Insurance woes, and New A4 info

[dan_masi@MENTORG.COM (Dan Masi)]

First, the crummy news.  My insurance co. has decided that
a small accident I had a year ago, in my adnoH, was my fault.
Just a fender dented on my car, and some scuffed paint on the
other car, but an accident is an accident, so I get 5 lucky-guy
points.  That, coupled with 3 speeding tickets from '94
(I usually have a clean record, but the planets aligned
against me in '94), means that at the end of Feb, my insurance
company will not renew my $1600/yr policy on my A4Q.

Instead, I get to be a member of NJ's assigned risk pool.
The cost of insuring my A4 will now be $5135 per year.  Yes,
that is a five, not a typo.

I'm open to any suggestions, and believe me, I wish "move!"
was an option!  And if you're not in NJ, consider yourself
blessed beyond belief.

Now, the Audi news.  I was just at my dealership, and
a salesperson who I consider very reliable says that we can
expect to see the A4 Avant 1.8-liter turbo in November,
perhaps December at the latest.  The jury is still out on
whether we'll see it at all with the 2.8.

Kevin is an Audi fanatic, and has done some racing... so I
asked him the Hoppen/IA/TAP question.  He said that for
anything other than chips, TAP is fine.  In general, he
thinks very highly of IA.  He wouldn't touch a TAP chip.

Just more data to massage.

Dan Masi
'96 A4Q, soon to be traded in for a beat-up Geo Metro,
         if I can even afford to insure *that*.