Re: A4 information - non-US options

[ScharfR@aol.com]

A few clarifications to your list of English market Audi A4 options:

The US models also  have a place for a first aid kit in the rear center
armrest; just no kit.

The transponder in the key is an anti-theft device, very much like BMW has
just introduced here in the US.  Nearly everyone in Europe has been forced to
adopt them due to insurance industry pressure (after the explosion in vehicle
theft that followed the opening of so many eastern European borders).   It
makes replacement keys a bear because you have to electronically
resynchronize the car and all existing keys at a dealer.  Not too convenient
here in the sparsely-dealered US.  Audi won't bring that system over here.

The 150 hp V6 that the English chose to use is a 2.6L version of the 2.8L
architecture.  It is much more cost effective because it does not use the
variable intake path geometry of the 2.8L, and  has a simpler fuel injection
system.  But it is interesting that Audi offers 150 hp in two distinctly
different flavo(u)rs.

The English radio is not a factory unit; it's an aftermarket box that the
English fit because they want to make all the profit on radios.  It is a DIN
unit and requires a set of bastardized spacers to fit the new wide-DIN hole
that Audi uses for the new generation Delta radios fitted at the factory (and
which are used in the US/Canada).