I'm about ready to leave a deposit to order a '00 A4 1.8TQMS etc. and I've got this problem. The car MUST arrive after we close on our house next year which is being built now. We should close on the house on or before Feb. 28th, but for some breathing room I am assuming it will be as late as March 28th. We are planning a long vacation for late July '00 as a road trip with the car, so it HAS to be here before then, or those plans are shot.

Question - when should I order? Dealer says 4 months, but from my experience here I've seen 6 months plus. I'm thinking about ordering mid-December which puts it here between April and June. Is that realistic? But.... what if it gets here early, and/or the house isn't done yet? Can they hold it for me and not have anyone touch it?

Lastly, my dealer wants a $1500 deposit to order. I think this is too high... I will be ordering a loaded 1.8T. I thought $500 would be reasonable?

Thanks for all your help..

Mark Collett

Ordered August 10th . . . due in November 20th. My guess is that 4 months is about right on the outside. '00 1.8QMS

If the probability of the car delivered on time is P(A), and the probability of the house built on time is P(B), then the probability of the car delivered and the house built on time is P(A)*P(B).

You're going with too much risk, especially if you have to put $1500 deposit.

If I were the dealer, and the customer wants to delay the purchase for a month or two, I'd probably sell it to whoever comes in and show me the money. It will cost the dealer money to keep the car on the lot.

By the way, I never trust what the builder says (I mean the house builder). My house took 6 more months than he promised.

nt