Re: Part Deux - Euro driving tips

[Ralph Poplawsky <rlpplsky@ix.netcom.com>]

Please don't misinterpret this as defense of AOA, but... I believe that each
car model and engine variation sold in the US must be certified for safety,
emissions, fuel economy, etc.  I don't know that all countries are as
strict.  Anyway, this is a fairly costly process.  Also, California has it's
own certification program.  Add to this the fact that AOA does not sell as
many cars in the US as dorF and after all, profit is the name of the game.
I think this explains the limited range of models and engines that we see.
Obviously, the policy of importing mostly the 'loaded' versions also
enhances the profits.  I don't like it either, but I think that the
alternative is probably no Audis for the US.  I'm just glad that we get to
drive some pretty cool cars and we can get parts.

Ralph Poplawsky
'91 200Q (with great UFO brakes)


>At 01:51 PM 1/26/98 -0500, Michael Murphy wrote:
>>Hello list,
>>I'm back from Europe - 4 coutries in 12 days in an A3 (no A4s were
>>available).  Put 2k km on this puppy, and again, many thanks to all who
>>provided info about driving in Europe (but you left out a couple of
>>things, see below).
>>
>>My brief impressions:
>>Never saw such a wide variety of Audi's:  from the Avis
>>A3-5sp (Golf with rings) I rented, to every variety of Urq (what's a MTM
>>coupe)?  Really HOT (fast) 2.6? TDI A6q making 200+km/hr on the
>>E41 to Stuttgart?  Quattro's are all over the place.  Listers in Europe
>>don't realize how good you have it.  Which brings me to gripe #1
>>and I hope Audi-USA is lurking.  It's clear the US gets a
>>very limited group of models designed to max out profits from the
>>market.  The A3 I rented was a blast even with its 101HP 1.6, and
>>based on the owners manual is available with motors up to 150HP
>>and a TDI.  I saw A4 and A6 TDI's, A4 1.8T Avants. . . the list goes
>>on and on.  And what do we get in America?   A4's with 2 engine
>>choices, A6 2.8 Tiptronics and the A8.  That seems to be about 25%
>>of the total line.  And what dealers order for stock come with virtually
>>every option jacking up prices to cosmic levels.
>>
>[snip]
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