Summed up: Too expensive, we're going to pass methinks. This thing was $47+K, with no nav and no sports package. Ridiculous IMHO. Add on taxes and all that crap and you're talking about a 50K car. That's M3 territory.

Anyway - here's a quick review:

Nice car, very tight for a convertible (felt pretty much as tight as the B6 sedan). Liked the CVT a lot. Slick roof operation - very cool (24 seconds for completion). Handling was a bit wallowy for my tastes, but seemed tighter than a B5 A4 non-sport suspension. The car is GORGEOUS with the top up BTW. A black one with a black top, lowered with some nice rims would look unbelievable in my opinion. Power was adequate, but that's it. I didn't really whip it because there was only 60 miles on it and we were considering buying that very car.

Some nice touches: Fore-aft power seat adjustments on the side of the seat, up near the headrest for ease of entry/egress for rear seat passengers, 4 memory positions for the driver's seat, decent trunk space for a ragtop, PAINTED LOWERS.

Overall, a nice car, but too expensive IMHO. They lost their price advantage over BMW (and a 330convertible is a very pretty car as well). And no Quattro? Lame.

the one I ordered has the Nav and sports package and priced it right around 47k were they marking it up alot? had you guys negotiated price before?

I agree that its a lot. I tried for a discount, but it was clear the early vehicles weren't going for below sticker. I think they will sometime next year, perhaps before the 1.8 arrives. The 5K premium they're asking is rediculous, but there's always someone to mess things up for others. I consider myself very lucky to have done the deal.

did you get the nav system curious if you did and if so what you think of it ...... wish they would give us nav + over here so I could get the screen! mine is on a ship enroute!

I saw the list of cars in current shipment to California. There was only one or two, I think, with the nav. I'm not sure whether that is with the new console or just integrated into the on-board driver display system (which has some pretty cool features without the nav). I understand that the console nav with full screen is coming - is that what yours will have?

Good luck with the wait. I was going kind of nuts, and now its a different sort of nuts!

I waited all year for the intro of the cabriolet, but when the prices came out last month, I decided not to pursue it. Instead I placed an order for a 3.0 CVT sedan for $31,500. I'd still love to get the Cabriolet some day, but I couldn't justify the extra $13,500 for it. I was optimisticaly hoping it'd be about $6K-7K more than the sedan.

Now, I'm thinking of maybe looking for a used mid-1990's Cabriolet. That way I can have my 3.0 CVT sedan as my daily driver, and the older Cabriolet as a weekend driver. I still think the older Cabriolet's are gorgeous (especially dark green).

I'm still jealous of you new Cabriolet owners, and best of luck.