A8 at Dealer in Boston Area

[Frederic Gittler <fjg@ch.hp.com>]

Fellow New-England Audi Enthusiasts:

Pass & Weisz in Burlington (Massachusetts) has received Friday afternoon 2
european specification A8, on 3.7 FWD and one 4.2 quattro. They will keep
the cars for about 2 weeks.

The cars are scheduled for test drives. For further information, you can
call my sales consultant, John Cellamare, at 617-272-8880. The test drive
schedule for the 4.2 quattro tends to fill very quickly (this week is almost
full already).

Audi is already taking orders: the prices of the 4.2 start at $65,000 and go
up to $72,000 (or so) fully loaded. The 3.7 is less expensive, in the high
50's price range. According to John, the A8s will be "built to order" only.

I have test driven the 4.2 quattro. It is a wonderful car. It is definitely
quieter than my (stock) S4, and seems to handle better. It is not appear to
be as quick as the S4, which is probably due to its automatic transmission.
The tiptronic is a nice feature, but I have been told the US cars will get a
5-speed "regular" automatic instead. There are a lot more "power assisted"
features than the S4 (both the seat belt and the steering wheel are
electrically adjustable, for example). The cold weather and the warm weather
packages just add even more features, like a heated steering wheel for the
cold winter mornings or a solar sunroof + continuous ventilation for the hot
summer days. The seats are typical Audi, but I regret the sport seats are
not available.

I will keep my S4, but would definitely get the A8 4.2 if I were shopping
for a car in that price range today...
---
Frederic Gittler

'94 Audi S4 Quattro
'91 Toyota Previa LE All Trac
'86 Volkswagen Quantum Syncro