Wednesday, my family and I are taking a trip to the Audi plant in Inglostadt for a tour of the factory. Even though the tour is in German, I'm sure I will love it. As far as my A4, I have owned it for 2 weeks now and love it. Very quiet car, even at 90+ mph. Handles great on all kinds of roads. I would like to know if anyone has been on the tour already and how it is. I'll let you know what I think Wednesday night.<p>Dave<br>A4 2.8QSTip

It was incredible to say the least. It is in German but even if you are not fluent you know what they are talkinga bout. Simply being in the factory is in itself awesome. Be sure to check out the S8 and S4's parked outside the entrance to the factory building, quite an eyeful. Also, in Tor 5 where the visitor center is, be sure to go up the stairs to the gift shop at the far right, a must see. Also, on the ground floor as you enter the building to your right is a room with glass doors, go in there!!! Its the room filled with Audi model info which I happened to forget to go into on my way out, you can pick up info on all the current models. Also, I spent some time in the visitor center watching people pick up their cars, as they are driven from the factory people stand on the balcony and watch their car being driven out. Then a salesman calls out your name and down you go to the floor to meet your new car. SOooooooo cool.<p>Chris

... and the Porsche tour was, by far, the most interesting. However, we were on the "delivery" tour instead of the "tourism" tour, which probably went into more depth. Our tour guide was excellent, very German, and told stories of mafia guys going on tours and paying for a Porsche on the assembly line in cash. The Audi and Mercedes tours focused on manufacturing technology more than history, while the BMW tour focused more on history than manufacturing. The factory tours are extremely impressive... though I hear they may have put glass up between your tour and the assembly line -- horrible, if you ask me. There was no glass when I took the tours, just you and amazing cars floating by ten feet away.<p>Cameron<br>

Lucky you,<p>I was there in August. All was in german but luckily I was with my wife and her german relatives that could do some translating. The tour is definitely worth the time. It was real neat seeing just flat sheets of metal at one end of the line and A3 & A4's rolling off at the other end. What was especially neat for me was at the point where bodies and frames/drivetrains come together my exact configuration (black 1.8TQM) was being assembled.<p>Like Chris said be sure to visit the gift shop and watch people pickup their cars. Also look around at cars in the parking lot near the factory (after you leave the factory and walking back to the visitor centre, not the visitor center parking lot). I saw some real nice looking cars here, an S4 and a real awesome looking A4 MTM Avant come to mind.<p>Enjoy

There was no glass in August. In fact at one point you can stand close enough and get hit by sparks from the welding robots (if you really want to!!)

I'm glad to hear that you're going to visit our plant. We also offer ENGLISH tours through our factory!!! Many of our visitors aren't German by themselves... I'm looking forward to hearing your opinion! <p>Oh - we have VERY bad weather here up to date. Temperatures between 0°C and 12 °C and rain! Don't forget warm clothes...<p>Regards from Ingolstadt - and have a nice flight!<p>Manuel H.<br>AUDI AG Ingolstadt

The S8 and A8 you saw all belong to the members of the board. In fourth floor our "biggest managers" are located at - direct above the entrance... The gift shop we call "QUATTRO BOUTIQUE". <p>I'm really happy to hear from people living such far away that they like our company's visitor's service.! It is a pleasure - I like it, too :-) !<p>Manuel H.

Hi Albert,<p>what do you mean with "Big German woman"??? <br>Oh yeah - testdrive before drinking Bavarian beer!!! Please don't forget that!!! <p>Manuel

I know, I know. Just a dream. <p>Michael<br>

You know something is up as soon as you get within 40 kilometers and realize that almost every car you pass on the road is an Audi. Yes Audi Center is very cool and you can still get hit by sparks if you choose. Some of the people on our tour literally looked over the shoulders of the workers while they put A3s, A4s, and S4s together. What an experience. One of the workers drove an S4 off the line and ripped it right inside the plant, WOW. Audi won't let you see the new secret paint shop or some of the more sensitive areas of the plant.

I took my tour at 10:30 on Thursday, I think the other tour is on Tuesday. They are trying to put together more English speaking tours due to demand.