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.
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