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Tell them that you want the car to be young again. It will probably cost much less than $5k.
Also, replace the foot pedal pads, floor mats, etc. and have it detailed thoroughly. I think it's a no-brainer. Good luck!
I read the article almost in disbelief -- the scoring according to the article was "so close" (between the 540 and the A6 4.2) that the author made a comment that if the scores were recorded again that the A6 could have been #1 and the BMW #2. The BMW received a score of 95 and the Audi a 94. And the Audi costs less! And, and, and of course it has quattro.
When the 2002 and then the "new" 2003 A6's come out (and certainly replacement 5 series -- which may follow in the footsteps of the new highly anticipated 7 series Bimmer) the bar will again be raised. It has been so gratifying to see Car and Driver (my favorite of all the car magazines -- and according to my wife, I subscribe to them ALL) take the heat for again giving an Audi product such very high marks (and remarks). They did it with the A4 2.8 quattro sport vs the BMW and the S4 (circa 1994). Moreover, the S4 current version has received much praise in their publication and both the 2.7T and 4.2 A6's were on their 10 best list.
My guess is that they'll take heat regarding the remarks that claimed the A6 and 540 were so evenly matched. Makes these 23 years of loyalty (to Audi) seem worth it somehow.
BTW test reports, etc do say many good things about the new AWD Jaguar -- I have not driven one yet -- based only on the test reports, you probably wouldn't hate yourself if you bought one. But the editors of the car magazines still seem to rate the A6 more highly.
Believe the A6 is a larger and much roomier car than the X-Type. Without having driven, or even seen an X-Type, my suspicion is the new 3.0 A4 will be a much better and more reliable ride. If you're shopping under $40, that's the real comparison. And you really need to go test-drive each to get any inkling as to which you personally prefer. I've learned from experience that you can't car shop by reading auto magazines.
I have driven the new A4 quattro -- it is the best A4 ever.
I live in Chicago (hence the userid), where we are known to get more than a little bit of nasty winter weather. My A6 2.7t came with the standard continentals (16").
I would prefer to stick with the same tires year round. What would you recommend for a year-round performance 16" performance tire. How much will it improve handling? And how much are they likely to cost?
btw, just passed 1,000 miles this weekend (only two weeks). can keep her off the road!
Thanks for your help.
Re tires: in Chicago, with your desire for a year round tire -- go with an all season Ultra High Performance tire plus zero'd (which on a 16" wheel would be 225 x 50 x 16"). I like my Yokohama AVS db's a lot (you can read up on them at www.tirerack.com) and they will cost no more than $140/each. One other benefit of this tire is durability -- they should last longer than a pure summer tire like the Dunlop SP9000's.
There are several very good all season UHP tires from Pirelli and some other mfg's too. Tirerack sales folks are very good consultants in this regard. One of my criteria was I wanted a quiet UHP tire. Hence the db label on the Yok's.
Keep us informed.
1998 A6 quattro.
1) I have the bose system and it's great except that the sub woofer is killing me. Is there anyway to turn it down? I have the bass control to -5 already and still get tons of this boomy sound. If it was tight, it would be great, but this just sounds like a low budget speaker. I was thinking maybe there was a control on the sub in the truck.
2) Can you get the Key and associated remote control anywheres beside the dealer. I understand that they cost about $160. is that right?
3) Finally drove the car in the rain this weekend (yes, it rained in TN). I noticed that I got road grime all over the sides of the car including the mirrors. Are there mud guards you can get or is that taboo on a A6?.
4) My car will be going out of warranty in a couple of months. Should I look into an extended warranty or just wing it? A better way to ask the question is for you guys who have high mileage, are there things that go out that would be cover under an extended warranty. I am concerned about of the electronics in the car and the quattro system.
thanks.
Good luck!
My questions:
In Chicago27t1's response to my original post he mentioned the invoice price. Where did the invoice price come from? Are options on the vehicle included in the invoice, or are they added at another point.
In today's conversation with the sales person he was definitely pushing a 39 month lease with $1,750 down and 10k miles per year. Last week there was $0 down which makes me somewhat suspicious. I find it curious that Audi does not post their lease specials on their site, but I digress.
The dealer quoted an MSRP of $45,175 and a cap cost of $42,390. The Money Factor was .00139 (3.3%). Last week it was 2.9% yet another inconsistency. The residual ranged from $24,846 at 10k miles per year to $23,491 at 15k miles per year.
Here are my calculations:
I assumed an invoice of $35,894 which came from the Edmunds site which excludes options. I multiplied this by .025 (assuming i can negotiate a 2.5% over invoice deal). This gave me my baseline cost of $36,791 to work from. I used a residual of 52% which I arrived at by dividing the residual numbers provided by the dealer and dividing that by the the MSRP provided by the dealer. $23,491/$45,175 = 52%.
Next for the CT tax I took the basline cost $36,791-$23,491(residual)= $13,300 *.06 = $798.
So following the formula from post # 1541 the lease payment would be as follows:
Net cap cost = $36,791 + $798 - $1,750 = $35,839
So the monthly depreciation would be the net cap cost $35,839 - $23,491 (residual)/ 39 months = $316.61.
The monthly finance payment would be the net cap cost $35,839 + $23,491 = $59,330 * .00139 (the money factor) = $82.46
The monthly total, if I did this correctly would be $316.61 + $82.46= $399.07
This sounds incredibly inexpensive for a car of this quality which leads me to believe there may be an error in one of my asumptions. Any assistance from the finance experts in the crowd would be very much appreciated.
I intend to fax a letter to several dealerships in the area and see who will be willing to do the deal. I'm ready to buy as soon as I get a dealer to agree.
Thanks again for the help.
Just a thought.
For those of you following this or with similar brake rotor problems on your 2000 or 2001 S4, A6 2.7T, 4.2 or A8's, I will keep you posted.
I am still pleased with the way this is being handled, if not the brakes themselves.
For those new to this saga -- my brake rotors on my 2000 and now my 2001 A6 4.2 make a shuddering or purring sound and feel -- as if they are warped. Audi has, in total, replaced my rotors 5 times -- no charge no questions asked. I currently have 12,000 miles on my now 9 month old 2001 A6 4.2 and the car has had two sets of front rotors already.
The symptom has become more prevalent in the past 10 days, so I am hopeful that that fact alone will make the results of the cure easy to ascertain. If they put another set of rotors on the car, that is OK too, but I would rather they just go out and buy a set of brembo cross drilled OEM replacements and be done with it. But other than the time cost to me -- which, frankly, has been minimal -- this has been an adventure, a confusing (why would they spend all that money on replacing the parts over and over when they could just go get some "good ones"?) adventure.
I can't wait to get into a 2003 S4 or S6 -- which I am convinced will have "new and improved" factory original brakes.
The invoice has nothing to do with the final lease price, other than that it provides you with a basis for negotiating a good sales price (which will be the base for your net cap cost). In my case, the negotiated sales price was in the mid 41ks.
Net cap cost is the sales price (not the invoice) +/- any taxes or payments.
I got a 48 month lease (12K miles per year) so that the lease would coincide with the warrantee. Your salesman is pushing 39 months because that is the current Audi deal. If, however, you extend it to 48 months you'll save about $40/month. Salesman (in spite of what they will tell you), know very little about leasing.
Think of it this way. You know the lease equation. Now, think about what will make your payments go up or down. If your lease term increases, while your residual stays about the same, your monthly payment will also decrease. The reason? You're depreciating about the same amount, but over a longer period of time. This amount, to anticipate your next question, is much greater than the additional finance charges. The reason? You're only extending the lease by 9 months. The residual will not change much because the additional 9 months will not add much depreciation (regardless of whether you choose 39 or 48 months, you'll still terminate your lease in the same model year -- 2005). Can you really tell the difference between driving a car that is 3 years and 3 months old vs. an identical car that is 4 years old?
The key is whether you'll be able to keep the car within the warantee mileage. If you're going to drive 15k per year, you'll fall outside of warantee -- in which case it's probably better to go with the shorter term. There's no way I would ever lease a car outside of the warantee.
With respect to the differing residuals you've been given, consider that a car that's been driven 40k miles (12k per year for 39 months is probably going to depreciate less than a car that has been driven 50k miles (15k for 48 months). That's why the residual pct will be higher as the mileage increases. When I was going to lease my car for 10k per year, the residual was 50% of MSRP. When I extended it to 12K per year, the pct dropped to 49%.
FYI: You're lucky that you're in Connecticut (not just because I grew up there). Like most states, you only pay tax on the depreciated amount. In Illinois, we pay tax on the full sales price of the car. In Cook county, they even tack on a .25% surcharge.
The car I saw did not have sports or nav packages and did not have the cd trunk changer. All other options were on the car. MSRP is $45,975. "Lease price" is 43,275 - whatever that means. I assume they are offering the car at $2,700 below MSRP, but not sure.
A 12,000 mile per year for 39 month lease w/ $0 down is $567.70 per month. With $2,499 down, the monthly is $500.15. Money factor is the same as above .00139 with a residual of 55% ($24,826.50)
I love this car (ming blue w/ tungsten grey interior) and this sounds like a reasonable deal, BUT I have never leased before (actually never financed before either). Since WA has sales tax (but only on the portion of the lease that you pay), it is highly desirable over purchasing the car. I don't really want to pay $3,500 + to the state for the privilege of buying a car.
What is the best way to negotiate a better lease deal. I would be interested in 36 - 48 months @ 12,000 miles per year w/ as little down as possible. I would love additional advice from anyone and more info re: what others are hearing from dealers.
Peace and GO Mariners
a 'one time' fee and pay interest on it. I agree about the 'cap cost reduction'. That's instant
money in the dealer's pocket.
jk
The way you approach the dealer is to come in with your formula and the lease price.
Tell him you'll give him 2% over invoice (43,275 * 1.02) for the lease. Show him how this effects your lease payment. Use the formula to calculate the payment. Calculate it for 39 months and 48 months (residual for 48 months will be 50% for 10k miles/year and 49% for 12K miles/year).
Explain in a nice but somewhat condescending tone that you are going to show him how to calculate a lease payment with a pen and calculator. At this point he will realize that you are a very sophisticated buyer and will take you a bit more seriously. If he doesn't, ask to speak to the manager. It will also be helpful if they realize that they can sell a car on the spot if they meet your price. At this time of the year, you should be able to pick up a 2.7T for no more than 3% over invoice...regardless of what they tell you.
a 'one time' fee and pay interest on it. I agree about the 'cap cost reduction'. That's instant
money in the dealer's pocket.
jk
They go on tomorrow...I'll let you know.
Let me know what you think about the Yok's.
I hope Audi (soon) lets us configure our cars the way we want them (including the tires) -- the computer/www would make this process easy, especially if instant gratification (buying without ordering that is) was not an issue.
My dealer told me that a larger portion of Audi and Porsche customers (compared to US brands' customers) think nothing about a three to nine month lead time when buying a car. And, the BMW dealer said to this day there are BMW's that are virtually ONLY sold via order and with substantial (by American standards) lead times.
I have never bought an Audi off the lot, oops one time, in over 20 years. The longest wait I had was for my wife's first TT -- about a year wait. The second TT took a little over 5 months, my 4.2 took a little less than 4 months. But I got what I wanted, not what was on the lot.
It seems to me that the cost of "floorplanning" is so high that more and more dealers will keep less and less inventory especially if buying habits tend, over time, to drift away from instant gratification. My dealer has one S8 in stock -- and one with dealer tags on it, claims that S8 buyers are unlikely to come in a buy off the showroom floor unless there is a deal.
You were given the "lazy" or convenient answer. That is crap (lazy answers, that is) IMHO.
Thanks
I have found myself changing the oil for example less frequently than I used to (although still more frequently than the manual says) because I never keep the car beyond warranty.
I used to change oil and filter every 3,000 miles and use the best semi syn oil there was. Annually, I would change virtually ALL fluids in the car (even when it was my nickle). I realize the cars need such pampering less than they used to, but my guess is that the 10,000 mile oil change intervals of the new Audis won't bite anyone during the first 50,000 miles -- but more's the pity for the next owner.
Anyway -- when you look at it from the perspective of keeping a car 150,000 miles with little or no major breakdown, frequent maintenance makes $ense. If my plan was to try to keep an Audi for 100 to 150,000 miles, I think I would only do so if I bought the car brand new.
No car, for me, is worth the risk -- unless it is very low acquisition cost -- starting out at 60+K miles -- I would just assume that I would pay for the car and then pay for the car again in bringing it up to great condition.
Seems "cheaper" to buy a new one and maintain it well and keep it until the wheels turn square (oh yes and buy it new with an extended warranty right away).
The cost per year is probably lower starting with a new car than one that you don't know.
At least that has been my experience.
Mark
Thanks
Markcincinnati, I know you are a fan of the Yoko AVS db's and recommended them recently to a writer in Chicago. I have to admit that I have no idea what winters in Chicago or Cincinnati are like as compared to Denver. Do you think this would be a good choice for me as well given my situation?
I have also been considering dedicated winter tires and having them mounted on an extra set of alloy rims through tirerack.com. On tirerack.com there are a lot of 17" and 18" wheel choices for the A6, but I am nervous about the fact that my owner's manual repeatedly stresses the need for me to stick with the OE size of 215/55-16. Has anyone had experience changing the wheel size on their late model A6 and has everything turned out okay?
I would go with dedicated winter tires based on your description of your situation (with separate wheels too).
And, while I'm being nosey -- how much did they cost -- I paid $144 each from tirerack.com.
Mark
By the ay, this car is unbelievable, and the quality of the interior is far superior (from a materials standpoint) to the 2001 MB S500 behemouth that I just sold.
BTW2, the dealer was willing to install for free if I bought from tirerack, but would give me nothing for the old tires.
Tirerack is best place to go. Try extension 317, JD is very helpful and knowledgeable.
I would consider mounting the Blizzacs on the Audi A6 factory wheel and doing a PlusOne Summer tire/wheel -- you could even upsize the wheel to an Audi wheel (@ www.audiusa.com).
The 3.0 models will be out soon and the dealers need to GET RID of the 2.8 models as soon as possible. Play hardball on this model, or give a little on the faster models.
The Service manager called me and said, "well, the vibration is gone, the brakes are smooth, but it will take about 150 to 200 miles for the noise to go away." He said he WAS pleased with the results as far as the shudder is concerned but said that the purring sound was possibly a bit louder -- he said drive it for the weekend and Monday, and call him on Tuesday and if I am in any way unhappy he will put new rotors on it.
At this point, that is a full report.
As the Service Manger said, sorry it took so long -- and I am saying to you, sorry this saga is taking so long to report. But, you are getting the information as quickly as I get it.
And, BTW, the SVC MGR said that he did check with other's who had had the "treatment" and they said the noise will go away in a few days. Since I don't know what the noise is, yet -- I'll give a cautiously optimistic, "we'll see."
Mark