The A5 is beautiful but for one with bikes I really would wait for the A4 avant with the hatch. I wish the A5 had a real hatch like the other coupes Audi has a legacy in. Calling the A5 a coupe is not exactly correct.

Given that they still import the A4 Avant, S4 Avant, A6 Avant and would have even considered the RS4 Avant if it wasn't for the major redesign that would have been required to move the battery back into the engine bay to satisfy the US DOT regulations, I'm firmly of the opinion that they will import the B8 A4 Avant.

Avants are a major brand factor that makes European car lineups seem European even if most US buyers still buy the sedans.

By following the US and Japanese by building more crossovers may fill a market niche but it's hardly going to retain the brand's European edge.

So unless BMW, Mercedes, Volvo and Saab all drop their station wagon imports first, I highly doubt Audi (the undisputed king of performance wagons) will drop theirs.

is it a 2-door sedan like many (but certainly not most or all) of the 2-door cars of the 1970s and prior?

will be an A5 with a hatchback like the coupes Audi did in the past. It won't be a 5 door wagon (which makes no sense at all).

I'll have over a year after my B7 Avant lease runs out, and I don't intend to buy it.

Would AoA/AFS extend my lease a year or more on the promise/hope of leasing a new car that probably won't even have been released in Europe by then? (April 2008)?

Choices? 95 S6 Avant? CPO Allroad? 535Xi? Will there be a new V70R? Will Subaru start putting frames around its door glass and offering 6MTs and HIDs on cars other than the STi? My world is crashing down.......

What's an AWD 6MT Wagon lover to do?

Ever since our beloved MY95.5 S6 Avant has been gone, life isn't the same. (we drove the S6 for ten years) And its replacement, a MY06 Subaru Outback XT wagon, just doesn't cut. The Denver to Vail and back highway runs aren't the same.

Audi, show me an Avant I'll buy...Maybe an A4 3.0 TDI w/DSG quattro wagon....