After all the anguished messages about Avant delays on this site, I thought you were pulling some sort of cruel joke by claiming to have taken delivery of an Avant in early August that was ordered in early May. You remarked to me in a separate e-mail that "I don't know exactly when it was built because the next time I checked status (early July) it was built and on the boat." I'm wondering if this car wasn't already built or under construction at the time you ordered it?? Guess there's no way to know that. Anyone else out there have a similar short-coupled experience. I've trolled the archives for "Avant AND order", and your experience seems unique.

Also, I got the following information this week from a salesman at a large dealership in Sacramento, California, after we'd traded some e-mail about features on arriving 99.5 models:

"Well, I'm just a little confused now. According to all the Audi info,starting with the 99.5 cars the only material that you could get on an A-4 that was Casablanca White with Opal Grey is cloth-no leather OR leatherette! The A-4 2.8 that I we have on the lot is actually a late 99 not a 99.5
The A-4 that I sold last Friday was a 1.8 t and it was white w/Opal leatherette! That isn't supposed to be available at all and this was a brand new car (99.5!!) It gets better! My sales manager said thatAudi canceled Casablanca White for the 1999 A-4 Avants and then ran into a supplier problem on components for the A-4 Avant and canceled all remaining A-4 Avants and have held them over to 2000 models that wont showup until approx October!
You might want to check on the status of yours because Kevin feels that if your order was placed late April yours is probably one of those cars.
Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you. Did you get my fax today? If you want the whole text on that article, I'll find that magazine a copy/fax it for you.
Mike Fallis
quattro@jps.net
Niello VW-Audi"

(The article he refers to is the April, 1999, Automobile Magazine interview of the A4 owning, Audi praising, automotive editor for Consmer Reports - and he did FAX it to me).

My dealer ordered my 2.8 Avant QMSS/Bose/Leather/ Sunroof/trip/AWP/Melange/Clay on May 1. When I called my dealer to check on my order status a couple of weeks ago the salesman couldn't seem to find a status code letter on the form, but he did say that the build date was "week 31". Wonder if this will be a Y2K model? Wonder if it will get here before Thanksgiving? Guess I'll have to drive to the dealership and examine this status report myself.

BTW, if you anywhere near Sacramento, CA, and are shopping for an Audi you really ought to contact Mike Fallis at Niello VW-Audi. That dealership is a 6 hour drive from me, but if my local dealer blows my order, I'd e-mail this guy for a deal. Yes, he uses e-mail!! Not only that, he knows his product and is really low key. I stopped by that dealership earlier this year on a business trip and talked to Mike for a while and test drove a car much like the one I'm ordering.

No, I'm not related, not associated in any way, etc.

Major French Roast caffeine buzz wearing off, so I guess I'll stop rather than rattle on any more.

RPF

Bill, I believe the salesman (Mike) might be mistaken. There was a huge delay in 2.8 Avant production because of a parts supplier problem. Someone posted a month or two back that the problem was resolved. He also stated that Week 31 was the build date for 2.8 Avants, about 2 months later some of the other folks on the board took delivery of theirs. "Geza" is one and there and there are others. Mine was ordered in early May, accepted on May 6th, on the water in early July, and in port on July 13th. It seems likely that bit about them being built in a batch was correct. I do know that the dealer changed an allocation for me, whatever the hell that means. I do hope that there is not another delay in Avant production. My dealer has about 6 or 8 1.8T Avants and yesterday I saw another 2.8 Avant, all of these were 99.5s. I would wait for a 99.5 or a 00, there are some significantly cool new features.

You ordered the exact same options as me, the Bose sounds great to this non-audiophile, the sport pack is worth every penny, the sport seats are awesome, the trip computer is neat, and the bun-warmers are a necessity in snowy Cleveland. The car handles like a dream, much better than my 98 2.8 (no sport pack) and with the manual this baby flies even at break-in speeds. Get the order codes from the FAQ and go down to your local dealer and read the damn screen with him. Then make him give some goody for doing his freaking job for him. Hang in there.

Regards,

Mike