European Vacation (long, but some Audi content)

[Eric Renneisen <renneie@hlthsrc.com>]

Man, oh man!  It's taken me 3 days to rifle through 
the 40-ish digests you guys spew out in just a week!  
For my revenge, I'm sending everyone this rambling 
recount of my travels.

I got back on Saturday from a trip to Germany, the 
Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and 
Austria (we crossed the Austrian border for all of 
about 30 seconds just so we could add that one to 
the list).  I logged lots of kilometers on the 
autobahns, saw more Audis than you can shake a broken 
WMB sun visor at (more on that later), and even got 
a quick look at Ingolstadt!

Let me begin by publicly thanking fellow list member 
Tom Nas for his gracious hospitality during our brief 
stay in the Netherlands.  He's a great guy, and lucky 
for us, he spoke better English than we did!  His 80 
looks great. (if you ever see it, ask him to show 
you the parking lights!).

The rental company gave us a WMB 316i for our 
travels, which was somewhat less than "the ultimate 
driving machine." :^(  The doors were reluctant to 
stay shut, reverse was almost impossible to find, and 
the sunvisor came off in my hand after only a couple 
of uses.  If you think Audis are underpowered, you 
should check out this poor little 1.6L four banger.  
Profuse sweating of the palms accompanied the brief 
runs of 170kph (~105mph) on the autobahn.  The engine 
actually had a little more to give, but the front end 
became _very_ light.  My nose-heavy Audi feels very 
smooth and controllable at that speed, almost like 
it's begging me for more.  All-in-all, however, the 
WMB still handled better than any of the crap they'll 
rent to you over here, and the efficiency of that 
little engine was welcome considering the 60USD a gas 
stop will run you.

I definitely couldn't hang with the beasts of the 
left lane, which was dominated by the big BMs, WMBs, 
and, of course, our beloved Audis.  The most 
consistent speed demons were the Benz owners.  The 
only ones I passed were in city traffic or parked.  
I very much appreciated the disciplined driving of 
the Germans.  Nobody made a move that they didn't 
announce first.  _Everyone_ has to pay very close 
attention when such great speed differentials are 
present.  If they had people like some of the 
vegetables we have over here, there would be blood 
all over the place.

I found it tough to break the habit of "rubberneckin" 
every time I saw an Audi.  I saw around a dozen A8s, 
about the same number of CoupeQs including at least 
2 S2s, and countless A3s, A4s, and new A6s.  I liked 
the A3, which seems to be a preliminary success in 
the European markets, but I don't think it would have 
much appeal over here.  I, like some on this list, 
was skeptical of the new A6 design, but it grew on 
me.  It looks great at speed, and it stands out among 
so many sterile competitors.

This brings me to Ingolstadt.  Man, that town was 
_flooded_ with Audis.  The plant, itself, is massive. 
I accidentally got caught in one of the parking areas 
during a shift change, and quickly learned that most 
employees were reluctant to yield for a little WMB.  
We finally made it to the customer center, where 
lucky new owners were picking up new cars, and other 
lucky folks had begun their tours.  Alas, we were too 
late for that.  We did get to see the Avus and shop 
in the boutique, though.  I, of course, got the 
T-shirt.  I also picked up 1:43 and 1:87 models of my 
coupe on sale for ~10USD.  Elizabeth wants me to 
mention that _her_ favorite part was the toilets.  
It's difficult to explain, so I'll just say that if 
you ever go there make sure you check them out (guys, 
use the stalls).  The engineering inspired by the 
AIDS epidemic is amazing.

The two most memorable Audis I saw were:
1) The old coupe in Amsterdam. (Tom, is this the 100 
that has been discussed here recently?)
and... (drumroll, please)
2) An RS2, up close and personal!
It was parked in Rothenburg, an old medieval walled 
city that exists only for the delight of tourists.  
It's hood and rear window were covered with 
advertisements for a local restaurant, so I assume 
that they make a pretty good profit off of the 
tourist trade, or else someone's got a pretty damn 
nice company car!  I got a few photos of it before I 
became dehydrated from all of the drooling.

["O.K., enough already!" is heard from the peanut 
gallery.]

Eric Renneisen
'90 CQ 20V  -  my 'running-iron'  ;^)
Chattanooga, TN