Avant availability
09-07-2000, 05:51 AM
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Re: Avant availability (LONG reply)
I was looking into this some months ago and found them very scarce, at least 1.8T, manuals. Early in the year I JUST missed a 99 with 5000 miles on it which a salesman was turning in, and they were asking $25750 for that, with sunroof and cold package only. D'oh! I did find another similar, unbought 99, in Indiana, which was available for probably invoice price but I didn't like the color combo at all.
The prices I was quoted for a 2000 with cold, convenience (sunroof+) and sport packages were around $28500, only $1000-1200 under invoice. Driveoff.com does show some dealers in out-of-the-way places selling for as little as $750 above invoice, however during the winter I had talked to some of those dealers on the phone and they didn't actually have an Avant! Nor do I see how they could have gotten one from a higher-priced dealer...the dealer-to-dealer trade seems to go the other way. In fact I've seen two Avants with stickers from small-town dealers coming in to a major Chicago dealer for sale.
From what one salesman told me Avants have lately become more popular, in fact this same guy, in St Louis of all places, said that his last four A4 sales had been Avants, so all his 2000s were gone and he only had one 2001.
The 2001 has several benefits: standard side airbag, warranty now 4 years/50K, 20 more horsepower, but you also get the benefit of paying extra for metallic paint (!), and a general price increase, so for most cars you are up about $1000. List on the Avant described above is now close to $31K, and there are clearly people who are willing to pay that who you have to compete against. And this is not even including Bose stereo, Xenons, ESP, etc.
I absolutely loved the Avant but was about to give up on it, since I just couldn't justify the huge difference in price from a Subaru. However, within the same week two Avants showed up used at Chicago dealers, one a 99 with 11K miles, one a 99.5 with 8K, both with the 'Audi Assured' warranty which extends the factory warranty two years. Both were very clean, both had clean histories, both had sunroof/cold/sport packages, both were laser red! Asking price on each was under $26K.
I drove the 99.5 home yesterday, having driven it and loved it and negotiated the price a little. If I'd gotten really lucky 9 months ago I could have driven the same car home new for maybe $2000 more than I paid. But a search of Edmunds' used car database will show you very few Avants available used around the country and they are not cheap!
In my case I settled for a slightly used car and not my first choice color (though the red is awfully nice). I'm a grown man (like Bernie Mac says) and I understand that compromise is my friend.
If price is critical to you I would suggest SCOURING the market for a 2000 that might still be available. Audi's website (www.audiusa.com) has a dealer locator; you could have it list all the dealers within a few hundred miles (or more) and get on the phone. When I did this last winter I didn't find my car, but I did speak to a few extremely helpful and friendly sales people, in out-of-the-way places like Wausau, Wisconsin and Kansas City.
I read this forum a lot during the whole shopping experience and found it very useful. I also asked a few questions and sometimes wrote people directly with questions. Everyone I wrote to was very helpful.
Good luck in your search and let us know how it goes!
Best wishes,
Alan
99.5 1.8TQMS Avant
The prices I was quoted for a 2000 with cold, convenience (sunroof+) and sport packages were around $28500, only $1000-1200 under invoice. Driveoff.com does show some dealers in out-of-the-way places selling for as little as $750 above invoice, however during the winter I had talked to some of those dealers on the phone and they didn't actually have an Avant! Nor do I see how they could have gotten one from a higher-priced dealer...the dealer-to-dealer trade seems to go the other way. In fact I've seen two Avants with stickers from small-town dealers coming in to a major Chicago dealer for sale.
From what one salesman told me Avants have lately become more popular, in fact this same guy, in St Louis of all places, said that his last four A4 sales had been Avants, so all his 2000s were gone and he only had one 2001.
The 2001 has several benefits: standard side airbag, warranty now 4 years/50K, 20 more horsepower, but you also get the benefit of paying extra for metallic paint (!), and a general price increase, so for most cars you are up about $1000. List on the Avant described above is now close to $31K, and there are clearly people who are willing to pay that who you have to compete against. And this is not even including Bose stereo, Xenons, ESP, etc.
I absolutely loved the Avant but was about to give up on it, since I just couldn't justify the huge difference in price from a Subaru. However, within the same week two Avants showed up used at Chicago dealers, one a 99 with 11K miles, one a 99.5 with 8K, both with the 'Audi Assured' warranty which extends the factory warranty two years. Both were very clean, both had clean histories, both had sunroof/cold/sport packages, both were laser red! Asking price on each was under $26K.
I drove the 99.5 home yesterday, having driven it and loved it and negotiated the price a little. If I'd gotten really lucky 9 months ago I could have driven the same car home new for maybe $2000 more than I paid. But a search of Edmunds' used car database will show you very few Avants available used around the country and they are not cheap!
In my case I settled for a slightly used car and not my first choice color (though the red is awfully nice). I'm a grown man (like Bernie Mac says) and I understand that compromise is my friend.
If price is critical to you I would suggest SCOURING the market for a 2000 that might still be available. Audi's website (www.audiusa.com) has a dealer locator; you could have it list all the dealers within a few hundred miles (or more) and get on the phone. When I did this last winter I didn't find my car, but I did speak to a few extremely helpful and friendly sales people, in out-of-the-way places like Wausau, Wisconsin and Kansas City.
I read this forum a lot during the whole shopping experience and found it very useful. I also asked a few questions and sometimes wrote people directly with questions. Everyone I wrote to was very helpful.
Good luck in your search and let us know how it goes!
Best wishes,
Alan
99.5 1.8TQMS Avant
09-07-2000, 05:56 AM
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Re: Avant availability (LONG reply)
Dang it, I've got to preview these mesages. In the second paragraph of what I just posted I obviously meant that a price of $28500 was $1000-1200 below MSRP, NOT invoice.
AT
AT
Yes, I thought of that. Talk about a LONG wait!
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09-07-2000, 06:03 AM
#8
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Yikes. I have an A4 sedan now... (m)
so the good news is I can stand to wait if I have to order it... I do like the idea that the 2001 models have the extra air bags, etc.
thanks!
thanks!
09-07-2000, 06:37 AM
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I must just be living right. I hardly had to wait at all.
I had looked for months for a used Avant that had less than 15,000 miles on it. I found a few, but they either were Tip's, sold before I got to them or they were overpriced. On a whim I decided to call the local dealers in Atlanta to see what they had or could get for me. This process started 2 weeks ago.(my contacting them) I heard back from Tracie Dean at Jim Ellis Porsche/Audi last Monday that she had found a few in the southeast. I had requested a 1.8T in black, silver or hibiscus w/ sport/prem/xenon/5-speed and she found 2-3 cars that were close matches. I went in to Jim Ellis on 8/30 to look at the color combos on sedans that they had in stock. I decided on one that was Ebony Pearl with Ecru/Onyx interior. It just so happened that they had a 2.8 Avant w/ the same colors on their lot, so I could get a really good feeling for what I was getting. I told her I wanted the car the next morning (Thursday) and picked up the car on Saturday! I got everything I wanted plus ESP for about 4-5% over invoice. If you work with the right dealer, you can find the car you want.
mark<p>'01 1.8T Avant - Sport, Conv., Xenons, ESP, 5-Speed
mark<p>'01 1.8T Avant - Sport, Conv., Xenons, ESP, 5-Speed