Hey all, first post - I've been trolling this board for a while... Great resource and I look forward to contributing more once I get mine!

I placed an order for my 08' A3 3.2 back in mid February and was told at this time that the whole process order process end-to-end would run about 3 months. I've now learned that the car isn't scheduled to be built until late May, and the dealer is expecting delivery sometime in late June.

I'm hoping to hear from those of you who ordered your A3's new - how did your overall ordering process go, and how long did it take? I have received exactly two updates in the 2+ months since I placed my order, and had to reach out both times to get any kind of status from the salesperson.Even getting an actual order number (the only concrete detail I've received) has been like pulling teeth. To now learn that it will take Audi 3+ months from order date to begin even building the car seems a bit unacceptable. Is it just me, or does something doesn't seem right. I've been made to feel like I'm doing this salesperson a favor by ordering a $41k car from him... I came from a B5 S4 and wasjustabout treated like royalty every time I had the car in for service (although at other dealerships), so this has gotten under my skin pretty bad as of late...

What do you think?

 

remember this

"always late but worth the wait"

good luck and hopefully it gets expidited a bit quicker.

 

Hey schkata;
Welcome aboard. Please share with the members who this dealership is that you are having issues with. And also please take note of everything that they do or do not do - and be sure to get all those points across for the Audi customer survey.

 

I had just as a horrible wait for my A3, so I feel the pain.
I bought mine in early Oct, and it was expected to arrive early Nov.
Waited and waited, no call from the dealer or my sales guy.
I would make the initial phone calls to the dealer, and they would keep telling me that the car was in route from the port in Rhode Island. I am in NJ. Then I found out my sales guy no longer works at the dealership. And some other sales guy was assigned to me. All in all, it was December and still no A3. It was 2006 and I purchased a 2007 A3. And it was nearing 2007, so the car was losing value as we speak, so I wanted the price even less now, since I was so aggravated.
Well, this all happened to work out for me. There was an exact A3 on the lot, but with beige interior and had an extra package, the Winter Package. I told them to give me that for the same price. And they did. So, it worked out for me. I have no idea what ever happened to my original A3, I think they messed something up, maybe went to someone else, who knows.

This dealership is Audi Of Bernardsville in NJ. They are horrible. I brought it in for service once, had to tow it there, since my gas sensor went dead, and they scratched my car, they blamed it on the tow truck company from Audi.

 

Advantage in Houston didn't seem too eager to order an A3.I didn't press them, instead kept shoppingand bought used.

 

3 years ago I had a horrific experience buying a mazda3 from Rosenthal/Gaithersburg Mazda in Gaithersburg, MD. Basically they promised to me to pull cars from other dealership twice, and then ended up ordering me one from Japan. 3 months later, they told me the car is *probably* still in Japan. That being said, I totally lose interest in special ordering. So when I started shopping for an A3 in Dec 07, I told the dealership straight up that I had 0 tolerance for bs. After a few casual trips to audi dealerships, they found the exact one that I wanted in PA and shipped it over to silver spring MD in 4 days. Tom Schweiss @ Tischer Audi , silver spring MD is one of the best sales I've dealt with.

Anyways, I just don't see the point in special ordering anymore. Yes you can get it however you want, but com'on there aren't really that many options. On top of that, you get the best deal/most incentives for a car that's currently on the lot.

I wish the best of luck though. Shop around, you'll find it.[sm=signs003.gif]

 

Hey guys. Talking about aggravated orders. After a lot of research I went into a dealership to pull the trigger on a sprint blue -love that color- 08 2.0T S-line manual A3 w/xenon and no OS, and no i-pod interface becuase I have a Phatnoise system from my current Jetta TDI. Of course this configuration doesn't exist anywhere in the US.

Around the middle of April after a couple of dealerships here in MI told me that they weren't ordering any '08s anymore, a salesguy of one of the biggest Audi dealerships here accepted my order, said he was going to change an allocation they had for mid May and that the car would be here early June, no problem, right?... Wrong! By the way, they were running a 2.9% incentive on the car and credit was approved, etc...

Today, after really asking and asking for the status, the guys says: "I've got good news and bad news," I guess you know what coming next... Of course the guy couldn't get an 08 car and now he's telling me that he's going to get me an 09 and that the price will not go up more than 1% and that leather is going to be standard and blah blah blah... And that I should see my car here in September. He also said that the Financing incentive would not change becuase I was 'locked in' the the rate.

Some questions for the guys that have faced this kind of cr*p:
1. Do you guys think he's lying when he says they'll respect the APR for the '09?
2. Do you think that the car is going to be here in September?
3. Do you believe the price will go up only 1% with the current Euro-Dollar rate?

Good news is that I can apply now the 500 rebate from the Audi Club membership!

 

If you're thinking about financing/owning, i would think taking the 09 is better. Not only 09 looks slick, an 08 car is not worth the same value in mid June as now. You might as well take the take the first shipment of next year. Whatever they offer, HAVE IT IN WRITING. Even so dealer can screw you over as when i bought my last mazda, but at least you have something in writing to make dealer honor the contract.

 

Go talk with any Porsche, BMW, or Audi dealer - they'll tell you that their biggest problem right now is getting cars to sell. The problem is the Euro/Dollar exchange. These companies (especially Audi) can sell eveything they churn out in European and world markets, for a substantially higher profit than in the US. US allocations have been cut, orders are delayed, dealers are screaming for cars, and often the cars they get are precisely the ones they don't wan't.
I ordered my '07 A3 at the end of April '06, and got it in July - a perfect and painless process that you pprobably can't replicate now.

 

Yeah....ordering is a big time hassle.

And one of the reasons that I'm still on the fence about getting an A5 TDI. Ordering hell...and the A5 is the worst of the bunch from what I've heard!

Schkata, if I were you, however, I would not be at them to get me my 2008 car earlier. I would be after them to get you a 2009 when they become available. You have already waited this long, wait a few more months and drive the envy of the A3 crowd!