OK, I've posted here before about my frustration in waiting for my (wife's) 1.8T QMS avant in bright yellow, so here's an update and my theory: <p>Ordered car on September 29, was told 60-90 days for delivery. No problemo, I don't mind waiting a few weeks. Day 90 rolls around, no car, but a call from the dealer says the car will be BUILT during week 16 of '99 (dude, that's APRIL!), and shipped sometime after that. I was assured that it would be a 99.5, but I was beyond caring about that--where's the damn car? So here are my questions:<p>#1, how long to deliver a car after it's built? 4 weeks? 8 weeks? More?<p>#2, am I getting screwed by the dealer? I had to put down a NON-REFUNDABLE $1000.00 deposit because I wanted a yellow 1.8T 5-speed Avant. Is my order getting bumped because of this so the dealer can fill less "secure" orders first to keep other customers from walking?<p>#3, is this damn car worth the wait???<p>Thanks for your help. Sorry for the impatient tone. Advice, experience, and other conspiracy theories are, of course, welcome. Thanks.

You ordered in September and still have no car? You should have had it last month at the latest. There is certainly something wrong with this. Your dealer must have forgotten to put your order in or something. Even a custom ordered pearlescent car takes less than 5 months. I think it takes almost a month for the car to get to the delaership after being built. They should either find you a car fast, or give you something to drive. This is an excessive wait! The car is worth it though. If your car is fairly well equipped, you should be able to get your deposit back and take your money elswhere, but this depends on the dealer. Sorry to hear about this, but Good luck!<p>Charles<br>

Just out of curiousity, who is the dealer? I bought my A4 fron Sunnyside in Cleveland (I'm in Columbus), and had a pretty good experience.<br>I understand your frustration with the wait. You should have had the car by now, no questions about it. Frankly, unless you got some amazing deal from this dealer, I would get back the deposit and walk. I know you said the deposit was supposed to be non-refundable, but then you were supposed to have your car already too.<br>Sorry to hear about your wait. I know how frustrating it can be.<p>Miles

If you're not willing to wait anymore for this fine car, which would be understandable, I would definitely make sure you get 100% of your refund back. I ordered my 1.8TQS in Febuary and was told that it would be made in April to my specs. So... you should have received your vehicle by now and the dealer's inability to communicate the status of your car is inexcusable.

Is it possible that yellow is so unpopular and is made so infrequently that this may be causing the delay. Aren't most manufacturers still building certain colors on certain schedules and with a small number of yellows on order, maybe they pushed it back and back while there were big orders for other colors.<br>I could surely be way off, but just a thought.

Yellow is very popular in Germany and the U.S. cars are made on the same line and at the same time as Euro spec cars. Audi can change paint colors in the paint shop in 15 or 20 seconds according to my tour guide at the plant. They like to make at least 8 cars in the same color before changing over to a new color. I saw A4 Avants in Yellow all over the place in Germany. It sounds like your dealer screwed the pooch.