pulikesi

Hi Everyone,

I have been a passive reader on this forum for more than 1.5 years now (the discussions and people in this forum are awesome!) and few months ago when I finally decided to buy an Audi (Q5) for my better half, I posted in the this forum for the first time - On How Frustrated I was dealing with the various Audi Dealers around SF Bay Area for not being interested in making a sale.

Finally I am happy to announce that I got my Q5 yesterday - Here is the long story behind it - (Sorry for the length!)

After dealing with about 10 different Salesmen, I finally found one who was willing to work with me. He agreed to put in an order with Supplier Discount program that I was eligible for.

In Late January, I finally put the $1000 deposit on the 2012 Q5 2.0t in the following Configuration:

1. 2012 Q5 2.0T Premium Plus
2. Ibis White w/Cinnamon Brown / Black Headliner Trim
3. Audi Advanced Key
4. No Navigation (Since I didn't like the Audi MMI Navigation on my test drive)
5. No B&O (I listened to both B&O , Audi Concert System on Q5 - and decided Audi Concert was more than enough)
6. Audi Care for $800 - From the Money Saved from B&O -

Since I got the supplier discount on something that was supposedly Hot Property, I only got the dealer to throw in Free All Weather Floor Mats + Trunk Liner after lot of haggling - No Free Exhaust Tips/Wheel Locks or Any sort of Discount on Audi Care ....

Anyway, I decided it was not worth to haggle anything more .... And the order was placed...

Then 4 nail-biting months flew by - I can't believe I waited for 4 months for a Car (Never have I done this in my life).

D-Day (Delivery Day - May 27th)
=========================
I got a call finally on May 26th that my car is ready. We had already planned a road trip for the memorial day weekend with our existing car and once we got the call, we cancelled our trip and decided to get the Audi and plan something with it.

Dealership experience was OK - nothing spectacular for a Luxury Brand like Audi (Audi should really make their dealership experience like Lexus) - They at least said Thank You and offered us a glass of water for buying $45,000 car I didn't complain though - We were there for the Q5 and nothing else.

We met the finance manager - first thing - The split down was as follows.

MSRP on Ibis White 2.0t Premium Plus - $39,900 w/18" Wheels (Michelin Green X Latitude)
Audi Advanced Key - $550
Sub-Total (MSRP) - $40,450
Supplier Discount (6%) - $2427.00
Sub-Total (After Discount) - $38,023.00
Destination Fee - - $875
Grand Total Before Taxes & Fees - $38,898
Dealer Documentation Fee - $45 (Non-Negotiable)
Audi Care - $800 (Non-Negotiable)
CA Taxes + Registration - $3595.00 (I Welcomed myself once again to State of California - Damn, I moved here from Oregon (0 Sales Tax))
Grand Total Cost - $43327

Since my wife was the one who was hell-bent on Q5 - I registered it under her name - asked her to pay the loan herself

We got approved for Audi Financial - 1.9% for 4 Years and Financed $30,000 - Finance Manager was not trying to sell any BS stuff - Just plain old straight forward transaction.

Finally, we saw the car. Armed with the Q5 Checklist (Thanks to Audiworld!) - We did whatever we could according to the list - The Salesman obviously forgot to include to the All Weather Mats. When asked about it, he said part needs to be ordered and gave some reasons - And there was not much of a delivery prep talk (explaining the various features) or any sort of introduction to the service department.

I was somewhat unhappy - He knew the approximate delivery date (it was 4 Months apart) - Couldn't he have ordered the part ahead of time ? And The Audi Manual Says - there will be a pre-delivery talk explaining the features of the car (which did not happen) - We just took it for a short test drive, and our salesman just explained few minor things about the Audi Advanced Key and Paired our Bluetooth - Thats it!

Anyway Audi Sales and Dealership / Delivery experience is probably the worst of the worst of any Luxury brand (that deserves its own big thread) - I have owned an Infinity before and Lexus currently - and both times, the dealership made us feel like they were really happy to have us as customers.

With such great Cars, if Audi can improve their dealership experience, it would attract more people to Audi....

We decided not the nix the deal for lack of floor mats - (we got it written on our contract that we will get it in a week), shook our hands and got the Q5 (odometer reading was 5 miles) - Totally we were in and out of the dealership in 2.5 hours, which was good.

The best part of this whole experience - The Q5 Itself
================================================== =================

One Word - Awesome - Made us forget all the things that we had to go through to get this car. The fit and finish is excellent (Love the Cinnamon + White) and the driving mechanics was exactly as I had experienced it 4 months ago and as all the reviews claimed.

We loved the car so much - We immediately drove home - packed our bags and went on 500 mile road trip to Yosemite National Park on the same day - We didn't baby the car during the break-in - We drove it like any other normal car when passing and the drive was fantastic. We drove through bad Roads (Hwy 580), Winding Roads (Hwy 120), Snow (Tioaga Pass in Yosemite), Dirt Road, Loose Gravel Road - All on the first day. The car handled everything like a champ and we felt confident with it on all terrains.

On the first 500 Mile Round Trip - We averaged about 30 Miles Per Gallon (by Manual Calculation) - Amazing!

Our observations on the not so good part, so far:

1. The Ibis White Color is a Dirt Magnet - Even Tiny Spec of Dust is very visible.

2. Engine was silky smooth for the most part - But During our return on Hwy 120, There were lot of winding and steep downhill roads for about 30 miles - For Some reason - I felt a lot of drag or heaviness in the engine (feeling like engine breaking) - I don't know what to call this - Turbo Lag - or Something else? - Then after I returned back to Manteca - we stopped for a coffee and re-started the car - and once again - engine was silky smooth - Has anyone experienced this?

3. Lack of electronic Steering Control Adjustment - On a car of this price.

4. No easy way to store the roof racks in the Trunk - probably a design oversight!

Questions ?
============

1. What sort of fuel do you use on your Q5? Can I used Costco (91 Octane) or Only 95 from Chevron?

2. How often do you wash your car ? Can you recommend any car wash or wax products that I can use to keep our Q5 Clean? How to keep the Q5 clean?

3. Any idea why the engine drag or heaviness during downhill commute?

Thank you All..

Now the pictures:

https://plus.google.com/photos/10463...33413621134866

ThunderDent

Congrats on your new ride!

My delivery inspection was very detailed with most all of the features and parts of the car gone over. Must have just been your dealership. I don't think my wife was very thrilled when the salesman showed her where the grocery hooks were and told her the partition in the rear was excellent for changing diapers on. Yes, he actually directed both of those comments to her and all other ownership features to me. Oh, well. Still a good experience, and I got the car I wanted.

That partition was the first thing to go out of the car anyway. Just in my way, personally.

Amel

woooow

what are those **** sign on your hood?

someone really messed up your new Audi?

russ0054

I think what you are feeling is the transmission downshifting when you apply the brakes when decending a hill. After the downshift there is a very noticible lag when reapplying the throttle. Watch the tach when decending a long grade and you'll see what I mean. This downshifting of the trans is very annoying when driving in city traffic. It's my #1 complaint with the Q5 - the transmission shift mapping is horrible!

pulikesi

Ha Ha Ha - No it is not a **** Symbol. It is symbol in my religion - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#Hinduism - In the West, it is associated with **** since Hitler used a variation of it