I cannot speak firsthand about HBL's service department. Time will tell. The sales team has been great to me. Especially given I have been dropping by there since July, first for an A4, then the A5 and now settled on the S5.

The Rockville folks seemed OK to me. I did two drop-by's there. On the second one they let me drive their demo S5, so they seemed cool.

Bottom line, you may have to play the field with the dealers to see who has the best allocation left and what order slots they can give you, unless you can wait for a long while.

 

[A5inReston]

Nate.... I was the guy that spoke to you at HBL in the parking lot when you took delivery.

Congratulations. The Ice Silver looks great !!

I would consider it too, but I've had 3 silver cars and it's time for a change.

I hope to see you on the road around here sometime.

 

[bri]

Bahh, the dealer was wrong - the cancellation was on an S6, not an S5.. close, though! only about $30k off..

so.. would you guys be so crazy as to buy a meteor/magma demo with 4k miles on it for $1k off of MSRP? i'm thinking it'll be a resounding "NO!", but if you didn't have yours and were faced with ordering a new one starting today, would you?

 

[Nate]

I wouldn't... if only because the demo at HBL has a dead clutch. That shows you how people are test driving this thing. $1k and a couple months isn't worth the wait. And 4k miles is a lot of miles...

Here's what I would do: find a good dealer in the area (HBL, Rockville, or even up in Annapolis at Criswell) that has the least about of orders in the queue and the highest number of allocations. Then get on the list and be VERY friendly with the sales guy (drop by a few times, call him up, etc.). Chances are, someone is going to either cancel and their slot will be open, or in my case, decide they want a different color altogether at the last minute. And then you can get moved into it.

Plus, Audi could speed up the US allocations come March, which means you may see your car before May if you are lucky.

 

[bri]

yeah, i guess i'll just get in line and wait patiently.. i *hate* knowing someone else's ass had a chance to make an ass-groove in my car - it's one thing if i let a friend drive it for an extended period of time, but i like my cars unadulterated and i should really exercise some restraint/patience.. besides, it's a few more months (years?) i get to save for it!

i'm headed to rockville audi tomorrow to check out the Q7 deal for the wife, i'll probably throw my order in then.. If i get it earlier, so be it, but no problems waiting until 2009 if it takes that..

 

[bri]

by the way, if you guys want to throw your rides up on a lift, i've got one in my garage.

 

[A5inReston]

bri... I concur with Nate. Don't gamble that much money to save a few weeks/months. It will be worth the wait to get what you want.

Thanks for the offer on the lift.

 

[bri]

yeah, all the production delays have me spooked, but it's all good.. drove it again today with the kid and wife in the back, turns out the back seat is comfortable for reasonable and smaller sized people, but unfortunately my son can reach the seat buttons on the top corner of the seat, so that's gonna get old..

I'm going to hash out the details with the wife tonight and we'll probably drop the deposit tomorrow afternoon once i'm settled on a color combo..

aaaaaaaaaaand i probably leasing the wife a Q7 too.. DAMMIT!

 

[bri]

HBL had someone back out of an order, so i snagged his spot.. Meteor/Magma, here I come!

 

[Nate]

Congrats! That's the way to do it. I recommend keeping in communication ("have you fixed your demo yet?" is a good excuse) so they know you're willing to move even further up the list if someone else backs out