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Audi A3 Prices Paid and Buying Experiences
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Comments
DL
Isn't that the truth....
I mean really..cold weather package for DC???? By the time my tush warms up, it's already Spring!!!
Well, belive it or not I have CWP in TX. And its been used on and off, the last 5 months. Personally, I don't like hot air blowing on me and the hot seat's are the perfect cure. And not too mention feel nice on the bad back ..
DL
Best Regards,
Shipo
Joy
I ordered it on my 1995 VR6 Passat GLX and quickly decided that I have an intense dislike for heat seaters. Even though I now live in New Hampshire, every time I get into Mrs. Shipo's car (which has them), I cannot even make it to the first stop sign before I'm scrambling to shut the damn things off. Grrrr!
So, "Why," you ask, "are you wanting to order the CWP on an A3?"
Simple, according to the Audi web site, the CWP is comprised of the following items:
- Heated front seats
- Ski sack
- Heated windshield washer nozzles
- Heated exterior mirrors
Interestingly enough that list is the reverse of how important I think those items are. I would personally never turn the heated seats on, and while the ski sack is nice, I'd probably get a ski rack for them instead. As for the heated windshield washer nozzles, that's pretty cool, and I suppose there are two or three days per year around here where they'd even be useful, however, the heated exterior mirrors are the things that I cannot live without. I'm guessing that there are an easy fifty or sixty days per year where the weather conditions are such that the exterior mirrors need to be either de-fogged or defrosted, and that one feature is enough to get me to check off the $700 line item for the CWP.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Options on the A3 just kill you. Assuming that I can get this car for around $750 over invoice, which seems doable if I'm patient and take a car off the lot, a 3.2 with my limited options still goes out the door for a total price of around $37.5k (including taxes, title, and tags). I can live with that.
The price keeps me on the ledge, but the lack of alternatives to this car keep me coming back. Small sporty wagons and CUVs don't come close to handling like this car.
I keep mine garaged as well, however, I've only once in my life had a covered place to park when at work, and I lived in Atlanta back then. All too often I come out from work to a car covered in snow or ice and THAT is when the heated mirrors pay divdends. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
DL
All A3's are pre-wired for them. You can buy a pair of heated "split" mirrors for fairly cheap and use VAG-COM to enable them. If that's all you want, you can buy the mirrors AND VAG-COM for less than the cost of the CWP.
But misterjj has the perfect solution. I've heard great things about European style split mirrors anyway and was thinking of installing them along with tinting the windows to make it a little more difficult to see into the car.
I too am on the fence regarding the A3, which has great interior and superb drivetrain, but lack of dealer service and reliability are concerns. But, am hoping for 2007 model year (not far off) that A3 options will be simplified, reliability will be proven, and (fingers x'ed) the Quattro will get a direct injection engine and a touring suspension option.
The only other car I know of that __might__ be an alternative is the SRT-4 version of the Dodge Caliber. Its interior will probably be Subaru class, but handling and ride may be competitive. We shall see!
That's not a bet that I'd take. The Caliber SRT4 has 225/45 R19 tires wrapped around 19" wheels, here's betting that not only would it be really rough on less than perfect pavement, the driver of a Caliber would be watching the taillights of an A3 pulling away on a tight road course.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Moto99
Are you kidding? MSRP is $29,510. Did you forget to mention NAV system? My deal was $1000 over invoice with absolutely NO additional fees. No prep or marketing or any other add-on fees. I think I got a good and fair deal. You probably should be able to do a little better or a little worse depending on the dealer competition in your area. Use the TMV invoice pricing here on edmunds as a base and negotiate from there.
Wrt Caliber SRT-4 .vs. Audi A3, if Dodge is stupid enough to put 19" ultra-lo pro tires on that Caliber, on any rough road the Audi 2.0 will definitely be showing its tailights to it.
What are people seeing in other areas?
You can also get leather and a moonroof in the WRX, nad even with those options, It's still less than a similar A3, plus you get AWD. Granted, the interior is more spartan, byut that is another area that they upgraded for 2006.
I just agreed to purchase a 2.0T MT, basically stripped, which is just about right for me. Prices, before tax, license, etc.:
MSRP (Base, Paint, Destination) = 25,910.
Invoice = 24,128.
I just agreed to 24,800, which is 1,110 under MSRP and 672 over invoice.
Purchased from Tucson Audi (Arizona). They did not have the combo I wanted (silver with with black interior), but there is one on its way in 3-4 weeks.
I first tried the Subaru WRX wagon, which I liked quite a bit (esp. the seats), but it seemed to be somewhat of a step down in overall quality compared to the A3, especially the interior materials. Nice though.
I tried the normally aspirated Outback and it was nice too, but I found it boring.
Finally, I tried the new VW GTI given it's common platform and motor with the A3. Liked it, esp. the $3,000 less, and their willingness to sell just above invoice. It has some useful stuff standard than the A3 doesn't have or is an option (mp3 6-disk CD player, standard trip computer); I like the typical sunroof too. In the end, it's just a bit too much "boy racer" for this 41 year-old.
So I sprung for the A3. First new car in 15 years!
That's less than $500 below MSRP. You should be able to do better. My experience:
First dealer wanted MSRP and eventually gave me $500 below MSRP and made it sound like some huge favor. I mentioned the Costco discount and they said they didn't participate in the Costco program because it wasn't "fair". :confuse:
The second dealer would do Costco price ($750 over invoice) but there would be added fees and I would have to go through the fleet manager who seemed way to busy to spend much time with me. The regular salesman had treated me well so I agreed to buy from him at $1000 over invoice with no additional fees (about $1000 below MSRP). Try to negotiate from invoice price and watch out for a low price but with added dealer prep and other fees.
It seemed like a 2 yr old S4 Avant with low miles could be a real alternative to the 3.2. Yes, it is used and I have questions how anyone owning a S4 drove the car. However, you avoid the big depreciation hits of the first 2 years of ownership, the car is bigger and has more utility, and it is one heck of a lot more powerful. The only downside besides finding one that hadn't been abused is that you are kissing any semblance of good gas mileage goodbye.
Any thoughts???
I remember you mentioning you didn't like the 3.2's ride on rough roads. How does the S4 do in comparison?
(both of above and high cost's why I gave up on A3 3.2)
Does/Will the S4 run on regular without any problem? The A3 2.0 apparently will, but I doubt the 3.2s' older engine would handle this as well (am I wrong here? :confuse: ).
Why would you even want to? :confuse:
Best Regards,
Shipo
The S4 Avant gets MUCH worse gas mileage than the 3.2. That car has a V-8 in it and a 2 yr old S4 will cost as much as a brand new loaded 3.2. There is a good review of both the 3.2 and the S4 Avant at thetruthaboutcars.com
Here you are complaining about the cost of the 3.2, but in another thread here you are talking about how Audi could sell S3s and RS3s in the US. Cost is an issue with the A3 and is the major reason why people just don't run out and get the car.
The Edmunds audi town hall transcript here was a good read!
Fingers x'ed on the 2.0 T AWD!
Also, Boomers are becomming a dominant market. A lot of them grew up with VW and by association, Audi. They want fast, powerful, luxo cars, but not necessarrly huge ones. That RS3 market may be here!
MSN had an article suggesting Boomers were a huge market for the very kinds of cars Audi and BMW are marketing, especially high power cars enthusasists love.
Didn't Shipo comment how desirable the S3 and GS3 would be? I'll bet they're others out there feeling the same. One way Audi would know is to offer the GS3 engine as an option and build very few of them to keep cost down and demand high.
As for my complaining, it's mainly because Audi has decided AWD only belongs on an S line. Your roads, ccd1, mirror mine! The AUDI dealer I visited also felt the S didn't work well in town (the open road's whole notha story!).
April/May, another poster mentioned, is switchover time for Audi and VW, so maybe '07 will offer more choices!
You are talking out of both sides of your mouth at the same time. Boomers are NOT going to buy the S3 or RS3. The answer comes down to one point: the suspension is too firm. Middle-aged people are not going to buy a car with a suspension like this. Heck, you don't even want the S-line suspension!!!
The ONLY way to sell this car to boomers is to change what these cars are. I'm 50 and the 3.2 is just about all I want to handle on a daily basis. Make the suspension any firmer, or the engine any more high strung and I just wouldn't want to deal with it. The S3 and RS3 that might sell to boomers is NOT the S3 and RS3 that Audi builds. The other problem is that the car doesn't look like it should cost what the S3 and RS3 will cost.
Boomers would be MUCH more likely to buy the S4 Avant. It's bigger, suspension is not as firm and it's fast as hell.
I originally got quoted in early February $25,815 for a non-metallic DSG A3 base/cloth optionless (besides DSG) model. Thats a good starting offer.
Next.... I find I can't live with the quirks and imperfections of a base stripper model. Add Sport package and metallic paint. Clearly, on any website, you can see these two adds total $2,048 invoiced.
So I should be around $27,850 right? Nope. They want $28,300. I should tell that dealer to go to hell, since they tried to say they were only $500 over cost on that offer.
2) The car being out a year doesn't dictate price. Demand and availability dictate price. If the dealer does not have many on the lot, there is no incentive to deal. If you want to bargain hard, you need to go for an Audi that is not moving for whatever reason (like unpopular options or lack of popular options) or pick another brand. Volvo dealer in my area is dealing hard with V50s to the tune of $3-5k. I was offered $3k off just walking in the door and another $1k over the phone.
3) Lying about invoice is just stupid in this day and age. Invoice prices are just too easy to get.
FYI, I'm a boomer, and ditto most dudes I hang out with. We like the A3 with AWD but not its lack of AWD choices. That's come up on other threads here.
The A4 Avant is interesting - will check it more closely now that there's no answer for A3 AWD other than S. Fingers x'ed there'll be more choices in '07.
Meanwhile, The article I read was on Wards, saying in essence the Boomer markets' being ignored was a big mistake as, right now, they are the ones with the bucks to spend.
Therefore, I'd say demand is fairly low, and supply is actually relatively high. I would say that the reason they are not selling is because Audi has overpriced the A3 significantly. Cars are only worth what people are willing to pay for them. When nice Hondas, Toyotas, and Mazdas are coming in with great products at good prices, you can't overprice them by 10K and expect to sell a lot.
In my opinion 30K cars compete with 20K cars, because the 30K car better seem like its 10K better and more valuable.
Otherwise its a terrible VALUE, and a lot of people such as myself won't go for a bad value.
For me, it's closed; AWD-S is out. But if it works for you and the other AWD-S buyers, that's good!
When Audi announces what it's doing for '07, I'll take another look.
A4 looked nice but Avant doesn't have DGS yet (as far as I can tell). Maybe in '07.
As for the Caliber SRT-4, no AWD. What the heck ??? They put their most powerful engine in a FWD-only car? Perhaps a limitation of their AWD system or the engine cannot be easilly adapted?
Value is subjective. If you place no importance on superior handling and things like DSG, then the Audi is a terrible value. If you do then the A3 isn't such a terrible value.
The other less subjective determinant of value is depreciation. Audis have average depreciation so if you want the most value, buy a 1 yr old A3 with low miles for around 20% off the new car price.
BTW, I've heard that some Audi dealers are offering $1500 off on the A3 2.0.
Wonder why they are showing up?
Are these lease returns (people started with an A3 and decided they wanted to move to a larger Audi) ?
The car has 27mi on it and had been on the lot for about 2 weeks. I chose not to go with Sound/Nav/Sat/BT, as I prefer a quality aftermarket setup. I would have liked Xenon lamps, but would've had to order them if I wanted to avoid any of the aformentioned options.
Regarding the Used A3's, I noticed a number of dealer demos up for sale in the MD/VA/DC area, but none w/ over 5-7K miles.
However, I'm not convinced the A3 is 10K better when you add the differences in quality up.
Not sure...they have a bunch of A4's.....they also sell new Chevys/Subaru's/VW's.
don
At an Audi forum, there is some talk that problems are turning up on the A3s. But I wouldn't base an opinion on A3 reliability on one or two comments.
BTW, your car sounds sweet.