rbt

Woodchuck:
if the final destination is Paris, I'd suggest go Munich-Salzburg-Stelvio (southbound)-Como-Lucerne. Just make sure you leave Salzburg early enough so that you aren't rushed going through Stelvio in fading light.
if you don't want to stretch the day driving all the way to Como, you can stop at small city of Tirano, just on the other side of Stelvio, for the night. from there it's a relatively short hop to Como.

WoodChuck11

thanks rbt. i'm starting to map out my possible routes now. i'm also trying to see if i can spare a day/1 night near the Ring . do you think its feasible to go from Lucerne area to the town by the Ring in a day? take a few laps next morning then drive on to Paris? of course, this is all dependent on weather in Mid Oct.

rbt

Alas, I never made it out to the 'Ring, so did not really map out the geography relative to other spots. Hope you can make it there, though.
One other motorsports related idea: if you are gonna be Como, a quick jaunt south to Monza yields a visit to the legendary old racetrack; you can check it out and soak in the history (see my sig).

WoodChuck11

rbt, i just read your ED thread. looks like Audi really took care of you. sounded like you guys had a great time. you traveled in mid-Oct, how was the weather and did the leaves start changing colors yet?

time, did you also do an ED? i've been trying to find your ED thread to read up on your experiences.

TIME89

Wrong forum for my ED - I did BMW ED .
Send you link in PM

rbt

WoodChuck:
I had planned to do an ED but it turned into a pseudo-ED. what happened was that one week before our departure from the States, I was contacted and iformed tht our B8A4 would *not* make it thru production in time for our scheduled delivery date! so our option then was a) move our trip back at least a week, or b) come in on schedule and get a free loaner from Audi.
So we chose B).

We ended up doing pretty much everything on the itinerary just like ED, but w/out actually taking possession of our purchased car. In fact, our host informed us that due to the production delay, my vehicle was likely being built that very same day of our visit. so it's possible that I saw my car get assembled! (during the factory tour, which includes the A4 prod. line)
The silver lining in all this was that our 'loaner' turned out to be a fully-loaded S5 ....I ended up putting over 2000km on it before finally turning it back in :-D Our A4 showed up @ my local dealer about 1 month later...still a virgin ;-)

Other than the production delay, we were otherwise treated very well by the Audi ED folks both in USA and in Ingolstadt (the lady who fetched us @ our hotel & hosted us at Audi Forum was very attractive too, just sayin')

The weather was mostly very good in Oct; about 70F during the day. the last 2 days of the trip were the only poor days; one rainy and the next was cold. great beer drinkin' weather though.
Good luck!

WoodChuck11

haha...i hope you still remember the Audi rep's name maybe i can request for her services

well, its a done deal now. just went into the dealership to finish all the finance paperwork. we opted for our CU which offered 3.99% instead of the AFS std rate of 6.99%.

we are set to leave in 2 weeks

rbt

Her name was Fiona-somethin'or'nother

looks like you may already be en route....Have fun, man!