Re: Car-O-Scope (minimal Audi)

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

In message <001501bed48d$69f82560$03000004@niederst> "Craig D. Niederst" writes:

> Has anyone else tried this? Basically, it asks what vehicle you drive, and a
> few questions about yourself, etc.

This happened to me in real life.  I was a car pool manager, dealing
quite heavily with AutoHaus Gotta in Dietzenbach, quite near Franfurt.

I was in the dealership one day on some trivial matter when the guy
I was dealing with (Herr Wurz) said that my own car was approaching end
of lease and we should think about a replacement.  What would I like?

He also offered a little help in getting the right thing, since we were
doing a lot of business together and he wanted me happy.  Unfortunately,
we were under tight supervision by the Finanzamt because we hadn't shown
a local profit for a while, so everything had to be _squeaky_ clean.

I hadn't a clue, so he called me into his office.  He pulled out an
A4 flip-top file holder, and extracted a whole bunch of A4-sized cards.
Then he started asking questions - how many children, dogs, where I
lived, how far I drove in a year, what percentage was Autobahn, what
hobbies, etc.

Each answer caused him to stick a pin through the stack and lift out
an ever-fewer number of cards.  Finally he was down to one card.
He muttered: "Why didn't I think of that?" and put the stack away.

He wouldn't tell me what it was.  His comment was that I wasn't paying
anyway, and he was absolutely sure it was the right car for me.  All
I had to decide on was the colour.  I chose white.

About six weeks later, on another visit, he announced that the car was
ready and took me round the back of the workshops.  It was a Passat
Variant - stripped of anything that might be called an option.  No
sunroof, no radio, no electric _anything_.  No carpets, even - just a
sprayed-in composition floor and four mats.  The mats were rubber and
extra-deep - good for melted snow.  I walked around it, and declared
myself not necessarily impressed.  "Ah," says Herr Wurz, "look here."

Under the bonnet was the first I5 I'd ever seen.  The only other
differences were wider tyres, an air dam, stronger anti-roll bar, and
a larger exhaust pipe.  On the back it said: "Passat Diesel".  Herr
Wurz just shrugged.  "The lads in the workshop.  Think they're
comedians."

Once run in (very carefully) it would reach 125mph indicated on the
Autobahn.  Mind you, it took a while to get there.

--
 Phil Payne
 UK Audi quattro Owners Club
 Phone: 0385 302803   Fax: 0870 0883933