First the observation: This is a striking car. I am a long-time fan of Audi (own a current A4 (ho-hum) and was an early TT owner) and I think both this and the R8 are cars Audi *needed* to make. The lines are progressive, yet they speak to tried and true design elements. No need to be avante-guarde here, they already have the TT at a similar price point to that end. Also, for those of us who are die hard manual drivers, it might be hard to adjust to the ebrake at first, but paired with the "anti-roll backwards" feature, this will be a good thing, especially for those of us who have to deal with the hills of SF... ;-)

Now the 2 questions:
1) The dealer specs say the panoramic sunroof is included - do we have pictures of the car with it?
2) Any sense of how much the B&O sound system will cost as a stand-alone option? It's $6k+ on the A8, but this car caters to a very different market... I'm hoping no more than $3k stand alone or around $4k with MMI...

Thanks - rt

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so what makes that panoramic? isn't that just the size of a normal sunroof? I thought they meant something along the lines of what the A3 and that ugly insipid little MB hatchback had... ?

a considerable upgrade from that, I hope... I'll certainly be happy if you are right, though!

On a car that is in the 40k mark, they aren't going to offer a stereo that is the caliber of what was offered in the A8. Look at the Harmon Kardon stuff in BMW. Good name, pure garbage in the car.

I would say the B&amp;O stuff will be marginally better than the Bose.

My C6 Bose sounds very good. Deep bass and surprisingly detailed highs, center channel, etc. I've never really been a Bose fan, but somehow they got it right with the new A6. It was definitely worth the upgrade, but having the choice to go to Bang and Olufsen (if it is as advertised) will be amazing. I'm into HT, and have also alway been into Mobile Electronics, so I welcome a top brand that I don't have to switch out.

the ICE power amps are a cutting edge technology from B&amp;O. They licenses the technology to higher end companies like Jeff Rowland, Martin Logan and B&amp;W.

In reality, ICE power should be cheaper to manufacture than conventional amps (a "disruptive technology"), but they can charge a lot right now as there is nothing else on the market comparable.

not able to recede into the roof. Does tilt though.

btw. I'm just north of you in Marin.

No highs no lows - it must be Bose!

very cool, I like Marin, I'm actually in the East Bay.

all over the damned place and charge $3k for it... that would suck donkey dong.

I have a B&amp;O stereo, which I bought on sale, and it doesn't really sound that great. Aesthetically, it is quite nice though.

It'll have all the same functionality of any other recent sun roof in an Audi or basically any other car. It's just that the profile of the car will look differently when it's wide open.

the release says: Panorama tilting sunroof

but I have no idea what that means... if it is a "sunroof" it should slide open, right? And they all "tilt," don't they?

What's the slot next to the cupholders (blech!) for?

over the roof to open... If this does, it would probably be one of the most critisized features of the car... ever though it's a small thing.

Speculation of course, but if it has high quality components that comprise a set of (2 drivers) at each corner (lt fr, rt fr, rt rr, lt rr) as well as center channels, amplifiers, headunit, and subwoofers, I wouldn't be opposed to paying 2-3k for it. It would easily cost that much on the aftermarket and still not be optimized for the vehicle. The A8 has gotten awards for how good the system is and I can't see Audi cheating the A5.

right, the A8 has a 750W system, and I cant remember but didnt teh A5 say 458 watts or somethig around that?

<ul><li><a href="http://www.icepower.bang-olufsen.com/sw2392.asp">ICE in A8</a></li></ul>

Slot is for cell phone...

where the electric brake should be (A6 panel)