Jusforfun

Only for France and only from July.
Just spent a couple of weeks over there, Charente/Dordogne near Bordeaux. It was uncommonly cold, tricky for a lot of the locals who were used to brief flurries of snow not 2 frozen weeks. We were in a VW pickup 4WD which was great. We drove ~ 2000kms in snow on ordinary road tyres. Some days we were the only people out.
I am sure you guys will get better weather

piotroosh

My dealer gave me an option to trade in my car once the Q5 came back here. I wasn't able to deduct the amount from the original price of Q5, but they would just "buy" my old car from me later on. ( I ended up selling it to a private party anyway, but it was a nice option.)

iamshack

I guess...I mean you could always just keep it and sell it to Carmax or PP when your Q5 arrives in the States, so I don't really see that as doing you a favor.

What they should do, especially since they take so damn long to deliver the car from Germany, is provide you with a loaner car or allow you to drive your trade-in until then. They could always require some refundable deposit or something to make them feel more comfortable about driving their loaner or keeping your trade-in until your car hits the States.

The program is asking enough as it is to travel to Germany and then to wait for your vehicle for another 2-3 months; the least they could do is arrange some other form of transportation while you wait.

piotroosh

Well that's the whole reason for doing ED
If traveling to germany is a PITA for you you should just pick up the car locally ;-)

iamshack

Well I understand that, but whether it's a dream come true for you or not, it still comes with considerable stress and expense. The fact that you still want to do it doesn't change the fact that they could certainly mitigate that stress and expense for you by making some adjustments for the sake of convenience.

Heresy64

I did the ED for the experience, not the convenience. IMHO, it was worth it, despite the wait. You get the same car by ordering it from the dealer and waiting, but you don't get the same experience. I grew up in Germany, so it was like going home for me after 25 years. That was the experience I wanted. It made the trade-offs worth it for me.

Rupesh

I completely agree. I'm doing ED for experience as well. Timing wise I couldn't do the ED when I bought the MB E-500 several years back. I hated little annoying things (like Nav) but since then I have come to admire the driving aspects and the beautiful interior. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do the ED now that we were looking at a small SUV. I can honestly say that for me the choice was to buy a Q5 through ED or settle for a practical/highly-reliable/dullish/non-luxury SUV like a Highlander that would serve our family better once the luster of the new car wears off. I guess, the heart won over the mind one more time