Finally. The horrendous wait is over. The RS4 made it in one piece. It took 4 weeks and 2 days.

There were two small scuffs. One was on the drivers door sill (which on the RS4 is very wide). The other was on the rear right plastic splash panel behind the tire. Both were buffed out by the dealer's detail guy with no marks left behind.

The tire valve caps were gone, but the dealer gave me new ones, in a pack of 5, so now I have an extra.

Those minor issues aside (and they were rectified) it arrived in the same condition as I left it in Sindelfingen a month ago.

250 more miles until the breakin is over, but I have the long weekend for that.

It was detailed about 4 hours ago and it's been sh!t on by a bird twice already.

I noticed on the www.portofsd.com website, cars are taken off and checked for damage in a staging area, etc. They have a bodyshop to repair the damage to cars. Seems if they were a bit more careful in the way that they handle them...

Amazing that they are that careless with brand new cars.

probably do not even think about it most of the time. One of my friends worked as a longshoreman in his early twenties and the stories he has told me on how much fun they had unloading cars off the boat it is amazing more cars are not damaged.

we did drop off just days before Christmas and were told we might have a week or so delay due to the fact they were not re-opening until after the New year.

On another note, our Q7 made it home with a 3X5 in. scuff on the drivers side lower door. Luckily the Q7 has gray painted plastic lower sills and the dealer just replaced it with a new one. I wonder if this is caused by the way they secure the cars on the transport trucks before they get on the boat. My understanding is they are secured by only the hook attachments when on the boat so that probably would not be it. Any ideas anyone?

are allowed to damage product without any legal obligation. Sad but it almost seems like the ship, port, or both have a free license to damage at will.

Between hearing various reports of damage from others here, including my own experiences, it almost seems as if we're the lucky ones if we get away with only slight damage.

The scuffs on mine looked accidental, just where someone dragged his feet across the sill. By scuffs, I mean some leather or plastic transfered from something else to the paint. With it buffed off, the paint was fine.

In the end, I got the car in the same excellent condition in which I dropped it off.

K2Audi's advice to get it washed before dropoff is excellent advice.

I only mention it so everyone else will know to inpesct the car carefully upon delivery...and pick it up in daylight, not after dark.

If you buy off the lot:

While at the dealer waiting for the car, a new salesman took their other (available) RS-4 for a joy ride. My salesman was pissed, because they're not supposed to do that.

Customers can't test drive, but every salesman and manager gets a joyride, and I'm sure they flog it.

They were to have a new S5 on the floor, but the sales manager took it out and bashed it up, and it's in the body shop.

This is one of those mega-dealership-companies that owns every dealership along I-45, and evidently they are very poorly managed by the home office.

I also think the valve caps went missing at the dealer, since the other RS4 (yellow) had them missing too.

Their other RS4 was out in the "spot of honor" near the freeway. This means it'll be washed by amateurs in a hurry every couple days until someone buys it....probably swirling the paint.