lahey14

Hey guys,

This will be the first time I will be buying a car on my own and I'm looking for a little bit of advice. First, I live in Nashville, TN and the Audi of Nashville dealership (according to their website) does not have a single new/pre-owned S4 in inventory. I plan on calling them tomorrow to verify this. If this is true, do you guys think the dealership would be willing to ship an S4 in from another dealer for me to test drive w/out any commitments?

Also, the only feature I'm not going to be flexible with on the car is to have full black leather interior (I'm not a fan of Alcantara at all). Aside from that, I prefer the most basic model. I've looked at other dealers online and their most basic models show about $57,000 sticker price. Audi's official website says the most basic car starts at $10,000 less than that. What is with the price discrepancy? Is it not possible to purchase the car at $50,000 or less?

Any other advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

GRMick

Hello and welcome.

Nashville a different market than Michigan, but I don't not think a dealer will get a car in just for a test drive with no commitment. I think the dealer has to trade a car or pay the original dealer for the car. For high demand cars, the original dealers would not want to trade.

Basic cars like you are looking for are pretty rare in my observation. Most dealers and, I think buyers, want more features and options. You could order one that way, but a dealer wants to keep inventory that most buyers want. MMI, sport differential, S-tronic are nearly everything I see in my area.

Bobby Kinstle

They won't bring in a car from another dealership for you to test drive unless both dealerships have the same owner. I'm a little surprised they don't have any S4's on the lot though. Especially how far away the next Audi dealer is.

As for the base model, many of use drive the Premium Plus trim and then add whatever options we want, however dealers almost always stock the prestige trim so don't be surprised if you have to special order a P+ car.

boondagle

I ended up ordering my S4 from a dealership that is an hour from where I live instead of the one that is 20 minutes away due to that one not having any S4s available to test drive. When I asked about when they would have any in to test drive it sounded like it was not going to be any time soon. The dealer made it sound like they fly off the lot as soon as they get any in.

The other dealership was a little larger though and had a couple different ones to drive, including a manual transmission (thank goodness).

sgroer

I'm sure there's a Nashville member around that would be happy to meet up with you to drive a newer S4. Or come to Atlanta where one of the dealers has 12 S4's in stock. Make the deal same day and drive it home! It would be a great drive over Mont Eagle.

markcincinnati

The AudiUSA website will help you get to know how/why the S4's in inventory seem to all be priced north of $55K, many are north of $57K.

Again please check the AudiUSA website -- and build your own; play with the the configurator and build several different cars optioned to attempt to get your desired car and your desired price in synch.

Some observations for you:

You ARE correct about the base price of the S4. However, since you may not be willing to order one (and wait 10-12 weeks), you will have to take what is already on the ground or what MAY be snatched from a boat already on the water.

If you have a willingness to PAY for a car to be flat-bedded to the dealer (if it is pretty far away) or don't mind a new car with perhaps 150 - 350 miles on it (depending on "how far away" the car may be driven if there is a dealer trade involved), you will enlarge the number of choices you may have available to you.

The basic S4 at the lowest possible price has a manual transmission -- it is, assuming you like Audi manual transmissions, a very "nice" and great fun to drive car. I find myself in increasingly more frequent traffic jams, slowdowns and delays; although I love manual transmissions, life on the planet Earth, even in Cincinnati, has pretty much drained the fun out of driving a manual transmission for me.

Most S4's that are in inventory -- and by most I mean virtually all -- will have the extra cost S-Tronic transmission.

After having dozens of Audis since 1978, most of them manuals, I can tell you the S-Tronic, is "better" than any automatic transmission I have ever driven and I don't even (one tiny bit) miss the manual transmission, the S-Tronic is so good.

6-Speed Manual: $48,100
7-Speed S-Tronic: $49,500

Next up the price creep road: exterior color. There are 10 colors that are "nominally" offered. Two of them are "no extra charge": Ibis White and Brilliant Black.

If exterior color is a huge deal for you, be advised that there are several other colors that are offered for an extra charge (above the charge for the 8 standard extra charge colors.) Extra charge standard colors are typically $500 and there is one that is $1,075. Audi Exclusive Colors, and there are many of them, are TYPICALLY $2,500. Just because they can.

Moral of the story: If you don't want White or Black -- count on adding another $500 to the MSRP.

Next up the MSRP creep road: decorative inlays.

The standard S4 offers brushed aluminum inlays on the dashboard doors and console. No extra charge.

Good luck on finding one without at least a $500 option: called Carbon Atlas Inlays.

The one I initially test drove before I got mine, had something that I would have paid $500 for: Layered Aluminum Black Wood Inlays. Yep, I would have paid $500 for them -- unfortunately they cost $1,100. The Brushed Aluminum Inlays look good. I went with the Carbon Atlas since I upgraded my seats (more on that in a minute).

Perhaps you now see, we haven't even put one single FUNCTIONAL option (with the possible exception of the transmission) on the thing and it is quite possible that with shipping charges we will find ourselves creeping up and up and up in MSRP.

Next up -- for most of us at this price range -- "Navigation" which Audi bundles with a bunch of stuff I wouldn't want to live without which Audi calles MMI+. Sit down for this: $3,050. For this much dough, you get:

o Audi MMI® Navigation plus package
o Parking system plus with rear view camera
o Audi music interface with iPod® integration
o Color driver information system
o Audi connect®
o Voice control system
o Audi MMI® Navigation plus
o DVD player

Audi connect turns your S4 into a wifi hotspot and it is "free" for 6 months. It is 3G and sometimes 2G. It is about $30 per month after that -- I'd take it, after 6 months, if it were free. You may feel differently.

OK, now for what I would consider MANDATORY stuff based on my decades of experience with the brand (and this marks my 31st Audi, so I believe I know from whence I speak).

Audi Side Assist: $500, Blind Spot Warning/Information System. God, it is so cheap and so valuable, I call this one a steal and a MUST HAVE. You may feel differently -- and I bet you do IF you've never had BSW before. This is my 4th car with it and I say, don't leave home without it!

Tire/Wheel upgrade: this one seems (in Cincinnati) to be rare since we have "moderate" winters and folks here don't like to swap to winter wheel/tire packaged, opting instead, typically, for all-season shoes.

If you want, however, such an upgrade costs out at: $800. Your handling performance will improve somewhat with this upgrade. It is also a styling enhancement.

Next up on the (for me) must have option list: the B&O upgrade. The standard sound system in the S4 is OK for AM radio and audio books, it, er, SUCKS for music, tunage, Sat Radio and CD's. The B&O is very good -- not great, but it DNS (does not suck). It is, however, yet ANOTHER $850 bucks.

Finally, although the seats in the S4 are quite good from a performance standpoint (they hold you in well and they are comfortable) they are, if you asked me, mouse fur seats. To me, this suggests the potential for a somewhat limited life span -- and/or the driver's seat will wear off the fur (the Alcantara, aka FAKE mouse fur) and get kind of shiny. Seems a pity that such sucky seat covers come in what is almost certainly going to be a car that will come in north of $51,000 even if you de-content the crap out of it.

You know what -- it is quite likely you will find the "fine Nappa Leather package" on a lot of the S4's that are in transit or on the ground. The two I test drove, both had this $1,250 upgrade.

Note1: for whatever reason, another package that you couldn't pay me to take seems to be stocked by dealers: the Black Optic Package @ $1,300 -- to me, this package makes the car look less special and it is as if it has PERMANENT brake dust on the wheels.

Note2: although folks who order S4's are not exactly the standard, normal, customary customers -- it does seem that ordered cars are more likely to be configured with the $1,100 Sport Differential (side to side torque vectoring for the rear wheels) and the $1,000 adaptive damping suspension (which Audi Drive Select -- in its standard form does NOT include).

Most folks, and most dealers will want to add Audi Care which is an $800 or $875 option that provides 100% of the maintenance for 50,000 miles. It DOES make the ownership experience even nicer and it also improves your finances with respect to Audi Credit -- 1% higher residual, as I recall, with Audi Care than without it.

We haven't even talked about the Prestige upgrade -- and rightly so since you are looking at what some might call a "strippie S4" (not that there is ANYTHING wrong with that).

So, here's what you probably ought to consider ORDERING (but are unlikely to find in stock anywhere unless it was an abandoned order):

o S4 Premium Plus 6-speed manual in Ibis White or Brilliant Black;
o Nappa Leather upgrade;
o 18" Standard Wheels (summer or all season tires are no charge options)
o MMI+ (unless you don't want the backup camera, nav, parktronic etc, etc etc)
o Audi Care

Your personal tastes will probably make you at least consider:

o B&O sound system
o Audi side assist

You will probably come in at least at $54K and perhaps more likely a bit more.

If you're going to spend this much on a car, you will probably want to look how the cars are optioned for "inventory" purposes. They are built for a dealer's inventory based on what will sell.

You'll see few manual transmissions, few without MMI+ and few with the "no extra charge paint". You see many if not most with the leather upgrade and the B&O sound system. A growing number will come with Audi Side Assist but the issue with that is the factory can't get enough "parts" to include Side Assist on the P+ models -- and it is standard equipment on the Prestige versions.

A "stripped" Prestige model can be had for $56,295 plus the cost of Audi Care. Really, since most P+ models are OVER $56K it almost makes sense to consider a Prestige model (unless you are leasing, since the P+ typically offers a better lease rate than the Prestige.)

Hope this helps.

FWIW, my 2014 S4:

o P+
o Ibis White
o Magma Red Leather
o Carbon Fiber Inlays
o Audi Side Assist
o B&O
o MMI+
o 18" wheels w/A/S tires
o Audi Care
o No front plate

I got 6% off of MSRP + $1,000 Audi Loyalty Bonus.

markcincinnati

I think they do "fly off the lot" as soon as the dealer gets them in . . .

The two S4's I test drove before I configured the one I wanted (and asked the dealer to search for before I ordered one) were gone in less than 7 calendar days.

I walked into the dealer on day one, for example, and on the floor was an SQ5, S8, S5, RS5 and a diesel A6. Within about a 10 day span, these cars were gone. Not rotated off of the floor, SOLD!

RS cars are virtually impossible to find "unclaimed" -- somewhat easier to find, are S cars (but they don't linger, that's for sure). Q5's don't stick around very long and Q5 3.0T's are almost as popular as SQ5's.

Audi, generally speaking, is on a tear.

Dealers LOVE customers who will order cars -- and customers, if they weren't so damned impatient, ought to order their vehicles EXACTLY the way they want them -- and get a better price, since the dealer doesn't have to pay "floor plan" interest.

If you want an S anything -- they do indeed fly out of a dealer's inventory with great speed.

DrGP

For $58K you get a very well equipped Prem+ car. Should have everything you need. If you want all the bells and whistles, you can option the car to over $62K. If you can do without CF trim. 19" wheels, Nav, you can get a lightly loaded model in the $51-53k range. My 2010 model was $50K with leather sport dif, Cf trim. 2014 was $57k adding Nav and B&o, 19" tires. Plus advanced key, memory seats, metal pedals, compass in mirror are now standard equipment.

r1eater

do you have a picture of your car? Specifically how the interior looks from the outside? I never conisdered the red interior with ibis white

slasher016

It's a fantastic combo: