New A6 Avant BiTdi coming end of April

[Scott K]

Picked my biturbo up on Friday. Brilliant-you won't be disappointed. Must get some photos up but the weather up here is rubbish today!

[NewAudi]

Pic's are always welcome!

I'll be posting some of my factory collection experience once all done.

2 Days left!!

[NewAudi]

1 more day!!!

Currently at a nice hotel in the (very) nice town of Neckarsulm where the A6's are made....

[Whippy53]

Lucky boy! Hoist a Stein for moi!

[NewAudi]

Long thread...loads of pics and text!


The big day have finally arrived. I have collected my new Audi A6 Avant 3.0 BiTdi from the factory in Neckarsulm, Germany. This is the very factory where all A6’s and A8’s (among others) are made.

The way it works here in Germany are that you sort the usual paperwork out with your dealer beforehand going, that means paying any fees due etc and then receive your reg plates and reg docs. This you bring with you. They will then put you in a rental car for the drive down to the factory. In my case, I was given a brand new Volvo V60 D4 which was fitted with the new VEA engine (2-litre, 181bhp) which was better, more fuel efficient and refined than I expected!

Anyway, I decided to go the day before (as “my” distance is about 180mls from home to factory) and stayed in one of the recommended hotels in Neckarsulm. Very nice too!

Having had a large and steady breakfast, my “slot” was 08-1000Hrs so I had to be at the factory at this early hour. No need to worry, it is well signposted everywhere, easy to find and Neckarsulm has more Audi’s than one has ever seen before + the Audi complex fills about half of the town!

Parked the rental and entered was are known as “Audi Forum” and were greeting by several (!) nice ladies who not only took care of my luggage but also sorted out some of the paperwork and took the reg plates. As I specifically asked for an english speaking introduction (due to all safety systems on the car) I was asked to sit and wait for a short moment which in fairness only lasted about 10 minutes. The handover of various paperwork (entitlement of the car, ID check etc) was all done in German which is fine and I were duly informed that the person who would actually introduce me to the car would be english speaking.

My “collection slot” was now 0845-1000Hrs so I had some spare time to eat another breakfast (free), look at the classics on the top floor, drool over the new cars on the ground floor and drool even more over the Audi Exclusive cars and equipment. The combinations of leather and/or colours are amazing. I declined the offer of a factory tour due to time.

While I was enjoying a short and strong coffee, I noticed my car being driven into the introduction area, with my plates fitted. Lovely! Looking at it from a distance made me want to go down there and drive it off straight away. Unfortunately I had to wait!

0845 Hrs arrived and I was colletcted by a guy named Martin who spoke very good english and introduced to my new car. Wow! It looks even better up close and personal. He then made sure I knew that my luggage was in the boot before starting to show me the more advanced stuff (who doesn’t know how to unlock a car?). A picture was taken by Audi of me and my new car which later arrived in a nice booklet and also emailed over (already received!).

Once all done, it was time to leave and start playing around with all the features. One can park directly outside and do their thing…. Plenty of people do it and most take pictures, yours truly included!

Drove the 180 odd miles home which gave me plenty of time to learn all those toys and “take it all in”. Lovely!

As for the equipment and the way they operate….well, below is my first initial impressions:

Car in General: Looks good (well, black with tinted windows and 20” it should!), drives very well. Quality materials, quiet and smooth. Fast! All in all, a great car.

Pairing phone: I have the latest iPhone (5S) which when pairing, worked the fastest of any phones I’ve ever seen in a car!

Seats: I have the comfort seats, with ventilation in Black Valcona leather. Fantastic seats that only one other car make just about beats for comfort (Volvo). Quality leather. The seats can be adjusted for lumbar and bolsters and everything is electric. I do not have the massage function.

Dash Layout: I find that the layout is very good and I am one of those who likes buttons to play with. The more the better! Clear instruments and with good colours (as I have found out when driving in darkness). My choice of the inlays (Aluminium Trigon) is also a choice that I am pleased with.

Interior Colours: I have chosen black, black and black. In fairness, its not all black. More like a dark grey and is slight change from the Bmw which had Cinnamon coloured seats J Unfortunately, Audi does not offer that colour combination with comfort and ventilated seats.

Navigation: Well, this is a bit of a minus point. The graphics looks a bit dated although the screen is nice and sharp. But it certainly got me where I wanted to be at the end of the day and TMC worked good too. It was also slightly “a lot of work” to add new destinations into the memory. Normally this can be done from my iPhone but for some reason, all my UK addresses (and other EU places) refused to be added from my address book. All german ones worked well, however. Room for improvement.

Stereo: BOSE system. Wow. Very good. On par with other manufacturers offerings. Doubt the B&O system would be “a lot “ better despite me being very critical to sound quality. Ok, some adjustments had to be made but now it sounds superb at low level too.

Engine: WOW!! I previously had a 535D Touring and though that was quick! Well, the Audi beats it hands down! Truly amazing. The guy who introduced me to the car made it quite clear that in order to make the most out of this engine, keep the rpm’s below 3000 and do not use kickdown nor the manual mode (the latter not above 3000rpm). Considering that this car has a 8-speed tiptronic gearbox, it means not above 240km/h (150mph) in order for the engine to be kept below 3000! As a note, at 100mph the engine ticks over at a smidge less than 2000! Even though I kept the revs below 3000rpm’s, the in-gear performance are phenominal!

Ok, the engine and gearbox may not be as smooth as the Bmw’s, but the gearbox is faster to change gears and the engine certainly has more oomph making up for it!

LED Lights: Very good. Brighter than the swiveling Bi-Xenon’s on many previous cars. Looks good too!

Safety Systems etc: The car is equipped with (appologies for any names that are wrong) all of them! I found the Lane Assist to be particular interesting. Not only does the flashing side mirrors work well and the steeing wheel vibrating, the car actually steers away from the next lane…. This can, like everything else on this car, be adusted and set to your liking. The adaptive cruise is a better one than the one fitted in the Bmw. Works fantastically well and I used it the whole of the 180mls home!

Speed recognition camera also works well and is fast in reacting/reading the signs posted.

I particular liked the fuel consumption. Despite being a brand new car, with a tight engine/gearbox etc, it still managed to return a respectable 7.5 litres (38mpg) on the average on my journey home. I expect this to improve. But to be honest, one does not buy the BiTdi to save a few quid on the fuel consumption, but a good mpg is always welcome of course :-)

Climate Control: I found that the climate unit is a very powerful one! Despite turning the temperature up to 22C, it was still slightly chilly in the car (26C outside, full sun). The ventilated seats works very well and saves you from getting all sweaty on your back when wearing shirts…. Highly recommended! I have also gone for the tinted windows and insulated glass. Certainly helps making the cabin quiter.

Surprise 1: Received vouchers for a Classic Car Museum in Zwickau.
Surprise 2: Received vouchers for 5 people for the factory tour (as I skipped it today due to time).
Surprise 3: Breakfast, Lunch or dinner was free. If not eating at all, a “lunchbox” was prepared and free of charge!
Surprise 4: Car came with a full tank of diesel (would be over €100 here in Germany).
Surprise 5: Illuminated door sills!!

Overall, one happy owner of his very first Audi and by the look of things, not the last one!

Loads of pics enclosed and happy to answer any questions…and I am sure that there will be further things tio report on as I get to know the car :-)

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[NewAudi]

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[M1tchy]

Very nice indeed. I don't suppose you have VCDS and fancy sharing a scan of your traffic sign recognition module? It's one thing I didn't spec that I wish I had


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[NewAudi]

Very nice indeed. I don't suppose you have VCDS and fancy sharing a scan of your traffic sign recognition module? It's one thing I didn't spec that I wish I had


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What is VCDS? Do you mean the speed sign thingy? It works very well if thats what you mean.....