makes me want to change from manual to Tip...but I don't want to receive the car in the summer, eta for mine was 2/18/08..anyone have any ideas when the tip will be availabe?

I was told by my dealer that the Tiptronic was delayed even further than the 6MT. I stopped by there last week (University Park Audi, Dallas) and was told by one salesman that there is a shortage of engines to go with the Tip (have no idea why the engine would be different) and that they were estimating 18 months(?!) due to engine delays/back orders.

I have no idea if this is true or not, but I am about to take the S5 off my short list. When I owned my A6 4.2 back in 2003, my general impression of Audi was that they were very disorganized and the customer was the one who suffered. After owning Japanese cars for the past 4 years, I thought I'd give them a try again. It appears nothing has changed. But, hey, their sales are up, so more power to them.

whole lot more than Americans ever have. They are not meeting demand with the S5 and there are a lot of people to satisfy. I think Audi is just trying to balance distribution. There are some in other countries that have been waiting many months for their ordered S5.

BTW - Visit the factory if you ever get a chance, they are highly organized.