Epilogue

It took 36 days to get the car from the dealer.

Drop Off at Munich: Sep 17
Loaded on ship: Sep 29
Arrive Davisville, RI, USA: Oct 9
Released from customs: Oct. 15
Delivery at Boston area dealer: Oct 23

Thoughts on the car and the European Delivery experience

The car drives very well. It has all the quirks that people have mentioned in the forums. Jerky shifts in low gear at very low speeds. Groans when starting out at low speeds. Water inside the fuel fill area. Water dripping from a channel in the hatch to another channel in the main body when the hatch is opened. The Jukebox did not import from the iPod. The Jukebox does not rip CDs by design unless they are in MP3 or WMA format. That hot oil smell still bugs me. The B&O sound is good. The navigation and Sirius do not work in Europe as they are USA spec. We got about 22 mpg overall for our trip per the trip computer.

Would we do it again? In a heartbeat. It is just so much more exciting to be able to pick up the car at the factory and to be able to drive it in Europe. It also allows you go off the beaten track and see Europe in a very different way. BMW has a far more mature European Delivery program, but, as I mentioned before, Audi did what it promised and did it well. The factory tour is great, as is the forum itself. In my mind, the three days we spent with the car was just right for us. If we had to do it again, we’d do three days in another area. There are so many places that are accessible from here within that time frame. The only drag is that you have to be careful as you break in the car as the desire to punch it is just so great.

Day 4: September 17 Salzburg-Munich drop off

It’s cloudy. We wake up late, pack and have a hearty breakfast. The Bircher Muesli at this hotel is to die for. Tastes as delicious as the ones they serve on British Airways business class, which is my yardstick. Yum. We check out and hit the road.

The drive back is all autobahn, but there’s a huge traffic jam (a “stau”) on the A8 close to Munich. We clear it after half an hour and head up the A99 which circles Munich to the Audi drop off. All in all, it takes us about 2 hours to arrive. We stop at a gas station and get the car washed. Obviously being clueless as to how these things work, we just stand around looking clueless until an attendant shows us how. You drive you car in until the light says stop. Then you get out of your car, go outside and punch in the code. The wash does its thing and you drive it out once the light turns green. Simple when you know what to do. Not so simple otherwise!

We drive to the drop off but just can’t find the place. The name of the agent is Vikase, and the shipper is E.H. Harms. It turns out that you have to drive to the far end of Robert-Bosche Strasse and go up a steep ramp to this place. If you choose not to drive up the ramp, you end up in a gigantic DHL lot. Believe me, we tried every option.

At the drop off, things go smoothly until we do the inspection. It turns out that the roof rack is in a cardboard carton in the trunk. We didn’t install ours and this is a “big problem”. All movable parts are removed as they could damage the car during shipment. I kept insisting that the rack is standard and not an add on. They call up their big boss who said that despite this, these may ship independently to the dealer and so he cannot accept them. He offers us two choices, install it or take it home as luggage. We take up the install it now offer. As we are going through the paperwork, they have some more conversations and agree to ship it with the car instead of installing it. We make sure that the condition report indicates that the rack is in the car. We also remove the first aid kit and safety vests as these are taken out before shipping and leave signs on the seats indicating that we want the IN license plates as mementos. Otherwise they are removed at the port. We are told that the car will be trucked to Bremerhaven and will arrive at the dealer in 5 weeks. The car has 451.4 miles on it and we have driven it for 446 miles in 72h. We say our goodbyes and check into the Kempinski. It’s a 3am wake up call for the journey home tomorrow and we have some coffee to buy.

Day 3: September 16 Salzburg – Berchtesgaden – Konigsee – Salzburg

A great breakfast and we hit the road towards Berchtesgaden, back in Germany. Based on the Bimmerfest recommendations we want to drive the Rossfeld Ring Road, which goes up to an elevation of about 5000 feet above sea level and offers some panoramic views of Salzburg and its environs. Berchtesgaden is only 30 mins from Salzburg and therefore a great day trip. We want to drive Rossfeld and then head further south to Konigsee, which is a popular lake. Berchtesgaden is also historically popular as Hitler’s chalet in the Eagle’s nest area in Obersalzburg is also here, but we are not interested in Third Reich history.

The weather is great, and almost feels like 70F. But the GPS still has problems finding its satellites. So we run around in circles, hoping we don’t break any traffic rules along the way and ultimately stumble upon the road leading to Berchtesgaden. The rolling pastures don’t seem to elicit more than the occasional “wow, look at that” now.

Pretty soon, we are there and the road starts winding up the mountain. The grades are not very steep yet, but the car revs easily over 3000 rpm and we mindfully drive slow hoping that it shifts up soon and brings the revs down.

The road to Berchtesgaden

After about 10-15 minutes up the mountain we arrive at the entrance to the road and pay a toll (Euro 3.80). And onward and upward we go. There are umpteen stops and we stop and take pictures. The car smells of hot oil every time we step out and we don’t like it. My last Audi was a used 85 5000 that, in the short time I owned it, had the brake master cylinder and the cooling system fail amongst many minor mishaps. It also almost bankrupted me. Brings back bad memories.

Soon we crest the mountain, ooh and aah to the view and start heading down. Halfway down the mountain, only the right lane of the road is blocked off. Not knowing any better and heeding the wife, we go around the barricade. Wouldn’t the guy at the toll booth have told us if the road is closed? Seems logical. Further on, we come to a traffic light since only one lane is open. Our light turns green and we head past a bunch of people working, one of whom even waves to us. Since he didn’t halt us I feel more confident. A few minutes later and almost at the bottom, the road is blocked by one of those things that roll over freshly tarred roads to flatten them (the name escapes me). The guy driving it is walking around the vehicle and we decide to ask him if the road is open or not. Out comes Rick Steve’s handy little German-English book, but by the time we figured out the words to road, open and closed, he is done and headed down the hill. We press on. Sure enough we catch up to him and he waves us down and says “geschlossen”, which, we now know means “you are idiots because this road was closed 5 kilometres ago”. Only problem is, this road is freaking narrow, and there’s no way we can do a 3 point turn. Maybe a 30 point one. So we reverse up the hill. The backup camera sure comes in handy. Finally, we reach a wider section of road and turn around. Half an hour later we exit the way we came in. Phew. Wouldn’t be much fun without incidents like these.

Rossfeld Ring Road

We head south from there following the signs to Konigsee via the town of Berchtesgaden itself. Finally we arrive at a giant parking lot with a ginormous McDonalds. There must be parking for 5000 cars here and not one empty space. No sign of the lake, but enthusiastic visitors are pulling out hiking gear by the armload from their vehicles. Not our scene and we head back out to Berchtesgaden. No seeing the Konigsee for us.

Ten minutes later we park at Berchtesgaden. It’s 12:30 now, and all the shops are closed from 12-2:00pm! Siesta time. All we want is some coffee and it takes us almost 20 minutes to find a café. We order two coffees, which seem almost 250 mls each! We sip and plan our next move. The consensus is head back to Salzburg and walk around some more.

We drive back to Salzburg, park at the hotel and walk into town. One of the things we love to do wherever we go is hit the local grocery stores and walk around the aisles. Problem is, in the past ten years, it seems that a handful of companies own every brand in the world and of late, every store we hit looks no different from the international aisle in your local supermarket or Trader Joe’s in the US. But Salzburg is different. The brands are different. The products look different. It was fun. We buy some essentials, and (you guessed it) coffee to take home. By now we have already bought about 2kg of coffee and I suspect we’ll buy more in Munich. We walk around old town and are beginning to feel peckish. The sausage stands are still open and, based on some recommendations, we head towards the Bosna Grill, which is tucked away in a passage down Gerteidegasse. The Bosna is a mildly spicy Austrian sausage, and this grill, just like In’n’Out has only four things on offer (Bosnas #1,#2,#3 and #4). It is also strictly take out. We order ours (#2) and walk out and find a place to sit in a plaza. They are delicious! We meander around some more and then head towards the hotel. On the way we buy some Sacher Torte and an Apfelstrudel which we plan to have with some espresso in the room (that Nespresso sure got a work out).

We have dessert and coffee and then turn in. Nothing on TV, so we watch “The Sound of Music” and recognize the plaza where we ate our Bosnas. Looked exactly the same 40 years ago. They probably had to preserve it with more care than usual, or they would be missing a stop on the S.O.M. tour, as it is known here.

Day 2: September 15 Fuessen - Ettal - Salzburg

Breakfast, check out and we hit the road. We notice that many people looked at the car when parked. I don’t think it’s because they are admiring the Q5 – it’s probably because the car has IN plates in the US form factor and that’s unusual. No clouds in the sky. We decide to skip the castles and drive instead towards the monastery at Ettal. At check out, we are told to try a different route than the one we are planning. Instead of staying in Germany, we are told to drive south to Reutte, Austria and then drive by the Plansee into Ettal. From there, we catch the autobahn into Salzburg. We decide to do just that. After the customary mis-steps getting out of town we find the road to Reutte. I know we have to buy a 10-day toll vignette to be able to drive in Austria. Fuessen is only 3 km from the border, and I am on the lookout for border signs. Next thing I know we pass a sign saying Republik Osterreich. That’s it. That’s the border. Just like the US-Canada or the US-Mexico crossing. Not. We hoof the 200 m back into the Bundesrepublik Deutschland and find a gas station that sells us the vignette. We affix it to the top left part of the windscreen and approach Austria more confidently.

The border - European style!

Reutte is easily found and we follow the signs to Plansee, which is back in Germany. A breeze when there’s not that many roads. From there we hook towards Ettal. The monastery in Ettal is wonderful. The basilica, for once, has tons of natural sunlight and photography is allowed. There is no one praying and I have fun taking pictures. We have some espresso and leave Ettal towards the A8 into Salzburg.

Plansee

Ettal

The monastery at Ettal

Leaving Ettal

Enjoying the sound

On the way, we come across a herd of cows in a meadow right off the two-lane road. We pull over and I step closer to them to take some pictures. The two cows closest to me scamper away in fright. That’s unusual. Up until now all the cows I have come across have been oblivious to humans. These are jumpy. Then the bull in the herd comes right over, pokes his head over the fence and gives us the once over. Apparently we have his approval, and the whole herd comes over to check us out. I click away. The wife says it’d be great if we could get a shot of the car and the cows. But it’s a hundred feet ahead. Nevertheless, I walk towards the car to see what I can get. Suddenly the cows start following us towards the car in single file. This is hilarious. I have never seen cows so responsive to humans. I manage to get a few shots in and wave the cows good bye.

Cows!

Who do we have here?


You talking to me?


These guys are OK! Come check them out.


Can we get a picture of the car & the cows? The car is too far away....


No problem, we'll follow you!

We catch the autobahn towards Salzburg. It is very tempting to speed and I set the car to set off a speed alarm at 65 mph, which generally keeps the tach around 2000 rpm. I had tried the manual shift mode the previous day, but the tach jumped over 4000 rpm when I down shifted. Once in Austria, there are speed limits on the autobahn (60-130 kmph) and every one follows them religiously.

Road to Salzburg

We make it to the hotel without too much difficulty. Salzburg is crowded and the signs don’t make much sense unless you understand German or are really good at converting inscrutable symbols into perfectly clear driving instructions. In general, following the same principle that we do in Boston, i.e., drive at 20 mph and you can do just about anything without getting into an accident, seems to work.

Entering Salzburg

We check in to our hotel, which is lovely. It’s a modernized 19^th century villa, but the folks who modernized it must have been gadget freaks. There’s the large flat screen TV, a Blu-ray DVD player, a Tivoli CD and FM player with cables for your iPod, free WiFi and a Nespresso machine! We are in heaven. There are some books and CDs too, along with the obligatory Sound of Music DVD.

This hotel room is heaven!

We spend the evening in old town, which is 10 minute walk through Linzer Gasse. Salzburg closes early and most stores start shuttering down between 6-7pm. We find the Nespresso store and stock up on some espresso capsules. It’s a little hard to determine the culinary influences here. Not too many bakeries, and tons of restaurants that offer weird combinations of foreign or ethnic cuisines. One sign says Australian-British-Indian and has a full menu for each. The sausage stands have all closed. By far, the highest density of restaurants that we see are the Turkish kebap places and that’s what we have for dinner. I don’t think we could have handled another schnitzel. We check some movies out from the hotel reception and turn in for the night.

Random Salzburg pics

It's all about Mozart here

That museum tour sure was tiring!

Neat!

Mozart was born here (so they say....)

The Old Residenz

Salzburg at dusk

Day 1: September 14 Munich - Ingolstadt - Fuessen

We couldn’t make it in time for breakfast. Shocking! Call in to the front desk and we’re told that we can have an a la carte breakfast and pay the difference. It’s already 8:20 am and I just need more coffee. We decide to wait it out.

A shiny black A8L shows up at the door of the Kempinski promptly at 9:00am. We head to the car and the chauffeur helps us put our luggage in the cavernous trunk. The interior is a creamish coloured leather (sorry, I do not know my A8 interiors). And off we go! Heading north on the Autobahn, the car easily cruises at 150 kmph, traffic permitting. Suddenly my head slams into the headrest. We’re over 210 kmph. I can still hear the radio at its low volume. There’s no other noise! I’m fascinated by the B&O tweeters that pop out of the dash. Too bad you don’t get them with the Q5. Five minutes later we’re both fighting sleep and dozing and before we know it we can see the Audi buildings. We pull in to a cluster of buildings that seem to be blocked by short 3 foot high cylindrical steel poles. As the car draws nearer, a few poles lower into the ground and we enter a cavernous courtyard. Neat! The car pulls in front of the central building. It’s 9:40 am. We’re there.

We collect our bags and are escorted into the building by the chauffeur. There we are met by Fiona, who is the counterpart to our US based European delivery contact, Gary. We hand over our bags are escorted up an escalator to a large area that overlooks the floor below. Tables at the far end, a coffee bar in the middle and the Audi shop closest to us.

A view of the upper level



From the middle of this level, there are stairs leading to the lower level which has around 30 Audis lined up for delivery in two rows.

Delivery area




Fiona tells us that most Euro delivery is for central European customers, with few being US based. In the summer and at its peak they were doing 370 cars a day! Now, in mid September, they are at around 150. Looking up, we see two large LCDs showing the appointments. My name is up there for 10:00 am – cool!

Delivery announcements


We are given an Audi forum wrist band each, which allows us free use of the bar and the restaurant. These are single use only. You can’t snap the button open once they are closed. We cut ours with scissors and saved them as mementos later in the day.

We wait a few minutes and are introduced by Fiona to Mr. Erates, who will be handing the car over to us. But before that, there is this business of exchanging and signing some papers to finish. We hand over the voucher for international pick up provided by Audi in the US, show our passports and sign some documents. In return, we are given the title, registration, and are instructed on whom to call for mechanical emergencies and for insurance purposes. The first aid kit is in the car. We are given one vest – if you are driving in Austria, you need one per passenger. Germany just requires one per car. You also need an International Drivers Permit for Austria, which you can get at any AAA office. And, most importantly, we are handed a Garmin nuvi 750 GPS, our license to feel free to get lost for the next few days. Mr. Erates leaves us for a few minutes to check on the car. Fiona wishes us good bye and we hit the espresso at the bar.

By the way, if you take the time to read the forums and the information on the Audi website for European delivery, you will be prepared. Our dealer was new to this, but we didn’t experience any surprises. The documents we expected arrived well in time, and Gary answered every email promptly. Fiona and Mr. Erates gave us every document we expected at pickup. It helps to organize the documents as there will be quite a few flying around by the time of pickup.

In a few minutes, Mr. Erates comes up the steps and escorts us down and there it is – just like it would look in any showroom in the US. Just kidding. It has IN plates, but in the US shape and style good for 15 days!

The car from halfway down to the delivery level


A photographer takes our picture with the car. I take a few more. We are then shown the car for the next hour or so. Our luggage is already in the car. The phone is paired, the MMI is explained, instrument cluster, etc.. I just want my iPod connected. But wait! No iPod cable in the glove. Bummer. We are sheepishly told that it is not standard with the car and we need to buy it. That’s it. I run off upstairs to the Audi shop to buy one and am told that they are out!! Double bummer. We are given directions to an Audi shop in Ingolstadt. I buy an overpriced Audi safety vest instead.

Orientation


Down below, we wrap up the orientation. Our car is jumped like every other one on the floor (don’t know why). Given how far in the positive terminal is, I figure that I would have to climb inside the hood to reach it if I had to. Mr. Erates answers our last questions. He wants to make sure that we get our iPod cable and calls the shop personally to verify. He also showers us with Audi pens and a couple of key chains. Parting advice for break in – no more than 3500 rpm and 170 kmph for the first 500 miles. The car has 5 miles on it and a full tank of gas. Not for long!

And off we go. The wife fires it up and drives it out of the building. A random visitor gives her two thumbs as she pulls out and she has a huge grin on her face. We park it outside in the giant courtyard. It is raining. Oh well, it had to happen sometime. Might as well be the first day.

We then participate in the factory tour, which takes about 1.5 hours and involves about 2-3 kilometres of walking. It is a must do. We are not mechanically inclined, but are stunned by the sheer level of automation and leave with a deep appreciation for the complexity of the supply chain logistics required to churn a car out in 36 hours from sheet metal to final form. Of this, 12-15 hours are in the paint shop, which we didn’t get to visit. We are shown the presses for the A3 and A5, which press the major reinforced parts of the cars, as well as their QC checks. Then, the presses for the outer cosmetic shell. Next, the marriage of the upper, lower, and side shells. A video for the paint process. Didn’t know that the cars were brushed with emu feathers before the final coat was applied! Next the addition of the transmission, engine and wheels. And finally, the mostly manual assembly of the front and back modules, trim, steering wheel, windows, and seats.

These guys mean business. The line is on 24 hours a day and you get one 30 minute break and two 12 minute breaks! For the 12 minute breaks there’s a semi- enclosed area right by your station on the line where you can have a snack, drink beer (yes!) and grab a smoke (this is Europe). And finally the car rolls off the line and is started for the first time. We follow the A3 through this process, and the first one we watch fails to start. A guy rolls the front wheels on to a dolly and wheels it away with one hand! The A4, and Q5 are also made here amongst others. The TT’s shell is made here and shipped overnight to Gyor, Hungary from the railroad, which bisects the north and south of the Ingolstadt factory. It is assembled during the day at Gyor and shipped overnight to Ingolstadt, where it is available for delivery at the forum or shipped off to the dealer the following day. Amazing.

Next, we are off to the restaurant for lunch. The restaurant is very nice, and totally free. You can pig out to your hearts content if you wish. We have a light meal but decide at the last moment to splurge on the special, which is a pork schnitzel. Bad call. It is very tasty and a deep fried gut bomb. It is already 2:30 pm and we need to bug out of here to get that iPod cable and hit the road (if there’s only one thing I do today, it’s that cable, damn it).

An espresso to perk us up and we try to program the Garmin. And off we go.

What follows next is more a travelogue than anything else. We picked the car up on Monday, planning to drive down the romantic road from Augsburg and spend that night in Fuessen. The next two nights were planned for Salzburg, with the second day for a day trip to the Berchtesgaden area and a trip around the mountainous and panoramic Rossfeld Ring Road and Konigsee. Thursday was planned to be Salzburg to Munich and the drop off. Friday was the long journey back: MUC-CDG-BOS. There was no real purpose to the trip. We wanted to chase cows in Bavaria, drink good coffee, take lots of pictures, and have fun driving – in no particular order.

First stop is the Audi shop in Ingolstadt. Buy the cable (Euro 37.5 including the generous 19% VAT). Plug in the iPod. It works. Now the delivery is complete. Next towards Augsburg and then catch the B17, which is also known as the romantic road, straight to Fuessen. The GPS says 2 hours. No problem, right? Getting to the B17 was relatively okay. We missed a few turns but soon we are only 50 km out. It’s still raining. Can’t figure out how the rain sensing part of the wiper works. The clouds are denser. The GPS can’t find satellites any more and starts barking nonsensical directions. Pretty soon we are off the B17 and lost.

The road to Fuessen


Random pic



First cow photo-op



We keep driving around aimlessly. The countryside is just fabulous. Soon the clouds clear and the sun peeks out. We are on Rte 2059, a two lane road through impossibly green rolling hills, cows grazing and beautiful cottages. This is heaven. It is close to 6:30 pm and the golden hour for photography. I just want to park and take pictures. But there is no place to park. And we are both scared of trying to find Fuessen after sun down. These roads have no lights. And the only living things here seem to be cows and the insects splattering our car. So we keep on. Finally we find the B17, the GPS has reacquired its satellites and we arrive at our hotel in Fuessen. Actually, the hotel is in the town of Bad Faulenbach, which happens to be 1 km from Fuessen. Fuessen is a quiet sleepy town, very close to two of the famous castles in the area, Howenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. We saw them from a distance on the way in. It is almost 7:30pm by the time we are settled in. The clouds are so low that we can see them hovering over the valley from our hotel room.

Fuessen!


We walk over to Fuessen in the dark. Somewhere, men in lederhosen that we passed on the way in are playing alpine horns that are resonating through the valley. The dimly lit path by the Lech river connects the two towns. We are the only ones on it. Eerie. In town, there are some signs of life. Not much by way of food, but strangely dressed people are conducting night tours. We decide to eat at a restaurant that promises the cuisine of Allgau, which is the name of the region. The soup is great – meat stuffed ravioli or sausage in a beef broth. I try a wurst salat, which is a misnomer as it contains about 500g of sliced wurst on four token shreds of lettuce. The wife tries the spatzle, which is awesome, but so heavy that we can only tackle a few spoons each. We end up attacking the (green) salad that came with the spatzle and drinking the beer. After waiting 45 minutes for the check and having to harass the staff for it, we pay, schlep back to the hotel and turn in.

Day -1: September 13 Munich

We arrive at Munich airport at 10:30 am from Paris and head straight to the Kempinski airport hotel, which is the Munich hotel that is part of the European delivery program. The hotel, terminals a shopping arcade and the train station are all connected by a transparent dome. There is a large supermarket (Edeka) and plenty of dining choices. Unless you are picky, you will not go hungry. We like street food – no Burger King for us, but Doner kebaps! Yeah.

At the hotel we’re told it’s too early to get a room, but we can drop our luggage off and our room will be ready at two. We’re also informed that our room and breakfast are covered by “the company”, i.e., Audi, and are given a voucher for the early “fruhstuck” or breakfast, which is from 5-8am. No problem. We drop off our bags and buy two day tickets at the rail station and head off to Marienplatz, where we have a reservation for a guided tour of Dachau.

The S-bahn takes exactly 38 mins to drop us off at Marienplatz. After the tour, which runs from 1-6 pm, we wander around Marienplatz some more and then take the train back to the airport. We check in – the room is large by European standards. The showers are great – and it feels like just another sterile airport hotel. After a quick dinner and shopping for some essentials, we turn in.

Marienplatz














Marienplatz S-bahn















Dachau - Entrance and Interior

2010 Audi Q5 European Delivery

We decided to order a 2010 Audi Q5 via their European Delivery program. We placed the order on June 23, 2009 after negotiating the price with the dealer (Ira Audi in Peabody, MA). Since the 2010 prices were not out yet we negotiated a price based on whatever the invoice would be. Three weeks later we received our welcome packet from Audi indicating that the car would roll off the line week of July 27 and would be available for delivery 30 days later. We opted to pick up our car on Sep 14. Delivery was confirmed by Audi and we signed the purchase and sale documents on August 23. Within a week, we received our final delivery documents with the requisite vouchers to pick up the car and drop it off. This is a trip report/travelogue for folks who are interested in the European Delivery program.

2010 Audi Q5
Trim: Premium Plus
Options: MMI/Nav and Bang & Olufsen sound
Color: Quartz Gray