[BiturboS4] RE: Warranty on battery (well it was originally)

[Edwards, Dave]

Ti,

But the reason for the low cost is not the low grade but lack of tax. I'm
not sure if you knew, but about 75% of the $5 per gallon that we pay in the
UK goes straight to the Government!

Also the petrochemical industries in the US are quite capable of producing
higher quality and octane gas, either by using more foreign crude or by more
advanced refining of local crude. Obviously this would push up the price of
the gas, but it would still be cheap compared to the ROW.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Ti Kan [mailto:ti at amb.org]
Sent: 17 October 2002 11:54
To: Dave_Edwards at iOra.com
Cc: biturbos4 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [BiturboS4] RE: Warranty on battery (well it was originally)


I guess I agree with most things you say, we do get a nice deal here.

I have to point out, though, that even though our fuel is cheaper than yours
it is also inferior (lower octane and higher sulfer content). This is
particularly bad in California where the maximum octane now at most stations
is 91.  This is the main reason Audi de-tuned the US spec S4 to maintain a
good safety margin.  Getting back the Euro level of power/torque or beyond
is no problem, but then it becomes necessary to buy high octane,
catalyst-friendly race fuel.  That is neither cheap nor convenient.

As to the US polluting the planet, I'd offer no argument there.  At least
our Audis are relatively clean running compared to most behemoth SUVs. Funny
you should mention this subject, because the reason for California fuel to
have lower octane than other states is because of the additives claimed to
reduce emissions.  Well, recently they found that one such additive, MTBE,
is actually polluting our ground water...

-Ti
2003 A4 1.8T multitronic
2001 S4 biturbo 6-sp
1984 5000S turbo
1980 4000 2.0 5-sp
--
    ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
   ///   AMB Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA. USA
  ///    ti at amb.org
 //////  http://www.amb.org/ti/
///

Edwards, Dave writes:
> Well I noticed your smiley, but nevertheless I have to bite back ;-)
>
> Even if you compare your deal to mainland Europe, your benefits
> outweigh the difference in spec. You pay about 10% less for the car
> but get 4 year warranty including service costs. Europeans get an
> inferior 2 year warranty and pay for their own service. They also pay
> around $4.50 per gallon for 93 Octane (equivalent) gas.
>
> Of course in the UK we do so much better as we get a 3 year warranty,
> although still not as good as a US warranty and we pay for services
> too. Of course for this luxury we pay around 25% more than the other
> Europeans (yes about 40% more than Americans) for the car, and our gas
> is over $5 per gallon.
>
> Of course everything you can get on a Euro car can be added to the US
> car, particularly the performance. I've read enough about US owners
> who have two ECUs (i.e. a stock one for when the car is at the
> dealer).
>
> No, you have to accept that you're getting a good deal: Now that AoA
> is importing the RS6, I'm sure you'll get the next RS4 too, all at
> cheaper prices than Europe.
>
> Of course regarding the price of gas, we'd all like to pay US prices,
> but we'd prefer not to have the US's reputation on pollution of the
> planet :-(
>
> Cheers,
> Dave