Audi of America, are you listening?

[Fringe Ryder <fringe@fringeweb.com>]

I have three points for this thread:

1) This group is largely composed of people who drive OLD Audis.  These
people are not a major factor in Audi's marketing or retention policies.
Sure, depreciation is bad, but it isn't the biggest factor in sales, or
even in the top three. Therefore, expect attitudes towards older parts to
be skewed accordingly.  You may not like it, but it's true: If your Audi is
more than five years old, you are a second-class citizen.  And I don't
believe it's people who have had their cars for five years that buy Audis.
I suspect the typical new-Audi buyer replaces their car every three years.
(Audi should offer an extended warranty though.)

2) I have a '97 A4 Quattro 2.8L V6 stickshift, bought new  two years ago.
It hasn't been particularly reliable.  (In fact, the service history is
rather astounding.)  If I had to pay for service, I would dump this car and
get something reputable.  Fortunately, it's leased, but I had planned on
buying the next one (see #3), and am thinking that might be a remarkably
stupid idea based on current reliability... do I really want to be on the
hook for such lousy engineering and assembly?!

What would keep me coming back is Audi having a car that fits in my
niche... which I define as good AWD, sedan, reliable, stickshift, and
powerful.  I had to special-order my A4Q stick and wait two months to get
it.  

3) Audi is waffling on having a car that fits in my niche.  I want an S4 or
similar.  Not a TT, and with more power than the A4, but with stick.
(which eliminates the A6.)  I need it next December.  At the rate Audi is
pushing back the S4 (for which I have had a $1000 USD deposit for two
months now), I'll have to get something else.  And, out of ire and the
frustration with the reliability of my A4, it will either be a Suby (giving
up power... but see the A4 doesn't count as power either, and at least the
Suby is reliable and a LOT less money) or a BMW M3 (giving up AWD, and
about the same money as the S4).  

Audi really needs to find a niche.  Are they a high-end Euro-Sedan maker,
or just another mid-range car maker?  If the former, they need a
performance model.

Is the vaunted AWD really a performance feature (as their ads spotlighting
their rally successes imply)?  If so, bring out some power.

They currently seem to believe they want to be a rich man's Nissan Maxima
with all-wheel-drive at a Lotus quality and service-cost level.  Sorry, I'm
not interested.

	Fringe