I own a black '97 1.8QTMS which is sitting in Toronto waiting for me when I return from a 2 year position in London. I have been in London for 3 weeks now are here are my impressions about A4's in London:

- there are tons of A4's everywhere
- most are 1.8 or less with steel wheels and plastic wheel covers (or so it appears)
- there are S4's around and they are beautiful
- I saw a black North American spec 2.8 probably '98 model with New Jersey Plate, Left hand side drive in Hampstead (a suburb of London)!!
- There are increasingly TT's arounds.
- There are more A3's than A4's
- S3's look stunning - IMO, more impressive than the A4 (great size car for over here)

All for now,
Phil H

I just got back from my yearly 1 month trip to europe as well and had some additional impressions.

- almost NONE of the audis have quattro
- almost ALL of the audis are TDI
- I have only seen a handful of audis with wheels we have here in the US, the rest are hub caps
- there are most NA (normally aspirated)1.8's than TURBO 1.8s
- I do get to see S3/S4/S8s every so often. Quite a treat.

Marcus Frost
99.5 1.8TQM (Starting the paperwork)

Americans tend to be so non-chalant about getting 8mpg in their oversized muscle cars and SUVs, while Europeans tend to stick with the smaller more efficient autos. But then when there's this 380hp RS4, why can't we get our hands on it?

You will see plenty of low-end A4's throughout all European cities. Many are taxis and others are company cars. Still others are people who buy in at the low end of the A4 market.

Meanwhile, the other half want the quattro and the larger engines, etc. With more relaxed emissions laws and faster speed limits (if they exist at all) a top end powerfull car can do well.

In my neigbourhood (South Kensington), there is quite a range of Audis. RS2's, S4's, A4 Quattro's, 2.8's, 1.8's, etc.

In my neighbourhood, most of what we consider underpowered cars are driven by women. So, basically, instead of finding these 3 cars together: SUV, A4 2.8, SUV you would find: A3 1.8, A4 1.8T, S4.

The reason you don't get your hand on every model over there is due to: 1. strict emission laws, 2. overly complicated DOT regulations that make bringing new cars to the US a royal pain.

I wonder about whether or not there is a big enough market for such a car in the US as well. But, that I am totally unsure about. Anyway, the RS4 is not a muscle car nor an SUV which in the US puts it at a disadvantage.

--Ian.